Laser News & Events

Week 6: Lesson from Saturday = be big and hike till it hurts, then hike harder. - Posted on Tuesday, November 18, 2008

First of all, thank you to Andrew Scrivan for breaking your top section and thank you to Steve Fisk for giving him a leaky boat to use after that. Also thank you to Mike Matan for capsizing at the gybe mark in race 5. These are just a few of the many pieces had to fall in to place for my result to end up as well as it did. There were a lot of fast boats out there and most people had a very consistent day, making for plenty of excitement and close racing.

I don't think anyone was upset by the postponement before racing, so good job to the race committee for keeping us out of the rain, which would have made it uncomfortable, and keeping us out of the lightning, which would have been unsafe. The breeze followed the forecast of blowing hard all morning and then picking up even more in the afternoon.

Courses were another plus for the race committee. Perfect length and many fun (and stable) reaches, along with the weather mark being sheltered by the island to allow us to take a deep breath before being drowned in spray on the reaches. Thanks again.

Now on to the sailing. In addition to being a tall person and incredibly fit, sail controls were exceptionally important. Before the first race, I pulled my outhaul until the hook that attaches it to the sail was touching the eye on the boom. It remained this way until I hit the ramp, never being eased for any reason. Leeward marks were hectic enough without another control line to mess with.

Next, the cunningham went on until the eye was below the gooseneck at about 2 minutes to each start and about 20 yards before each leeward mark. Close hauled sailing was never attempted without the bottom of the eye below the top of the boom, with the lone exception being the last beat of the first race when the breeze let up for just a minute and I needed more power. Cunningham was uncleated about 15 yards before the windward mark and allowed to ease on the downwinds.

Now onto my favorite control - the vang. Immediately at the start and after each leeward mark, I would trim in all the way and then pull the vang as hard as I possibly could. This made tacking dangerous as every tack required that I get on hands and knees in the bottom of the cockpit in order for the boom to scrape over my back. Get stuck just a little bit and all of the sudden you're in irons or swimming.

With the sail so flat, the upwind groove becomes very narrow so not pinching and playing the main becomes very important. In the last two races, as I became more exhausted, I got a bit lazy and did not sheet out in some of the puffs. I was punished each time as I spun out and then had to act fast to avoid getting caught in irons or capsizing to windward.

Pointing was not a bad thing, which I learned in race two from Glen Dickson. On the final beat, I got a little bit stuck under the boom on a tack to starboard and lost my lead. Glen leebowed me and my initial attempt to get the bow down and roll him failed as he had very good upwind speed that day. I then began to point a bit, scared that he would pinch me off, while still being careful not to pinch and stall out. It paid off. I lifted off of Glen and laid the finish. From the time we tacked in the corner until the finish, I gained around 20 yards of height. Glen was still even with me on the course, but he had to do an additional tack to make the finish, which costs a lot of distance in big breeze, and he ended up a few boat lengths back in the end.

Mike Matan was setting the pace around the course. He has good form steering through the waves and there was no conceivable way to keep up with him on the beats. No worries though, we'll just try to hang in there upwind and then pick him off on the downwind when lighter sailors have the advantage. Not really. The reaches required full hiking and the run required stability so the vang was only eased about 2 to 3 feet from max for the downwind legs. Mike's size and considerable skill and technique in big breeze gave him the advantage there as well.

All this talk about setup and technique makes it sound like a day when tactics and strategy are out the window. After all, tacking in breeze is so slow that only 2 or 3 tacks can be made per beat if you want to keep up. Sadly, this is most often the case in big breeze laser sailing. However, because everyone is busy keeping their head in the boat and focusing on speed, the payoffs are that much larger when you do see something.

The best place for tactics in big breeze is the start. Big breeze starts almost always have a huge sag. In fact, the only time I remember anyone being called over was the general recall because the pin end dragged its anchor. Also, boats are much more spread out in breezy starts, so setting up early is unnecessary. You can come in on a screaming reach above the sag and spin up at the gun. Now you're going faster and ahead of all the other boats and you haven't even had to hike yet -- how great!

The other two places for tactics were the finish (the pin was usually favored, why hike a few extra yards when you can finish at the closer end to you), and in the final race when there was a course change. At the end of the run in the last race, which was a pretty scary ride but lots of fun, I was terrified about gybing. We often have a gate at the bottom of windward-leewards but there was only one mark visible for most of the leg. I was set to round in 6th or so, right behind a pack of boats which means dirty air and extra tacks at the rounding. At the last moment, I thanked the race committee for answering my prayers as I saw the other end of the gate, and ever better, it was favored. I headed toward it and the hot angle got me there in no time. I rounded and sailed out until I thought I was on layline (it turned out to be the mark boat taking photos and I was quite disheartened to see how much more hiking would be needed to get to the finish). As I came back to the pack, I was practically in the lead. After a huge duck of Andrew, I tacked on the layline, hoping to hang even and get him on starboard after the tack. He ended up winning the race, but I was able to make substantial gains and ended up with a 2 after it looked like I would be outside the top 5.

