June Mainsheet Racing Column

The 2007 racing season is off to a great start! We started the season with nine Albergs racing in the Annapolis National Offshore One-Design (NOOD) regatta. The NOOD is a three day regatta that regularly sees over 250 boats in attendance racing in three divisions. For the Albergs this is also our Maple Leaf Trophy regatta. The winner of the NOOD receives a half-model of his or her boat--arguably the nicest trophy given by the association.

The conditions this year were frustrating at times, but overall the competitors had a great time. Friday saw such light winds that the only race that was started had to be abandoned before the racers completed the first upwind leg. The saving grace was that the torrential downpour that was coming down during breakfast thankfully stopped just as the boats left for the race course.

Saturday started by looking like a carbon copy of Friday: no wind. However, a little before lunch, the wind came marching out of the Severn as if by some magical command. No sooner had the Albergs started did the wind die. Thankfully this time it came back up (although with something of a 100 degree direction change), and two races were completed.

The NOOD courses are always multiple laps around short windward—leeward courses. This produces fast races where good starts can make a big difference. Upwind strategy is important, taking current, wind pressure and oscillations into account all the way. Downwind, getting the spinnaker up quickly is vital to success, and depending on the wind pressure, deciding between a Rhumb line course and "tacking downwind" can be a tough decision one has to face. Since there are a lot of sail changes and transitions, crew work is action-packed--there's not much sitting on the rail in the NOOD. In fact, on my boat, our foredeckman wore a new watch that recorded his heart rate throughout the race. It was quite interesting to see his heart rate jump up at different points in the race--especially when he had to climb the mast to try to untangle a stuck spinnaker halyard!

Sunday brought with it steady wind that allowed two more races. I'll leave the sea stories to be told over beers at the next rendezvous by those who sailed in the boats.

It was tight racing with many boats in contention for silver throughout the weekend. T.C. Williams and his crew aboard Argo won the day through consistent speed and teamwork. Hats off to Argo! I've listed the overall results below.

Division: Alberg 30 (9 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	Total Points
1	247	Argo	T.C. Williams	2	1	2	2	7.00
2	57	Infinity	Charles Currier	3	5	1	1	10.00
3	550	Skybird	Rolph Townshend	5	2	3	4	14.00
4	244	LinGin	Tim Williams	1	3	10/DNF	3	17.00
5	562	Windswept	Lanny Helms	6	6	4	5	21.00
6	287	Calliope	John Bergquist	4	7	6	8	25.00
7	197	Laughing Gull	Jonathan Adams	7	4	7	7	25.00
8	567	Andante	Andrew Cole	9	8	5	9	31.00
9	484	Second-2-Nun	Harry Gamber	8	9	8	6	31.00

Upcoming Races

Depending on when you receive this letter, you may be able to join us for the Ted Osius Regatta on June 10th. This is an "around the bouys" race, meaning we don't end up at a destination at the end of the racing, so it lends itself to a nice simple day of racing. It's typically held right at the mouth of the Severn River and is a lot of fun. Ted's name is found on many of the Alberg trophies and I can remember being on LinGin chasing after his boat as a boy. It's a great regatta to support the memory of one of our own great sailors.

Beyond the Osius regatta, we Alberg racers take July and August off--and that's okay for me; there's rarely much wind and it is too hot!

--Tim Williams

Wednesday Night Summary: Race No. 3

We were successful in winning the third WNR of the first series this year. The conditions were 6-8 kts out of the south with limited seas.

When we come to the Severn from Whitehall Creek, we have the advantage of getting to see the conditions out in the Bay and to watch the Etchells (first class to start) make their way up the windward leg. Tonight we saw steady conditions and felt the wind would build a bit as we got out to the Bay.

The start was key to getting out ahead. As we all know, you need to have clear air and speed (or momentum) for a good Alberg start. As we neared the start time, the wind seemed to languish a bit, so we stayed very near the line.

