The madness of racing (or just sailing)

[William_H]

Did a little pair of races yesterday. So they say things go wrong in 3 s. so went went for 2 packages. First dinghy on wrong side for departure from swing mooring. Pulled dinghy around to correct side only to have wind change and still wrong. Lost favourite old pair of pliers overboard. (will look for them today) Got away ok and got a good start first short race. (1 hr)
About 20 metres from start jib knot in sheet let go. Threaded up the other sheet to that side and son tried to attach other sheet. A bit of a gust and he fell overboard. Fortunately he hung on to gunwhale and handed himself along to stern to climb back on board. Lost a few metres on the opposition in the process. Yes I place a lot of trust in crew. So much so they did the last 2 races with out me. (and did well) Son dried off quickly in sun. (30 degrees)
Got beaten thoroughly in 2 races despite winning the start each time. Did I mention the other 2 were 32fters to my 21ft. Spinnaker helped to keep up top some degree.
Second race put spinnaker up too soon (a bit shy) badly manged sheets a gust and so broke spin pole. (CF wind surfer mast) Broke at a previous repair.
On the way back to mooring main sheet rope lost it's outer cover and fouled up. A wild roundup in a gust when sheet jambed.
So a few jobs to do before next Sunday. Including first wipe over of the hull after 7 weeks from new A/F. So the madness continues. ol'will

 

[Shaz77]

Never quite got it. You rush around in a car at 70mph. then get on the water and try to get 10mph out of a boat while getting wet. As Spock would say "it's illogical captain"

 

[rogerthebodger]

Never quite got it. You rush around in a car at 70mph. then get on the water and try to get 10mph out of a boat while getting wet. As Spock would say "it's illogical captain"

If that is what ol'wil wishes to spend his weekend doing its his choice and who are we to comment.

I personal am not interested in racing and resent in being told what I must do and its only my choice and oly my choice

 

[flaming]

Never quite got it. You rush around in a car at 70mph. then get on the water and try to get 10mph out of a boat while getting wet. As Spock would say "it's illogical captain"

By that logic as soon as we invented planes we should have stopped racing cars. And now we should only race space shuttles. We definitely shouldn't race horses either.

The thing that sets sailing racing apart from other types of racing is the tactical way of using the elements. Sure going "fast" when the breeze is up is great, but so is an incredibly close tactical battle in light winds, the anticipation of every cross - did splitting from the fleet pay or not....

But I think with racing you either get it or you don't. And it's perfectly fine to say "nope, not for me".

 

[johnalison]

Well done indeed. I know nothing like the butterflies one suffers as the start time approaches for a yacht race, or the satisfaction of finishing well or even just executing a good manoeuvre like rounding a buoy. At the end, you will be a much better sailor and better able to cope with the vicissitudes of cruising. I think that what you have learned so far is the importance of preparation and the need to think ahead, since lack of these has been the cause of your mishaps.

 

[DanTribe]

My old boat is not competitive at present due to weedy bottom and worn out sails, but we still race once a week.
The advantage is that we get a group of friends together at a specific time and have a few hours of fun.
If we waited for a nice sunny day with pleasant breeze and when everyone is free it would never happen.
Also, on grotty days it's nice when it's over and you can lie to your friends over a pint later. Gives some sort of sense of achievement.

 

[Concerto]

Racing can be such fun, whilst honing all of your sailing skills. Things can always go wrong, but a well organized crew can minimise the problems or assist in solving them. Whilst I raced, we had many things go wrong but we rarely retired. The determination to sail to the best of our ability, winning was a bonus. It was never top of our list as we saw too many boats cheat. Every race was discussed to see what small errors kept us out of the top spot. The skills I learnt racing now allow me to sail faster, cover a shorter distance, plus sail in a zephyr and in a gale. Cruising single handed is not daunting, but fun when you pass larger fully crewed boats. I see so many cruising boats with badly set baggy sails, some motor sailing when they should sailing, not going out in strong winds, unable to berth their boats, all despite years of sailing. To me sailing is a continuous learning curve. Unfortunately some sailors claim to have x years experience, but they only have 1 season experience x times. They should try racing to improve their sailing skills, plus it can be fun as well.

 

[veshengro]

The only sailing race I have ever been involved in was a race been Ship's Whalers that we used for sail training as boys. Over the ensuing years there's always been something that I have noticed amongst committed sail racing folk, that is the good boat handling skills of many of them. When I kept my boat in a Sussex Marina there was one chap and his crew who would leave the inner basin of the Marina under sail to go racing. I'm not familiar with their boat but it looked like an XOD? or similar. Great demo of boat handling skills by a few of the owners of such boats, used to be my Sunday entertainment watching them.

 

[Shaz77]

If that is what ol'wil wishes to spend his weekend doing its his choice and who are we to comment.

