Reports
:: ROUND THE ISLAND IN GOOD COMPANY - Albrecht Holm :: (484 Reads)
Posted by
warwick
on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 05:10 PM
I enjoyed Thomas’ report on this years’ RTI and would like to add my impressions and interpretations of the event as well as the lessons learnt from it.
Starting from the start, there is the notion that on a long distance race the start is not so important. This was proved to be so wrong again. The start is very important and it starts even before the start on a long distance race. The strategy planning before the start in a big mixed fleet with a long starting line, which is not set perpendicular to the wind direction, is probably one of the most important aspects. The position to start on the line and the timing proved soon after the start to separate the 505’s. Hans was obviously doing the right thing and went off at a speed. We were slightly higher and later off the line and soon fell behind. Dirk and more so Tony went too high and got stuck there. At that stage there was very little wind and the chop caused by motorboats was quite frustrating.
The long reach up to the first mark at the bottom of the island was great fun for us. We soon found that we were quickly catching up with Hans due to more boat speed. It was the first time I used my new aluminium (“Albrecht’s Foils”) high aspect centerboard, after I had done some major reinforcing of the case. So it was a hell of a psychological boost to see it work so well. Of course it could also have been just the fact that Warwick knows how to work a spinnaker. But then Alan also knows! OK, what we did better in tactics was to plan attacks on big keelers well in advance so they don’t even try to luff you. And forget trying to pass below them. It is a waste of time.
“Ramkat” lost out on that reach because they forgot to let the leeward barber hauler on the spinnaker sheet go. So the spinnaker was choked and pulled them more sideways than forward. On the beat they caught up again.
On that same beat we lost out. First, when we reached the leeward mark there was a great congestion of keelers and multi-hulls. So we decided to go around them and keep far right up the beat. That was a mistake. We sailed long distances in bad wind under some big multi-hulls and in quite a chop. Hans did the right thing by going near the island first and later using the switches. At a stage they were far ahead of us. Thomas followed them and also gained from that.
At the end of the beat, however we nearly managed to catch Hans again but then after the second mark rounding, we both made the mistake of trying to fly spinnaker on that tight reach, which proved to be a beat after all. The result was that the FD caught both of us, and Thomas nearly too.
All in all a great race and, yes thanks to the organizers!
Albrecht
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