Spring brings excellent weather conditions that arguably make it the best time to sail in Annapolis. Make sure your boat is tuned and trimmed properly so you can quickly get where you want to go on the course. Then it’s heads-up sailing to navigate the strong tidal currents and potentially shifty breeze.

Early May might be the ideal time to sail in Annapolis: the average temperature is a pleasant 69 degrees, the average wind direction is west, and the average speed is 7 knots. When you sail in Annapolis, you can almost always count on strong currents and choppy conditions due to motorboat traffic. The current flow in the Chesapeake Bay is tidal − flood tides run south to north and ebb the opposite. Many flowing rivers and large tributaries affect the current in the bay, meaning published tide tables are not 100-percent accurate and highly dependent on location and recent rainfall. It is paramount to keep an eye on the many signs in the bay that can give you hints to the fluctuations in strength and direction of currents, such as the tankers anchored in the shipping channel, the buoys, and the many area crab pots.

These factors make determining when the current will switch in the lighter breezes critical to top finishes. In the spring, the ebb tide is usually much stronger than the flood tide, due to the amount of rainfall and spring tides. Keep an eye on all available signs and remember the current rips in the channel’s deeper water. Also remember to set up your boat for the chop on the weekends. Between swirling currents and boat traffic, smooth water is hard to find in the Chesapeake Bay this time of year.

One of the many challenges Annapolis presents in the spring is the changing wind conditions caused by the approaching frontal systems or the lack of approaching systems. Determining the weather system you are racing in will help you plan which wind direction will prevail in the day’s races.

Here are some tips to understand the local conditions a bit better:

• Clear skies and air temperatures that are warmer than the water temp is a typical spring day, and it’s not a good combination for breeze this time of year. The sea breeze has a hard time developing due to the cooler temperatures, so expect light air overall.

• Southwest is the prevailing wind direction during the year, but southerlies are generally weak in the spring unless accompanied by a frontal system.

• As a front goes through Annapolis, the wind will clock to the west until it reaches the northwest, which is the prevailing cold front direction. Winds will blow from the northwest at 20-knots for a few days and then clock to the northeast and die, depending on the strength of the front.
  
• Westerlies are unstable with 25-degree shifts (or more….) and heavy puffs. Watch for more wind from the Severn River and off the closest weather shoreline.

• Northerlies are somewhat stable in pressure, but with the breeze coming across the land the shifts are fast and typically very large.

• Easterlies are dying breezes and especially weak when following a dying northerly. Often the far right pays because of the new direction and the far left pays because of old pressure. The middle normally suffers.

If you have any questions, reach out to the Quantum Annapolis team or come chat with us during the regatta.

The post Local Knowledge for Spring Racing in Annapolis appeared first on Sailing World.

In late July, Greg Gendell, 49, is driving to the airport. Again. He’s outbound for another regatta, but this time he’s headed to little ol‘ Traverse Bay, Michigan, rather than Palma, Portugal, Sweden or the many other exotic racing locales he frequents. So far this summer he’s been to Europe a half-dozen times to command the bow of Quantum Racing in the 52 Super Series and Aleph in the 44 Cup regattas, the two top-tier pro-sailing circuits. Not long ago he was a solo traveler to his sailing gigs, but on this particular airport run, his 11-year-old son is riding shotgun as he navigates the airport parking garage. This weekend, Gendell 2.0 will be watching his pops do his thing on the bow of the 52-footer Interlodge, just as the elder has done for nearly two decades as one of the best in the business.

Are you one of the younger bowmen on the pro-sailing ­circuits these days? Because you sure look it.

I don’t know about that. It’s funny because growing up, it was always the youngest guy that got sent forward. But the teams I sail with have lots of veterans, and I’m no longer one of the youngest.

How do you stay so fit?

I still prefer swimming and ­riding the bike, and I do a bit of yoga before sailing each day—a 10-minute routine to loosen up. In the gym, I do a lot of upper-body and core-stability stuff. I spend a lot of time on the Swiss ball. Fitness for me has always been important, but as I age, especially, it’s one of the things I’m known for, arriving ready to go, which I take seriously.

You still fit the mold for a bowman, physically, but as raceboats get bigger, do they need bigger guys?

For the 52 Super Series weigh-in I’m at 172 pounds. A lot of the other bowmen are built like me: wiry and tall and thin, and it seems like that’s still the form. I’ve sailed on some bigger boats, such as Comanche, and to be honest, I wasn’t quite big enough for plugging in the big furlers and wrestling the zeros and stuff. I got it done, but it’s much more physical for sure with the big gear.

Are you a card-carrying member of the Facebook Foredeck Union group?

I’m not…no. I don’t do social media. About nine years ago I sailed a Mumm 30 regatta with a bunch of college kids and I was thinking to myself then that I should do the Facebook thing. I felt the generation gap at that point, but still haven’t done it.

