Small Reach Reggatta report.

[Ray Frechette Jr]

Just back in from Small Reach Regatta in Frenchman's Bay.

3 CoreSounds there,  My 20, a 17 and a 15.

No motors on any of them.

about 40 miles sailed over three days.

Yesterday morning we sailed out of Lamoine Beach State park with a blistering windspeed of 2 to 2.25 MPH with occasional rare gusts of 2.5 MPH lasting for milliseconds.

Sailing out against a flooding tide too with a tidal fetch of about 12 feet.

Yeah, we resorted to a  little bit of one oar rowing with sails up to get out of the harbor, but once round the point, even though I was near the end of the fleet,  (skinny little boats double team rowed out)  I set the Mizzen staysail flying it single handed and cut up through the fleet in good order averaging 3.5 knt boat speed on a 60-70 degree point off the nose of the wind.

Rounded Haddock point and bore off and as Mainsail became starved by staysail dropped staysail, gybed the Main and rehoisted staysail running wing on wing with main and again accelerated to 3.5 knts.

Motors are for ..........  (fill in the blank)

Sukie was first in the harbor day two  and I was fourth in.  (Cboard trunk had gotten some kelp on it)

The coreSounds now have a [penalty at all Small Reach Regattas where we are to take an extra leg given our speed and pointing ability.

Day 3 leaving Bean Island, all three CS's were able to beat directly out past haddock Point without needing to tack upwind to gain seaway.

Better than 2/3 of fleet had to tack to get out of that stretch.

I learned a fair amount about using the staysail  this trip and look forward to getting a bit more time with it.

If any of you notice that you can trim down your snotter to the point that you have no more adjustment, you might want to make new longer sprits.

The sprits on my 20 originally id that and Graham advised me to lengthen them to be able to flatten sail more for better pointing.

I made new sprits 10 inches longer factoring it would be easier to shorten them if needed.  I might shorten them about 4 inches.

In any event I can now point about 10 degrees higher than I could pre alteration.

I don't know if it  is all sprit though as I also bought and raised new sails with extra roach and big long battens...

Sukie however was pointing every bit as close as I was with her luff sleeve sails.

Sukie also has previously lengthened her sprits as well.

Motors are vastly over rated.... IMHO

[Tom Lathrop]

Good on ya, Ray.  I also make my sprits longer than the plan.  Who knows just what the sailmaker will do?  I also like snotters led aft and double purchase at the mast (I'd go triple on a CS20).  It is a critical adjustment for a spritsail, especially for beating and useful to let off for more power on reaches or lumpy water.

Poo on motors

[Ray Frechette Jr]

When I have crew it is easy enough to send one to the starboard deck to trim the main snotter when on port tack.

I am though thinking it would be very nice to have double ended snotter trimming ability to be able to trim or ease it under way from Port side when single handing her...

[Ray Frechette Jr]

Lessons learned single handing the CS20..

I found a very neat method of playing the staysail sheet while helming the boat single handed.

Typically I let crew trim the staysail under way,  But on the light air day with no crew I was loath to leave it in the bag.

I wrapped the sheet a few turns around the tiller extender holding the tiller extender at about a 25-30 degree angle from the tiller.

This way I could independently trim or ease the staysail sheet and also independently bear up or down as needed with the rudder while only using one hand, leaving the other hand to tend the main.

Also,  I found a nice way to single person row with one oar and track straight under way.

I used a boat cushion strap wrapped around the tiller extender and wedged the end of the extendable tiller extender against seat to hull join with seat cushion preventing it from slipping forward and strap keeping it from slipping back.

I would row with one oar on same side and I could pull cushion fore or aft in order to adjust rudder angle a bit to keep the boat tracking straight.

[Ray Frechette Jr]

Link to wooden boat forum thread on Small Reach Reggatta.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?118050

First video was taken by Steve Bauer while crewing on my CS 20.

Later down the page are two very nice still shots of my 20 while I was flying staysail solo.