I personal am not interested in racing and resent in being told what I must do and its only my choice and oly my choice

The kids race near my mooring at the Royal Harwich. Some are quite skilled and seem to be about 8 years old but it never stops me from worrying about running one down. They get so carried away ducking under the boom they often don't notice where they are going. Once or twice I have had to use full rudder to avoid an accident.
As they say in Suffolk "bless um"

 

[Cerebus]

A good read.

Racing at 4 knots or even less on a calm day with the wind aft and a boat shadowing me (and gaining on me) is a memory that is over 30 years old.

Dealing with the spinnaker single handed (it was a dinghy not a cruiser) was interesting ( tiller between my knees).

Can’t remember who won, but the race must have been enough for the memory to be retained.

QUERY: second time I have heard of jib sheet coming undone.

Was it a bowline?

What do people consider the best knot for foresails(I know some don’t use knots at all but stick a bight through and then loop etc - perhaps that is the answer?) or is that too much thread drift to be acceptable?


If so, no worries.

Not 30degress of heat in UK I can tell you that much.

 

[johnalison]

Racing is complete madness rationalised by idiots. I bought a spinnaker for our Mystere 26 having never used one before. Clearly, a nice quiet day would be needed to do a bit of practice. There was due to be a race on Sunday morning, so we worked out which lines did what and made our way to the start. It was a downwind start and a fleet of a couple of dozen, and it was blowing F5. Everyone else was getting ready to set their spinnakers, so there was nothing for it but to join them. I can’t remember the result, but we survived. Madness.

 

[blush2]

It doesn't have to be a formal race. Just overtaking a boat you think should be faster than you when you are out cruising makes you feel good

 

[The Q]

I've been racing for 45 years, mostly on open boats of around 20ft, also in dinghies and yachts as well, sailing mostly on the Norfolk Broads, but also all over the UK , and in Saudi and the Falklands.

The events described I've seen happen many times over the years.
Had halyards , sheets, tillers, rudders, centre boards , and miscellaneous items fail.

Oddest event, rescuing windsurfers by towing them back to the club, while single handed sailing a wayfarer..

Two weeks ago was the first day of our winter season, first race, Spinnaker up... Spinnaker down, rigged incorrectly, sorted out, worked perfectly for that race on and the next race... Third race, spinnaker up... Knitting

At my current winter club We do 3 one hour races on Sundays propping up the Bar / T Bar between.
Youngest competitor 8, oldest well into their 80s..

 

[Cerebus]

I have never used a spinnaker upon a cruiser.

Enough was enough in a dinghy.

Yes, yes… cruisers are more stable etc etc.

NO. And no again.

Many cruisers and I refused to hoist a spinnaker.

My choice. Done and dusted.

I bought a boat with a brand new spinnaker and snuffer.

It is in a chest in the loft; lovely colour.

I hope to sell it one day when I can be motivated enough.

 

[William_H]

A lot of people have disdain for yacht racing. For me it has been a reason to get out on the boat among friends of like mind in a situation covered by support boat and good company on my boat. I fear if I did not race there would so often be a reason to put off the short cruise equivalent and my boat would join so many others under utilized. I estimate over 41 seasons I have done 1000 races all about 2 hrs long. It is alawys good to be in front it simply means you are doing something right but being beaten is not a great concern. My association with the nearby club has given me friends and ultimately a life membership for myself and my wife.
So while starting to race can be daunting just give it a try and ask for help or explanation. When to start and where to go are primary questions. I am sure any club would love to have new participants. ol'will

 

[Shaz77]

I have never used a spinnaker upon a cruiser.

Enough was enough in a dinghy.

Yes, yes… cruisers are more stable etc etc.

NO. And no again.

Many cruisers and I refused to hoist a spinnaker.

My choice. Done and dusted.

I bought a boat with a brand new spinnaker and snuffer.

It is in a chest in the loft; lovely colour.

I hope to sell it one day when I can be motivated enough.

If you go back in boating history a spinnacker was designed of extremely light sail cloth for extremely light winds force 1-2. It was beefed up for the professional racing nutters who love to bring down their rigs or lay their masts on the water.

 

[Shaz77]

Racing in a boat against a competitor is just another form of jousting, without doing serious harm to your competition.

 

[Stemar]

without doing serious harm to your competition

most of the time...

 

[The Q]

William H's comment about having raced over 1000 2 hour races made me think..
" How many have I done"
Well, 45 years,
3 1 hour races each Sunday winter.
4 1 hour races each Sunday Summer. Or 2 2 hour races to a pub and back.
Regatta week 21 races in 7 days.
1 24 hour race each year.
Minus a few for family committments etc...
Roughly between 7000 and 9000 hours of sailing...
..

 

[flaming]

I did 27 days of racing this year. Average of 2 races per day. So 54 races. Roughly similar for the last 19 years, so that's a thousand races.