Saturday was a lot of fun but I'm glad it wasn't longer than the usual Sunday racing. Recovering from that day was a slow and painful process. Everyone at work now thinks I'm a big whiner. Thank you to everybody for coming down and to the race committee and organizers for the great event and abundant food afterwards. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or just to let me know that you managed to stay awake through the entire reading. See you next week. I've got RC duty so be prepared for courses set by a drunk.
-Brendan Shattuck
brendan.shattuck@gmail.com

Radial Rig Results
Standard Rig Results
Photo Gallery

Week 5: What went wrong - Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2008

First, nice job to John Bainton and the boys on RC. I personally liked the longer courses. I believe longer courses make us all better sailors as they better prepare us for outside events. Nowhere else do they sail super short courses so why should we if we do not have to?

As many of you know the writeups we all post to this laser page are mostly about what we did on the course that helped us win. I thought it might be time to talk about a few of the bad decisions and poor calls I did as well as a few things I saw other people do.

I had one poor start and another that could have been a lot better. The bad start occurred when I was about 6 boats down from the RC. Usually I am good about sighting the line in the final 30 seconds before the start by constantly scanning back and forth from the pin to the committee boat, closing in on the line with each second to go. In this particular start Britt Hughes pulled ahead in my leeward hole and when the gun went off he was more than “bow out” on me. I am sorry to say that I watched him pull forward and did not match his pace to the line as was I nervous of being over. What I should have done was stay with him or at least not let him pull so far out in front of my leeward hole. In the end Britt had a killer start and I ended up holding until I could spot a lane on port to tack off and clear myself.

I saw Trey Brazill trying to win the boat all day. Every start he was there duking it out with 1 min plus to go. The thing is he always arrived early and fell victim to the current. I do not think he ever won the boat end and usually ended up next to me 4-6 boats down the line. To win it he needed to set up later and time the current so he could be at the RC at 0 seconds. My question to Trey is, why did you want the boat so bad? I can only think of one time Jacobi dug hard right early and came out top 2 at the first cross.

Towards the end of the day we saw indications that the right was not the only ticket in town. While 99% of us were preoccupied with a good start towards the boat end, Steve Fisk dug deep in his weapons cache to deliver an explosive port tack pin end start and cleared the lead starboard tacker by 15 lengths or more. Steve was so far ahead I and others did not think he was racing! Nice job Steve, I guess that why we really call you the Captain. By virtue of Steve’s big cross the rest of us sure missed out on a big opportunity. It goes to show all of us that we need to be super keen and aware of what the breeze is going to do at the gun. I know I did not stand up at 2 min to check. And now to burst Steve’s bubble a bit. You had a wonderful start; you were all alone and heading to the right, the side of the course that had been favored all day. Shortly after you crossed the majority of the fleet you tacked back onto port and sailed to the left giving more leverage to the guys on the right. When you are ahead why not consolidate your winnings and cross all the way to the favored side of the course? Even if you had to sail through a header or two to do so it may have been a more conservative move. Either way you rounded top 3 so nice job again.

In another race Mike Matan and I were duking it out on the final beat. He rounded ahead and I was able to catch up so that he lee-bowed me when I was on starboard. We did this 2 times. The final time I hung on as the windward boat and thought that I could hold him until the port tack layline to the boat. At this point I got greedy and split from him once again when I felt a slight knock. He dug into the knock harder than I, tacked, and the next time he and I converged he crossed me by 5 boatlengths. Point: When you are ahead, stay ahead. I only needed to beat him by an inch, I split to beet him by more and ended up loosing by a lot. Nice job Mike, and thanks for the kick in the ass.

On the downwind: We all knew the current was flowing from right to left. Although the current switched later in the day, the left looking down wind seemed to be the way to go in every race except one. I knew this, and in the last race I let Shattuck get to the left of me. Of course Brendan used this advantage and went right past me. Next time I will be super conscious to execute what I know. In this case I needed to protect the left side of the course from my closest competitor.

