Summary PH observations oct-dec 08

Herewith combined the summary of all the remarks that I have scribbled down after each de-brief since we started mid October in Portoroz that might be of use for all of us.Even though it is roughly divided into the positions on board also look into the total.Items of interest for your position might be somewhere else.And it is the totality of the team that makes the boat move.......These remarks are not meant to criticise YOU or anybody else.They have been made while sailing with many different people on all positions and from a lot of observations of other boats from the RIB.Many remarks are also not my own.I just wrote them down because I thought they were good to keep.
So don't shoot the messenger,please......!Uhhhh, the messenger will probably shoot back anyway, so take care.



GENERAL:
-boat must before every dock-out (racing or training) be 100%.
-dock -outs on time
-before dock-out or after dock-in:boat is no social area; no talking,joking etc.Get on the pier and allow the ones who have work to do the room and quiet to concentrate on it.
-return tools and other equipment exactly where it came from.We are carrying too much junk on board, but we donot know what.
-minimise handling,tight flaking, moving etc of sails.North is very strong on this,it really damages the yarns.And never ever stand or sit on a sail.
Preferably during an event we leave the sails we use on the boat and not on the dock.Sails should stay out of the sun and out of heat ,not > 40 degr.C.
It is partly a matter of cost.But even more: we only get a limited amount of sail labels a year so the longer we keep the sails healthy the longer we are fast !
-keep boat tidy, especially concentrate garbage and drinking water in specific locations.
-after a finish first reorganise boat,prepare lay on deck the next possible genoa, wool kite etc.


-concentrate on boatbalance as if it where a 49er or a 470.Around topmark,to and around spreader mark.Before doing anything like hoisting etc boat must be FLAT and UNDER CONTROL.This means everybody except MAYBE one man full hike .
-order to hoist needs to come from helm or tactician sometimes some time is needed to get the boat undercontrol first.So wait!
-at tacks stay full hike.If necessary only one guy in is allowed to prepare runners etc."Stand by tack" means only we could , possibly , tack soon, wake up.BUT keep HIKING.Please confirm and relay "stand by tack"-who?
-after a tack get to full hike asap.Only very few people are needed in the cockpit for only a short time.
-downwind strong winds: come behind the steering wheels quickly.
-keep spi sheets out of water and in cleats.
Re-check as soon as people are out on the rail.
-bounce new spi sheet in gybe (who is best positioned ?)
-halyard genoa 1 : not too tight
-upwind very light wind:
2 men lying, or better, sitting legs over rail nose on knees on foredeck.
(bow in water/stern up,low windage.Seen on Russell's team Trieste)
-windy: donot start sneak too early.Creates a lot of unrest in boat and risky.Once sneak starts work quicker.
-during sneak: 2nd person (floater or grinder) to help bowman pull spi out of hatch.There is a lot of resistance around the hatch
-bowman needs support from the cockpit: keep an eye on him
*sneak
*lowering jib/pulling leech on foredeck by pulling sheet and/or leech
*release both spi sheets and feed them to him so he does not need force
*pull spi out of hatch
*etc
-in all windstrengths sweat the spi halyard ;in winds > 12 kn supported by a winch that takes over when sweating gets too heavy.But first 75% seems much faster if also sweated also in strong wind.
-spi change if prepared well in it's bag our record: 1min 45sec but mostly much longer
-jib change our record 5 min. but mostly much longer
These 2 maneuvres can be trained quite far while boat is moored.Sail does not need to be hoisted.
-immediate gybe around the spreadre mark is often tactically of super importance.ALWAYS be ready to immediately fast-gybe if not gybehoisting.If under jib 3 leave it up, just keep it tight (who?)so spi blows fwd.and around.Jib 2 and 1 need not be lowered 100% to be able to gybe.

BOW:
-any sails ,incl spi's,on board always packed the right way ready to use.Otherwise it is ballast
-practice with .......pit/float/grind?(organise yourselves).....superfast jib changes and superfast spi changes.Can be done at the dock ,no need to hoist.Record time.
-handle sails with 100% care.Also when lowering the genoa under spi.
Spi gets holed by antiskid on foredeck.Other sails the yarns get badly damaged by bending.
-! ! spend MINIMUM time on foredeck.Lowering of jib can mostly be done halfway the foredeck.Donot waste time trying to lower the jib/genoa 100%.Just get it partly down,get the battens under control (spi sheet in gybe!)and the body of the sail under the foredeck bungee .Always check lazy spi sheet off the lowered jib/forestay and come back.
-Jib 3 can stay up , it does not hurt the spi and save s a lot of movement on the foredeck in strong winds
-close the spi hatch !
-always wear or atleast have ready a bosun's chair (is that the word?)
-sneaking/spi tack forward: minimise time struggling.Organise help from behind.Take halyard well forward,especially when under genoa 1.
Keep it all under control ! !
-wool both head and tack of spi in windy conditions and before /in between races.
Find a quick system
-be very exact and systematic (marks!) with attaching retrieverline, knots etc..Every spi it's own retriever line blocks.