How many days of sailing so far this year?

I’ll probably do about 160 days total. I turn stuff down because my wife works. She has the real job. A lot of guys chase every possible day they can, but fortunately I don’t have to. The 52s and the 44s work well together in that I can do both. The 52 has been my priority for the past 12 years and I’ve been in the 44 class for five years. Those are my two priority teams, and I come and go on a few other programs. I do some superyacht stuff as well.

With all the precision ­electronics in the hands of those at the back of the boat, is there less pressure on you for the start?

It depends. You’ve got the ­navigator with the computer, my input from the bow, and their own gut feel. They have to take all three and decide what to do. A lot of times they still look to me for the start. I guess it’s probably gotten easier, but there is still a lot of pressure because you’re so close to the starting line; I’m talking one-tenth of a second of accuracy whether you’re bang on or called over. When the computer isn’t working—which happens sometimes—they’ll tell me there are no electronics and it’s all on me. When I know that, I actually take total control and I like it. I get my inputs and talk with confidence and fuel off the adrenaline.

With string take-down ­systems and no spinnaker pole to deal with, is it much easier for you?

Things happen quickly on the 52 and the kite drops in five seconds, so that’s definitely easier. We only have one jib halyard and a single luff foil and a lot of times we’ll only take one jib on the boat at a time. The boats, on deck at least, are very simple with super-clean layouts, but down below it’s incredibly complex.

Is this your department as well?

Jared Henderson is the guy that knows all the systems down below, and he’s usually the guy that jumps down there if something goes wrong. I don’t know all the systems well. Six years ago I knew every system, but I haven’t always stayed up with it. I should keep up with it, but at the same time, I know the systems better than the other guys on the boat.

Least favorite part of the job these days?

Time away from the family. But I’m involved with great teams, so it doesn’t ever feel as though I’m punching the clock. We’ve had a lot of success, and when we go sailing I know we have a chance of doing well and winning the regatta, so I’m lucky that way.

Does it ever get old?

I still really enjoy competing at the top level and being in the zone, of having a single purpose with teams and boats I know well. The races are intense, 45 minutes, and while I’m doing that I have such purpose. I like that. Doing it at such a high level is just so much fun.

As you go from boat to boat, how do you adapt to the different afterguard styles?

I’ve sailed a lot with Terry [Hutchinson]. He is such a loud communicator. There is no gray area with him. Everybody on the boat, and on the racecourse sometimes, knows what we’re doing. I like that everyone’s on the same page. Coming into a leeward gate, for example, if he doesn’t know which gate, he’ll say, “options open here.” You have no idea which gate you’re going to round, but I like that. On boats where the afterguard goes quiet, you just don’t know and that’s where the team suffers.

What’s your mental checklist in the prestart?

I check the tackline, halyard and the spinnaker hook up. Check, double check and recheck so that I know exactly what it’s going to look like when the hatch opens. There are a lot of little things I’ll cast my eyes over, like how the spin sheet sits on the forestay—and even with two minutes to go, I’ll keep looking at things as I start focusing on the starting line.

Is there anything that catches you off guard these days?

Not much; on the Quantum 52 everything is done quickly and without discussion. We have long offset legs, and we can be one boat length from the offset, and then change our minds about whether it’s a jibe-set or straight set. Coming into the bottom mark, too, we can leave everything until we’re basically at the mark. The string takedown has changed that dramatically. But it can still go bad.

How so?

It comes down to communications coming into the mark. In 25 knots of wind, it’s easy to get behind and out of sync. For example, the grinders have to sheet the jib on a bit, and if the tack of the jib lands outside the bow pulpit, I have to run up and skirt; then we have the jibing hobble, which has to come off— then the guys have to trim the kite in because it’s flapping and load up the string…If it doesn’t happen in a normal rhythm and you drop the kite when it’s collapsed, bad things happen. There’s a lot going on and it’s happening quickly.

What’s your go-to bowman gear these days?

I still like the Ronstan ClearStart watch. It has big numbers and it’s easy to scroll through the functions. I still have a Lirakis harness; in fact, I have three of them. Steve Lirakis hasn’t made harnesses since the early 2000s. I like the way it picks me up, more by the legs and up a bit higher. White sunglasses are definitely my thing. I’m thinking about letting them go, though. The ones I have now are a little obnoxious. I might stick with white, but I have to tone it down a bit. Zhik’s leggings, with the knee pads and sun protection, is what I’ve used about every day and every time I sail. For my knife, I prefer the Leatherman Wave. For 100 bucks, it’s still the best.

The post Greg Gendell, On Point appeared first on Sailing World.

Talk about the background of the people you’re working with.

