# First time single-hand race



## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

I thought I'd share my latest debacle, 'cause I'm honest like that.

I signed up for a 17.5nm singlehand race that started in my river. I'm not a huge fan of solo racing, but this one was so convenient and people are always screaming for participation in organized sailing events that I really had no excuse not to participate.

I spent a lot of time reviewing the NOR, and programming the 2 possible routes into my GPS. (I used OpenCPN to build the route and input it into the GPS which was easy and convenient)

The race was from the West River, out into the Chesapeake, around some gov't marks, and back. Breezes had been from the S and SE for a few days, building up a 2-3' wave with a very short period, waves from due South. (Read: a crappy chop)

The forecast was for a gray day with 10-15kt breezes from the SE. As I sat at the dock before the race, the breeze seemed to get much stronger, so I pussed out and bent on my 100% jib.

The synopsis is basically this:

The breeze moderated, so the small headsail absolutely killed me. I didn't have enough drive to power through the chop and I wasn't comfortable going forward on the upwind leg out in the Bay to change it out.

The next mistake I made, was to foot way off to SW to take the waves on the forward quarter, instead of directly on the bow because the chop was grinding me down to 3kts. I gained boat speed by footing, but failed to check my VMG. If I had, I would have seen that I would have been faster by just slogging through it. I was tacking through about 150 degrees in an attempt to keep the waves on the quarter and maintain boat speed. This was absolutely wrong.

After a seeming eternity, I rounded the windward mark. I set the autopilot and launched the asymmetrical spinnaker (slightly small cruising chute). This was pretty much the only part of the race that went well. I made about 7kts SOG/6.5kts STW with 10-12 kts of wind at my back.

I rounded the mark at Thomas Pt. Lighthouse and attempted to carry the spinnaker back to the West River. It worked well for a while, being on the edge of usable point of sail for the asymm but the wind shifted to the S from SE and began slowing me down. I was slow to observe this and douse the spinnaker.

While dousing, the autopilot failed due to a loose power connection and the boat did an unplanned gybe with me at the mast. One of my traveller blocks blew apart. I wasted more precious time sailing slightly off course and out of trim while I repaired the block.

Finally back on course, jib up, I sailed upwind the rest of the way to the finish line in a strengthening breeze. My 130% genoa still would have been more appropriate.

My final huge mistake was that there were two red balls near the finish line and I crossed the wrong one and wasted time tacking upwind to get to it. I should have kept the NOR in the cockpit in a plastic document sleeve.

I did cross the correct finish line but it hardly mattered, I was super-last.

I had a lot of good strategy, but my execution was poor. I err on the side of caution so much, that I stepped down in headsail size when I shouldn't have. I need to get more familiar with the features on my GPS, and understand that boat speed isn't everything if you're driving way off course. Keep the NOR in the cockpit.

So there ya have it.


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## lapworth (Dec 19, 2008)

If your not first your last. Sounds like good times.


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

Nice write-up, bubbles. On the bright side, you know what NOT to do next time.
And you got a day on the water- nothing beats that.


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

Nice write up bubble. Sucky race...but nice write up. Heh-heh. Actually, it sounds like you know exactly what went wrong. I bet you're not last next time.

The whole good strategy/poor execution sums up my entire scholastic career. So I feel your pain.

3 weeks until my first off-shore race. Count on a write up.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

smackdaddy said:


> Nice write up bubble. Sucky race...but nice write up. Heh-heh. Actually, it sounds like you know exactly what went wrong. I bet you're not last next time.
> 
> The whole good strategy/poor execution sums up my entire scholastic career. So I feel your pain.
> 
> *3 weeks until my first off-shore race*. Count on a write up.


Really?? Excellent man, I can't wait to hear about it.

Some of my mistakes, I knew right away. Some of it was pointed out to me by more experienced friends who sail very well.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Bubble,

Another thing you can do when the waves are built up, is when the waves are calmer, sail more up wind, when you get those three big ones, sail slightly off, ie work you way up wind depending upon sea state. 

Like all things great and small, even if you get a first across like I did last in last wednesday nights race, we still learned some things, did some things great, really wrong, but it were better than my best day working!

I'm still hoping to come up with a ST2000 one of these days to make it so I can SH reasonably easy vs the rope style hold the tiller there!

Marty


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Still and all, not a bad day and like all of us there's always something to learn!

Nicely told!


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

blt2ski said:


> Bubble,
> 
> Another thing you can do when the waves are built up, is when the waves are calmer, sail more up wind, when you get those three big ones, sail slightly off, ie work you way up wind depending upon sea state.
> 
> ...


Heh, the pattern was kind of the opposite of what you describe. Pound, pound, pound, pound, _lull_, Pound some more.

