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20060813 - After a windy and wavy
Saturday (in which Shellshock could not race), Sunday's Competition Series
race proved to be beautiful day of racing (winds SE at 5-10, waves 1-2 feet)
for 19 MORF boats. Arriving to the start line with over 45 minutes to spare,
the crew (Steffi, Rick, Sporty, Jeremy, Anthony) changed their head sail
to the 150% as the winds had not yet picked up.
During the jib-and-main and
other spinnaker boats pre-race/start, Shellshock furled up her jib and took
an observer position away from the race committee boat. During this time,
the crew was watching how the other boats sailed and started to plan out
their tactics. With five minutes prior to her start, the crew unfurled her
jib and started her pre-race routine. As the horn went off, Shellshock was
no where near the commotion at start line that forced a few boats over the
line. When she finally crossed the line, 30 seconds had elapsed.
The olympic course (number 4) would have the crew
practicing sets, gybes and douses of their large asymmetrical spinnaker,
but first they had to perform quicker and better tacking of the head
sail. The switching of the head sail position from one side to the other
was not performed expeditiously, causing the loss of boat angle and speed.
The spinnaker also proved to
be a lot to handle for the crew this day. The first set did go up smoothly
as the lazy spinnaker sheet got tangled as the chute went up. After a
few seconds to correct the problem, she was flying nicely downwind, reaching
speeds in the high six's. All was good until a gybe was called. Let's
just say that the crew needs to practice this maneuver a few more times
to be competitive.
After the finish times
had been corrected, 13 seconds is what separated the J/92 from its cousin
the J/105 (Pronto II). 90 seconds would have moved Shellshock over Heart
Throb and into the upper half of the their section. Perhaps it was bad
luck or rookie mistakes, but more practice is necessary for the crew
in order to keep Shellshock from being on the bottom rung of the ladder. |
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