A key to a successful start is to sight the line. To do this, before the start, sail outside the pin end of the line and sight the pin, the flag on the committee boat and something on shore. When you are starting, you can sight the flag on the committee boat and the thing on shore to know how close you are to the line. Take care to be aware if the committee moved the line between your sighting and the start!

We started mid-line to keep clear air and make it easier to ensure we had speed. After two tacks up to the first mark, we decided to stay high of the course to the next mark. One of the big boat starts had been recalled and restarted after us. (We are usually the last class to start since we’re slow.) They were now rolling over us and by staying high we were able to keep clear air and speed, even though we sailed a longer distance.

Rounding the next mark, we had to head to an inflatable mark toward Tolly Point, making this leg a beat. We were tempted to tack as soon as we rounded—here’s why: we rounded on starboard tack coming off a reach and rounding up to close hauled. The big boats coming behind us point better than we can and are on starboard as they come around. We’ve been pinned down after the rounding, unable to tack onto port and cross the line of big boats and unable to point high enough to keep clear air.

This time the rounding was a bit different, though. We felt we would not get rolled too badly by the big boats, and we wanted to get out toward the Bay as soon as possible. We felt there would be a lift as the wind bends around Tolly and it looked like there was better pressure out there. This was a bit risky as we watched Argo and Skybird tack after rounding the mark. We managed the risk by tacking about half way up the beat and loosely covering them. I’m not sure we made out much by going left, but we seemed to hold our lead.

From that mark we popped the chute and the LinGin crew worked hard to keep us going as fast as possible. One thing you quickly learn in the WNR is that a lead out in the river can QUICKLY be erased in the harbor as the wind drops significantly and the boats behind catch up. You can’t relax until you’ve crossed that line!

The crew did a great job and we’re looking forward to the next race.

--Tim

Wednesday Night Summary: Race No. 2

We did a great job on race number 2, but made one big mistake. After rounding the upwind mark in first with Towney hot on our heals, we were headed toward the Bay Bridge in a north wind. We had to tack to make the next mark and while the wind was strong (10-12 kts.), the seas were BIG and sloppy.

As we came around the mark, I came up and instructed Nick to put the jib at 6" off the spreader so that we would have power through the waves. At times it looked like we might lay the mark. I watched Towney and he bore away from the mark by perhaps 20 degrees! I thought, "man, that's WAY low...maybe he's having trouble pointing." I should know better by now!

About half way up the leg, we hit the worst of the waves and were almost completely stopped numerous times. Did I bear off and head over toward Towney? No. I stubbornly kept trying to point to that mark, and I paid dearly.

Towney tacked--way out there--and when we came to cross he had a solid 10 boat-length lead! Ugh. We did some great spinnaker work, but we could not overcome the distance I gave up.

Note to self (and crew): VMG is king and Albergs don't go upwind in waves well! Don't be afraid to signficantly bear off in chop and keep the speed up.

Now if we just had some polar plots that told us what our target speed should be in any given conditions. ;-)

--Tim

Glen's Heart Rate on the NOOD

To show you how rough it was on Glen out there doing foredeck on the third day of the NOOD, check out this link using Internet Explorer (Firefox won't render it properly):

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/player.mb?episodePk.pkValue=2603146

Glen wore his GPS watch during the race along with it's heart rate monitor. If you select "Heart Rate" from the "Zone" list on the left, you'll see his heart rate throughout the race. Can you tell where he went up the mast to unloose the halyard?!

Pretty nifty, huh?

--Tim

2007 NOOD Summary

Ahh...it's been busy as usual and due to our 4th place overall at the NOOD, I've been lax in the write ups.

The first day of the NOOD was a lesson in frustration: no wind for many hours, and then a small breeze. The race committee thought about getting a race started for about the duration of the small zephyr itself. By the time the start happened, the wind had died significantly. We didn't make it to the first mark before the race was called off and the day was done.

The second day of the NOOD started the same as the first: no wind. It came in, but then by the time the A30 start occurred, it died again. We correctly read the tea leaves (all those terrible Canadian Friendship Race starts finally started to sink in), and saw that there was a serious current that would keep us from getting across the line unless we were right on it. We got out in front at that start and kept first the whole way around.

