1998-1999 InterClub Results - Series 2, Day 3
February 21, 1999

It was great to finally sail in some breeze yesterday. It was pretty tricky out there with the wind from below 10 to 20 in the puffs. Some roundings at the weather mark where in about 5 knots. As with any NWer in Annapolis, the shifts were sudden and often large.

I wanted to share with everyone a few observations I made at the midwinters that helped me yesterday. Changing gears was very important yesterday - as important as finding the breeze. The sailing was identical to the Midwinters in Larchmont last week. Neal Fowler did an awesome job of changing gears to win the regatta. I believe he did this by empowering his crew, Mike Collins, to make adjustments on the fly. Neal and Mike rigged a vang system that is quad ended and has cleats on either side (mounted below the rail about 1.5 forward of the thwart) that can be adjusted by the crew. Besides the sheet, the vang is the biggest gear changer on the IC. I think it was key for them to be able to make quick adjustments to the vang and sheet simultaneously as the wind varied.

Yesterday I allowed my crew, Lesley Frymier, to trim the vang - pulling it in when a puff hit and easing in the lulls. I found this to very fast. She also trimmed the cunningham around the leeward mark. I found that the less I had to bother with adjustments, the better I could steer. Besides, its hard enough to steer and trim the sail in an IC when its windy. Coming around one leeward mark in traffic, I had Lesley trim the sail in. This was awesome - all I did was steer a perfect course around the mark and grab the sheet after rounding!

The chop coming around the leeward mark was also pretty rough - much worse than on the first leg where much of the course is sheltered. Easing the outhaul a little would have kept me moving through that chop a little better.

Alex and I plan on rigging this quad ended outhaul system so that the crew can trim it. Its also a nice line for the crew to hike from when its windy. So, consider empowering your crew to make more adjustments thereby making your life easier as a driver.

Jesse