Play of the day: Scenario: I was on the port tack layline for the finish boat. Jacobi and Paul Crane were on starboard with Jacobi bow out and to leeward, both shy of the starboard tack layline of the boat by 1 boat length. Paul saw that I was going to duck him and finish on port right at the boat. Jacobi was in the squeeze position urging Paul to tack so he would not loose us both. Paul kept his cool by pinning Jacobi out past the RC boat and tacking just to weather of me so that he finished first. Nice job Paul! I believe Jacobi could have minimized his losses by realizing what was going to happen ahead of time. If Jacobi had reached off on port he would have conceded his loss to Paul but could have tacked in front of me. All I would have been able to do was follow him to the finish just a boat length or 2 away.

Ahh retrospect. This week was fun with some challenging conditions. Next Saturday is the Fall Regatta…bring it!

Here is this week’s Youtube video:

Thanks,
Andrew Scrivan
rent@estateventures.com

Radial Rig Results
Standard Rig Results
Photo Gallery

Fall Regatta NOR Nov. 15th its a Saturday! 11:30 first start - Posted on Thursday, November 06, 2008

FALL REGATTA NOR attached on your left side

When: Saturday November 15th

First Race at 11:30am. Open event to all. Free to season members, $30 to the world.

It will rock.

Week 4: Words From The New Force To Be Reckoned With - Posted on Monday, November 03, 2008

Sunday was not a steady day by any measure, the breeze, current, and even wave direction all seemed to oscillate unpredictably throughout the day.

Race 1 saw the breeze completely shut off for the start, which meant anyone not on the line with a minute to go was never going to get there. When it did come back, accelerating faster than the boat next to you could quickly turn into a 50 yard gain. In the light air, I expected the current coming down the course be a big factor, and headed left for shallower water. Tacking on the rediculously frequent shifts felt fast and seemed to be the right call until a few boats on the right (particularly Bill Dickey) taught us that the breeze would be far more important than the current on this day.

Over the next few beats, the mark had to be shifted several times and some others were able to take advantage of the large shifts before the breeze settled in. In race 4, Britt Hughes took advantage of a great shift and puff on the right on the first beat and cruised around the course to victory.

Starts were crowded, but the line was square, so priority was to get away from congestion and get off the line with clean air and speed - avoiding crowded ends and setting up with 45-60 seconds to go became important. With only a couple shifts per beat, I spent most of my time focusing on boat speed and tried to avoid getting too far out to either side of the course.

In race 3, I set up a little late and stole Andrew Scrivan's hole. I managed to squeeze him out and half way up the beat he looked to still be stuck in dirty air and falling back. I had a great beat but by the time I got to the mark Andrew had room on me. I couldn't believe it. He did a great job of showing that sticking to the shifts always more important than going to a corner in search of the freshest breeze (he ended up passing me on the run and won the race - no surprises there). In Race 5, Andrew and I were fighting so hard on the final beat that neither of us saw the last shift or the favored end and Charles Stanley embarrassed us both by cruising across the line to a win when we had both rounded with a nice gap behind us - again, keeping your head out of the boat upwind paid off.

Both the vang and the cunningham were kept on the windward side on both tacks and both adjusted frequently. I am lighter than I used to be and compensate by using extra vang to keep the boat under control. Keep adding vang until it's maxed and then play the mainsheet to keep the boat flat and the bow down. As soon as full hiking is not necessary, ease vang to power back up and keep the legs burning. If you want to see a good example of keeping the bow down, try to keep up with Blake Marriner in a puff. Even if you (like me) aren't as strong as him and have to depower and sheet out, keeping the bow down down and your weight half way back in the cockpit keeps you moving - as opposed to pinching in the puffs, which stalls you out.

Downwind is always frustrating in light air, particularly with the big waves we had rolling in from the sound. The first few runs it felt like the boat was in reverse because the waves were going by so fast. Once the breeze started coming up, however, the waves became lots of fun. They seemed biggest on the left side of the run so I would immediately try to get out there after rounding (unless there was a pack right behind me, then I would give a little more room for clean air before crossing over). Get a clean lane and then head completely in the boat and on the waves until around 3/4 of the way down the leg.

I solidified my belief about downwind sailing by turning in the opposite direction of my instinct on every wave. My life has been spent reinforcing the bad habit of trying to head up for speed, which works in many boats, but certainly not in lasers. You have to turn down to accelerate and (more importantly) to have the boat really pointed down the wave. In the last two races, when the breeze was up enough for good surfing, I would turn down and ease so hard that I practically had to hike to leeward to keep from wiping out. A few close calls caused me to teach myself and nearby boats some interesting new words. Once on the wave, it was hang on for your hat while you head up and trim in (thus avoiding crashing into the wave in front. Somebody did not take this advice as I found a Michigan hat floating in the water). The waves were large enough to allow a second and sometimes even third turn back down in order to stay on the wave longer.