Especially on Quantum Racing, from the front of the boat to the back, they’ve all raced in the America’s Cup, in either the Louis Vuitton finals or the America’s Cup. It’s almost like the range is from having participated in the America’s Cup to having won it multiple times. There are also Olympic medalists, so there’s a whole other level there. On Belle Mente, which is a more offshore-oriented program, we’ve got a lot of Volvo racers. If you chose to do the America’s Cup, and started with crews from either Quantum or Belle Mente, you’d have an awesome team to go and win it.

As coach, what do you bring to programs with this level of crew experience?

They’re all great sailors, so they don’t need me to tell them how to sail, but I can accelerate our learning. And it’s not just regatta-to-regatta but within the regatta. We go out one day, and we’re not quite so fast for the conditions. We see the same conditions coming for tomorrow, so in the morning debrief, we go over the lessons learned and take that into the next races. I feel I can make a difference in that incremental, day-to-day improvement.

How do you establish credibility with such high-level people?

You have to do that from day one. If you’re wrong on the first day with your suggestions, then you have no credibility. But you don’t go from 0 to 100 percent. It’s incremental. I remember coaching Terry [Hutchinson] for the first time in Key West in 2013 on Barking Mad. Terry gave me that look of “I am not buying what you’re saying.”

My observations are usually backed up with some data, but it’s still a leap for the sailors to add my metrics to their feeling on the boat. I’ve now worked with Terry for many years, so I get fewer of those looks. We have a level of respect and understanding, we do not see everything the same but that gives a vehicle for lively discourse and greater understanding and often quicker improvement rate. Terry is an intense person, and no one has a greater will to win, and I’m a stubborn Englishman. I like to be challenged by my teammates. They have some of the best minds in the sport, and I hope I challenge them to continual improvement.

One of the reasons they’re on these teams is that they’re all great to work with. They’re really interested in feedback, in improving in their area. So, my feedback might just be giving them some pictures and saying, “Have a look at these pictures relative to the boat or relative to a time,” rather than me telling them, “The sail’s really deep.”

Do you tend to let them draw their own conclusions?

My preference is to have the sailors draw their own conclusions, but sometimes I do tend to push them a bit because we don’t have a lot of time. If I see something that looks wrong, I’ve got to flag it.

I keep historical data records as well as minute-by-minute stuff. So maybe we do 15 beats, and the pattern is, we lose 12 seconds a beat to a certain boat. You can lose that detail within the entire racing, but when I start looking at the historical patterns, I can break that down to the point where I can say, “We have now done 15 beats, and we haven’t gained one second on this boat.” So the question is, is it because the tactician is sailing us through a longer distance? Is it less wind? Are our tactical decisions wrong? Or are we just slow in the VMG department or are we choosing the wrong mode? I provide the metrics to help tease that out.

Why do people listen to me? I don’t know if they do, but by my process of osmosis to sledgehammer, I try and get my points across. But if I’m going to suggest something, I back it up with metrics, which might include visual evidence, photos. In 2015, with Quantum Racing, we started the year with mainsails that were quite deep on cambers, quite twisted, with low traveller position, and struggled for speed upwind. We looked at photos of boats like Azurra, which started the season with a flatter mainsail and a little bit straighter leech profile. They sailed just a little bit higher all the time. We studied Azurra‘s mainsail relative to ours and started looking at the data. Through the week, we made improvements. You’ve got to start that process. So, I suppose that part of my job is to occasionally tell the emperor he’s wearing no clothes.

Do you ever have to shift out of the usual coaching role?

Yes. It happens when guys have just come off the water, it’s been a terrible day, and the last thing they want to hear is the coach telling them you did this wrong, you did that wrong. That’s when I really don’t say a lot. People are maintaining winches, dealing with sails and electronics—there’s always work going on afterwards. I don’t’ say much, just wander around and ask, “Hey, what do you think?” or “How did it go?” I’m just polling—getting the sailors’ narratives. I might hear from the sewer guy or the aft grinder. They might have the perfect little piece of information or that piece of the jigsaw puzzle. I always debrief the following morning, which gives some decompression time. It also allows me to develop a numerical story of the day as well as a visual story, using photos, which gives us better knowledge for the debrief.

What’s your role with the owners?

My role with them is really no different than any other person on the boat. They are all very accomplished sailors, great feel, huge drives to win and amazing ability to focus in the most intense of race situations. They are all integral parts of our speed team, and participate in our daily briefings. They come under my umbrella of continual improvement, so if I see an area that we can improve, maybe it’s the rate of turn in a jibe, then that gets discussed, and we move the level of driving forward.

Assembling the data and photos must be pretty time-consuming.

There’s not much sleep for me in these programs—usually 3 hours a night. And that was for around 250 days this past year. I spend my time off the water looking through data and analyzing it. I’m as obsessed as anyone else. That’s the thing at this level. If you’re going to work with people like Terry, you’ve got to be just as obsessed and just as driven.

