Sailing Blog
More Breeze on Day 2 of Miami Championship »
March 5, 2011
The forecast for slightly lighter breeze never really developed as the velocity was the same, if not stronger than on day 1. The course had a little less right hand favor, and there was a bit more emphasis on playing the shifts, but as always, boatspeed was king, and there were a few boats who were able to separate themselves on Day 2.
The boats who did well upwind today were often the ones who could keep their mains full and not washing out in the big puffs. Out main trimmer on Volpe, Scot Nixon did a great job of always keeping plenty of camber in both the main and the jib, and once the main started to luff, a slight burp on the jib was made, and the main would reset which was huge for speed. Keeping a constant angle of heel both upwind and downwind was also key. Upwind, a lot of boats would tend to pinch and get flat going into waves which resulted in a much slower, chopping wood type of mode. It was much more important to keep 3-5 degrees angle of heel, get the boat rumbling, and allow to power over the waves instead of slamming into them.
Downwind, the Melges 32 really likes to stay roped up on a plane, and with 6-8 ft seas, it was very easy to be tempted to try and surf every wave on the course. Trying to surf every wave however often results getting stuck in too low of a mode, instead of just keeping the boat “hot” with 3-5 degrees angle of heel, forgetting about the waves and just keeping the boat moving fast. Sure, if there was an obvious wave to take, it is fine, but trying to get on every single one did not pay off.
We did a good job on the Volpe of staying in a good mode both up and downwind, and with clean starts and solid tactics, we were able to settle with a nice score line of 2, 5, 4. The boat of the day was Samba Pa Ti who put up a 1, 2, 2 to pretty much secure the regatta win with 2 races remaining. We felt we were going pretty well today, but the Samba had some wheels that no one else could touch.
After two days of 18-25, the breeze is expected to finally back off and provide some relief to battered Melges 32 teams. Stay tuned for the final report from the Melges 32 Miami Champs.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
TrackBack URL