It's always more fun to sail in building breeze and waves and Sunday was a great example of a beautiful day for laser racing - the turnout proved this as it was the best I've seen so far at Cedar Point. Thank you everyone (especially race comittee for doing a fantastic job of keeping up with the shifts, I was thoroughly impressed) for making it such a fun day.

Please feel free to contact me with questions about anything I have written or if you know the code to the office so we can get the beer the next time it gets locked in there after racing.

Brendan Shattuck
brendanshattuck@gmail.com

Radial Rig Results
Standard Rig Results
Photo Gallery

Week 3: Lessons learned and it’s all on YouTube! - Posted on Monday, October 27, 2008

First and foremost I would like to say nice job to Jacobi and the boys for their great RC work on Sunday. It seemed that each race was up and down in velocity with no apparent relation to the directional change. Sunday was not an easy day to determine a game plan since each race would require a totally different plan that was dicey at best!

After going upwind with Steve Fisk and talking about current over the course, on the run back to the start line, he and I were quite sure that the current would be advantageous on the right upwind and definitely not favored to go right downwind. The first 2 races proved this theory just about 100%. So for the 4th race I had my game plan down. I won the boat, tacked off 1st for the right, and was going to 1 tack the beat. Everything was looking fine until we saw a 30-40 degree lefty about 30 seconds after the start. I did not see it, I wonder if many others did. Either way good job to the guys who benefited.

For me after the 4th race the windward beats were all about coming off the start at the favored end and holding until the first shift or an opportune time to cross. I would like to say that I had a defined strategy but I did not, Sunday was one of those days where I tried my best to read the water but much of the time I just had to play the cards that were dealt to me.

There were a few interesting occurrences where I learned some valuable lessons. In the first race I fouled Johannessen, manly because I put myself in a squeeze scenario between Johannessen and Shattuck. We were all on starboard approaching the starboard gate looking downwind. Johannessen was leeward ROW boat on me and I was leeward ROW boat on Shattuck, with Shattuck inside at the mark. It is hard to tell exactly, but I should have stayed clear of Johannessen by taking Shattuck way high. A great idea would have been to take him so high that I would enter the 2 boat lengths first. Honestly, I was concentrating on staying clear of Johannessen and getting ready to round outside of Shattuck. Going above Shattuck would have been futile as we were too close to the mark and too overlapped to get room. View the YouTube video of this scenario at:

(look around 1 minute into the video)

Week 2: Wet and Wild - Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008

Wow, what a wacky day! The breeze was anywhere from 20 to 3 knots, coming from the N/NE and shifting through about 30 degrees. This put the easterly waves at an angle to the wind, causing a number of capsizes on the runs. The able race committee banged off *nine* races, resulting in some tired sailors, including yours truly!

Because of the radical shifts, one end of the line or the other was often quite favored. I usually went for it at whatever end was favored. If one didn't have a good start one could make up huge distance by just staying in the easy-to-see puffs and on the favored tack--heads-up sailing definitely was the order of the day!

I seldom made it to the weather mark first but seemed to get the boat pointing to the next mark quicker than many. This proved the downfall of speedy John Bainton, who rounded the top mark first at least twice, but got a little lost on the second legs when in front.

Just like the beats, the runs were marked by large velocity & direction changes. I tried to play the oscillating shifts downwind by sailing by-the-lee on starboard when rounding in a lift, then either gybing over or more often heading up on starboard to catch the occasional big swell back to the middle of the course.

The final beats were often quite skewed--those who recognized the situation early made huge gains. The RC corrected the course as the day went on, resulting in some fascinating, tactical action in the up-down-all-around conditions.

Have to admit I love sailing in wacky winds and often managed to drag myself up through the fleet for a consistent set of scores. Brendan Shattuck joined the fleet for the first time and announced his return to Lasers (after a 3 year hiatus) with two wins and a decisive second place overall finish. Derek Jackson rounded out the Top 3 with a steady set of scores.

Marc Jacobi

MarcJacobiRE@aol.com

Radial Rig Results
Standard Rig Results

Week 1: Decision 2008: Standard or Radial? - Posted on Monday, October 13, 2008

This was a momentous week in that is was not only the start of a new Fall season but the first race week where we had a separate start for the Radial Fleet. I believe it worked well. The RC headed by Charles Stanley made the races flow smoothly with the same hurry-up-start feel that we are used to frostbiting at CP.

Although our standard fleet was much smaller than in past years the racing was competitive with many regulars, a few new faces and the return of some guys who we have not seen in a while.

