Team Seacats

If any of you have a blog site out there, you realize the volumes of spam comments and “trackbacks” you can get.  Even though there is some built in spam protection, I’ve been having to clear out anywhere from 5 to 30 a day and occasionally I would accidentally snare a real comment from one of you.  Hopefully, that is no more.  I’ve installed an Akismet plugin that should compare all comments and filter out the ones that are not genuine.  If you experience any problems with the software, feel free to email me HERE.

Say, we’ve got some website improvements coming soon – if you check in with us and see things that look different and/or incomplete, that’s probably because I have the new template activated to test some of the changes as I fine tune it with our graphics and for our content.

Trey and Alan (www.velocitysailing.com) took some video while warming up for the Tradewinds regatta in Key Largo, FL last weekend using a handheld (waterproof) digital camera. It was a terrific weekend for sailing as evident in the video.

Also be sure to check out Adventure Online’s video by clicking the video link button at the top of this page. Brian Karr found a new self contained, under $200, waterproof, video camera and tried it out this weekend. His only complaint is that the focus field is a bit narrow. In the very beginning of that video, you can see John and I just above Brian get lined up for the start, bear away, and accelerate with a great hole shot at the start of the 1st race.

The boat is packed away and we’re rolling north with “Lunch Trey” Brown right behind.  The forecast this morning said things were supposed to lighten up today so we stood the rig up a little and backed off the diamond wire tension.  We got out on the water as a squall line came through dumping rain and brining 20+ knots of breeze.  Wondering if we had screwed up with the setup change this morning, we made our way to the starting area and waited only a short while for the AP flag to come down on the committee boat.  We lined up for the start just behind Ollie and Kelly Jason but got boxed in and didn’t get an opportunity to tuck out of line to get on the front row for the start.  Regardless, we powered up behind the Jasons as JC and Kenny drove over top of us.  Kenny and JC were a bit over zealous and were over early.  Fortunately for them, a general recall flag came up on the committee boat and we all had to come back.  What we believe was supposed to happen next was for us to start three minutes after our general recall.  We lined up for the start but the red flag (that should indicate our start) came back down and went back up.  We were unsure if we were actually starting, if the race committee had made a mistake, or if we weren’t even in sequence.  Figuring the first option to the be case, we lit a fire and set out up the course.  The rest of the fleet followed us and we thought we might have something.  Eventually, a race committee boat chased us down and motioned for us to return to the starting area.

By the time we got back, we were already in sequence and unsure of the timing, we were startled when the start gun went off while we were 100 feet away from the line and without speed.  We sheeted in, hooked up, and stepped out putting the the bow down to immediately start chasing those ahead of us.  All this time, we knew we were one point out of 5th position and had set that as our goal.  Tom Korz held that spot and had a good start and was clean ahead of us – our work was cut out.  John and I were delighted to find that the boat actually sailed a little better with our rigging changes this morning even though the wind was still up.  We managed to pick off several boats and finished the race in 5th with Tom Korz just behind.  That tied us up.

For the next race, the start wasn’t quite so clean again but we got off the line and found a lane to tack over to head to the right early (which was where we wanted to be).  The forecast did call for an eastward shift in the breeze at 10am – obviously it was later than that but the wind was still ENE so we hoped that shift was coming.  Low and behold, the shift came in and we found ourselves back with the leaders.  We rounded A mark and had a smoking reach to get to B.  The hot reach was a bit intimidating on these boats – mostly because we don’t do it that often.  I was trapezed with a foot on the rudder while John sat on the boat with a hand on the jib sheet ready to blow it when we got overpowered by a toothy gust.  The spinsheet got a little wild during the douse on the next C-mark rounding and went under the starboard bow.  Perplexed at how to solve this problem, we decided to wait until we were on a starboard tack to do anything about it.  John kept pressure on the sheet to keep the water from dragging it further away and possibly around a daggerboard.  When we made our starboard tack, John felt he could get it by going out to the bow.  As he went forward I went back to keep the boat from driving in with his weight on the bow.  John got to the bridle tang (while we were still moving very well upwind!) while I bore off the wind a little more to fly the hull higher and he managed to flick the sheet from under the bow.  The rest of the race was relatively uneventful as John and I went to work and managed to get around the course with good boat speed and good pointing ability.  We found ourselves really duking it out with Sandra Tartagliano and Chris Titcomb (Accelerated Chaos) and I think for the first time in the weekend, we beat them across the finish line.  We finished a fourth in that race and put Sandra between us and Tom giving us a two point advantage.

