A club sailor goes to the J24 nationals

A club sailor goes to the J24 nationals, and comes back a changed man

I am not quite sure how it happened, but somehow ‘Jobs for the Buoys’ went to the J24 nationals in Plymouth with a crew of the two Jardines, Stuart and Adrian, Annie Lush fresh from winning the Rolex Womens Match Racing Worlds and Chris, our foredeck from ‘Bear of Britain,’ Oh, and me, one of the four owners from Parkstone Yacht Club.

It turned out to be the type of experience that no corporate jolly, no Club series or any television programme can really prepare you for, and that coming from someone who has sailed a J24 for 24 years and who races more than 70 times a year. Slow learner? How about, in this company, a flat learning curve and, it transpires, about as much accrued knowledge as Jeremy Clarkson has political correctness.

Alright, you say, what did you learn? Well to start at the beginning, I learnt that professional sailors speak a different language to us club racers. Certainly it sounds the same, with lifts, knocks, headers and shifts, but for them the quietly confident mutterings are supported by the Tacticks emulating every call. Not that I saw it much from my position glued to the rail, on an infuriatingly flat deck.

Then there was clean wind, I need an exclusion zone around me, not the same for a proper sailor, because they have two abilities we ordinary mortals don’t have, the ability to look at the bigger picture and not race for the few (often lowly) positions around us, and the ability to change gear before you grind to a halt. So we were always flat, always fast and never in a meaningless spat with our fellows, sorry, club sailors, I know I can sometimes choose the correct side of a beat, I just can’t get there without being in someone else’s crisis or dirt.

Going around corners is another area fraught with problems for the Club sailor at a big event, you arrive, shout a random rule and then loose five or six places, not so with the trained and practiced group on ‘Jobs’. With them you arrive where and when you want, don’t say a word, gain a few places, but come out of the mark with a whole new group of friends, miles ahead of the ones you were with on the last leg, and going where you and not the pack want to go.

Please don’t mention the obvious, if one leeward mark looks bigger than the other it must be nearer, yes I knew that, that the boat inside you is going higher not because he’s got Norths, Doyles, Hydes or, Quantums, but because he’s inside of the lift, yes I knew that, VMG is great, but not if you are going the wrong way fast, and are not in the position to maximise the advantage of the next shift.

Anything else picked up in a few days? It does seem strange how many people will invest in travel, accommodation, catering, time etc. but not in new kit. We fitted new lifelines and halliards, but still needed a backstay and a better boom ( I thought white to match the mast was good, however aesthetics were secondary if your Kenyon resembled a banana every time your new cascade kicker was applied, and to make it worse, you have never noticed before) , Check kit and chuck kit is our new ‘mantra’ ,(or is that an Opel?) if the bits come off the boat they were not good enough then, so they are not a spare they are scrap, so Beaulieu boat jumble for them!

The next things are simple statements generated, so I am told, by years of doing big number regattas and windward/leeward courses, they are really obvious and therefore impossible to achieve or remember in the heat of the battle, sorry race, unless you also do a lot of this type of racing;

• Don’t make mistakes, the other boats generate their own mistakes, so keeping clean is vital, yet again, back to sailing the whole fleet not just the nearest and dearest.
• Mark roundings, are about position before, during and after, not just the rounding.
• The good guys know when and why they change gear to maximise the next advantage.
• Getting in a groove, and changing gear for different conditions is important but not vital. Racing is not a time trial around the course, so position, position, position, counts the most.
• Maximise that same position for the next shift
• Why are all my mates who club race sailing with shorter keels and tippier boats? The top boats are always sailed flat, up and down wind.
• And the key unfortunately is,’ there are no secrets’!

Conclusion? Club sailors are obsessed with boat speed and the five boats around them, and that will probably help them in most club races, but in a big fleet you need a bigger everything. That means a bigger; overview, vision, plan, communication skill, tolerance, sail budget and level of preparation.

How did we do? Well, with a random crew, a foredeck new to the narrow end, crew changed during the week, 35 kilos light, only six legs over the side, one slipped disc and one broken traveller, in that order, we got a fifth overall and discarding an eleventh, yes, discarding most guys best result ! and most importantly a great week, with great company, good wind and a super host Club and race management and a brilliant fleet of sailors. Sailing like this could become addictive I feel.