I suppose the rule is, never good enough. We win all three races that day, and I’m still hammering away at the guys for the things we didn’t execute well enough. That’s that carrot that’s always in front of you.

The post Coaching the Upper Echelon appeared first on Sailing World.

It’s been name-called the three-legged gecko, the freak and countless others, but designers and engineers tasked with delivering this first generation of the AC75 proposed by the America’s Cup defender and challenger of record use one word to describe it: freedom.

“The platform is known,” says Adolfo ­Carrau, with the design firm Botin Partners. Botin is designing for the American challenger Bella Mente Quantum Racing. “The demands are similar to the multihull [used for the 34th America’s Cup], and at the end of the day, it’s a foiling boat. A lot of work was done by teams in the last campaign, work to improve the tools required to design foils, and most of the work these guys were doing continues. But still, there is not a lot of tradition in this boat.”

The only distant tradition to the Cup, of course, is the monohull, a different take on which was presented by Emirates Team New Zealand — the clever defender that almost dethroned Oracle Team USA in San Francisco in 2013, and then did so in Bermuda in 2017. With both New Zealand challenges, the Kiwis were steps ahead with their foiling initiatives, and their undeniable foiling-technology prowess is their strength. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the AC75 is essentially a big, lightweight ­surfboard meant to fly.

With the AC multihulls came plenty of righting moments from the platform. With the AC75, that righting moment will come from the foils. As awkward and bizarre as the concept might appear to traditionalists, simulations conducted at Botin while they await the class rules confirm the AC75 concept will work.

“Our in-house simulations confirm what they were predicting,” says Carrau. “Which is it should be able to foil in over 9 knots of true wind — both upwind and downwind.”

It’s an interesting concept that doesn’t exist at the moment, he adds, so the design team must rely heavily on dynamic simulations in the upcoming year. “It’s going to be an interesting Cup cycle because of this new concept,” he says. “Everyone will be relying on their technology to design their boat.”

In other words, the boats will be designed by the computer. Only when they have something tangible can they start applying experience and sailor-driven enhancements. “It’s hard for the sailors and designers at this stage to anticipate how the boat will behave in every condition,” he says. “It’s so completely new.”

Over time, Carrau and his peers have been limited by processing power of the simulators. Creating from scratch at this level is about big data and speed, he says. Emirates Team New Zealand doubled down its time and money on a good simulator in advance of the 34th Cup cycle — more so, he says, than any other team.

Unique as the AC75 might appear to the wider public, the concept is not all that foreign to sailors. In a sense, it’s like a giant International Moth, relying on the active foil to produce most of the vertical lift and side force required to lift the hull free of the ocean’s grip. A rudder elevator corrects pitch angle and contributes to vertical lift as well; early simulations confirm as much. Without a detailed version of the AC75 rule, however, plenty of guesswork remains: the dimensions of the foils and the freedom of where all the associated bits and pieces can be positioned.

The other significant unknown for Botin’s early efforts is the AC75’s rig concept and geometry. What it will ultimately be — soft or hard sail, or a combination of both — is essential intelligence. The rigid wing of the AC50s delivered a lot of power for foiling maneuvers, power that would be lost with a soft sail as it passes through the wind.

The AC75’s ultimate appearance will be dictated by the intended nature of the racing format itself. In the pre-start, for example, the traditional dial-ups will be a big area to try to understand and simulate with a boat lacking a keel and bulb. “That’s where part of the rule development is happening now — the amount of ballast on those struts,” says Carrau. “Ensuring there is enough initial stability to do pre-start maneuvers and dial-ups without capsizing the boat.”

There are more unknowns out of the gate, which appeals to Carrau and his colleagues. “It’s going to be challenging being the first on these new boats, with very compressed timelines to build the boat,” he says.

By compressed, he means Boat No. 1 should be in the water by late March 2019. Seventy-five feet is a big boat, and a ­complex one at that.

While the defender, by nature of ­dictating the terms of the regatta in Auckland in March 2021 does have a leg up (or maybe that’s a foil up), the relatively clean slate of the AC75 is an opportunity for ­others. Among the challengers, he says, the playing field is level. The goal is to outsmart the defender at its own game.

“Right now, they’re a foiling team, so they played that well” in designing the AC75, he says. The boat reflects where Team New Zealand feels most confident — in a foiling boat and relying on a simulator to make decisions.

“The concept and physics of the boat are not the most difficult part,” he adds. “Mechanically it’s going to be difficult to engineer all the systems, and everything depends on how much freedom they allow in the rule for the flight-control systems and so on.”

Of note are the systems that will be required to manage the ballasted foils. Whereas the AC50’s foils were smash-drop entry, the AC75’s foils will essentially enter the water at an angle, which Carrau says will help with ventilation issues that prevent foiling tacks and jibes. At the same time, he cautions, with straight-line sailing, the leeward foil tip must remain submerged to prevent ventilation. From a handling point of view, it will be important to get the ­optimum foil depth to the water’s surface.