The last race saw several competitors head to the beach and it was another good gallop for John and I in the breeze.  We held onto third spot for a while before we were eventually passed by Kenny and JC.  We had some problems with the spinnaker sheet that kept us from trying to hold off Sandra and Chris.  Once we got that sorted out the race pretty much turned into a parade as we were unable to regain the lost time on Sandra and again finished in fourth (one lead F18 capsized during the race).

It was a terrific weekend full of a lot of breeze (seems like anything we sail anymore has a ton of breeze!).  Both John and I are getting a lot more comfortable in these conditions for sure.

Wow, what a tough crowd!  John Williams and I set up his (mostly) new Capricorn F18 on the beach and launched into some healthy breeze.  Although I had intended to work the front of the boat, as we pushed off, John decided he wanted to work the front and put me on the helm.  This was my first time helming the Australian made AHPC Capricorn F18.  Although I’ve been making up some distance lately, John and I weigh in at about 310 to 312lbs combined so we’re pretty light weights in this fleet.  We set the boat up yesterday morning for maximum depowering to handle the strong breeze.  I think we got the setup mostly right but our lack of weight, combined with being a little rusty, caused us some problems early when the wind was at its strongest.  We’ve been getting terrific starts and out of the gate are usually charging at the front of the fleet. 

In the first race, we had a terrific start but lost a little bit of time in some tactical fuzziness at a crowded A-mark rounding.  Then on the next downwind leg, I didn’t manage the mainsheet very well and as we approached C-mark it had trailed off behind the boat.  In an act of shear odd-ball luck, it managed to get looped around the tiller and John had to disconnect the tiller to clear it while we continued south faaaar away from the race course (“kicking a field goal” as John would say!).  We gained some time back on the fleet but not enough to gain any of those lost positions back and finished in 7th position.

In the second race, we charged the start line just a little bit early and had to try and slow down before we were over early.  I’m still amazed that we weren’t over early but there was no recall flag flying from the committee boat, so we put the bow down and went to work.  We were again mixing it up near the front of the fleet but on the second rounding of A-mark, we stuffed hard while trying to turn down.  John was safely on the trampoline and I was on the wire as far back as I could get.  As the boat stuffed and quickly decelerated, I tried desperately to keep my footing but it was futile and I started my trip forward.  As I went by John, John reached out and grabbed the tiller from my hand and although I was at the bow, I somehow managed to not slip in between the hulls or go around the forestay.  Standing knee-deep in the water and on the bow, the boat popped back up (because John was keeping the steering under control) and I was able to walk back down the hull to the back!  Neither of us could believe that the boat was still upright.  I tried to turn the boat back down again and we did an exact repeat but again survived!  Unbelievable!  We sailed that race to finish with David Ingram and Alex Efre-Perez and John McDonald hot on our tail and finished in 6th.

The third race saw the wind die down a little bit toward the end of the race.  As for myself, I was beginning to feel the rust shaking off and get into a groove.  I was also beginning to adjust to the helm of the Capricorn (talk more about that in a bit).  We lined up for the start right behind Kenny and JC who were obviously looking to duke it out with Robbie Daniel on their hip.  With about 12 seconds to go, John and I hooked in, shot out on the wire, and busted out from under Kenny and JC hitting the line with about 1 second of the gun and at full speed.  We rounded A-mark with the front pack and really started to get into a groove downwind.  John does an incredible job calling puffs giving me help to ‘connect the dots’ at the helm (going puff to puff while keeping the boat at full power constantly).  We managed to stay pretty close the lead pack and as the wind continued to soften slightly, we got faster and faster and we finished in 5th without any pressure from behind.

So what’s the Capricorn like?  The build quality is far superior to anything I’ve seen.  They even gel coated the INSIDE of the hulls!  They rigged some things differently than I’m used to but it works really well.  Personally, the helm is a little heavier than I’m used to and it fights back a bit when turning hard while tacking (that took me some getting used to so I would turn the rudders fully when tacking).  However, although the helm is heavy, it is very tight and has absolutely no slop (this usually takes a good deal of effort and mechanical prowess to achieve on most other brands of F18).  I don’t really feel much speed difference in the boat.  It is a really nice boat that sits high out of the water and is quiet when moving through the water.  It has some neat rigging features and the quality is top notch.  As far as F18s go though, I still don’t think that any boat has any real advantage out of the box.

So today we’re expecting a little lighter breeze.  I’m hoping John will drive some today as I want to experience the front of this boat and I’m looking forward to crewing for John some.  We’re one point out of 6th place and we’re going to see what we can do to move up a spot.

Results can be found at The Helm.

The Tradewinds regatta in Key Largo, FL hasn’t even started and one team warming up broke a mast during a pitchpole (apparently the mast was weakened from a previous issue and it caught bottom when the boat flipped this time). We expect to be there sometime tomorrow afternoon to start setting up.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.