[Guest Dennis M]

What, no pics of the CS 15 -- the best looking and performing boat in the SRR? Sheesh, people. :smile:

[Ray Frechette Jr]

You know I have not seen any pics of the 15 at all on the SRR page or the Wooden Boat thread.

I saw a  brief snippet of it on a video.

[Gordy Hill]

Ray,

Great job of setting the saysail singlehanded. I don't think I'd have even attempted it.

During the first half hour or so of The Great Race one year we had light winds slightly forward of the port beam and I was in my CS17 with sleeve luffs and no battens. We sailed away from Graham in the 20 and opened up a few hundred yards before the wind freshened and Graham sailed past us and out of sight over the horizon. Up wind the clean airfoil of the sleeve luff is hard to beat. Off the wind, the extra area of the battens are hard to beat.

Up wind the leading edge of the airfoil is very very important. The staysail halyard along the mast can make a real difference. I'd like to try rigging super strong fishing line to lay along the mast. When the staysail is called for the halyard could be attached to the end of the fishing line and run up and through the block and back down. When you're through you could change back to the fishing line.

Also, with a track luff, an internal halyard is worth considering.

[Ray Frechette Jr]

I was thinking the luff sleeves sails might have somewhat of an advantage in light air pointing.

I don't think that can answer the why overall.

I think I still need to hone my skills to be a better competitor.

[Gordy Hill]

Darn!

That's a shame Ray! Now you'll just have to get out sailing more often. The business requires it. I bet you could write off all the fuel your boat burns.

For me, I just watch the luff tell tails closely and keep the sail flatter when it's windy. That just about uses up the knowledge I've acquired over the years. Beyond that you'll have to find someone a bit more helpful.

[Ray Frechette Jr]

This web page was rather enlightening to a bit of pointing info...

http://www.oceansail.co.uk/Articles/VMGArticle.html

[Tom Lathrop]

Now there is some stuff to exercise your brain cells Ray.  Forty something years ago I made up such charts and graphs to work this stuff out for myself.  Most of it relates to racing unless you are always wanting to optimize your VMG.  I think most of us realize that a cat ketch cannot match an equivalent sloop in pointing ability so it is wise to find out just how high you can steer toward the wind with profit.  Off wind I often sail 30 degrees off the rumb line to improve VMG.  Often even further in search of better wind. 

Much depends on the wind velocity as sailing off the rumb line is more profitable in light air.  It's also more pleasant to sail faster and I do that whether racing or not.  In strong wind when you are at hull speed but planing is not possible, its better to stick close to the rumb line.

Its all complicated by your perception of the various inputs and knowledge of your boats performance potential.  Even the best make errors in judgment and no one ever learns it all. 

[SUKIE]

So, OK I have a couple of confessions to make:

I learned to sail from my grandfather, and father, who were/are the best sailers on the east coast. We never "raced", but you can be sure that if there was a boat in the vicinity we'd sure try to beat it. The phrases they used were: "make all you can"(point as high as you can without losing way),  "watch the current around this point", "watch your head, commin' around!", "ready about, hard 'alee!", "let 'er go when we lose way" (dropping the anchor), and so forth.

The other confession: luck is a very big part of sailing, especially in Frenchman's Bay and EastBay where we were sailing. I have NO idea what Ray is talkin about with the technical stuff, but he sure can make that boat sing. Me, I'll take the: "make all you can Sukie!"

fair winds to all!

[Ray Frechette Jr]

I'll take luck over skill any day.

Nut if you work up enough skill, you make your own luck.

It must just be intuitive for you Sukie.

That's OK,  Don't bother reading and studying the stuff.  Like I say,  you didn't need it.

And next year,  don't look over your boat before launching it. 

Hmm,  Maybe skin diving gear and under cover of darkness.  Just tie off some warps on the centerboard under the boat.

Yeah,  That could work.

The look on Pat's face when I attributed it to highly skilled and well honed crew was priceless.