Tight or Buggy?
Today it has been a horrible weather. It had been raining in the morning and I wasn’t sure if it would be dry in the evening. I arrived at the club nice and early and I had plenty of time to rig a boat. I was told the Blue (the best club Laser with the XD fittings) Laser needs some repairs so it would be good if I could take another one. So, I took the Green. It has the old style fittings and some bits are even missing, so it needs a bit of improvisation. It was also missing the cockpit bung. I decided to borrow the one from the White club Laser and when I took the cover off I saw that the person who used it last hadn’t emptied the water from the cockpit.
Things like this make me angry. People can’t be bothered to take care of the club boats. In times like this I wish I had my own boat. One day I will!
Anyway, I rigged the boat, launched and I had plenty of time to check the start line. It seemed quite biased to port, but still you could make a start in starboard.
The boat on starboard tack has right of way over a boat on port tack, therefore it is preferred to start on starboard. After you have progressed then you can tack to port. If by that time you are ahead of everyone else, you can be on port tack and you know that nobody will call starboard on you. If you are not ahead, at some point everyone will have to tack to port, so you tack with them. This gives less chances of someone calling starboard on you, although there is still a risk and you can be somehow compromised.
Anyway, I was ON the line 30 seconds before the gun, and at 5 seconds to go I started sheeting in, pulled the kicker and I was off the line quite soon, but still, the others seemed to be faster then me. I could feel there was enough wind, but I didn’t have enough speed. It continued like this for a while. You are supposed to be block-to-block when beating. I was, but I was not going fast. So, I thought that if I would let my sheet out and put less kicker on, my sail would be less tight & flat and more round & baggy. When the sail is buggy there is better wind flows freely. I tighten the sail in order to de-power it at strong winds, so we avoid capsize. Since I am quite heavy, I can afford to have a baggier sail than others because I can keep the boat upright. This doesn’t mean that I am going faster than them, because my extra weight slows me down. The fact that I have a baggier sail has the disadvantage that I cannot point as high.
I think that in lighter winds I am at disadvantage because of my weight, but at moderate and strong winds I can take advantage of my weight and I can set my sail slightly different to gain that extra bit.
Unfortunately when I tried my theory of baggier sails I was behind the other Lasers so I could not have a straight comparison. I think I will have to test it on Sunday, provided there is enough wind.
I was almost a whole lap behind everyone else and I didn’t want to keep the committee boat out for too long, so I quit the race short of a lap. I was a bit disappointed with my result, but on the other hand, discovering things and experimenting is quite exciting. At least it makes me feel that I have acquired the skill to feel the difference of better or worse sailing. I also feel more confident.
When I took the boat in I took the transom bung off and loads of water come out. Jane saw it and she said no wonder I was so slow. On Sunday I will try to get either the blue or the red Laser. In the meantime I will have to talk to people about my theory to see if it’s right and makes sense.