2009 US NATIONALS -- DAY 1

Crewing for the nationals was Emily East, Mike Bishop, Sarah McNaboe and Jen Scaring.

R1 -- Moderate flood. Breeze over current on the downwind leg paid big...almost!

R2 -- Emily started. Race to the beach paid. Breeze on the way down.

R3 -- Sarah started. Jib broke 3/4th of way up last beat, had to finish with main only!

Just to bring you guys up to speed, we had a good day racing with two thirds on Saturday and as Tom likes to say, "The wind came up and the wheels came off!". Race number three found us on our ear and had us thinking that Christine had a broken arm. Christine, glad to hear that it is not broken! Remember RICE; rest, ice, compression, elevation.

But all that is really not the point of this e-mail. No, Jen, this is about you. It all started about a week after the Ski-Sail, when a movie lands in my inbox, if anyone hasn't seen it, watch it here, http://www.norcalsailing.com/Ski-Sail-Nationals.html and be sure to check out the gallery, the still shot of Jen giving her skipper a "high-five" is my personal favorite. Then this weekend I pick up a Latitude 38 and see a photo of Jen on page 172. Fine, I can handle it. This morning, though, I'm at West Marine, and I'm thumbing through the catalog, and see a picture of a Melges, so I look closer, and sure enough it's sail number 248, BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE SAILOR IN THE FRAME!!! Blake, would you like to guess who that sailor is?

I missed you this weekend, Jen-Jen, it's not the same on the boat without you.

Norm

Pics from Lyons Imaging

Notes from Albert T Simpson Regatta

Tactics
Current upwind and breeze downwind.

Racing was held right about the time ebb switched to flood. As Jeff has said, there really is no slack water in the bay, just a change. And it changes along the shore first. So the move was to go out to catch the end of the ebb on the upwind leg, until the flood took over and then you needed to short tack the city front.

Once the breeze picked up to planing conditions, it seemed to work best to worry about the breeze and discount the current. Bones made up a ton of time on one downwind leg were three leaders went down the city front and Bones went out into the Bay. They planed the whole leg and more than made up for the current.

Competitors
Southern Cross made their bay debut, along with Jam Jam, and Bones. Jam Jam was working through crew issues and blew up two kites in Race 1. Bones sailed at least part of the regatta with only three.

Boat Issues
Spin halyard continues to slip despite a fresh water dunking of the cleat and chubbying up the line. Grey cockpit pocket has torn and needs replacing.

Tuning Comments
Boat felt pretty balanced and we were definitely flatter than SCross. Jam Jam was flogging their main and still had a bit more speed over us, seemed like our point was on par or better than both. Checked the tune and uppers seem to have stretched. still within tolerance though, base at 28 up from 22 prior to the Worlds.

Crew Comments
Crew on Saturday was Greg, Mike, Lance, Jen. Sunday was Doug, Josh, Mike, Blake.

Memorable Moments/Quotes
Sending Jen up the rig on Saturday morning to sort the lost main halyard. Getting screwed by JJ on first downwind leg of race 5, on starboard and Neil apparently not looking out and crash jibing nearly right in front of us.

Main Halyard Specs. From Jeff.

The Melges main halyard in 492's mast is 5/16 inch diameter Vectran. The line has no cover except for the last two feet at the top where it goes through the sheave and ties to the headboard. The other end has a spliced eye that the halyard tail and the purchase system with cleat can both connect to. The length from the end of the splice loop to the end of the halyard is 9.9 meters. The halyard tail would want to be 11 meters long of 3/16 diameter standard type Dacron line as this line only pulls the sail up and does not take any load once the adjustment system is connected.