i550class.org

So how did you do Saturday, Jon?

Sorry for the slow reply Rocky. First sail of the season and first race also. Five races in total I only did four of them. Missed the first start by at least 40 sec. Nailed the second and third starts. The fourth I got fouled on the start by a j24 but still was third over on the start. The course was short and at the skippers meeting all decided to race white sails only. Totally lies!! Crew's are tuning and this is a fun racing. I before casting off stowed all the spin sheets and kite, my bad! I made not one but two tactical snafu's. Twice laying the top mark, I forgot my rule for the Twist. Never, never let a big boat above me when laying a windward mark. I actually did this twice on the Saturday races. When you sail against boats twice your length don't let them cover you!! Not a good thing when all forward momentum is stopped, and the line you were on is history.

I do not know how I faired after all was tallied up. I am betting it's about the same as last year. Not first but not last.

I figure thirty more W/L races this season and four always exciting distance races. I've some crew volunteering for some but will be sailing one up most of the races.

Sounds like some fun racing! That's a good tip about not letting yourself get covered by a bigger boat. Most of my racing will be phrf, and ALL the boats will be bigger! Does anyone else have any tips for racing against bigger boats? What advantages do we have that we can use? One thing I've noticed about the bigger boats is they don't like to tack on a header until it becomes extreme, 10-15 degrees. Can we use this against them, tacking sooner to stay on the lifted tack?

I think that's one way to keep an edge, Rocky. In the J24, we are by far the smallest LWL and shortest mast (except for the OTHER J24). We live and die by the SailComp. We define "neutral" for both port and starboard, close-hauled, before the start, Then about every 5 - 10 seconds, we call out, "Up 3....Up 5....zero....zero.....down 3....down 5....tack! Staying in the lifted tack is killer and we often wave big boats through, that we have rights on, if we want to get to the left or stay on starboard. The wave-through is big because, as bad as getting sat on, is a big leebow from a Morgan 454

So yeah, stay away from the bigger rigs, look for lanes and remember that the middle can be death. One thing you have to make concessions to is, you are probably not going to be able to live in the middle in handicap racing when you are the smallest boat! Like you said, because we are small and tack well, we'll throw in a hitch whenever necessary to keep our air clean. Getting sat-on is really slow.........

^ all the above assumes fairly light air

Here in san diego harbor we can get some pretty strong currents, so many of the boats will hug the starboard side of the course, next to harbor island. The penalty is the wind is generally stronger towards the middle of the course. I've seen some boats that can tack quickly use this to their advantage, and get to the windward mark ahead of the boats next to the island, despite the current. Do you think this would work for us?

That's something you will have to play with. My first thought is if it is a W/L course the i550 has no great advantage with the exception of quick tacks. Unfortunately upwind we are just another 18' boat. If the windward cracks off to more of a reach on one tack that would make a difference.

Any racing going on?