Behind the Fleet

Welcome to our new regular web column "Behind the Fleet".

Let me introduce myself, my name is Tim and I sail a Pacer named "Serenity" (sail number 554). I took up sailing through the WSC "Learn to Sail" course in November 2007. The following month I purchased "Serenity" and had my first sailing season last summer. I sail regularly with Ken who completed the "Learn to Sail" course with me.

Photo: Ken (L) and Tim (R)
All set for another season of sailing in Serenity

This column started life as weekly email blog that I would send out to a few friends I'd made on the "Learn to Sail" course. It was just a light-hearted commentary where I would share our experiences after each week of sailing. I've now titled it "Behind the Fleet" (partly because that's where we seem to spend most of our time!) to give a first hand account behind each race day.

I hope you'll enjoy reading about our adventures.

Thanks for your Support

Many of you have noticed that recently I've been publishing my "Behind the Fleet" articles more sporadically. Many people have missed reading the articles and to be honest I hadn't realised they were proving so popular, so thanks for your support and positive feedback.

31 January 2009

What a great week for a sail. After an incredibly hot week in Melbourne we were greeted with perfect summer weather for sailing on Saturday. The forecast maximum of 37 degrees didn't materialise and we were treated to warm weather and a consistently moderate afternoon seabreeze. Beautiful. This week also turned out to be a very significant milestone achievement for Ken, myself and "Serenity".

The course was a windward return and under the relatively light conditions was going to be perfect for getting the spinnakers flying. Our start was much better than last week (although we seem to be having trouble with that $12 waterproof watch that I bought from Big W) and we timed our run to the line reasonably well. Only problem for us was that we were leeward of the fleet again which meant we experienced a lot of dirty air in the initial stages. It's remarkable how much affect the rest of the fleet has on a boat that is to leeward - far more than I would have expected.

Apart from having our wind blanketed at the start, our beat upwind was pretty good. Once again I was reading the wind a lot better, Ken was calling the tacks really well, and we were sailing the boat a lot flatter on the water. We were still behind the fleet but we were keeping in touch. On the first upwind leg we had our only close encounter - a Sabre being sailed by an Irish girl (sorry, we haven't been introduced yet). She was leeward of us but pushing up higher than we were. She had right of way and she was clearly going to exert her rights! There was lots of shouting going on and having never really encountered this sort of situation before we were a little unsure about what we should be doing. We finally decided that we needed to tack to get out of the way. We were to encounter the same boat on subsequent tacks further up the course but tried to steer clear as much as possible.

My friendly rivalry with Brian was to take a back seat this week. For the first time in some weeks Emma was skippering "Dorothy L" and doing very well I'd have to say. However, our much improved upwind technique saw us rounding the top mark marginally ahead of them.

We rounded the top mark and gybed without incident and then started our run downwind. Time to deploy the spinnaker! We hadn't used it in weeks so we were a bit rusty to say the least. It wasn't until halfway down the leg that we finally got it up. But just as the spinnaker filled with air we realised that we were almost upon the start-finish line. Whilst concentrating on the spinnaker we'd forgotten about the position of the start-finish line and found ourselves on a course that would take us right through the middle. Not wanting to be disqualified we did a sharp turn to port, spilling all the air from the spinnaker we'd only just got up! We hurriedly pulled the spinnaker down and rounded the start-finish line behind the committee boat.

There were no such problems aboard "Dorothy L". Brian and Emma had got their spinnaker up quickly and cleanly and had built a considerable lead on us.

Our next beat upwind saw us gaining on the fleet again. Our upwind legs have improved immensely and although still trailing we're finding that we are now able to make good gains in this leg. So by the time we'd reached the top mark for the second time, we'd made up almost all the ground that we'd lost on downwind. Around the mark again only this time we decided not to gybe but run downwind with the sail set on the starboard side. That turned out to be a bad idea. We had trouble getting the spinnaker up again but this time it was partly to do with the fact that we were on the wrong tack. In order to stay on that tack we needed to steer a long way to the starboard side of the course and once the spinnaker was up we found that we were pretty much "locked in" to that tack. Halfway down the leg we decided it was a bad decision and pulled the spinnaker down, losing more time.

At the bottom mark our luck changed when we saw that one of the Pacers ahead of us had capsized. Their misfortune was to be our opportunity. While they were struggling to get their boat back upright we rounded the mark and started our beat upwind. Heading upwind, we gained considerable distance on them before they'd got their boat back upright. So provided we didn't make any mistakes we were pretty certain that we weren't going to finish last. The question was, could we haul in Emma and Brian?

For this one race we'd put the spinnaker up as many times as we had ever before in our short sailing career! On the final downwind leg we put the spinnaker up again. This time it went up quicker but wasn't flying altogether cleanly. There is an awful lot of fiddling around you've gotta do to get it flying right and although there were moments when it was giving us genuine advantage there were also a lot of times when we just didn't know what was going on. By that stage there was no way we were going to catch Emma and Brian so we concentrated on just finishing ahead of the other Pacer.

We rounded the bottom mark well ahead of the last Pacer in the fleet. After trailing behind the fleet for so many weeks it was a real sense of achievement to not finish last. We'd managed to stay in touch with the fleet for the whole race and were rewarded with second last place. Suddenly everything felt somehow different. No rescue boat trailing behind us on our slow return back to the club. We even had to wait for an opening on the ramps before we were able to come alongside. Fantastic! Finally, "Serenity" Pacer 554, second last!

