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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/07/2006 : 20:27:03

Today I crewed on an Ericson 38 in a 10 mile race on San Diego Bay. I offered to be foredeck crew. This was a lot of work as we set, doused, set and gybed the spin several times before the race and once during the race. I learned a lot about flying this sail and had some fun working as crew but not nearly as much fun as I expected. It was 100 times much more fun with Gary and Ken on our C25 in the New Years Day race last week. I spent a lot of time head down in the cockpit sitting on the leeward side or running to the bow trying to get the spinnaker and pole up and down, and get the spinny doused into a turtle bag set into the V berth hatch.

Actually we won our class overall (first over) but may not have edged the 2nd boat enough to beat them on PHRF. They were protesting us however, because one of our crew asked a US Coast Guard boat that cruised up to us which bouy was #24 (the downwind mark) and they answered on the loud hailer for all the boats around to hear that we were headed for the #24. I don't know how the protest turned out.

We had 8 people on the Ericson, 3 on the foredeck. I think 7 would have been better. He says he needs 5 in the cockpit to drive the boat right.

She's fast and points well. A laminate 150 headsail on a roller furler and a dacron main. It seems the main was always trimmed wrong to my eye, there is a big bubble aft the mast (like its luffing) the skipper says its caused by the overlap from the jib - nothing you can do. However the main telltales were always streaming aft beautifully. The skipper is getting a new new mylar headsail and it won't be on the furler. I didn't see any other race boats with this type of bubble (most had mylar mains as well as headsails).

Driving my own boat with my good friends is far more fun but I'll stick with this for a while and try to get good at the foredeck and spinnaker work. Next weeks race is offshore from Pt. Loma down towards the Mexican border (upwind/downwind America's Cup type course). Its a challenge, hoisting/dousing and gybing without getting lines tangled is still difficult.

Indiscipline 1978 FK SR #398

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 01/08/2006 : 17:46:17

Jim, since nobody has responded yet, I don't feel so hesitant to chit chat about random thoughts. I enjoy reading your accounts because you include enough details to give us some interesting things to think about.

When I first went to the Chesapeake last summer, I didn't know anyone, but met a fellow and his dad who are active in some clubs, and, towards the end of the summer they started connecting me with people who needed crew. I'm looking forward to doing a lot of crewing next summer. I only raced my own boat once last year, and will certainly race it again, but I learned how much harder it is to race a big boat. I pressed her too hard in that race, but she really took off when I finally reduced sail, and I'm anxious to see what she can do next year when I make better sail choices.

When you're racing, you usually want to carry more than the optimal amount of sail area because the wind is usually puffing and lulling, and you want as much sail area as possible in the lulls. You know that, in the puffs, the boat will be overpowered, but you can depower the sails to keep her on her feet. If the jib is still driving the boat well to windward, you don't need much mainsail to help the boat point, so sometimes you can luff the heck out of the main and still make good headway to windward. When you're luffing the mainsail that much, it doesn't look very pretty, but what matters is how well you're doing relative to your opponents, and not whether the mainsail appears to be in perfect trim. It's OK to be overpowered some, but not by too much.

I race with white sails, and need to keep up as much mainsail as possible for the downwind leg, but, if you fly a spinnaker, you don't need such a big mainsail, because the spinnaker is your principal downwind sail, and, in fact, if you take a reef in the mainsail, the spinnaker boat might drive to windward better, and, when you turn downwind, the smaller main is less likely to shadow the spinnaker. My experience with a spinnaker is limited, but it sounds logical to me that a spinnaker boat might have a net gain by reefing the mainsail when the mainsail starts luffing a little too much. Maybe someone who has more experience with a spinnaker has some thoughts on it.

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sweetcraft
Admiral

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USA
816 Posts

Response Posted - 01/08/2006 : 19:37:54

Jim, I also agree that racing our own 25 with good friends is still the best. We still relive the races with certain events in many that we did. The knock down and still won the race, being forced over the start early and still made it first to the windward mark, yes those were the days. I hope we can still have of those races. We race with all sails which includes the spinnaker with tales of having to jibe at the downwind mark right after lowering the chute. I will crew when ever I can and I crew the winter races on SF on a Ranger 37 and we never brought down the chute in one piece (taken home and sewn for the next race) I discovered you could find the next mark by all the shouting near it. The tension was thick as there is always so much to learn and mistakes happened. Each weekend there was always a new crew member which makes things interesting. I enjoy your sharing.

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.