Lots of ripped spinnakers and failed blocks today. One rig was lost on the Melges 20. We noted J/30 speeds at 13+ knots.

Here is the Kattack link to today's race.
http://www.kattack.com/webplayer/?raceGUID=52869afe-9a7e-464f-a059-bfa9e0efa467

To those who race at NA's next year, the week following is a 3 day regatta called LPRC.

So OK ... Just to BB all of those "northeners" who won't see sun again for the next 5 months.

Attached photo today from Naples Sailing and YC Commodore's Cup. This was the action just getting to the Committee Boat.

Both the GPS and paddle wheel agreed at 8.9 with touches over 9. The wind during the races on the Gulf topped 30 mph, with gusts higher.



Photo of Shock --Wavelength 30 , Vee Jay's tune up partner ... at start of first race. So ok Shock skipper 74, 3 other crew ~65, 1 -- 27 [Main trimmer]. You don't see them hanging over the rail at the start. Also missing about 500 lb of crew.



Vee Jay started race one with reefed main [main only]... only 800 lbs of crew. Main for offshore is 7.8 dacron ... with a 15% 1st reef . Five spin b boats ... the leader S2 7.9 the second time around simply dropped main and finished with genny only. Said there was no reason to destroy his main.

Needless to say none of the standard Spin b boats did spin on this race.

You have to remember take pics of the knotmeter otherwise it didn't happen...

With the vange in hand and everyone else in the rear of the boat, 20+ winds, it was hard to video. Would a Kattack replay provide enough proof? Click on the link below. Watch Jalapeno vs. Zephyr between 11:00 AM and 11:10 AM. You see a range of 8-13 knots. A fun day on the water, but after 2 hours in those conditions, fatigue was the enemy.

Kattack Replay Race 2
http://www.kattack.com/webplayer/?raceGUID=52869afe-9a7e-464f-a059-bfa9e0efa467

In the link above, watch what happens between 11:13:49 AM and 11:14:05 AM. after a broach, our rudder was not in the water, as such we lost control. Before the rudder landed in the water the helmsman fell, tiller was on the wrong angle, we almost gybed! A very dangerous situation. Luckily we recovered quickly. I remember hearing from the back of the boat "please don't let anyone die!".

By the way, we were all wearing life jackets.

At the 2012 NAs we will be using Kattack or other tracking system with viewable live and replay capability.

Everyone, please tell your broaching stories!

Dave@j30.us

Dave - speak with Glen - he was on the pointy end in Marblehead when we did a "little broach"

Dave ... you are going to have to explain how to duplicate your results.
1. I am on http://www.kattack.com/webplayer/?raceGUID=52869afe-9a7e-464f-a059-bfa9e0efa467
which says Oct 29 2011 which is what I got from the link above.
2. I have clicked off everything except Jalepeno and Zephyr in the Boats navigation box.
3. I have zoom next to the 0
4. I am using the bottom slider to get to your times
5. I am at replay speed of 1x

but i am not getting your results. It's like I am on the wrong race.

I am interested in Kattack because we are probably going to use it in the Melges 24 event #5 of the Florida Cup series that the sailing club here runs in March.

What size of waves were you seeing? I thought I was doing pretty good hitting 11 in 28 kts true in near flat water (we have little fetch) but 13/14 is impressive!

It works for me simply by clicking on the link. I have IE 7 with the latest version of flash.

dave, dave, give me a break. they haven't shipped IE 7 in years.

But I think you are off on your times. I'm getting a 13 at 12:10:09






For you guys who are really interested in Kattack
1. go to dave's link above
2. go to boats and uncheck everything but Jalepeno and Zephyr
3. go to charts and watch boat speed with the time line up around 11:45 to 12:15

we had a similar situation here last winter, but never got above 10.1 with a ~20 mile spin run on broad reach ... I witness that it takes surpreme concentration to not round up. But we did have 4-5 ft waves out of the NNW. I did not drive [main trim]... just kept saying to the driver ... don't round up as he couldn't feel it as well as I could ... so I did the feeling and he did the muscle. that's what we got the younger guys for.

also note these speeds have a bit of averaging if I remember a sales pitch a couple of years ago ... so that 13 most likely reflects a 13+.

Vic, Add exactly one hour to the times provided to get the time frame mentioned above. We are in Central time. Check out the following graphs. I like this much better than the example you provided. I will reference elasped time next time.

WIND SPEED

TIME FRAME

BOAT SPEED

That puff around 11:14 AM CT was about 28-29!

By the way, this regatta is about the same time as NAs next year :>)

Gee it looks about the same as my example ... wait ... both boats hit 13??? that's double trouble --- especially as you guys were so close together ... you guys could have killed each other ...

Make note ... "boat speeds over 12 require 5 boat length separation zone" Let's see if we can get that written into the OD rules.

re Kattack ... who would have thought it would not always run on Local time of race.

Vic, that was a fun time on Saturday, match racing against a very good competitor in 20+ winds for 20+ miles. We lost the race at the start. After the "I" flag was dropped, the wind picked up 10+ knots. We changed to the blade. Because we didn't have a spare set of sheets there was some delay causing us to be late to the line.

FYI, the scale is wrong. I think the squares are miles, so we were far enough a part for safety.

Jalapeno broke several blocks. Another J/30 blew up a spinnaker. We didn't break a thing. Just one scary broach.

I am going shopping today for a second set of sheets to make the sail exchange a bit more efficient.

If I was picking a favorite to win NAs next year, it would be Jalapeno. They have this boat dialed in! Over the years, the Zephyr and Jalapeno have matched raced trading victories. This year it was nice to see Gritz and Hot Chocolate winning!

Dave

Here is a good video of race 2 at LPRC taken from a Melges 32.

they take trades with a J30 on the Melges???

and what is better dry suit or wet suit???

and does it really need more strength or equal strength to drive??? probably less because it is balanced better.

but what about dousing spin ... can 13 year old handle it???

So OK ... one of the "younger" guys in our "spin" group down here sent me this note ... after I sent them a copy of the video link and wondered if it would be a good kick up for "us"

"Got to be able to hike like mad both uphill and downhill on Melges to get optimum performance. Would require a lot of people in top condition to muscle it around a race course."

Like hey I can hike out ... I didn't see anyone doing anything special muscle work on that video that we don't do on a J30.


what is "hike" anyway?

so OK hiking as defined by Melges ... Hiking legal vs illegal on a Melges

FYI the primary owner of that Melges 32 is the CEO of Cafe Dumonde. I think Johnny Lovell. the Olympic sailor was on board that 20+ mile sleigh ride.