17 January 2009

Although we'd sailed the previous week (10 January) it was forgettable and I haven't written up an article. Suffice to say that with the difficult conditions we didn't have a very good time on board "Serenity". So it's a week I'd rather forget, let alone write about. The good news from that is that this week was much better for us. After what seems like weeks of battling against tough conditions we had weather that we could have a reasonable go at sailing in!

Race day saw some of the Club-1 group joining us for the first time. For those of you that don't know, WSC is running a support group for first year sailors called Club-1. These are sailors who have recently completed the "Learn to Sail" course and Club-1 nurtures them through their first 12 months of sailing. It's a sortof club within the club and leverages the camaraderie built on the course to help integrate participants into WSC. Myself, Ken, Brian, Emma, Simon, and Kumarie all participated in the Club-1 trial in 2008 and it proved to be very successful. This year we've got a new batch of Club-1 members who you'll be seeing around the club and on the water.

Some of you have asked about my sailing rivalry with Brian. Brian and I completed the "Learn to Sail" course in November 2007 and became good friends. At that time we considered each other to be of a similar standard. I regard Brian as an instinctive sailor and his natural sailing instincts have kept him ahead of my more technical approach. Given we're of a similar standard we're always pushing each other. But my technical approach has taken a little longer to develop than Brian's instinct and this has meant that he consistently maintains an edge over me. On many occassions I've come tantalisingly close to beating him but utlimately he always triumphs.

That healthy competition between is improving both my sailing and his. For me Brian sets a benchmark that is barely attainable. For him, he's always trying to stay in front of me. As I improve he improves and so it goes. One day I will beat him, of that I am certain. That's the nature of our rivalry.

So to this week's race. Before the race had even started there was a bit of drama on the water with one of the Club-1 group experiencing a broken rudder on their way out to the course. That's a tough thing to deal with for beginners. The rescue boats hadn't seen them because they were busy with channel duties and setting up the markers, so we thought we'd better go over and check that they were alright. They were a little flustered but otherwise OK so we made our way down to the start to let somebody know that they would need a tow. So unfortunately a disappointing end to their day.

Ken and I missed the start completely. The reality was that we weren't at all focused on the start and weren't keeping an eye on what was going on. We had spent a lot of time just chatting and we lost track of the time. Suddenly we realised that it was one minute to the start and we were three minutes from the line! When the start gun went off we were well behind the fleet. At least we didn't have any jostling or blanketed wind to contend with but it was a setback that we would carry with us for the rest of the race.

Our first beat upwind was actually pretty good. We'd decided that after the events of the previous week we were going to keep the boat a lot flatter with less power in the sails. That combined with my now improved ability to read of the wind allowed us to catchup to the fleet on the upwind leg. I was very pleased with the amount of ground we'd managed to make up. Ken was keeping an eye out and determining when we should tack and we were really working well together. In that first upwind leg there were finally some encouraging signs that we were getting things together.

There were two marks at the top that were very close to each other and this lead to our second mistake. Ken called the tack to the layline perfectly, only I lined us up on the wrong mark. By the time I realised it was too late and we were forced to put in an extra two tacks.

The run downwind was pretty good, although Brian seems to get far superior boatspeed on downwind and he drew away from us quite significantly. At the briefing they said "don't sail through the start-finish line or you'll be disqualified" and this was in the back of my mind. Only we couldn't see the flag marking the end of the start-finish line. Not wanting to be disqualified we frantically searched for it and eventually spotted it. It had obviously come adrift and was now considerably further downwind from its original position. Not wanting to risk disqualification we went around it all the same which cost us more time.

On the next beat upwind we really started to challenge Brian and Emma. You can tell when Brian is getting worried because he starts looking behind him, which he was doing a lot of on this leg. As they say, the hunter became the hunted. With my reading of the wind and Ken's great tacking calls we were achieving a much better line to the top mark than Brian. But unfortunately the ground that we had lost at the start and on downwind meant that he managed to stay in front of us.

And so it went for the rest of the race. Brian pulled away from us on downwind and we made up ground on the beat - just not enough to catch him. The final result will show that they finished two or three minutes in front of us but our performance had improved considerably with some encouraging signs starting to emerge. We've just got to put it all together for one full race!

The return journey to Williamstown was again action packed. Is it just us or does everybody have trouble with really flukey winds once in the lee of Point Gellibrand? We really struggled with reading the shifting winds and had to work pretty hard to get "Serenity" back into the club.

One thing that everyone needs to realise is that we're accustomed to being behind the fleet, so when we do a tack we've got no real need to look behind us. In the past that has lead to some unexpected encounters and on this particular day our encounter was with a seaplane! We'd decided that we needed to tack so we did - right across the path of a seaplane that was landing between us and the moored boats. I only spotted him once we were on the new tack. I'm not sure who got the bigger surprise - us, the pilot, or the guys in the rescue boat. I immediately called us back onto the original tack, which we executed without incident and he landed in a path 100 metres from us. Whew! We must learn to look behind us before we tack.

21 December 2008

Ken and I had a drama-filled race this week - and that's what keeps us coming back! We learned a couple of things along the way, all contributing to our much anticipated assault on the club championship in 2015.

Unlike previous weeks, this week the weather conditions were just magical for sailing - enough wind to sail a decent race, not too much that we couldn't cope! It was a basic triangular course so it was pretty straightforward in terms of understanding what we needed to do.

