Sailing with Team NZL

I have been having a great time with TNZL here in San Francisco. Being home for 10 days and sailing on the AC 45 has been a real learning experience. Working with the team as their local knowledge expert is something that comes naturally as I have been sailing in SF bay for over 45 years, wow, that is a long time. But applying my experience to how it works for Cats at over 20 knots is new. Getting to know the angles and speeds. You surely don't want to tack or gybe to often, so taking advantage of the tides have to be done with more planning. More of a strategy, than a tactic. Yesterday we were had a nice view of USA 17, the 72. I was able to get some shots and videos, so enjoy. Sure is a big monster compared to the little AC45... Yes that is a 45 next to her..

Dee Smith joins ETNZ

"Team NZ look outside the team to gain an advantage in San Fran.

In a bid to get back on top of their AC45 game, Emirates Team New Zealand have called on a San Franciscan to educate them, while the Koreans have turned to a Kiwi Olympian to steer them in the right direction.

Dean Barker's crew "failed to spark" in the last event of the America's Cup World Series on San Francisco Bay, finishing seventh in fleet racing and fourth in match racing.

So they've gone to Dee Smith, rated by many as one of the world's top tacticians, to clue them up on the nuances of the bay before the next ACWS event on October 3."

- Suzanne McFadden - Boating, NZ

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Bella Mente wins Mini Maxi World Championship

Nice to be brought back on board Bella for the Worlds this last week here in Porto Cervo.  Bella has been going though some growing pains the first few months in the water.  After working the project for  over a year this was my first sail on the boat.  I joined a fantastic crew and owner, Hap Fauth.   The after-guard included John Cutler as strategist, Ian Moore the navigator and I filled in as tactician.  We knew we had our hands full with the other boats including Ran that has won multi worlds.  

The series started with a coastal race around the fantastic islands here.  Shockwave jump out to a great start and lead the boats around 1/2 of the course.  we had a 3 boat tacking dual coming out of Boom Ally and Ran jumped into the lead that they would not lose.  As we came around one of the islands near the harbor, we slipped just past Shockwave.  We then watch almost the whole crew go swimming when they hit a rock very hard and the life lines broke.  We ended up second in the race for a good start to the regatta.  Boat seemed to go ok.

The next 2 days we sailed 4 windward leeward races in 10-18 knots, really perfect conditions.  We lead around every mark in the first 3 races.  By no means was it not hard boat were very close in speed and we just got off the line very well and was able to sail very clean.  The others had more problems with traffic.  In these races we had a 1,1,1,2.  Ran on the other hand had 4,4,5,1.  This gave us a good lead.

The next day was another Coastal that again counted 1.5 points.  Very light patchy conditions.  We had a fantastic start and Ran was over the line early and with all the traffic and light air they ended up very far behind.  We were in the lead, controlling the race, with Ran deep behind when the race was cancelled.  We all returned to the starting area to wait for some more breeze.  The RC forced in a race in even lighter air and gave us a course that was more suited for a Bucket Race.  Anyway, Ran got to the first mark first, the only beat of 1.5 miles, and we followed.  Shockwave went under the island with a code 0 to gain an inside overlap on us at the next mark.  This was hard as we could not get around her and ended up coming in 4th.  Ran wining gave us the tie on points.  

On the last day with 2 windward leeward races in the plan but even with lighter winds expected we boat had 12 points but we owned the tie break with more first places.  After 4 hrs of waiting at the dock for wind the races were cancelled and we ended up with the big win.

ORC European Championships

ORC European Championships

Farr 400 Team Premier Sonnkenkoenig

End of June, Punta Ala, Italy

This was my first experience with ORCi rating system. On the good news, the system is a published rating system and there are no secrets. That said it is easy to figure out that this system in its current form is a lot like IMS. The B/C boats that are made to go up and down are very fast. What I do remember when we brought the TP’s into the Med a number of years back the TP’s were able to beat the IMS boats under IMS. This happened here too. The lone TP, Aniene, well sailed was an easy winner, winning every race they started.

It was good to see how easy the Farr 400 is to transport through Europe.  This boat just won the trans Lake Constant race over all and it had to make it over the alps to get to Punta Ala.  The rig made it easy.

Back to the Future

Sailing a great one design boat in a handicap system, one should adjust the boat a little to max out the performance under the rule sailed. We made only one adjustment, and that is adding a spinnaker pole to the already fast down wind 400. It was an easy thing to add, a removable sleeve over the mast to hold the pole gooseneck. 2 after guys and a peace sign… We set, gybed and dropped off of the bow sprit. In the very light and big breeze, (there was none) we would also go off of the sprit. But the pole gave us many advantages. We now had a choice of what angle to sail. We could sail around traffic, or run deep into a mark if we didn’t hit the lay line perfect. This was huge.

But the biggest thing was the speed. Punta Ala is normally a light air 6-12 knots Med condition. A performance boat like the 400 has a hard time against the lead mines of the IMS or even IRC, in these conditions. Having to sail high in this wind range with the A sail on the Sprit is not how these boats should go. The pole boats that can’t speed up, just run deep. So I came up with this idea, to be able to sail to our rating down wind by sailing less distance. In ten know of wind, we can sail 10 degrees lower and .5-.75 knots faster, around 8.75-9.0 knots of boat speed.

