Reports
:: 2008 505 Nationals Report - Robert von Gruenewaldt :: (176 Reads)
Posted by
warwick
on Monday, October 13, 2008 - 10:25 PM
This is the view of Robert von Gruenewaldt, the National Champion Crew aboard BRT.
Read more in his article below.
2008 505 Nationals Report (from the perspective of Robert and Kyle)
The following is a short report detailing some of the aspects of the 2008 nationals. I will give some detail on our preparation, boat setup, racing tactics, roles of the crew on our boat and finally some of the awesome duels we had on the water with some of our competitors.
Both Kyle and I would say that the biggest factor that contributed to our performance at the nationals was the fact that we didn’t sail with our “heads in the boat”. In the past with the older boat, we where continually worried about mechanical failures and as a consequence didn’t push the boat too hard. Inevitably we would break something leading to costly mistakes and poor performance. Sailing with your head out of the boat allows you to focus on tactics, what the wind is doing, and driving the boat as fast as possible.
Purchasing BRT helped tremendously to alleviate some of the worries of mechanical failures; however we still put in a lot of time preparing the boat for the nationals. We made a point of replacing old ropes, keeping them as short as possible but as long as functionally necessary. We replaced the spi halyard and jib sheets as they were quite worn. Luckily, thanks to me for falling through our old main sail and Eikos insurance for promptly replacing it, we were able to sail with a new main and jib at the nationals. We found the new Hyde sail set nicely in the medium breeze but struggled in the lighter airs as the sails seemed a bit stiff and couldn’t get proper flow across them.
Once we knew the boat was relatively free of mechanical glitches we looked at tuning the boat according to the tuning guide. Before that we installed some rig position indicators using thin rope and shock-cord that would give us a method to tune the boat according to the wind conditions. We used the tuning guide and placed markers for light, medium, and heavy conditions. We are still not convinced that the tuning guide or our measurements are 100% correct as we found quite a lot of rake in the light wind setting. In race 3, 4, and 5 when the wind was blowing 12 – 15 knots the methodology was to set the boat up for the lulls and mainly using main Cunningham to depower in the puffs. We didn’t seem too overpowered and the boat seemed to drive well and plane upwind.
One thing Kyle seemed to focus on was the position of the centerboard upwind. If he felt too much weather-helm he would adjust the board so that the boat felt more balanced and almost felt “twitchy”. This seemed to help a lot and even I could feel the difference on the wire.
A further aspect was whether we wanted height or speed. By adjusting the ram we were able to control the leach tension and hook and thereby point higher, or go for speed. Releasing the ram opened up the leach creating better flow across the main and thereby improving boat speed. This was particularly helpful when sailing those “soldiers courses” and had to foot to the mark.
In terms of tactics we found that as usual the start is very important. The line was not always true and most of the starts we decided that the pin was the favored end. Most of the time it worked but we did get ourselves into some trouble when we were over the start line and had to go around the pin end and duck behind the fleet to get clear. Generally we managed to get good starts and clean air and this helped us to get up front on the first beat.
Boat speed on the runs seemed to be very similar to the other boats. Two of the boats that seemed to be very quick downwind were Bronwen and Rudolph who regularly pulled away from us, and Peter and Carl who were very quick on the reaches. Peter’s double spreader system proves very useful, especially when the wind gets up. The double spreader system gives the main sail much better shape as the top of the mast does not fall off to leeward. One thing we noticed that affected our speed downwind was my position on the trapeze. In marginal planing conditions, as the boat begins to plane I moved back slightly. The problem comes in when the boat comes off the plane and your weight is still aft, the boat tends to drag its transom creating more drag. I had to continually move my weight forward and back as the boat comes off and on the plane. Another technique that worked nicely on the trapeze was to brace my legs as we bore down. We tried to sail the shortest distance to the mark, while remaining on the plane. Kyle would bear up slightly to get our speed up and get on the plane. He would then bear down and simultaneously I would brace my legs slightly attempting to aim the boat closer to the mark while still remaining on the plane. As soon as we lost speed we would head up again and repeat the process.
In the final two races of the regatta we had some excellent battles with two other boats. In race seven Bronwen and Rudolph pulled a huge lead and it was a continual fight to work our way back to them. Coming down the final run of the race Geelslang was about 100m ahead and decided to go left (looking down the course) and we decided to go right as we saw new wind coming over the dam wall. This proved to be the right choice as we arrived at the leeward mark at the same time. With the positions so close and only the final beat to sail this was turning out to be an exciting ending. We rounded the bottom mark just behind them and tacked immediately to avoid dirty air. They tacked as well and covered us. At some stage on the beat there was some separation but they proved to be too good and finished a few boat lengths ahead for a well deserved first place.
In the final race of the regatta, we found ourselves behind Peter and Carl for most of the race but towards the end the positions were changing continually. Much the same as the previous race with Bronwen and Rudolph, we again rounded the leeward mark just behind Gus. After much tacking and cover tacking it was the final dash for the line. We were aiming for the committee boat and Gus was to windward aiming for the middle of the line both on a port tack. The two hooters went within one second of each other, giving Peter and Carl first place in the final race.
All in all, the regatta was a great success with good sailing in a mix of wind and weather conditions. Thanks must go to all those who organized the regatta and to the sponsors who contributed to this great class nationals.
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