DaySailer.org Forum

Oh and Grats! On the trophy... I told you I was coming for your dead ass last trophy!

Wasn't even a "Dead Ass Last" trophy (came with a blue ribbon too for the Day Sailer class). That one could belong to you or Saltydog.

Having crew in a race really helps. You guys did good being single handed. I was definately glad I had crew. For a Day Sailer a racing crew is suppose to be two people. We were having some problems of snags with the jib sheet as well, even with my boot in place. I think I'm going to redesign my boot. The barber haulers worked well. My whisker pole tip came off during the first race on Sunday which prevented us from using it at that point.

I'm sore all over as well. With 5 races on Saturday in those winds it really wore me out. Then of course, was our near capsize on Saturday. Both of us couldn't remember if it was a tack or gybe, all we remember is trying to keep the boat from going over. We filled the cockpit with water to the height of the seats. Pulled out of that race and bailed. Got enough water out to be ready for the next race.

John

jeadstx wrote: The barber haulers worked well.

John, sounds like you had an exciting time. Glad your barber haulers worked out. Are they still in the configuration you had first installed them?

Yes, the barber haulers are still as originally installed after the discussions on the forum earlier in the year. Thanks for your input in that discussion for placement, crossing them worked well. Provided good access to my crew who was hiked out a lot over the weekend. My crew normally sails a Sunfish, so a sloop was a little different for him. He liked the barber haulers and figured things out after a bit. New sails helped too.

John

Great to meet y'all, and I had a great time. I just got back home ( no internet at the lake) and read the post.

Sat I raced one race and pulled out when my jib sheet got wet and the starboard cleat would not hold and the wind would just strip it right thru and my jib would start flapping. I fought it thru the first race and then left to get a smaller line.

I did not understand what to do on the course so I DNF. I also DNS on the rest of the races after I pulled out to fix my jib. Most of my effort was going towards not going in the drink. With the gust and the Jib Prob.

I put a smaller line on and used a file to sharpen the cleat and sunday I raced the 2 races. I also got a DNF. Due to not knowing how to tell where to go. The wind gust were even worse Sunday.

I stayed the week and the next week end I raced my Mac 26 My step son and my brother and his 14 year old son came down and crewed for me. I was the only one that knew how to sail and luckly I was the skipper. with extra eyes and not fighting going for a swim I was able to see that there was a white board on the back of the committee boat that told you the number of the course and if you had the paper from the regestration showing the courses you could see which one to race. Mystery solved! I did not have one DNF and I raced every race. We locked up a solid 6th place out of 6 boats. Now you may not think that was very good, but I would not take for the fun we had.

I also did my part in the floating of the keg cerimony

SD

Salty Dog, good to hear you did the next weekend as well for the keel boats. Guess you study the book and DVD on racing that you got in the prize drawing.

I think the weekend that the Day Sailers sailed was a better weekend weather wise, other than the winds being a little strong.

John

Yeh I thought it was great my wife won the raffel and it was a book on sail trim and one on race stadegy by North Sails. I'll try to commit them to memory.

John

You said that your barber in haulers helped on your pointing. I did not get to put any on my boat before the race but I noticed that if I sheeted in on my windward sheet that it seemed to have the same effect as movind the clew of the jib inboard I wonder if that would do as good as barber I/H or not.

SD

The windward sheet will inevitably pull a bit forward, so the total effect is a bit more curve in the jib than with a barber hauler...

Greenlake

Yes I noticed that would be the case. I was wondering if there would be any advantage at doing that in lieu of B/H. or would it do more harm than good.

I did not notice any ill effect and it may have helped my pointing a bit. At the time I had a lot on my plate, and was not able to focus my attention on any one thing for long. Hopefully I'll get better with more time under my belt and revamping some running rigging

SD

You usually want the jib rather flat. Barber haulers take about 5min to install. On my DS1, I have them mounted on the aft facing edge of the cuddy opening. I used cam cleats with fairleads, oriented so that I can pull down to tighten them and the tails hang down. (John has his mounted on the deck, because his DS2 has a raised lip at the aft end of the cuddy deck. He's using V cleats with pull to the side and the tails lie flat on deck.)

I like to have the haulers mounted so they cross, meaning the cleat is closer to where you sit on the windward side.

From all of the descriptions it sounds like the wind conditions were somewhat challenging, and if this was your first time racing it does take a bit of getting used to the way things are organized. My first time, I couldn't find the start line. So it goes.

Another problem I had was I had put new Ball bearing blocks on my Main sheet . But it was not a good fit for my swivel cleat and I had to cleat my main below the seat level so I could only take up the main sheet the distance from the C/B to the seat. I have since corrected that and am going to change my jib sheeting cleats.

It would have still been challenging with the wind and the new to racing DS situation, but not as much if I had not had to fight my running rigging so hard.

SD

You may have been struggling but to me, you and Jeadstx looked like pros out there..... blind leading the blind? A card on the committee boat!!!!!!! Eureka!

My crew and I thought both of you were sailing well and felt that you both did good single handing it. Only problem we ever saw was that you would sail too far away from the start line before a race and would get a bad start. Although, I know it cam be intimidating sailing in amongst several boats as they get ready to start.

John

Pictures for the Wurstfest Regatta I were just posted by Lake Canyon Yacht Club. The Day Sailers sailed with the Portsmouth Dinghy class. http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/33487884 ... &k=BKRFGpS

Pictures for the whole event are under the "2013 Wurstfest Regatta I" section at http://www.lcyc.net/photos.html

John