Oh, something else I did wrong but forgot to mention-

After a while, I found myself sailing closer to shore and the water was getting shallow (compared to where I was previously). This made the waves even steeper and closer together which was just worse. I made the decision to tack out to deeper water and things got noticably "less bad". But still bad.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Nice write up. I have always enjoyed single and double-handed racing. I see it as a way of learning what works and what does not work since I mostly daysail and cruise single or double handed. The cool thing about short-handed racing is that there seems to be lessons learned every race. 

The fact that you simply got around the course flew the chute, and came away with a clearer understanding of what you did right and wrong, I would suggest that it actually sounds like you did very well for a first attempt at a single-handed race. 

I would not feel even slightly badly about your finish. It is hard to beat owners who single-handedly race with any frequency, since they know how their boats behave short-handed and will often have a sail inventory and deck layout which is specifically optimized for that purpose. But also, those were tricky conditions; conditions in which most of us who race our boats get used to making sail choices based on crew weight on the rail and a mainsail trimmer playing the traveller in the gusts and lulls. With crew, we know precisely which sails we would select for any particular condition and make sail changes on the downwind legs. But single-handed you ideally make the right choice at the dock. But of course, without experience with racing in those conditions, it is hard to make the right choice for the conditions, especially on a masthead rigged boat where headsail selection is so critical and you don't have the luxury of using mast bend to quickly power up and down. 

Thank you for sharing your experience. I respectfully suggest that these kinds of insightful write ups are very helpful to others. 

Respectfully,
Jeff


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Not knowing the area, another that makes waves steep and short, is tides. Were you close to shore with current and waves opposite ea other? where farther out the current was not as bad? Not sure if there are current charts at different part of the tide ranges like I can find for here in Puget Sound north into BC or not, but another something to help you prep a potential course too. 

Also, try to find out as I did the other day, a better understanding of how the wind will clock around in your area. For me, if a southerly is going on, the east shore for a bit will clock out of the SE, giving one a bit better tacking angle for going south, along with the waves in my case, will usually be a bit less. Maybe there is an old phart that can give you some pointers this way too. Helped me a bit last wed, altho not as good as I hoped, but we still did pretty good. dispite grounding, getting knocked down putting up the spin, broken vang rivets.............

Marty


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

I appreciate your insight Jeff.

The real kick in the teeth, was that I had the right sail bent on, and chickened out, just minutes before the start and put on the 100% jib.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

blt2ski,

The Chesapeake doesn't usually have very strong currents or very wide ranging tides, but the venting of the Susquehanna River into the Bay recently has increased current a bit, and brought a torrent of junk into the Bay.

I wear a watch that tracks the local tides and it showed that the race started on the tail end an outgoing tide, against the waves, but this changed to an incoming tide within the first hour or two. There may have been some extra, residual wave action from this. I'm not certain.


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## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Bubble, thank you for sharing. Don’t beat yourself up over one race – we’ve all been there. I was DFL on my first race by close to 30 minutes! Right then and there I vowed that I would cut my losing time in half… Then it was to beat the last place boat… then to finish mid-fleet and so on. Racing is complicated and hard to do, that is why we love it so much. My experience is the difference between the front and back of the pack is the number of mistakes made. Sail a clean race and you’ll be in the front half of the pack. Sail selection is a tough one. I too, have made (in hindsight) the wrong decision for a smaller headsail right before the start. I also gone too large and generated some business for my sail maker. How easily (and quickly) can you reef? I can reef “on the fly” which gives me the option of a larger headsail. The downside is you are flirting with being overpowered when you really want a rounder entry on jib and main to give you the power and acceleration to bust through chop. Each boat is different and part of the fun is “dialing in” your boat to find it’s optimum operating parameters. You are doing the right thing by performing a post mortem. That is how we learn. You will get better. I look forward to your next report.

Smack, only three weeks away! I can’t wait to read your write-up too. If I can give you just one piece of advice and that is STAY ON THE BOAT! No matter how hard your crew mates try to heave you over the side, STAY ON THE BOAT!


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## CharlieCobra (May 23, 2006)

Bubble, you should be happy with the lessons learned. I still remember your first sail and the flack you took after that one. No worries, be happy. Go racing some more....


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## mikieg (Oct 29, 2010)