We got ourselves in a reasonable position at the start. We're trying yet another start tactic which seemed to work well. Lois in " Moloney" got off to a brilliant start and was first over the line - well done Lois! Once again we found ourselves leeward of the fleet and were getting a lot of dirty air (we've got some more room for improvement there still). Eventually we got ourselves some clear air and made our way upwind, managing to keep pace with the fleet. At Ken's suggestion we also changed our upwind tactics and were putting in more tacks to take a more direct line to the mark. It seemed to be working for us. Coming up to the top mark we crossed paths with Brian and Emma in "Dorothy L" and found that we were within striking distance.

We made our final tack into the mark a little early and found ourselves "pinching" to get around. With "Dorothy L" in my sights I was saying "I think we can make it, I think we can make it" and Ken was saying "no we can't, no we can't". Ken was right. I eventually conceded and reluctantly took the decision to tack, opening the door for "Dorothy L" to round the mark ahead of us. As luck would have it they soon found themselves in the same situation! Not wanting to give up his advantage Brian was really pushing the margins. Ultimately "Dorothy L" came to a complete stop just three metres downwind of the mark. That left the door open for us to get past. Yes, for the very first time this season I'd managed to get in front of my friend and arch rival Brian.

In order to get his race back on track Brian decided to go around the mark in the opposite direction! As we rounded the mark in the right way we were surprised to find "Dorothy L" heading straight toward us. After narrowly avoiding a collision we got ourselves settled and quietly celebrated a brief victory over our rivals.

One thing I've learned with Brian is you should never underestimate him. Despite his novice status he's a very wily sailor and has the ability to find superior boat speed from somewhere. So by the time we'd reached the bottom mark they'd caught us up again and were hot on our tail (damn, how does he do that?). Rounding the bottom mark we were still in front so I decided to engage in a little brinkmanship and started a tacking dual (well sortof). But it's hard to out-fox a fox. He got away from us and a few tacks later was half a leg in front of us. The distance they'd managed to gain on us was quite surprising and just shows how much work we need to do before we can be competitive against them.

So once again we found ourselves a long way behind the fleet. We were making good headway but the swell and wind had picked up and we were getting a lot of water in the boat. We found ourselves coping with a new reality. The water was adding weight that was slowing us down. Ken started bailing. By the time we'd reached the top mark we had fallen even further behind.

The next two legs involved getting water out of the boat before our next beat upwind. We decided we needed to think through why we were getting water in the boat and concluded that it came down to boat trim. So on the next beat we decided to focus on trim. The first thing we noticed was that the bow was "digging in" to the swell so we shifted our weight back to keep the bow a little higher. That made a big difference. The next thing we needed to work on was our lateral trim and we started to get our weight out over the gunwale to address that. The end result was much less water in the boat. So another learning experience for us. By the time we've finished we'll be experts!

That leg also featured a whack on my head with the boom. It was a pretty nasty hit that left me dazed for a few minutes. I put it down to tiredness more than anything - that and not ducking my head at the appropriate moment!

On the second-last leg we noticed ahead of us that Brian and Emma had capsized. The only way we're ever going to get in front of Brian is if he makes a mistake and this was one of those ocassions. But we were too far behind to take advantage and they were up and going again pretty quickly..

The rest of our race was event-free but our return to Williamstown was a little more dramatic. Coming up to the channel crossing we were finding the wind very flukey. I was having a lot of trouble reading what appeared to be quite dramatic wind shifts. I can only assume that it was the air being disrupted by the Williamstown headland or something but to be honest I don't really know. Added to our challenges was that there was ship approaching. The rescue boat came in just behind us and instructed us to head straight across the channel. And then it happened. We got a flukey wind shift and "Serenity""almost tacked. We briefly struggled to keep her from tipping over and got her back upright, only to have the rescue boat slam into the back of us. The bow of the rescue boat was looming over the top of me and then the boom swung across and clipped me on the head - the second time in one day!!

Feeling very sore and sorry for ourselves we made our way slowly back to the club. I was really having trouble reading the flukey winds and we made considerably more tacks than would normally be required to get back to the club. A combination of tiredness, tricky conditions and an unsettling collision had all taken their toll. We made it back to the club in one piece - '"Serenity'"Pacer 554 - last again.

6 December 2008

Passage race? What the hell is a passage race?

The programme said "weather permitting". It looked pretty good to me. Normally I'm pretty thorough about checking the weather forecasts but hadn't done so for this one. I got a hint of what was to come when Brian made a passing comment about things getting interesting later on. At the time I didn't think too much about it and looking out across the water the conditions looked benign. So I tossed Ken the keys to "Serenity" (so to speak) because he's been skippering in some pretty tough conditions recently and I thought he'd appreciate something a little more manageable.

As it turns out the passage race was one continuously long leg which started around Sandridge Beach and went right across to St Kilda and back again. Leading into the start of the passage was a short downwind leg, the first time we'd ever done a downwind start. The winds for very light and a bit shifty and the change in the start arrangements threw us a bit. But we got things together and headed downwind to the first mark which was the start of the passage (I guess that's what you call it - who knows).

Given the light conditions we decided we'd try our spinnaker. With a fully loaded ""James Pearl" sailing next to us we had an audience so we were under some pressure to get it right. The first attempt wasn't good. Back at the club we'd got things a little tangled up in the initial rigging so the spinnaker didn't go up cleanly. Then we'd misjudged the wind direction and were trying to get it to do something it wasn't meant to do. So we aborted our first attempt and took stock of our situation. While Ken was steering us a straight course I was doing some gymnastics trying to get things untangled, and all the while the bemused crew on the "James Pearl" looked on. After we got ourselves sorted we looked around at the other boats to see what they were doing. Based on our observations I thought that we could give it another go. Success! The spinnaker went up first time, filled beautifully and we were on our way.

