Ralph Kelley made some comments about the Dallas Blowout IOM regatta that I
thought were very useful indeed to any sailor intent on improving their
performance. I've added some comment of my own in various places, enclosed
in "[ ]".
10 March 2003
Hello to all our Blowout competitors.
As the Race Director for the Blowout, I’ll make a couple of observations.
1. I did not observe any boat design having a significant advantage.
Unlike some regattas in the past, there was no domination of any particular
boat. A wide variety of designs -- wide or narrow hulls, flattish bottom or
deep U shape sections, narrow or wide keels, shorter and wider rudders on some
and deep, narrow rudders on others they all performed well if they were sailed
well. My conclusion is that one cannot buy a regatta championship by getting
the latest hot hull, keel, or ballast shape. One must sail well, stay out of
trouble, and watch for shifts. [As I mention on my Doing
well page, there seem to be two things needed. Ralph has one of them
exactly right, sailing competence. But while the latest hot boat
certainly won't win for you, for sure your sailing competence will struggle to
bring results if you have a dog of a boat.]
2. Likewise, a wide variety of sails were used and again, there did
not appear to be any dominant sail-maker.
3. Boats that finished in the front, almost without exception, had a
start on the front row. They may not have been in the very best position on
the line for the particular wind shift of the moment, but they were in clear
air compared with the boats in the second or third tier at the start.
[An excellent point. It has taken me a while to realise that clear air
is better than almost anything else at the start.]
4. I was surprised that even after a large number of dip starts by
the very visible hot pink craft, nobody followed Don Martin’s lead to do the
same. Don repeatedly found some space in the front row by dipping below the
line within the last 10 seconds. This would not be possible under the I flag
rule, but until this around the ends rule is put in place, it can be an
effective starting technique. [Ralph has identified an important point for
students of race craft. Not just the dip start, but any method of starting
which gives an advantage not detected or not believed by the rest of the
fleet. I've done spectacularly well in the past by electing to start late but
at the highly favoured end of the line. I've seen Mark Dennis win handsomely
by electing to start at the severely unfavoured end of the line -- but it was
the place where the next shift always came in with stronger winds.]
5. As in all past regattas in which the initial weather leg was
fairly short and there is not a lot of distance to get some separation in the
fleet, some first mark lessons were clear for all to see. A skipper who tried
to sneak inside at the initial weather mark, or who did not stay well clear of
the gang-up that always occurred at this mark, almost always lost a lot of
places compared to those who took a more conservative approach and simply
sailed around the gang bumping together with themselves and the mark.
6. Independent of other aspects of boats fouling each other, I saw a
lot of boats doing what they perceived to be a 360 degree penalty turn. Most
were actually taking 270 degree turns. As an example a boat on port going to
weather fouls a starboard tacker. He peels off and jibes, then heads upwind on
starboard. This is not a complete 360 just a 270. He needed to go back to port
via another distance-consuming tack to complete a full circle.
7. I was pleased to see that most of those over early did not foul
those who started properly as they got back over the line and started
properly.
8. Sunday, with its variable wind velocity did show that the skippers
who have outfitted their boats for rapid rig change did have an advantage.
This should not be as big a problem where there are more than two heats, but
at our normal two heat events, this can be quite important. As an example, Rob
seems to be able to change rigs in well under 5 minutes and as a result, was
able to do it without being in a crisis mode. [If you want to take
this seriously -- and you do, don't you? -- you need to be able to change your
IOM rig and launch in two minutes. That is the time from the
start of the music to the one-minute prep signal, and you can't launch within
the final one-minute count-down in an international event.]
9. We were able to hold 27 races, or 54 heats. Now that is a lot of
races. No, that’s a LOT of races. And many of you sailed many more than 27
heats, particularly if you were on the A-B bubble and sailed a B, then an A,
then a B, then an A and so forth. At a minimum you sailed 27 starts, around 54
weather marks, around 54 leeward gates and 27 finishes. Make contact with your
keelboat racer buddies and compare this one weekend to their entire season
last year. Clearly the model world is a great way to play at the sailboat
racing game.
Ralph Kelley
Nice list, Ralph. Thanks.