Experience with multihull ­engineering before the previous Cup led to reliable structures, but with this boat, says ­Carrau, there is no true starting point. “We have to reimagine the new load cases and the worst-case scenarios that will happen with this boat,” he says, “and then build in the proper safety factor for each component, for an unknown boat. That’s the biggest short-term challenge.”

The challenge now is the freedom in the rule and delving deep into the simulator for an opportunity and a better idea. “That’s the game,” he says, “and that’s how we are ­preparing ourselves.”

The post The America’s Cup 75 appeared first on Sailing World.

Seated in identical armchairs lined across a low stage, four men face an audience of a few hundred attendees of US Sailing’s Leadership Forum in February 2018. These gentlemen will soon explain how their America’s Cup team, Bella Mente ­Quantum Racing, will steer the Cup to its former, classier roots, bringing along with it a new culture of American sailing.

Stage left is Malcolm Page, of Australia, a two-time Olympic 470 gold medalist now leading a scrappy US Sailing team toward Tokyo 2020. To his right is the senior and semiretired businessman John J. Fauth, who goes by Hap. Fauth has campaigned a line of grand-prix maxis named Bella Mente over the years — with a world championship win to his credit. To his right is Phil Lotz, New York YC commodore, a champion sailor himself and a progressive leader of the 173-year-old club. Finally, stage right is a smiling Terry Hutchinson, arguably one of the best American sailors of the past decade. Now resting on Hutchinson’s shoulders as skipper of New York YC’s challenge are the hopes and dreams of all ­America’s Cup traditionalists starving for some ­semblance of the distant past.

Today, Hutchinson is building a squad to flip New Zealand’s fortunes and restore the Auld Mug to where it once resided for 132 years before the Aussies took it away with their winged keel in 1987.

Hutchinson’s name might occupy the figurative corner office, but this ­American America’s Cup effort is much bigger than him or the 11 sailors who will eventually race the curious new AC75 (see page 26 for a technical brief) in Auckland in 2021. Indeed, the challenge is greater than winning the most expensive sailboat race known to man. The hard part will be advancing American sailing from the Optimist sailor to the Olympian. Yes, Bella Mente is about the Cup, says Hutchinson, but the syndicate’s legacy is what matters. With nationality rules in place, seven of the 11 crew will be born-and-bred Americans, bringing the 36th America’s Cup to its roots.

The campaign is about trickle-down too, but they’re not only talking about foil, wing and flight-control technology. They’re talking about advancing youth and skills, and opportunity for the generation that follows, victorious or not. The goal is to win it and then defend it, Hutchinson tells the audience. “In seven years, if I’m on the boat, I’ve screwed up.”

Let’s hope he’s not.

While he may be footing a sizable ­portion of the campaign, Fauth won’t be on the boat either. He’s too old, and his knees aren’t what they used to be when he was ripping seams on a hard sail loft floor on Long Island as a young adult. He wouldn’t pass the physical, and besides, he has a new Maxi 72 on build, which the sailing team will use to stay fresh while they await the first of two AC boats to come along. Two other gentlemen bankrolling the New York YC’s American dream team are automotive tycoon Roger Penske and Michigan native Doug DeVos, the ­millionaire philanthropist, Quantum Sails owner and skilled Corinthian helmsman of eponymous TP52s and sportboats.

The three of them have underwritten nearly half of the projected $130 million campaign, says Fauth, who says his role as CEO is that of “resource allocation” and to ensure that team politics never cloud good judgment. Whereas other challengers might start from scratch with personnel, Belle Mente enters the Cup game with a deep bench, but it will eventually rely on talent culled from the US Sailing team, as well as aspiring Cuppers from Long Island’s Oakcliff Sailing.

With the New York YC, the team is well-positioned; they’ve been eager to retake the world stage. “We had to do something,” says Commodore Lotz. “The event is so ­intertwined with the club’s history.”

Its terms to Hutchinson were clear: The challenge had to be competitive; it had to respect the event and the club’s traditions with the Cup; and it had to have a lasting, positive impact on American sailing. The New York YC’s previous two attempts ended with a cracking and sinking, respectively, Hutchinson reminds the audience. “We can achieve higher than that.”

Recognizing that only so much ­experience can be gained from simulators, the team’s schedule is both tight and ambitious. ­Working toward the Challenger Selection Series in January 2021, its first AC75 must be sailing in earnest by May 2019. Then the logistical road show starts with two European regattas later in the year, followed by an event in Dubai in early 2020, before a regatta or two on the U.S. East Coast (Hutchison hints southeast Florida and Newport, Rhode Island). It all then goes to the Southern Hemisphere for an Auckland regatta in December 2020.