We rounded the first mark and entered the passage. By this stage the winds had become very light. We were in a group which included "Fruit Salad II" , "Shadowfax" and "J Maloney". None of us were going anywhere fast. We sortof searched around and tacked here and there trying to find that elusive breath of air. Although Ken and I were making reasonable progress Lois seemed to be struggling and was some way behind the fleet. But then suddenly the " Maloney""got some air and Lois came barrelling past us. The wind had picked up and we started moving too. A good thing too because it was going to be a long trip down to St Kilda otherwise.

Those that had made it down the passage were now on their way back so we had to negotiate our way through a fleet of boats coming head-on toward us. We eventually made it down to the end and rounded the mark to starboard, although there seemed to be some confusion in the fleet about which way round the mark they were supposed to be going.

The wind continued to build progressively and we found ourselves reverting to survival mode. Halfway back we encountered a fleet of very fast moving Lasers on a starboard tack that were obviously in a pretty serious race. Being on port tack we didn't have any rights so we ducked and weaved our way through the fleet trying to cause as little distruption as we could.

We were heading straight back where we'd come from because we knew that's where the mark was. Only it wasn't there! Halfway back we couldn't see the mark. Where had it gone? Had they packed up for the day and left us on the course? Then we noticed some of the fleet heading further to the west and saw them rounding a mark. It had moved! We arrived at the relocated mark to find that there was still some confusion about which way around people were supposed to go. I was sure that we needed to pass the mark on our starboard side which would require doing a full circle. There was a lot of maneouvering going on in front of us and it seemed that others were doing the same. By this stage the wind had lifted even further and it was getting quite challenging to keep things together. For us novices the thought of doing a full circle in those conditions involving a gybe quickly followed by a tack was high risk. But that's what we did. I wouldn't say it was pretty but we managed it.

The finish was back at the club so we beat upwind into what was now becoming a very strong wind. How we got back in one piece and without mishap I'm not sure, but we managed it. Well done Ken.

29 November 2008

This week we had a drama packed day of sailing. It seems that everything that could have happened did happen (with the exception of a capsize of course). I'd missed a few weeks of sailing and hadn't skippered for some weeks prior to that so I guess I was a little rusty. As well, Ken wasn't sailing with me this week (he was off on a training walk ahead of his Kakoda Track odyssey next year) so I was sailing with my good friend and backup crew member Kumarie who was also a bit rusty.

The weather was pretty good for sailing. A nice stiff breeze that was challenging for beginners but not too challenging that it wasn't fun. The course was a triangle followed by a windward return followed by another triangle. The water started out being pretty flat earlier in the race but quickly built to quite a decent swell halfway through the first lap.

We got a pretty good start and were hot on the heels of Emma and Brian (Emma was skippering) in "Dorothy L" . On the first upwind leg they were achieving a much better line than us and progressively drew away from us. We were doing OK though and reached the first mark with a few rusty tacks but otherwise without any dramas. The first reach, gybe and broad reach were without dramas as well, although we were falling further and further behind the rest of the fleet.

The next beat upwind we were doing a lot better. I have now started reading the wind a lot better, and more importantly reading the subtle windshifts that occur, so we were managing to make good headway. But things were starting to get busy.

Our first encounter was with a fleet of Flying Fifteens. Unbeknowns to us, our race course overlapped with their race course. They looked like they were sailing a pretty serious race and were closely packed and sailing like demons as they approached us. We later learned that they were participating for the Ossie McCutcheon Trophy - Ossie would have been proud because they were pretty serious. I took the decision early to tack to port, effectively putting us on a tack the crossed the fleet with no rights but I just wanted to get out of their way! We successfully dodged our way through as the fleet came upon us with lots of boats calling " S-T-A-R-B-O-A-R-D " and negotiated our way through that little drama.

On the windward return we found ourselves on our own behind the fleet. We debated whether we'd try out the spinnaker and eventually decided to give it a go for only the second time in my experience. The spinnaker didn't fly as well as my first attempt and for some reason the spinnaker pole kept kicking up. Later Doug advised us that we should have used one of the fittings that is on the gunwale of "Serenity" (I'd wondered what that thing was for). So it was only a brief foray with the spinnaker but we got some good boat speed out of it all the same and managed things without too much incident.

Unlike Emma and Brian! As we got down to the bottom mark we noticed Emma and Brian had gone considerably further past the mark and were fast approaching the beach. They told as afterwards that they'd deployed their spinnaker on the downwind leg, only to discover that after getting it up they couldn't get it down! They ended up continuing directly downwind until they got their problem sorted out. That opened the door for us to catchup with them and we found ourselves sparring closely with them on the upwind leg.

Our match racing was cut short when we had a near miss with a trailer sailer. We were on port tack, the trailer sailer on starboard tack, neither boat saw the other because our respective sails were in our line of sight, and we were on a collision course. It was only pure luck that we averted a certain collision when I spotted them through the corner of my eye . Kumarie yelled out and both boats responded immediately and tacked. I think it was "Fiz IV" but I didn't get an opportunity to apologise for our part in the mishap so I'll do so now. Sorry guys.

Then our second mishap was with a ferry on the way back. We were so focused on keeping the boat upright and getting back in once piece that we hadn't noticed a ferry coming up behind us. We were getting close to the channel and decided that we needed to tack - right in front of the ferry! He took evasive action and fortunately there was enough room between us, otherwise it could have been ugly. The ferry master said something to us but I'm not sure what it was...