PIT:
-at spi drop blow tackline before releasing bowsprit.
But donot leave bowsprit out any more time than absolutely necessary!
-RELEASE leeward runner! In time !!
Ducking/ rounding a mark/ gybing/pre-start!!
But also beware that too much slack can create a fuck-up around boom end especially in pre-starts so follow what is going on
-TIGHTEN new runner ASAP...EARLY.
When tacking it allows boat to sail out of tack ,it allows you to pull new runner with less force,it allows to unload old runner more smoothly without shocking the mast.
When gybing it helps to keep the mast in one piece.
!We have to love this mast; the new masts are shit !
-Arrange yourself who helps you with the runners in which maneuver.Float or Bowman.
-when spitack is brought to bowsprit help bowman -and avoid spi blowing away - by NOT any TENSION on spi halyard .Halyard and spi head must get around jib, even more around genoa.
-always load up winches fully: at least 6 turns of rope.
It greatly prolongs life of winches and it gives you much more power.
- ! absolutely BLOW spi halyard at windy drop ! !
-also blow genoa/jib halyard at drop.
-get bowsprit in after spi drop ASAP ! And bowsprit out only after rounding top mark when is safe to do so


FLOAT:
-keep eye on everything happening, help out others BEFORE things happen or start to go wrong
-from cockpit whip free lazy spi sheet from jib/forestay if necessary
-tail new spi sheet in gybe.Or bounce.Discuss with spi trimmer.
-call wind (gusts,shifts)
-call waves.
-agree with pit who helps him with runners etc.
-help grinding
-agree with pit and grind who helps spi out of hatch, who sweats spi halyard,who sweats jib halyard, who helps grinding


GRIND:
- see many of the remarks made under bow/pit./float/general
-prepare retriever line on primary winch before drop
-proactively help others,wide angle view.
-call target angles downwind


GENOA/SPI TRIMMER:
-in light winds often advantage to release spi halyard 30-50 cm.Most boats in the fleet do not do this .
-halyard Genoa 1 can usually be relatively soft
-pass retriever line forward before drop
-bounce spi sheet in gybe (is trimmer best positioned?? maybe better float?)
-constant trim communication with main and helm


MAIN TRIMMER:
-communicate continuously with genoa and helm
-steer boat with sails
-throughout fleet very different approach to using traveller.Generally PH feels better with a bit less twist and traveller earlier out, mainsheet a bit tight and maybe some vang on.
-very EARLY DUMP of mainsheet at windward mark, ducking ,pre-starts etc.
Better too much too early than a bit too little too late.
-handle sheet aggressively downwind,especially strong winds
-concentrate on speed between upwind and spreader mark.After dump for bearing off at topmark main can be too loose for speed.Do not interfere with rest of crew.
-downwind strong wind: come back between the steering wheels and trim from there


HELM:
-in waves support wheel with knee to calm movements
-tacking in waves: relatively swift turn.Goal is to avoid a wave hitting while bow is on the wind.If waves close together get them to hit after turn
-tacking : after turn get to or under new course asap.Build speed to target very quickly ! ! Loss of heighth is mostly compensated by gain in bite from keel as speed returns.
-PH to communicate much more on rudder feel with main & genoa
-bearing off: PH better communication with main about dumping sheet
-light wind maneuvres: S L O W turns ! Keep boat moving ! !
Wide turns around marks.Keep pressure in the sails in the turns.

-light wind gybes: bear down slowly, keep downwind until 50% of spi is past forestay, then smoothly but swiftly heat up and fill spi by steering up .PH to stay on old windward side until visual on spi past forestay.Go up a bit past target and when speed reached come down a bit again.
Mainsail is gybed as late as possible.
-light-medium wind gybes: bear down slowly, check spi 40% past forestay and continue (if possible) turn up accelerating the turn.Heat it all up a bit more than in light wind
Communicate with spitrimmer all the way.
-strong wind gybes:bear off quickly, possibly to 5degr past downwind.Mainsail to be gybed ASAP ! ! As SOON AS spi is through fluently heat up to course.Keep boat on max speed and /or accelerate out of gybe as much as possible.But take care not to overheat after the gybe.Keep eye on speed of getting spi sheets in, "can they keep up ?"
Do NOT stop turning movement in middle of turn UNLESS there is some fuck-up.

-strong wind hoist: steer FAR DOWN just before hoist, feel boat fully under control/ pressure off , only then PH to give hoisting call.
-strong wind downwind: steer on feel and pressure, less on target instrument angles.They are too slow.Keep boat well pressured up, accept a significant heel so sail quite high and fast through the water.

-gybehoist: bear off far down.Stay on that (STB) tack till spi is at least 50% up.Only then gybe (to Port) , and stay LOW / DOWNWIND until spi is 100%, TOTALLY,past forestay. Only then luff up to course.
Jib 3 can remain up in this maneuvre ,even all downwind .During gybe it needs to be kept tight from the mast to allow wind to blow spi around..(Floater?)


TACTICIAN:
-handle reriever line fwd and tail retriever.Call 2 1 stop.
-just before drop pull in retriever line slack for 105%
-communicate
-be clear what thinking process is