Somewhere in that schedule, a second AC75 will have to be built and perfected, and there is no two-boat testing allowed.

“I lie awake at night thinking about our constraint in terms of number of sailing days on the boat with the team in full race mode,” Fauth confesses. “It’s a limiter for everybody to have the same starting point, excluding the Kiwis. Losing a single day on the water is really, really, really a loss for the team.”

The team’s first AC75 will be built in Rhode Island, as will be other pieces required to honor domestic-built requirements. The 20 percent nationality rule requires that the sailors be physically in the States for 380 days over two years, a rule, hints Fauth, intended to prevent ­others from poaching Kiwi sailors.

We can expect, therefore, to have a greater awareness as the team goes about its business. Fauth assures the forum audience of the team’s intentions of an honest and transparent campaign. “We intend to build an America’s Cup culture, and this is the starting point, developing it, being ethical and honest, and creating role models for younger sailors. If we don’t prevail, the residual will be a legacy that has enough experience for another challenge.”

How do they intend to pull at the ­American sailing heartstrings left abandoned by two-time defender Larry Ellison? Well, they’ve started with US Sailing and Oakcliff partnerships, but Fauth is intent on taking his team straight to the people. “It starts with you all getting excited and getting involved with us,” he promises. “We are bringing it to local clubs, talking directly to you through social media, and the ability to follow along through construction and training.”

This new culture, the commodore ­concludes, is one that American’s can finally get excited about. The audience claps and cheers with approval, anticipating a new Cup that sets a better example of sportsmanship and ethics, of fair sailing and traditions.

The post The Homegrown America’s Cup Team appeared first on Sailing World.

2017 QUANTUM KEY WEST RACE WEEK

The floater position is reserved for a very special type of sailor, often overlooked but extremely important. They’re the sailor that jumps on last minute when there is weight to be filled or a regular crew member gets food poisoning. To understand the key qualities of an exceptional floater, you must first understand the process of putting a team together.

The core of the team is typically made up of the owner, driver, boat captain, and tactician, who determines positions and then fills in gaps based on size, availability, and, most importantly, how the crew members mesh as one unit. Next is the meat, those sailors who include mast, trimmers, grinders, bow, and coach. The floater is often the teammate that holds all of the parts together and often the last position to be filled. Again, this is often based on how much weight the team has left or if a role needs to be filled

Now imagine how many moving parts are involved with the sport, and you start to understand how the floater must be comfortable with last-minute race calls or getting dropped due to weight. While floaters must have the necessary basic skills, good floaters will also be personable, motivated, and willing to jump in and help with whatever is needed.

Since the floater position is usually filled last, floaters need to be comfortable sailing with different boats and teams. The first thing a good floater should do when stepping aboard a new boat is get acquainted with the basics, including vang, outhaul, cunningham, pole, and tack line. These controls require little strength and can be performed by anyone in a pinch. If there is a call for something and the floater is closest to it, jump to the task at hand! The more that floaters step up to the plate without being asked, the more responsibilities they will be assigned.

Here are some of the important basic skills a reputable floater should develop:

• The ability to read the wind. This means understanding apparent wind and how it relates to different boats, and then asking the helm or trimmer “Can you hear me alright and is what I’m saying helpful information?”
• Knowing how to load the new winch properly, a miniscule task but one that is quite helpful in a tacking duel.
• Pack kites in an organized way, specifically the way the bow team prefers. Showing up early to organize kites is a mindless task but makes a huge difference in the boat’s performance.
• Understanding marine electronics and the ability to drive the box. Navigation knowledge is helpful not only when no one on the boat is versed, but also during coastal races and deliveries.
• A good floater needs to have the personality to fit right in regardless of the boat and make everything easier for the team. Beyond the basic skills that can be taught, floaters need to develop mental skills in order to read a team’s cues. Here are some key things to remember when you step on the boat.

HIKE IT LIKE YOU LIKE IT: Even a 100-pound floater makes a difference, though it may seem insignificant to fully hike against a 10-ton boat when all other teammates leave the rail reaching to the offset. Nonetheless, hiking is a must, and even if it makes little difference to the boat’s performance, someone on the team will recognize the floater’s effort.

KNOW WHEN TO TAP OUT: Racers are competitive and want to win, which means not showing weakness. Knowing a personal max grinding wind speed and keeping an honest eye on velocity will determine when it is appropriate to tag in someone else. Do what is best for the boat.

ALWAYS LEND A HAND: What’s the point of adding one more body helping to trim the main or carry a sail? The extra horsepower makes a difference, especially on a physically tiring boat. It is always better to jump in and be told the assistance is not needed rather than doing nothing.