8 November 2008

"Forecast for Saturday - Winds: West to northwesterly 20 to 30 knots tending westerly 15 to 20 knots later in the evening. Seas: 1 to 2 metres decreasing to 1.5 metres later in the evening. Isolated thunderstorms early in the morning." It seems that half the competition decided against sailing this week just based on the weather forecast. But not us brave (and somewhat naive) novices. We got out there and gave it a go! The conditions though were rather challenging, so once again we found ourselves in survival mode, not racing mode. There were breaks of sunshine and moderate winds but these were interspersed with short periods of heavy cloud and squally winds. The squally conditions really tested us as we hung on and tried to keep ourselves upright.

Emma and Brian in "Dorothy L" were unfortunate to experience a capsize just five minutes before the start. The conditions were just too tough for Emma to skipper, so while they were in the water righting the boat they decided that it would be best to swap and for Brian to skipper. They managed to get "Dorothy L" back upright and made it to the line for the start. Good effort guys and well done!

Ken was once again skippering my boat "Serenity" and we timed our run to the line pretty well. But just after the start we caused a collision between ourselves and a Sabre. The Sabre was on our leeward side and was steering closer to the wind than us, so we readily acknowledge that he had right-of-way. Although we spotted him, being beginners in those conditions we didn't feel we had a lot of manoeuvrability and so we struck the Sabre on his rear corner (or thereabouts - who can tell in these situations?). The impact immediately spun him around in front of us, pushing him into an unexpected tack and causing him to nearly capsize. Meanwhile, we continued on our way calling "sorry", with little more than a bit of Sabre paint on our bow. Later back at the club we went and apologised for our part in the mishap. To our relief we found Tony to be a delightful fellow who was very understanding of our situation and good-natured about the whole incident. So it gave us an opportunity to meet somebody else in the club and we sat and talked about it over a beer afterwards. Thanks Tony. It just reaffirmed for us what great people we have in this club. Just watch out when we decide that we'd like to meet somebody else!

The rest of the race was about survival for us. We enjoyed the moments when the sky was blue and the winds were moderate. But when the squalls hit, our tension levels went up and our skill levels were severely challenged. We started to learn how important it was to read the wind off the water! We could see a squall coming as it ripped across the surface of the water and we'd brace ourselves for the onslaught that was about to hit us. I'd call out to Ken "wind gust coming" and we'd just hang on for dear life and wait for it to pass. It was like that for us almost the entire race. We successfully completed two laps without incident, but were getting pretty tired and had fallen significantly behind the fleet - we'd been lapped once by some of the boats and were at least one leg behind our nearest rival. So we decided to call it a day and retire before anything happened.

As with the rest of the fleet returning, our trip back to Williamstown was pretty eventful as were hit again by two severe wind squalls. We had little choice but to let the sails go and just sit it out. Ken later observed that I was scared for myself (well, he used different words - he's not as eloquent as I am) and I don't mind admitting that I was. I was also thinking that "Serenity" wasn't going to get back in one piece! Eventually the worst of the squalls passed and we managed to make it back to the club intact. Well done Ken!

Sailing novices Brian and Emma did brilliantly in "Dorothy L" and were the second placed Pacers on the day, an excellent result for first-year sailors in those conditions. They even managed to beat Kim Ho who is someone we novices have a lot of respect for as a sailor and hold in high esteem. Circumstances meant that Kim wasn't sailing his own boat but was instead sailing in an unfamiliar club boat. Given the close competition Brian and Emma have been giving club veterans lately, I'm not sure we can call them novices anymore. For his part, Ken once again did brilliantly. For a novice skipper to sail under those conditions and get back in once piece is a testament to persistence, endurance and courage. Well done Ken.

1 November 2008

This week was just a social race, that's all. Just a bunch of sailors getting together and going out for a sail. Yeah right! Put just two boats together, set a course and sound a starting horn and there's going to be race, whether you call it social or not!

The wind was a moderate southerly and in contrast to previous weeks was pretty consistent throughout the race. There was a decent swell though which made conditions a little challenging for us novices, especially on the downwind leg. The course took as across toward the St Kilda breakwater, back toward the Princess Pier channel markers, north toward Sandridge Beach before a beat upwind to channel marker 20 and home.

For the first time in some eight months Ken was skippering "Serenity" and he did very well. There was some confusion amongst the fleet about the timing of the start, but given it was a social race it didn't really matter did it? Hell yes! We approached the line in about second or third place with nobody around us, giving us clear air. It was our best start ever and we were very pleased with ourselves! But after some self congratulation we were brought down to earth when we were soon caught by others in the fleet who were somehow travelling faster than us (hmmm - more boat speed required).

We made our way out of the clearway and across the channel. At this point we started to experience the full affect of the swell, something that Ken was unaccustomed to and that would prove to be valuable experience for him. By this stage we had been passed by one third of the fleet but then got our house in order and were starting to keep pace with our nearest rivals as we headed across to St Kilda breakwater. Once again we had optimistically rigged the spinnaker, but once we were on the water decided not to deploy it. "Manta" was just in front of us and they had different ideas - up went their spinnaker. But they had hoisted it up on the windward side of the boat, and it immediately became entangled in the jib. While they were sorting out their new reality they lost boat speed and we gained ground on them. Eventually they got their spinnaker flying but it didn't seem to give them any significant advantage and we were managing to keep pace with them. Then eventually they got some clear air and got ahead of us leading into the first mark.

