Starting

• The pin end was favored in almost every start (RCs do this intentionally).  We felt it might get crowded at the pin, so we weren’t so aggressive early in the regatta. But as we progressed, we realized the pin end was the place to be.  Even when we wanted the right side of the course, it paid to start near the pin and tack when we could.
  • We do wind shots before every start.  It makes it easier to check for a favored end.
  • When it’s shifty we did multiple wind checks.  It always seems to be shifty in Maryland!
• Get a line site.  We even were sighting both ends of the line if it was possible.

Upwind

• Friday and Sunday (10-15 knots)
  • Keep the boat fast, powered up and not heeled too much.  Helm weight as forward as possible worked well for us to help keep the bow down.
    
  • We are probably more eased (sheet tension) on both sails than any other boat.
  • When you start easing the main, make sure the vang is on.  If it’s not, the boom lifts up, the main gets fuller and the forestay sags (makes the jib more full and closes the jib leech).  All these things power up the sail plan when we are trying to depower it.
    • In lulls make sure the vang comes off as you may want to ease the main slightly to get the boat moving through the chop.
  • When feathering the sails in larger puffs, we try to keep the boat balanced.  So if we are luffing 20% of the jib, we would adjust both sails to keep the boat balanced and visually the sails appear to be luffing the same amount.  It may feel like you are reaching along, but the boat is going much faster and therefore tracking through the water without slipping sideways.
  • We only add Cunningham to keep the draft of the main forward of center on the draft stripes (unless it’s really windy).
  • Ease, hike, trim (BOTH SAILS).  Can’t emphasize this enough, any time these boats heel they slow down, slide sideways and accelerate slowly.
    • If the main is flogging and the jib is still trimmed, this is even slower.
  • We changed the car position often.  In the lighter times (10 knots) we were ¼ of the way back on the track, in heavy times we were mid track.  We only adjusted the windward car and followed up with the new windward car after the tack.
    • Having a radio helped tip us off to change car positions as we moved up the course.  Winward mark-set boat advised RC of wind conditions that were 5 knots lighter than at the start line.
  • We do try to find a setup where the jib luff telltales are streaming straight aft most of the time.  We always try to keep the leech telltale on the jib flying all the time as well.
  • In almost every venue port tack is often choppier than starboard.  We sail this tack differently sometimes; we even have the jib car further forward when on port to provide more punch.

• Saturday 0-5 knots and sailing in a river.

  • Never tickle the inner telltales.  We try to keep them flowing aft all the time.  If in doubt we fall off until the outer telltales just start to flutter, then slowly come up.  The boat really seems to like this relative to other boats.
  • We kept moving the car forward.  We ended up being all the way forward, but heard the tracks are in different positions on different boats.

  • The boat slips sideways more when going slower. There have been a few times on RaceQs in the past that when we give up trying to point as high as other boats and put the bow down, we actually end up going faster, slip less and have the same height (over land) as the boats who kept their boat up.

    • Be a footer not a pincher.

• • We did ease the outhaul slightly in lighter winds, but just a couple of inches of sag.
  • In flat spots you can trim the main pretty hard, but other times it pays to ease it and make it flow a bit better.  I think the main can only be trimmed hard when going fast.
  • The abandoned race on Saturday had a very strong flood tide and we tried to get to shallow water to get some tide relief.  Not sure if this helped, or if there was more wind on our side, but it was our strategy when the current was almost as strong as the wind.

Downwind

• We probably weren’t the fastest downwind and it seems almost every boat sails downwind differently.  We typically drive with the helm on the low side seat and the crew on the high side seat.
  • Other teams have the crew sit centerline.
• When it’s light, sit as far forward as possible.  When it’s heavy we try to get the crew to hike while the helm stays on the low side.
• Helm: keep the mainsheet in your hand.  It provides a lot of feedback even in very light conditions
• Crew: provide feedback of pressure.  This helps the helm choose a course.
• Pole height, we choose a pole height that gets the spinnaker luff to break the top third of the sail.  Clew height helps, the different sailmakers cut their sails differently, so the luff break is a good thing to measure.
• Outhaul off, boom vang eased until the top batten is parallel with the boom.
• Shifts happen downwind too, just slower.
  • It’s hard to tell if you are being lifted or it’s just getting lighter.
  • We tried to stay on the jibe that got us towards the next mark faster unless we could see a puff coming.

Boat Setup

• I think Atrevida’s setup is pretty stock, when it gets windy, we do add some more rig tension as the leeward shroud seems to get loose pretty quickly.  Other than that, our whole setup is as the tuning guide suggests.
• Hiking straps:  from the photos it looks like we are further outboard than other crews.  At helm it seems to be more comfortable with toes under the straps and heals against the seat.  Most of the pressure is on the toes (straps), heels (seat) and hamstrings (gunwhale).  Even though we are leaning in, our overall weight is further out. Then we lean out when really needed.
• Total crew weight: 349 pounds
• A fast boat makes you look smart and gives its crew more options.
• We tune up with Blind Squirrel every day and sometimes in between races to make sure we are setup correctly.  It’s best to be at full speed before the start so we aren’t changing car positions to get up to speed on the first beat.
  • Find someone to check your boat speed against

Ed Montano