READ UP: As soon as you get the green light from the team, read the sailing instructions and regatta rules. Creating a cheat sheet with change marks, start times, flag numerals, and any other useful information is a great way to stay in the know. This also applies to the general rules of sailing. Make sure you own a copy of the current rules and make sure you have a good understanding of them.

If you’re just starting out, remember that an adaptable personality, get-go attitude, and humor are what will make you a great floater and help you keep your schedule full.

This tip was brought to you by Quantum Sails.

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Being prepared for and responding to puffs efficiently will give you the edge on the racecourse. In light air, finding and taking advantage of puffs can create massive gains both up and downwind. In heavy breeze with increasing gusts, keeping a consistent angle of heel and full control of the helm and sails prevents loss of headway and fleet position. If the crew works together to respond to the puffs, their race is bound to be a success.

TUNE THE RIG

The correct tune for the conditions is essential for maximizing performance. Consult your boat’s tuning guide and adjust accordingly for the wind ranges you’re experiencing. If the rig tune is too loose for even the base wind speed, the sails will be too full to benefit from any puffs.

BACKSTAY TENSION

In the puffs, the backstay (or runner tension) should be wound on to tighten the rig and flatten the sails upwind. That will help prevent excessive heeling. Once the rig is squared away, you can make adjustments that will keep the boat sailing at its best angle by easing the traveler or mainsheet while at the same time pulling the vang on tight. Together, these adjustments control mainsail leech tension and twist.

CALL IT OUT

Designate a person on the rail to call puffs throughout the race, and have them count down, “3, 2, 1, breeze on.” Upwind, the helmsperson and mainsail trimmer can anticipate the puff to maintain a consistent heel angle. Downwind, when a puff hits the helm it loads up the sail and the boat accelerates. The helm must respond. In light air, big gains can be made by looking behind for puffs while sailing away from the wind. If you see a puff behind sliding to leeward of the boat, consider jibing to take advantage of the pressure.

STAY IN CONTROL

If you’re sailing downwind, overloading the helm can cause a broach. With the information provided from the rail, the driver and trimmer must communicate so the spinnaker sheet can be eased in the puff to unload the rudder and enable the helmsperson to turn down.

ALL TOGETHER

Crew hiking is challenging and vital in puffs. If the boat heels over in a puff, it reduces the flow over the keel and rudder and the boat slips sideways. Hiking hard and working on a consistent heel angle is crucial for taking advantage of the puff.

EYES ON THE ROAD

When the puff hits, the driver should work on feathering the boat through the puffs. That means you could be sailing “inside” the jib with a slight bubble in the luff. That will maintain the heel angle to prevent too much heel.

Sailing in puffs requires additional concentration from all crew, both on and off the boat. By anticipating when a puff will hit and the effect it will have on the sails, keel, and heel angle, the trimmer and helm have ample opportunity to respond accordingly. The next gusty day you’re on the water, bring all of these elements together to help you and your crew not only tackle, but also leverage puffs on the course.

This tip was brought to you by Quantum Sails.

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There’s nothing like an absolute beat down on Wednesday to change the outcome for for Quantum Racing. On Thursday, we were greeted with a dock delay, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As a speed team, we reviewed lessons learnt from Wednesday’s racing and we committed ourselves to a slightly cleaner starting style. Our coach, James Lyne, was adamant that we just needed to be a bit more aggressive on the line and focus on our time and distance.

He was right.

For the last three races on Thursday and Friday, the biggest change to our game was hitting the line at pace. When in clear lanes, Quantum Racing was fast and it was simply a matter of getting her into that spot. From there, we went 2,1,1 to win our first event of the season and Boat of the Week.

An interesting trend this year on the Division 1 racecourse was that the left side was favored more often than not. Even in conditions where the forecast talked about right shift or shear, the upper left would win, which made it the hardest Key West Race week I have done in a long time.

Going into the final race, there were seven boats that could win the event, and when the second-place team scored 49 points and the seventh placed team scored 51points, it demonstrates how tight the racing is. Everybody struggled for consistency. At the last event in the 2016 season, the winning average was 3.1. In Key West, a 4.3 average won, demonstrating the difficulty of the racecourse and competition.

Yet, Key West delivered what was the most spectacular week of racing I’ve experienced in this venue: champagne conditions, perfect weather and a great event hosted by Storm Trysail Club. There was a lot of talk about 2018 and beyond, but how lucky were all of the competitors this year to experience what we did. Just perfect. Many thanks to Quantum Sails for taking on the title sponsorship and all the supporters for delivering. Our sport is lucky to have them.

The post The Hutch Files, Quantum Key West Race Week: To the Top appeared first on Sailing World.

A tough day for Quantum Racing on Division 1 today.  For me the day can be characterized by six situations that turned the day into an absolute shocker. That, coupled with mediocre starting, and well … somedays you are the bug and somedays the windshield.

Today, we were splattered all over it!