The first mark was a gybe which Ken executed tentatively but flawlessly. We were then on a broad reach heading back toward Princess Pier. Once again the crew on "Manta" deployed their spinnaker and once again they got themselves into a tangle, only this time it was worse! We gained on them quickly and could hear a lot of swearing and cursing coming from Gary - and he was crewing! Just as we reached them they decided to give away any hope of flying the spinnaker and put it away. That was their best decision and they quickly accelerated away from us again, leaving us in their wake. A lesson learned for us novices - spinnakers don't always give you an advantage!

All this time Ken was becoming accustomed to the swell. On each leg the direction and behaviour of the swell is different and so calls for different handling of the boat. Ken was on a pretty steep learning curve but he handled it admirably. I was on a learning curve of my own because I had become unfamiliar with crewing. It's definitely worthwhile trading positions as much as possible because you really gain an appreciation for each other's roles. Ken was crewing a few weeks ago when the conditions were so tough and it was his positive encouragement and guidance that got me through a very difficult race. So I was trying as much as possible to give Ken the same support and positive encouragement he had given me. You are really only as good as your experience allows, and as a skipper Ken was experiencing these conditions for the first time. He deserved all the support I could give him.

The downwind leg was a little challenging with the swell following directly behind us. It was in this situation that Ken and I experienced our first and only capsize. Despite strong feelings of déjà vu we weren't keen for history to repeat itself! For a novice skipper, the challenge with a following swell is that it feels like you're going out of control. You really have to ride the swell, to make sure that the direction of the boat is maintained, and that the swell doesn't push the boat sideways across the swell or into an unexpected gybe.Ken handled it brilliantly and we reached the bottom mark without incident. Then it was beat upwind. By this stage we were both getting tired so the final beat upwind was pretty hard work. It also gave Ken a bit of workout with tacking, something that hadn't been required up until now. Some of our early tacks were a little untidy but we eventually got ourselves sorted out.

Reading the wind and steering the right line also becomes more significant when you're heading upwind so we needed to stay on top of that. After tacking upwind on the east side of the channel we decided to make our way across to the finish at the club. However, I had misread the line and we ended up south of the final turning point. Because it was a social race and we were tired we decided to forego the final mark and we headed straight for home.

18 October 2008

"For the experienced sailors in the club it should be a fun day. For those of you that are less experienced ...... well ..... you're going to be in for a tough day." With that sobering briefing fresh in my mind, we ventured out into a strong and gusty north-westerly wind for a day's racing. For the beginners the conditions were incredibly tough, but in hindsight we learned a lot more than would have been the case had we sat out the race. It just didn't feel like it at the time!

Earlier, Ken and I had optimistically rigged the spinnaker but were not at all confident that we would have occasion to use it. With the wind gusting strongly we delayed our departure for the start area as long as possible. For the first time in our experience the start line was to the south and the windward mark laid just off Sandridge beach. We were cleared to cross the shipping channel ahead of an approaching ship but became somewhat concerned when a strong northerly gust hit us when we were midway across. In fact, we were the last boat the rescue crew allowed across the channel ahead of the ship and we were feeling decidedly exposed, just praying that we could get across without being capsized by a sudden gust of wind.

Heading down to the start area we were still wrestling with violently gusting and shifting winds and never really came to terms with the conditions until halfway through the race. Until then we were just fighting to survive. We got ourselves an OK start for a change and felt that we were with the fleet at the start. But we were clearly struggling with the conditions and our first beat upwind was a constant learning experience as we came to terms with the blustery conditions. The wind was shifting continuously through what seemed like 10-15 degrees and at times it was gusting up to 25 knots. We very much felt like rodeo riders hanging on aboard a bucking bronco! We were very relieved to reach the top mark without incident and we gratefully transitioned onto a relatively quiet reach. Although we were on a reach we had our mainsail set all the way out - at one stage we thought we were going downwind! The gybe at the second mark was pretty violent but we managed it without incident and our downwind to the bottom mark was uneventful. At this stage we were way behind the fleet, which didn't really matter because we weren't in racing mode, we were in survival mode!

During the second beat upwind we'd learnt a few things and I was starting to read the wind a little better, but it took a lot of concentration and a fair amount of physical effort to keep things on track. While I was focused on working the shifting winds and keeping us upright, Ken was keeping a lookout and calling the tacks. We really pulled together as a team and things started to improve. By the time we'd reached the top mark for a second time we'd come to a basic understanding of how to sail under the conditions. Our confidence lifted and we briefly toyed with the idea of deploying the spinnaker on our downwind leg, but thought we'd better not push the envelope too much!

Arriving back at the bottom mark we were very surprised to see Brian and Emma coming into the mark from our port side. Brian later revealed that they had actually done a triangle on the second lap, not a windward return, as per the briefing. So through their error we'd caught up with them. They rounded the mark ahead of us and together we started beating upwind. Based on our experience of the last two upwind legs we were reading the wind a lot better and we gained ground on Brian and Emma. "Serenity" and "Dorothy L" crossed paths half way along the leg and we were thrilled to find ourselves ahead.

However, at this point we had a problem. Throughout our upwind leg we had taken a lot of water and we were now weighed down by water in the boat that came almost to the seats! With the boat low in the water, more-and-more was coming in over the gunwales and the additional weight was causing us to slow considerably. Ken started bailing. By the time we'd reached the top mark we'd lost any advantage we had over Brian and Emma and they were once again ahead of us. A combination of too much weight and a couple of poor tacking decisions left the door open for them to get ahead. So once again we were at the back of the fleet. We headed for home, resigned to the fact that we would finish last.

