Doing bow, start sequence - advice pls!

[MissFitz]

I've signed up to do bow on a smallish J boat for the Hamble Winter Series. I'm not at all worried (well, not much anyway) about getting the sails up & down. What I haven't had much practice at though is signalling the start. I know how it's supposed to go but I can also see ample room for muck-ups, particularly in a large fleet. Anyone have any handy hints, dos & don'ts, etc?

 

[flaming]

I've signed up to do bow on a smallish J boat for the Hamble Winter Series. I'm not at all worried (well, not much anyway) about getting the sails up & down. What I haven't had much practice at though is signalling the start. I know how it's supposed to go but I can also see ample room for muck-ups, particularly in a large fleet. Anyone have any handy hints, dos & don'ts, etc?

Work out what your helm actually wants to know, helms are different. Some want distance to line, some want time to burn or going to be late, some seem to expect the bow to run the whole start.

But the biggest, most massively important, thing is this. Only EVER give positive instructions. So for example never say "Don't go up" say "Hold this course". I once misheard "Don't go up" shouted urgently from the Bow as "Go up" and came within inches of a massive T-Bone collision.

See you in the club for a beer after racing!

 

[Woodlouse]

On a small boat the skipper/tactician should require relatively little feedback from the front since they should have a pretty good grasp of the situation. If you've not done so a quick scrub up on the racing rules is a good idea since you'll have to look out for and potentially warn off other boats that are trying to intrude on your rights. Keep a good eye out for boats that the after guard might not have seen too, on a busy start line they really can pop up out of no where.

Otherwise, on the final run up give boat lengths to the line by holding the respective number of fingers up, usually starting from three, even if you get it wrong it'll still make you look like you know what you're doing.

 

[Judders]

Everyone wants something different so you need to talk it through with the tactician.

On a smaller boat they may well decide they don't want your weight on the bow full stop. Our best Nationals I think was the one where we kept the bow back at the shrouds. This year our bow was so wrapped up in the starts that skirting was too slow.

 

[flaming]

P.s. What type of smallish J? Is it a J/88?

 

[MissFitz]

P.s. What type of smallish J? Is it a J/88?

Was being coy in case my new skipper is on here - but I don't think it would be particularly hard to work out who I am anyway! It's a J92. Haven't been on one before so any tips very gratefully received.

 

[flaming]

Haven't sailed a 92, but I spent a lot of time on it's big sister, the 105.

In general, pray for breeze! Those J's are a lot of fun in lots of breeze, unlike the 97 and 109, which won't plane.

 

[MissFitz]

Raced on a J105 last week for the first time in very lumpy seas & up to 30kt of wind. Wow, those things are stable downwind - can totally see why they make good double-handed boats.

 

[flaming]

Yeah, I kind of miss racing the 105, there just never seemed to be a limit on what was sensible to hoist a kite in, well, other than what the kite could stand!

Did a day on it's younger cousin, the J111 recently (owned by the chap I used to sail the 105 with), and that is one hell of a boat, but a lot more skittish downwind. Still, sitting at 14 knots with the bow wave starting about level with the mast was very good fun!