Interlodge won the day with a 1,1,8 and seem to always be in a good spot. They started well and when they didn’t, their new Botin design seems to be slipping through the water quite nicely.

Six moments in the racing that defined the day reared their heads in different ways.  Three average starts. Our starting is relatively sub-standard, and while we are putting the boat in good low density spots the final acceleration and rap up is not as crisp.

Instead of having Quantum Racing nicely in the front row, we struggle to keep our bow out.  No more complicated than just refining, learning and doing it better tomorrow. Division 1 is a minefield the breeze is tough to read on the water.  Quite simply I need to do my job better.

My instincts have not gotten a lot right thus far and like our starting I need to revert back to the basics and keep it simple.  Finally boat on boat subtleties.  We lost a couple of situations today through lack of time between Doug and I together.  The TP 52 is unforgiving and punishes you more than any other class that I have sailed in when you don’t execute to perfection.  Today we had one situation that we coughed up about a boat length through poor communication to the helmsman.  The solid third at the top mark turned into a last.  If we don’t execute properly we will be punished.

Well, it’s officially a new day, 12:01, and so that is a sign to let things go a bit, learn from our mistakes and move forward.  The beauty of our sport is you have days like today and it makes you appreciate all the good ones.  Every now and then though the wind gods humble you and well today that happened!

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After the five regattas and 45 non-discardable races that comprise this season’s, 2016 52 SUPER SERIES, Quantum Racing lifted the overall title with a comprehensive margin of 59 points over second placed Azzurra. On the last day of the season, Niklas Zennström’s Rán Racing won a very close four-cornered battle for third place and was also crowned top owner-driver.

Quantum Racing won four regattas – Scarlino, Puerto Cervo, Puerto Portals and Mahón – including the 2016 world championship title in Mahón, Menorca. Any possible clean sweep of all five regatta titles was halted last week in Cascais, Portugal when the resurgent Azzurra secured the regatta win of the season.

The 52 SUPER SERIES has gone from strength to strength in 2016. Thirteen different TP52 teams representing eight different nations competed over the course of the season, with boats from France (1), Germany (1), Great Britain (3), Italy (2), Russia (1), Sweden (1), Turkey (1), and USA (3). Crews new to the 52 SUPER SERIES this season included Peter Harrison’s Sorcha (GBR) and Richard Cohen’s Phoenix (USA). The circuit visited two venues that were new to the class, Scarlino in Tuscany where the circuit started in May, and Maóon, Menorca where the world championship – the fourth regatta of the year – was sailed in a wide range of conditions.

In cooperation with sustainability partners 11th Hour Racing, the 52 SUPER SERIES continued to make considered, regular advances at each regatta, in terms of the support and activation of the teams, developing new initiatives and mapping out future ideals and goals which have been signed up to by all the teams. Strong and popular support was garnered from local sailing youth groups at each venue, the young sailors also enjoying the interaction with some of the top pro sailors in the world.

After nine new boats were launched in 2015, the level of competition took an immediately obvious step up this season. A week of pre-season training in March in Valencia for five boats was a clear indicator that teams were keen to make sure they started the season strongly. This was further underlined by a nine-boat entry for the pre-season warm up event, Gaastra Palma Vela.

So Scarlino witnessed the fleet at full bore, optimised and sailing at their best from the get-go. Ten boats raced an eight race series. Four different boats led the regatta, before Quantum Racing – with Ed Baird steering – won by six points.

Puerto Cervo for the Audi Settimana delle Bocche saw a real mix of conditions, climaxing in a 20-22kts finale. With Doug DeVos returning to the helm of Quantum Racing, the American-flagged team went two in a row.

At Puerto Portals Sailing Week in Mallorca there was no stopping Quantum Racing either. Azzurra continued to work relentlessly to close the gap and there were signs that the balance was being redressed.

The 52 World Championship represented a chance to bid for the coveted stand alone title, to break free of the hierarchy that was starting to be established. The battle for third and fourth places for the season was hotting up with very little to choose from between Rán Racing, Provezza, Platoon and Bronenosec. Menorca proved a very popular venue offering a warm welcome; great, open racing conditions; and a pleasant pace of life ashore.

Cascais was the climax of the season. With two racing days still to go, Quantum Racing converted their big lead to their third title in four years, adding 2016 to 2013 and 2014. Between Menorca and Cascais, Azzurra won nine races and secured the EGNOS 52 SUPER SERIES Cascais Cup on the last race, leaving Quantum Racing to second place.

2016 52 SUPER SERIES Final Overall Standings

1. Quantum Racing, 140 pts
2. Azzurra, 199 pts
3. Rán Racing, 241 pts
4. Platoon, 245pts
5. Provezza, 248 pts
6. Bronenosec Gazprom, 251 pts
7. Sled, 275 pts
8. Alegre, 283 pts
9. Gladiator, 342 pts

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