On the final downwind leg we had a brief misadventure and almost capsized. To be honest I don't really know what happened and can only put it down to tiredness and a brief lapse in concentration on my part. Fortunately we managed to rebalance the boat and salvage the situation but we came very close to capsizing. Our near miss certainly served to refocus our attention and vigilance.

Toward the end of the race another opportunity to get ahead of "Dorothy L" opened up for us, albeit briefly. Brian and Emma had taken the wrong line heading across to the club and they found themselves too far south. They were forced to put in a couple of windward tacks in order to get themselves into the clearway. The opportunity gave us hope we could catch them, but unfortunately they managed to get themselves back on track and ultimately finished well ahead of us.

I couldn't say that it was an enjoyable day of sailing - for us it was a battle to survive. But as a learning experience it was invaluable. The extreme conditions brought out some key learnings that we can carry forward into our sailing under lighter conditions. It was a real achievement just to finish without incident and we learned a lot in the process. But I couldn't say that it was particularly enjoyable day on the water!

11 October 2008

This week was the first official race of the sailing season. For most club sailors it turned out to be a frustrating day, but for the beginners it was a day of genuine achievement and satisfaction.

On the face of it the day seemed to be perfect for sailing, with bright blue skies, a light-to-moderate southerly wind and a forecast afternoon sea breeze. Ken and I had spoken during the week and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to use a spinnaker for the first time.
This would be a big step for us because we'd had no instruction or training in the use of spinnakers and all that we'd heard was how difficult they were, both to rig and to sail. During the week I'd studied my sailing books, so came armed with all the theory. In the hour before the race we also had some practical help from Allan, Gary and Doug (thanks guys). So we thought we'd give it a go. What's the worse that could happen?

In actual fact the wind on the day turned out to be very fickle. When we rigged the boats the wind was from the south. We went in for lunch and race briefing and by the time we came out the wind had shifted to the north ((in fact, somebody had thoughtfully gone around all the boats and turned them to face the northerly direction. Very impressive). The northerly was quite brisk and we found ourselves re-assessing our decision to try out the spinnaker.

Once on the water we set sail for the start line. But the committee boat was not in its usual place, just offshore from Sandridge Beach. Instead it was toward the southern end of our course area, obviously due to the northerly wind. We spotted Doug heading over there and followed, whilst the rest of the fleet headed for Sandridge. Then suddenly an odd thing happened - the boat gybed of it's own accord. Doug was momentarily thrown by the sudden wind shift, as were we. But there it was, a distinct shift in wind direction from the north to the south. The change in wind direction saw the committee boat weigh anchor and head  north to Sandridge Beach where the rest of the fleet had already congregated, so we followed.

With the change in wind direction there appeared to be a 10-minute delay to the start of the race, although for us newbies we didn't have a really  good handle on what was going on! But eventually the race started. I had been working on a new start strategy, which failed dismally and we ended up way behind the fleet and to leeward at the start - with no wind! Very frustrating (sorry Ken), but you try these things  and learn from the experience. We won't be doing that again! Our fellow beginners Brian and Emma got off to an amazing start and appeared to cross the line first or second - good going guys. It certainly caught the more experienced sailors by surprise (Doug later said something about not passing on any more of his knowledge to us newbies).
The winds had lightened considerably and the going was pretty  slow. In the past Brian has been very successful in light wind conditions and with Emma at the helm of "Dorothy J" the two of them were making good progress toward the front of the fleet. Meanwhile Ken and I were languishing at the back of the fleet, searching for the morsels of good wind that the fleet had left behind.

The beat to windward was testing our abilities in the light wind conditions but we managed to keep pace with the rest of the fleet. Rounding the top  mark we found ourselves in second last position ahead of our regular "wooden spooners" in a 125. The 125 crew gained on us in the reach, but we had a secret weapon up our sleeve. We rounded the second mark with two other boats - a trailer sailer on our inside and the 125 on our outside. Once around the mark we revealed our "trump card" - the spinnaker. Although it took us a little time, we eventually deployed the spinnaker for the first time (well done Ken, it's hard work for the crew). Wow, what a feeling that was. The boat immediately took off, powered on by our bright orange spinnaker, and we gained ground on the rest of the fleet, passing two or three of the back-markers who didn't have spinnakers - first "Shadowfax" then "Darryl G". For the first time since starting racing I felt like we could be competitive, rather than just languishing at the back of the fleet. But it was getting crowded and once we'd passed the other boats we found that our spinnaker was becoming blanketed by the boats we'd just passed. We now had a number of boats bearing down on us leading into the bottom mark.

By this stage the wind had lightened further and the beat upwind was again a search for the elusive breath of air. Ken suggested some changes that we could make and these brought instant success (sorry everyone, competitive secret. Well done Ken). We were still moving slowly but we were making better headway than would have otherwise been the case. We made our way gradually to windward, but our nearest competitor "Shadowfax" had made better upwind progress (incidently "Shadowfax" and "Serenity" are virtually sister boats with sail numbers 550 and 554 respectively - an amazing coincidence that after 15 years they should both end up at WSC, don't you think?). Brian and Emma were  obviously a long way ahead because they were nowhere to be seen.