The racing was fun, only the up and downs were a bit like ground hog day, all the races sailed in the south 7-12 knots of wind. You had to go left and wait for the big boats to tack and pick your spot. We were the smallest boat in our class but we rated 3^rd highest. Of course the one design boat wants to be fun down wind first. But we did surprise many by being right in it at the top mark and always finishing on the water 3^rd.

We did have one good race in the 150 mile offshore race. Twice around Gillio was a good course. We had 0-18 knots and all angles. We sailed very well around the holes of the islands to take a second, our best finish. Sailing a boat like the 400 in this race is great. Every time there is a change, the boat steps out. Anytime there are extremes, the boat is much faster than its rating. Like under 7 knots and over 15 when it starts to plane.

In the video, you can see many things. We sailed with 8 good guys. 8 guys on this size boat is not too many, but as you can see, there was not a problem to do anything well. We just figured out how to move forward and take care of things. The grinder made it easy and the ability to trim from the windward side really keep the boat moving all the time. If we sailed in a windy area, I would pick 9 people but making them smaller.. You just don’t need to add weight to this boat.

We ended up 6^th in the regatta. It could have been a bit better but the rating in that condition is hard to sail to. But for a one design boat that is not designed to the rule and sailing against boats that are, it is not too bad. I can tell you one thing; we enjoyed our sailing more than the others. A lot of heads turned as we flew by..

Farr 400 test sailing with spin pole

We have tried something new with the Farr 400.  Adding a spinnaker pole for handicap racing under the ORCi rating system.  The idea was to be able to sail competitively in the range of 6-14 knots.  The 400, Sonnenkonig is sailing here on the first try in 8-9 knots of wind doing 7.75-8.6 knots at 158 true wind angle. We start racing today, Monday, June 24 in Punta Ala, Italy.  We will see how we go.  But at least in this condition it should be fast...

Stand by

Dee

Flying Jenny 7 Wins Second NYYC 158th Annual Regatta

FJ Sailing Team mastered the light airs off Newport RI during the 158th NYYC Annual Regatta.  We only got in two races over the two day regatta as the sea breeze was late to show each day.  On the first race, Jenny and Vesper went al the way out to the left side.  This allowed Interlodge to get over to the right and hit the big right shift to lead at the first mark.  Jenny forced Vesper over about 2 minutes fromt he layline, we continued to the just under the layling where we found a good shift back to the left and was able to get some back on the Interlodge.

Downwind the race was diecided as Interlodge gybed off to port and we continued in the lefty we had going into the mark.  When they came back we had more wind and a good shift.  It also helped that they cought their spinnaker on the mast and ripped it.  We slid on by to win the race, Interlodge second and Vesper third.

After waiting almost 3 hr on the ast day to get a race in the start was 30 minutes before the limit.  Vesper with their third figured that if they pushed us to third they would win on a count back tie.  So right off the start, Gavin started to match race us.  We did our best to hang tough to be second to Vesper at the top mark and closed in on the run.  Maybe they that made it easier for them to push us back and they did.  After about 15 tacks we round the last top mark 4th about 1 minute behind.  There was better breeze ont he right side going upwind and as the fleet ahead headed off to the right facing downwind, we gybed to port and sailed all the way to layline.  As we approached the finish it was apparent we passed everyone except Vesper but, we had the starboard advantage on them.  We finished overlapped and corrected on Sled by 13 seconds to get the second place we needed to win the regatta.

There is some great footage on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSaY0ASEojE&feature=relmfu

Blue Class 2 - IRC 2 (IRC - 5 Boats)

1. Flying Jenny 7, IRC 52 52, David and Sandra Askew , Annapolis, MD, USA - 1, 2, ; 3

2. Vesper, TP 52 52, Jim Swartz , Park City, UT, USA - 3, 1, ; 4

3. Interlodge, IRC 52 52, Austin and Gwen Fragomen , Newport, RI, USA - 2, 4, ; 6

Leukemia Cup, Annapolis, 2012, Team Premier, Farr 400

All photos from Sandy Askew

Best day sailing in Annapolis, ever for me.  Great boat in the Farr 400, Team Premier.  Great crew with a bunch of locals, Dave Askew, owner of Flying Jenny 7, Ian Gordon and Emerson Smith from the Farr office, Matt Beck, our insurance man, Ted Haarland from Annapolis Rigging, Mike Beasley from Beasley Marine and one one transplant, Chris Hosking from Newport.  They all gave a hand for the cause of racing well  and raising money for cancer research.

The main goal here is to raise money.  We set about it sending mails out to the wild marine people and industry.  The reaction was very positive.  In Fact, Team Premier was the top fund raiser of the regatta, the big win.  A big thank you to all that did donate.  It is not too late to donate your share at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/deesmithFarr400/lcr.

The racing was fun.  There were 3 races, all in a 10-20 knot Northwester, very shifty and puffy.  We had two good starts but one over the line early, but we did win each race against 2 Farr 40's and Stray Dog, GP 42.  The boat went really well upwind and down.

We sailed under PHRF and won each race by many minutes.  The races were all about 4.7 miles long, so there was a lot of action. 

This week it is off to Newport to sail Flying Jenny 7 in the Annual Regatta.

Dee