Planning has now started for the 2010 season including events for people who would like to give match racing a go in a more relaxed format. This year Match Racing supported the E-Boat class association when they ran a highly successful, enjoyable – and damage-free – event of their own. If you would like to give match racing a try, either as an individual or as a club or class association, please email [email protected]
Sailing the SailFleet J80s in wind
When the wind gets up the SailFleet J80s are quite a physical boat to sail. The boats are quite weight sensitive so they place a premium on good crew work.
Trim
The teams that can keep the main working the longest have a distinct advantage when the wind is really blowing.
Keeping the leach closed has been shown to be critical in all wind strengths as once it’s wound up the keel holds pretty much anything you throw at it. The mast is quite soft so with plenty of back stay on wanging on the kicker just bends it further and flattens the main with out closing the leach. The up shot is that once the back stay is more than ≤ on vang sheeting isn’t an option.
You are allowed to hike from the loaded sheet when match racing and that really gives you the opportunity to get the weight over the side. The simplest thing for the sheet hand to do is to cross their legs front foot on top of the back, place the main sheet in the v that’s formed and hike your heart out. As you get used to it you can begin to play the main a bit with your legs but it’s mostly up to the helm to play the traveler in the gusts. The No. 2 can use the same technique to hike from the jib sheet as well. Darragh O’Conner is probably the best exponent of main sheet hiking at the moment. He looks to be flicking the mainsheet over his feet and round the windward winch.
Check this out …
When it really honks the teams also move the jib cars back from the standard ‘8 holes showing from the back’ to about ‘4 holes showing’.
Tacking
Tacking when it’s windy is pretty straight forward and most teams have settled on the same approach. Getting the weight out the new side seam is the critical issue when it comes to getting a squirt out of the tacks. The sheet hand should just head for the high side, hook up the main sheet and hike. Similarly the No. 2 takes the lazy sheet with them and heads for the new side, releasing the loaded sheet as they go if it was cleated off. The bow drops in and winches the jib in, preps the released sheet for the next tack and then hits the high side. The helm drops the main all the way down the traveler and then winds it back on to load the helm back up once the keel is working.
Windward mark
The open debate seems to be over what to do with the pole. There are three options that teams are using:
Pole up first – To enable the pole to be hoisted outside the jib on starboard tack the pole down haul needs to be rigged under and outside of the port sheet. This also helps with the drop and a normal port approach as well. Pole up first gives the most control over the kite, letting you sail above dead down wind and projecting the kite away from the main. It also helps the guy clear the tack of the jib. The best technique seems to be to clip the guy well in advance. Bow hoists the pole and clips it on the mast once it’s up. A half hoisted pole is a disaster as it chokes down on the kite heavily.
No pole – Going with no pole is the other extreme. This works particularly well when you have enough of a gap on the boat behind and you want to break away or if you are for a fast hoist to get onto the boat in fronts wind. The disadvantages are that you have to sail dead downwind so it’s not good if you have to luff to defend or attack and it’s slower in the long run as you sail with the kite strapped. The tack of the kite gets caught under the roller fuller so there is a knack to keeping the jib sheeted until the guy frees and then roll the jib so it’s not blocking the kite.
Kite first, then pole – Well, it’s the obvious third alternative really. If you go for this one don’t clip the guy until the pole is up as it will choke the kite. The sequence is hoist the kite, hoist the pole, clip the guy and then clip the pole on the mast.
Downwind without the kite – Get the bowman to sit with their back to the mast and their feet pushing the clew of the jib out. This requires co-ordination with the no. 2 as it need the right amount of sheet tension to get right.
Leeward mark – Whichever option you go for the pole has to come off before the jib is unfurled. The kite is always dropped to starboard outside of both kite sheets and into the forward hatch. The sheet hand has to pay attention to not letting the sheet drop over the bow.
The standard technique (for a kiwi or windward) is pole down, jib out, kite down. If you unfurl the jib at the same time as dropping the kite more than likely you’ll get some kind of wrap involving the top of the jib and the kite halyard.
The state of the art is currently. Pole off, no. 2 steps up to the mast and blows the kite halyard, bow jumps down the forward hatch with the starboard sheet/guy and drops from the sewer, jib is unfurled straight into trim for the beat as the boat rounds the mark.
