Racing boat speed..
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Technique
Forum Discription: 'How to' section for dinghy questions and answers
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12445
Printed Date: 26 Jun 25 at 11:05am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Racing boat speed..
Posted By: elzorillo
Subject: Racing boat speed..
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 4:04pm
|
I'm a relative newcomer to racing but I'm totally hooked.. I have a question... So I'm on the start line.. buzzer goes.. everyone is off.. Terrible start (god knows why.. lack of experience probably) but my boat speed is slower than pretty much everyone else in the line and I'm gradually falling back.. everyone is on the same starboard tack.. so.. do I bare away to increase speed a bit then tighten back up.. hold my course slipping further behind... tack off to the side of the water with less breeze? What's your opinion? Sorry to ask what may be a basic question but well.. I'm a beginner :p |
Replies:
Posted By: MerlinMags
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 4:09pm
| Was your boat 100% flat (i.e. mast vertical) 100% of the time? That would be a big thing to check. |
Posted By: elzorillo
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 4:13pm
| Yeah, boat was flat.. probably sail trim etc to blame as I'm not that experienced.. but as I get in this position often, I'm interested in the best course of action to remedy it.. Obv solution is to not get in this position.. but thats my next task ;) |
Posted By: bustinben
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 4:19pm
|
Welcome to the best sport in the world! Your question is unfortunately the biggest question you can ask! There are a couple of aspects here: 1. Boatspeed - you need to be as fast or faster than all the boats around you in order to hold your lane going off the start. How do you do that? It depends on so many factors, but basically the more time on the water you spend the quicker you should get and it will be a search for the perfect combination of rig setup, sail trim, boat trim, body movements and steering. 2. Start execution - if you start a tiny bit back from the boat to leeward, you're going to be going backwards relative to them unless you've got a significant speed advantage due to the dirty air you'll experience around them. If you're not as quick as them or only as quick and you don't get off the line as well, it's just a matter of time (sometimes not very much time!) before you get spat out the back. Don't worry too much about it when this happens because the differences are massively amplified when you're in close proximity. It will make you look much slower than you really are!
|
Posted By: elzorillo
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 4:49pm
Thanks for the advice 
|
Posted By: craiggo
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 5:11pm
|
If you're a beginner I would guess that you haven't yet mastered the fine controls for the sails, ie. Cunningham, kicker, outhaul, which all play a part in maximising your boat speed.
Out of interest what are you sailing? If it's a laser, one of the biggest issues is not pulling the mainsheet in hard enough, and not using enough outhaul. If your sail is too full it will generate too much drag for upwind sailing. ------------- OK 2129 RS200 411 |
Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 6:09pm
|
I think your answer partly lies in the second sentence of your question "terrible start" dinghy racing is a cruel game on the first beat and once the sharp sailors get the jump on you and you get even a hint of their dirty air it is a case of the rich getting richer and the poor poorer. It'll take a better man than me to tell you a foolproof way back from a poor start, not easy but somehow you need to find clear air or a more favoured tack. |
Posted By: Oinks
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 6:32pm
| The good news is....not everyone gets the best start. Only a relative few boats manage that. Whilst you are developing your sailing skills, perhaps focus less on the right end of the line (where everyone will be jousting anyway) and concentrate on being on the line and moving at the gun in reasonably clear air. You'll have more scope to sail the first beat reasonably unencumbered and may steal a jump on the boats that didn't get a great start at the right end. |
Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 6:45pm
|
Good advice from Oinks. Stay away from the nutters usually scrapping at the Committee boat end and try to sail your boat in clear air as efficiently as you can. |
Posted By: KazR
Date Posted: 08 Jul 16 at 9:28pm
| The best way out of a bad start is to recognise you're going to have one early - then bail out and make a new plan. Often if you bail out early you can get out into clear air early if a little behind the fleet, but having clear air is worth tons. If you bail out really early you may have time to line up again for a good start |
Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 10 Jul 16 at 7:44pm
|
It would help to know what the boat is, but here's why you're dropping back, happened to me the other night for an entirely different reason (Trying to sail my boat with half it's daggerboard missing).
So here it is start 101. At the start you have the potential to lose places big time, 1 sec can cost you dozens of places, 1 second mistake at the windward mark you might lose one place 1 second at the start and you lose places at the rate number of competitors /3 times each lost second., Basically the line up even if they are all exactly equal and start simultaneously only one third can get away clean, then that third will divide by three again, then again until one goes round the top mark first. That's if they were all identical in speed and in a constant wind. So what happens to you, the boat immediately below you if you allow him to get even 1 foot ahead will immediately by virtue of another 'lee bow effect, the none tidal one' which bends the airflow between you and forces you to sail a kind of header making it difficult to point as high, and of course the boat above you then immediately covers your windward air supply and it's game over, you are now in the rear third, those two boats then go forward and the same will happen to them as they close on each other. Try and start either slightly ahead or up at the pin end and get out the back door in clear air. Starts are a very important part of racing if you want to be anywhere near the top half of the fleet, there are lots of books and stuff on start lines, get reading them, it's more to do with tactics on the start line than boat tuning, but everyone blames boat tuning as it is an easy cop out. ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: elzorillo
Date Posted: 11 Jul 16 at 2:42pm
|
Thanks for all the advice.. once my neck, back and knees recover from this weekends sailing I'll be straight on it. |