I did not have the same game plan for each race. The first race favored the left and then from race 2-6 or so the breeze went right with each race. It became apparent that the breeze was going right since the RC had to move the windward mark 20 degrees or more between each race. What I did find helpful was playing the fleet and my competitors that were within close proximity. After the start and the first tack on port I would identify who I was close to. From this point on my goal was to beat them and not worry about people on other sides of the course. Because the beat was so short, by the time I established the person or group I had to beat we only had another 75 or so yards to the weather mark, so the chance of one complete side filling and 5 boats lifting inside on me was minimal.

On the downwind clear air and boat speed seemed to be the key ingredients. I saw the top guys make each side of the run work, so I would say there was no clear side to play. I have been working on light air downwind sailing a good bit this summer. Here are some things that I find valuable:

- Sheet between the boom block and ratchet block. This eliminates the friction of the ratchet block. There is little pressure on the sheet as is, so increasing feel will allow you to know when to bear off in the slightest puff.

- Hold the sheet between your index and middle finger when it is super light

- In light air, ditch the gloves.

- Sail with a great deal of heel. The more heel the more SA you raise higher, where the wind is stronger. As the boat heels more the boat becomes unstable and tippy. If you are hit with a tiny puff you will feel it as the boat will react. It will again be time to sheet in and bear off toward the mark.

- Derek clewed me into the 6mm rooster rope a few years ago and I will never go back. Most people sail with the 7 mm which is the black speckled rooster rope. The 6 mm flows much more freely though the blocks and does not weigh down the boom when going by-the-lee on the runs. Again the main idea is to increase feel on the runs. The line is yellow in color.

- The sea state seemed a bit lumpy for the wind velocity. I happened to be carrying my board lower than normal and I think it helped to track down wind a bit better than in the past.

- I have 2 windexes. 1 on the bow and 1 on the masthead. The masthead fly was almost too sensitive in the light air as it was simply spinning around as the boat moved through the waves and the mast was jolting. It works best with just a bit more pressure. The bow windex is low to the water and is less sensitive to the wind direction than the masthead fly. But between the two I am generally very sure which jybe is the closest by-the-lee angle to the mark.

All in all Sunday was a great day. My wife Maria was out taking pictures along with other RC members.

This is the start of the second race of the day. We will get better with the video quality but this is a standard start. The pin is favored and you initially see me Jybe out (bc I was too early) then John Bainton and James Barry end up rerounding. In the end Bill Dickey is the closest boat to the pin accelerating and footing off after the gun. I managed to loop around and start just to weather of Bill.

Thanks,

Andrew Scrivan

rent@estateventures.com

Radial Rig Results

Standard Rig Results

Photo Gallery

RC Sign Up: We need RC! - Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008

If you have not done so already please email Colin to let him know what day you can help out with RC, this is crucial to running our program.

See RC sign up on the left hand side of this web page.

Fall 2008 Notice of Race and Entry form have been posted - Posted on Saturday, September 06, 2008

Please see the link to the left for the CPYC Laser Frostbiting Notice of Race and Entry form.

These will also be found at the club in hard copy on race days.

First: Day Oct. 12th, first start at noon.

Rear Commodore's Cup results Aug. 31, 2008 - Posted on Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Cedar Point YC Rear Commodores Cup weekend August 31, 2008

Place

Name

Boat #

Race 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Point with Throwout

1

Steve Girling

171142

DNS

1

1

1

4

1

1

9

2

Mark Foster

177404

1

3

2

2

2

2

3

12

3

Stu Grulke

162035

2

2

4

3

1

5

2

14

4

Matt Largesse

160165

3

5

3

4

7

3

4

22

5

Ed Rickard

191911

4

6

9

6

5

4

5

30

6

Jeff Beckwith

173999

9

7

5

5

3

6

6

32

7

Doug Latour

173683

5

4

6

7

6

8

7

35

8

Brigitte Foster

154254

6

10

7

8

9

7

9

46

1st Radial

9

Laura Cuccio

177721

8

9

8

10

8

9

8

50

2nd Radial

10

Markel Elortegui

148751

7

8

10

9

10

DNS

DNS

54

RC: Phil Hood

Kudos to Steve Girling for mastering a gusty, windy day.

Commodore's Cup Racing July 5th. Saturday first race at 1pm - Posted on Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Cedar Point YC Commodore's Cup weekend July 5th, 2008 Laser Racing

Name Boat # race 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Point with Throwout Place

Steve Fisk 133745 1 1 3 2 1 2 1 8 1

Phil Myerson 167356 2 3 1 1 2 3 2 11 2

Amnon Gitelson 187844 3 2 2 4 3 1 3 14 3

Jeff Beckwith 173999 6 4 4 3 5