Once again on the downwind leg we deployed the spinnaker and once again we made strong gains against the rest of the fleet (for those who've never used them, I can't recommend them enough). But then trouble struck the fleet at the bottom mark. There was no wind, nothing. The fleet was completely becalmed. "Serenity" came to a complete halt just 20 metres short of the bottom mark, as did the boats in front of us and immediately behind us. It was as if time had been suspended. There were seven or eight boats and nobody was moving - we were just stopped in our relative race positions. There was nothing left to do but sit and wait. The guys in the 125 decided to have a bit of a swim. The girls in  "Shadowfax" just wanted to sing sea shanties. Lois and Sue in "Darryl G" started paddling (not sure whether that's allowed). Everyone just sat there for a good 15 or 20 minutes, just waiting for the smallest breath of air to get us moving again, but there was nothing. Eventually one of the trailer sailers (I think it was Greg in "Pedina Doro") fired up their outboard motor and headed for home. That prompted the remainder of us to reassess our chances of completing the race and we collectively took the decision to slowly head for home.

There was just enough wind to get across to Williamstown, but the possibility of being becalmed in the middle of the shipping channel had crossed our mind. On the way back we were passed by "Smooth Criminal" and they were flying their spinnaker on a broad reach. We thought that was something we could try, so once again we deployed our spinnaker, this time in the broad reach configuration. What a thrill that was - we immediately picked up speed and made it back to the club in reasonable time.

Disappointingly, a large proportion of the fleet recorded "DNF" for their first official race of the season. Amazingly beginners Brian and Emma finished third in our division, reaffirming Brian's mantle as a light wind specialist. Well done guys (club champions beware - team "Dorothy J" might be beginners but they'll be pressing for a win when the winds are light and they've got themselves a spinnaker). For the experienced sailors it was a pretty frustrating day, but for the beginners it was a day of achievement and satisfaction. Brian and Emma finished third, and as for Ken and I, we successfully deployed a spinnaker for the first time - a big thrill for us and a strong sense of achievement. But most of all the newbies gained an appreciation for how much our sailing had improved from our novice beginnings last season.

5 October 2008

This week was the opening of a new season. What an exciting time it's been. We haven't been sailing all winter and I've been keenly anticipating the start of the season. Unfortunately Ken couldn't join me this week (away at a conference in Cairns - Ken says he'd rather be here sailing but we find that hard to believe) so I sailed with Kumarie who completed the "Learn to Sail" course with me last year.

My good friend (and sailing rival) Brian has leased "Dorothy L" for the season and he was sailing with Emma, also from the "Learn to Sail" course (great to see you out there Emma).

The weather was nothing short of magnificent, a perfect day for sailing. Bright sunny sky, warm without being too hot, a pleasant and manageable sea breeze, simply ideal. After the pleasantries in the club rooms (we barely recognised Bill Pride because it was the first time we'd seen him in a suit) it was down to the sailing.

We did the traditional sail past with three cheers to the new commodore - apparently an age old sailing tradition but a bit of a novelty to us newbies.
Actually in a moment of confusion we arrived ahead of the rest of the fleet, so gave our salute to the commodore a little prematurely. Having never done it before I guess we could be excused. Then it was down to racing, but not a serious race, just a social race.

It didn't take the edge off my competitive spirit though, let me tell you! The start was near the club. We got ourselves into a fantastic position (or so we thought) and timed our run to the line beautifully. Only problem was, we were leeward of the rest of the fleet and were completely blanketed.

We stopped dead in our tracks with no wind whatsoever! As a result, our magnificent starting position quickly dwindled away as the rest of the fleet took off. We were surprised to see Brian and Emma approaching the start from the opposite side of the line!! They executed a flawless "dip start", something we''d only just discussed at the Thursday night briefing session. Hmmm. I could tell that the dip start had captured Brian's imagination-he just couldn't wait to try it out.

The first lap was pretty chaotic as we quickly discovered how much we had forgotten over the off season. Having recovered from our initial setback we found ourselves way back in the fleet, but we made up some ground heading into the first mark. Then it was downwind to the bottom mark where things got interesting. Coming into the mark alongside us were four other boats-a 125, a Trailer Sailer, a Mirror and us! Needless to say there were some tense moments as we tried to sort ourselves out.

I think there was a minor clashing of boom against mast between the Trailer Sailer and the Mirror. Being on the outside of the carnage that was likely to follow we stayed well clear and managed to get through unscathed. Beating upwind to the top mark we found ourselves amongst the moored boats, so there was a bit of ducking and weaving to make sure we didn't hit anything.

Then we had the channel to contend with. Like everybody else we were trying to use the maximum width without going into the channel.

The rescue boats were working overtime, trying to keep everybody on the safe side of the shipping channel.

At the top mark there seemed to be some confusion amongst the fleet about which mark we were supposed to go around. But by the time we arrived they seemed to have sorted everything out-one of the advantages of being placed further down in the fleet I reckon. After the chaos of the first lap the rest of the race was a simple pleasure. We soaked up the beautiful weather, the ideal sailing conditions and the joy of sailing again. At this stage Brian and Emma were way ahead of us and we gave up any hope of being able to catch them. We just went along at our own pace and soon discovered that the rest of the fleet had overtaken us and that we were running last. No matter. But then at the bottom mark of the final lap a 125 had got itself into difficulties. The opportunity presented to us by their mishap rekindled our competitive spirit and we decided that if nothing else we'd beat them back to the club.

Based on our experience of the previous laps we quickly planned our upwind leg so that we could cut out two tacks. Our plan worked perfectly and we found ourselves well ahead of the 125 (sorry guys). We rounded the top mark and headed home, well satisfied that we hadn't finished last. It was just the most perfect day of sailing and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A special thanks to Kumarie for crewing with me in Ken's absence-you did a great job.

Looking forward to the remainder of the season and perhaps advancing to third last in our next race.

Copyright Williamstown Sailing Club 2008