Cowtown Cats - 14 May in Ft. Worth

Who's going? Ming and I will see you there with the 16.

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Warm regards,

Jim

Well... I dunno if anyone else here attended, but I'm pleased to announce that Ming and I took 2nd in 16s. 8D

'Course there were only four teams and the guy who took first had all the trick gear on his boat and was very serious about the whole thing. I didn't have even the faintest notion of beating him, but we were pleasantly surprised to get 2nd! (In class.) (We still came in long after the 17s & 18s that ran, although in the 4th race Saturday after a very good start I was still mixing it up with them at the weather mark! 8D ) Saturday weather was 15-20mph of wind and bright & sunny. Sunday was about 5 gusting to 10-15 with a high, thin overcast.

Great first experience! So much fun that Ming is now more keen on sailing! I'm very pleased about that. Now I've come to a few conclusions:

1) My traveler had been acting up. In the last race Saturday we were actually ahead of the #1 H16 guy the whole time until the last tack before the finish when the traveler jammed out to windward and while I was wrestling with it he passed me. Conclusion: sailing with a bad traveler SUCKS. Sunday I worked it to the center and just left it there all day. Downwind performance suffered a bit I think. I need a new roller base thingy for the traveler I think. Dang it, I just bought that thing like, 9 months ago. *sigh*

2) I need the fancy tiller / tiller-crossbar bearing thingies that cost $10. Having a bolt going through those holes just doesn't cut it. I never noticed before how the rudders would wiggle a little as you go through the water. But when RACING all my senses became more acute and I NOTICED that. And I was AGGRIVATED because I knew it was slowing me down a teeny bit.

2.5) Speaking of rudders, I knew that the boat was a little different on port tack VS. starboard tack; in fact you may recall that I asked about this before. I've come to the conclusion that on starboard tack my primary rudder is the nice fiberglass one we built some time ag, whereas on port it's the old flexible plastic one that bends like crazy when going to weather in heavy air. I think that thing is slowing me down a lot. Dangit my friend needs to hurry up and move out here so we can build a few more rudders. :p

3) Having lots of recent heavy-air experience (on the lake here in Abilene) helped me on Saturday. Other boats capsized & turtled but I stayed upright. Heck, I'm used to 25 gusting to 40. 15 gusting to 25 was NOTHIN'. My GPS recorded a new record speed for me, also - 22.3mph! 8D
On the other hand, not having much light-air experience recently hurt me on Sunday.

4) Learning to tack Ming's H14 really improved our H16 tacks!

5) You learn lots when racing! Everybody told us we should go to the Mid-Americas but I'll be deploying shortly before that event, alas.

Anyway, I dunno how much all the rest of y'all learned from this post, but maybe just a tad? Hehehe

Just felt like sharing.

Jim

Congrats Jamie! I wonder who was the first place guy? Ray perhaps? And to think, you were ahead of him in one race and he has all the bells and whistles!

I know that I am going to get some varied remarks on this, but I use Carmex on my traveler so that it will not stick. Works pretty good.

Rudders do play a big part, but until I can afford a set of new EPO 2s I am just going to have to deal with flex.

Finally, I heard someone say one time, "Anybody can sail with wind, but it takes a sailor to sail with no wind." This would not be me, but I am working on it.

By the way, I am TDY, so I will get that rudder in the mail as soon as I get back. Also, I think it is plastic and not fiberglass like I mentioned earlier. Sorry for the misinformation.

Hey, I am trying to set up some time one of those two weekends to sail down in Abilene. When I get back, I will let you know whats up.

By the way, did you meet Betty and get a cool trophy?
Mike

Yes. It's not that I was faster, just that I finally got a good start and he blew it that time. I think and only that time. lol

I generally use copious amounts of silicone spray.


I dunno, I'm really thinking about putting down one or two layers of glass over the sides of my other old rudder. I'm not sure how much good that'd do, I need to find an engineer or something and ask him.

Yesh. Sailing with no wind is more difficult. But Ming was doing a dandy job of holding the jib out.

Hey bro, no problem; I still appreciate it! Shouldn't be any issue putting a tip on it I don't think.


I think I met Betty but I forgot your email when I left so I couldn't remember the name of the person I was supposed to look for. I did, however, meet a Diane (crewing for the #1 H16 guy), Rick (with an H17), Dave (with a Tiger), Cybil & (Ron?) (?), and several other very nice people. We chatted mostly with Diane.

Regarding a trophy: Just a Cowtown Cats tumbler glass with a "2nd Place H16 Captain" sticker on it. Ming got one that said "2nd Place H16 Crew."
Meanwhile, Ming's talking about making matching team outfits for us to wear.

The starts can win or lose a race for you really quick. That is why I put a countdown stopwatch on the list of important items. If you get a great start, they have to catch you.

I have used silicone spray also, it just doesn't last as long. It also washes off quite quick when racing on the ocean (Gulf of Mexico in my case). The carmex lasts a little longer, but new bearings are the best.

I was wondering if you guys tried to kite your sails downwind. If you did, do you think it made you any faster. I can't get my crew to hold out the jib or kite for that matter. His lazy butt just wants to lay there and relax while going downwind. Treat your crew great since she is doing all that work cause someone will want to steal her away for racing!

You more than likely met Betty without even knowing it. I was hoping she might be able to hook you up with Drew (H17 sailor). You did great though because you met up with Rick P. and Dave M. Rick and Dave both race in world competitions and are cream of the crop sailors. Not sure about Diane, Cybil & Ron.

The trophies do get better. I have won 2 glasses this year so far. A first place at Hill Country and a third at Longneck (couldn't keep the pointy end up at that one).

My family made t-shirts that have a picture of our boat on the back and underneath the boat is text stating their individual positions on the team. For instance, my wife's shirt has the boat and underneath it says Team Manager Team Photographer. All of my kids say Road Crew. On the front where the left breast pocket would be, it says Hobie 18 Catamaran Racing Team. I guess I might get into trouble using the Hobie name, but I am not selling t-shirts, just trying to promote the H18. Tell Ming to create something great (gotta use that "Crazy, but with big balls" saying in there somewhere).

Mike

Yes. The first three starts I went with the "I'll just go ahead and cross the line after the big group so I don't have to deal with all that dirty air." That'd didn't work out so well for me. The last start I crossed the line with everyone and then tacked off to port and clear air and that DID work well.

Hm. Well I'll certainly keep that in mind. Just the Carmex in the little yellow container? How do you get it on the rollers?

It's hard to say if it made us faster or not, but it was nice to see the telltales flowing even on a very broad reach in light air.


Yeah, they were all really nice. Dave was going to take me out on the Tiger but we ran out of time.


Well that trophy will have to do for now unless I get to participate in some regatta at my deployed location. 8P


Ha! That's great. Well, I'm sure she'll come up with something.
Anyway, gotta get things in order here and prepare for the day. Take care buddy.