The second race was not as good as the first. I completely misjudged the amount of bad air coming off of the line of A30s starting and we found ourselves that the back of the pack. We tried to read the wind up the windward leg, but I don't think we ever figured it out. The spinnaker work by Brian Palmer and the crew was great and we clawed our way back to third. We were in decent shape: Argo had a 1st and a 2nd to put her in 1st. We were second and Skybird was in 3rd--but he had a poor showing in race one (a 5th)--so we had a slight bit of breathing room.

The third day of racing gave us nice breeze, but both our 1st (Scott) and 2nd (Brian) string foredeckmen were unable to make the race. No problem, Super Glen to the rescue! Unfortunately, that meant no tactician to help support me and I can attest that's not a good situation.

Hats off to Glen; he had his hands full. We had halyard troubles in the first race and the spinnaker got stuck halfway up. We made good time even still and moved from 6th to 3rd by the time we got to the leeward mark, but unable to get the spinnaker down, we had to sail about a mile beyond the mark before we successfully retrieved the sail down. We were forced to drop out of that race.

At that point, we knew we had almost no hope of placing in the regatta. Argo, Skybird and Infinity had solid numbers and unless similar misfortune struck them, we were out of the running.

The crew worked hard in the last race and put in a good effort: we came in 3rd. Overall we received a 4th for the regatta, which kept us out of the silver, but I think keeps us in fine shape for High Point.

Great work, crew. We should all be proud of our efforts!

--Tim

Division: Alberg 30 (9 boats) (top)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	4	5	Total Points	Pos
1	247	Argo	T.C. Williams	2	1	2	2	7.00	1
2	57	Infinity	Charles Currier	3	5	1	1	10.00	2
3	550	Skybird	Rolph Townshend	5	2	3	4	14.00	3
4	244	LinGin	Tim Williams	1	3	10/DNF	3	17.00	4
5	562	Windswept	Lanny Helms	6	6	4	5	21.00	5
6	287	Calliope	John Bergquist	4	7	6	8	25.00	6
7	197	Laughing Gull	Jonathan Adams	7	4	7	7	25.00	7
8	567	Andante	Andrew Cole	9	8	5	9	31.00	8
9	484	Second-2-Nun	Harry Gamber	8	9	8	6	31.00	9

Wednesday Night Summary: Race No. 1

The race this past Wednesday was basically a straight shot out and back. Not a lot of tactics involved per se. The wind was out of the NE around 10 kts and we sailed with full sails powered up.

After watching the previous starts, we decided the pin end was favored and gave the best angle for speed and shortest distance to the first mark. Clear air and boat speed are vital for a good Alberg start. 9,000 lbs of momentum takes awhile to develop if you don't have it at the gun.

The first leg we looked to keep in clear air and not mess with the other classes that can easily interfere with our efforts. We then rounded the mark and stayed high of our next course to force the other classes below us and to keep us above the spinnakers coming back.

After rounding the mark, we set the chute and as it was a short leg, took it down quickly. As we came around the next mark, a Melges 24 rounded up and smacked us in the port quarter, about a foot from the transom. It made a big sound, and I remarked that I knew who won that battle! We had a small scratch in our teak toe rail. I kept the pieces of gelcoat the Melges left with us as a prize. After we raised our protest flag, they did their circles and continued on. It looked like they sustained a nice 2" crack in their bow. Ouch.

The rest of the race was a foot race into the harbor. The boats behind caught up a bit as the breeze died down in the harbor, but with the spinnaker up, we took a broad reach toward the Naval Academy sea wall and then went all the way to to the gas station next to AYC. Towney took a direct route almost dead downwind and as we gybed, it became apparent that our higher angle on the wind gave us the speed we needed to keep the lead.

Our crew did a great job with the spinnaker work, especially Brian Palmer who is not our regular foredeckman. We're all looking forward to next week's race.

--Tim
LinGin #244