*single-hand race*

i too single handed my 525 for the first time last week. i'd like to start out saying that it was the most terrifying experience i have lived thru! first of all i was using the only head sail i own in a 15+ knot wind. the problem was that the sail is a genoa. keep in mind, this boat is designed to go fast in nearly no wind. 
so once i got out of the marina, i had to raise the sails. this was tricky as the tiller refused to cooperate. but after many a sailed circles, the sails were finally up. but not before nearly being thrown overboard and loosing my favorite dewalt sunglasses to davey jones. those sails are violent! terrified!
now came the task of sailing out of the cut. this was interesting as the wind was blowing straight into it. how hard could this be. after all, i have seen children accomplish this. well folks, it proved to be no small feat! if you were watching from afar, you would have wondered why this boat is sailing laps near the mouth of the breakwater. 
every time i got near, the wind would blow me away. eventually i devised a plan. this plan was to find a very slight angle to the cut. this angle ended up being VERY slight. so slight in fact that even the minimal amount of falling off or rounding up would result in sail luff and the boat losing the very minimal amount of momentum it had gathered. 
so here we go again. fall off, and make another lap. this time get way back and make a run at it. and finally, alas i had broken free of the confinement of the protected waters of the corpus christi marina.
time to celebrate was cut short by the observation of much larger waves and "where did all this wind suddenly come from?". just before my life began to flash before me, i swear i saw a sign that said "now you are in the big boy game jackass". 
man was this boat fast! of course it was, the 525 is a big block powered pinto. and i had enough sail to push a catalina 30 in this wind. let me tell you, there was no problem putting the stantions in the water! you can imagine how fast the tacks were.


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

GeorgeB said:


> Smack, only three weeks away! I can't wait to read your write-up too. If I can give you just one piece of advice and that is STAY ON THE BOAT! No matter how hard your crew mates try to heave you over the side, STAY ON THE BOAT!


That's why I'm bringing a chain tether and a spot welder to weld the 'biners shut.


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

Well done Bub! I am toying with the idea of entering a local singlehanded race in a couple of weeks but am close to chickening out due to lack of practice. Hearing about your success (you finished!) is a good motivator.

Headsail selection is something I wonder about too. In going with the 100% you probably make tacking a lot easier for yourself.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

mikieg-

Are your headsails hank-on or roller furling? Did you consider rolling up some of the genoa to reduce sail? If they're hank-on, better consider a trip to the sailmaker! 

Good story.


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## JohnRPollard (Mar 26, 2007)

BubbleheadMd said:


> ... I err on the side of caution so much, that I stepped down in headsail size when I shouldn't have. ....





BubbleheadMd said:


> The real kick in the teeth, was that I had the right sail bent on, and chickened out, just minutes before the start and put on the 100% jib.


BH,

Here's the thing. Had you not downsized that sail at the dock, the wind would have kept building and you'd be telling a different story about how you regretted not making that sail change!! 

In other words, you made the right call at the time, but conditions changed. Now you just need to come up with a system that allows you to make a change underway as needed. Imagine, for instance, that you hadn't dowsized, and the wind piped up considerably. How would you have downsized the headsail?

One minor suggestion, would be to hold off on making the headsail choice until you get out to the starting line and see the conditions. You could even temporarily anchor to make the sail change if you really need to while single handing (before the start).

Who cares if you crossed last. Bravo for participating and finishing!


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## imagine2frolic (Aug 7, 2008)

Well, just think where you were a year ago. Then imagine where you will be in another year. Great progress, and we never stop learning this skill called sailing ........*i2f*


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## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

BubbleheadMd said:


> ...
> The next mistake I made, was to foot way off to SW to take the waves on the forward quarter, instead of directly on the bow because the chop was grinding me down to 3kts...


FWIW, they key to sailing upwind in a chop is to actively steer the boat to avoid pounding. Every time you hear/feel a thud falling off a wave, you lose a knot or so. The trick is to sit/stand high to windward so you can clearly see the waves, as the bow goes up a wave, head up slightly, as the wave passes the bow, head off slightly. When you get the steering right, you will progress without any pounding and maintain a steady speed. Since the wind is typically strong, a little pinching doesn't cost anything compared to the value of avoiding the pounding.


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## captflood (Jan 1, 2011)

GREETINGS EARTHLING; If you're thinking of reefing it sould be done already. remember the 7 Ps Rule ! Planning Preperation, Practice, Prevents Piss Poor Performance, Beeing from across the Pond I do not know your area but it sounds fun Well Done That Man. ( Shallow water the waves only have one way to go and thats up) GO SAFE.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

Sailingfool- I'll work on the active steering. I wasn't nearly so active in trying to avoid the waves and just kind of sat there and took it.


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

sailingfool said:


> FWIW, they key to sailing upwind in a chop is to actively steer the boat to avoid pounding. Every time you hear/feel a thud falling off a wave, you lose a knot or so. The trick is to sit/stand high to windward so you can clearly see the waves, as the bow goes up a wave, head up slightly, as the wave passes the bow, head off slightly.


The worst pounding we experienced was beating north from the San Juans in February a couple of years ago. Every two, three, four, or five waves, the whole boat would vibrate. One really annoying thing was the waves sometimes "plateaued"; we'd go up the face of the wave but there would be no trough behind it. One wavelength later there'd be another tiny crest, and then finally a trough. The waves were 4-6 feet and about the same length as the boat. There were four of us and we took turns trying to predict whether we'd pound or not after the next wave, and nobody could seem to come up with a rhyme or reason for it; that in itself was the most unnerving part.

Anyway conditions can just be really weird sometimes and while it would be nice to be "active" and steer around the waves, sometimes it just doesn't seem to work.


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