Reports
:: 2008 505 Nationals report - Peter Funke :: (142 Reads)
Posted by
warwick
on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - 07:03 PM
"Nationals 2008 saw some great sailing and extreme competition with good close quarter racing at times. In a fleet of this nature it is very important to optimise boat handling skills. From my side the biggest challenge was to get my head outside the boat and to concentrate on the sailing and tactics at hand, especially with the conditions that we saw at Midmar this year."
Read the rest of Peter's report about racing near the sharp end of the fleet below.
I feel that the most important aspects for staying at the top are to adhere to the absolute basics of sailing:
• Rig setup
• Basic manoeuvres (hoisting and dropping the spinnaker, tacking etc.)
• Maintaining speed
• Race tactics
• Effective communication on the boat between crew and helmsman
Carl and I tried to adhere to these aspects as much as possible and by the end of the regatta we had it down to a key. Kyle and Robert did very well in this section which I am sure has come from sailing together for a couple of years already. The biggest thing for me is to find equilibrium where both crew and helmsman are comfortable but still slightly stressed. This pushes both crew and helmsman to perform at their optimum, together with motivating each other through effective communication, such as speaking clearly and loudly during racing, on procedures and on forthcoming manoeuvres. This for me was essential as Carl only started crewing about 2 months prior to the Nationals event. For him some aspects and procedures weren’t second nature yet and effective and concise communication helped guide him through up to the point where he was comfortable on doing it on his own terms- Well done Carl!
Another hot contender in the top end of the fleet was Bronwyn and Rudolph. They sailed very well and in my view adhered very well to the above mentioned basics.
Rig setup was an interesting one as everybody that I spoke to sailed with a totally different setup, but was still going extremely fast. We, for example change mast rate settings constantly while others like Rudolph tend not to adjust rake too much but rather work the jib slot itself.
This aspect is a tricky one because in my view everybody has different preferences on rig setup according to their sailing technique and combined weight. I for example sailed with far more vang (Kicker) this time to allow for getting more height, so much so that I managed to bend the pin of the shackle at the bottom of the mast that holds the kicker. But this is not always good especially if when tacking, you get stuck under the boom and capsize because of it!
2008 Nationals showed me, that the people that trained more often seemed to be up there and if one wishes to be one of the contenders for a podium position then that is the answer.
I would like to thank the EXCO for organising a great event and I think we all are looking forward to the rest of the events in the new season with Sterkies being at the end of Nov.
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