DBYC Results: DBYC Drag Race Training September 2008

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It’s hard to say what a Race Officer’s job really is. I mean, he’s just that anonymous guy who pulls up the flags on the committee boat right? You know, those rags that are so small and distant that no one ever takes any notice of them. Invented in the 12th century weren’t they, so surely they don’t have any meaning these days when we can use VHF and GPS time, and of course “we just go by the horns and guns anyway don’t we”!!!

Well, yeah, that’s just about the sum of it but guess what? The RO is actually a keen sailor as well, but he just never gets a chance to sail these days ‘cause he’s so busy running the race - pumping up marker buoys, organising rum for the prize giving, publishing race notices and e-mailing threats, laying the marks then back to the committee boat in time for the first race… oh, and then foolishly encouraging people to protest without checking that everyone has protest flags!

Anyway, somehow beyond his wildest dreams, we managed to get 6 boats to the start line and with some very generous support from people like Bart Kimman and St John Cameron we had enough people and support boats to start racing. In fact we were able to run 6 races, albeit the first race scheduled for an 1100 start was only attended by one boat, namely Tom Pepper II while the rest of the fleet apparently had to visit relatives on Hei Ling Chau. So Race 1 was abandoned, with apologies to Nik and Tom Pepper II crew!

Race 1 (official) was a much improved and exciting affair with boats careering down the line on broad reaches at 7+ knots with great gusto and confidence, barging down from upwind of the committee boat, and laying themselves open to a luff into the stern of committee boat, Sipadan, which would have really livened things up.

The second start was more orderly, but certain parties had realized a significant bias had been generated by the wind backing about 15 degrees. This enabled a pin-end port start which both Miss Salona 2 and Tom Pepper II tried on a couple of occasions to significant advantage.

With a quick VHF call to Edward in the AYS RIB, the ODM was moved about 200 metres toward Peng Chau which corrected the anomaly and produced a great start for Race 3 with the fleet splitting evenly to the left and right sides of the course. The Peng Chau side certainly looked favoured but there was a patch of stronger breeze out to the right which Harlequin kept working and in the end paid dividends with a lift developing in the 5th and 6th race to allow the latter to beat both Miss Salona 2 and Xakanaxa to the line in the final two races.

Up till then Miss Salona 2 had certainly shown greater speed and had managed to break through the fleet early into clean air and hit the front. However both Xakanaxa and the Etchell, Tom Pepper II had other ideas with Xakanaxa working the Peng Chau side of the course better than other boats to come out nearer the top mark and lay down serious challenges to both Miss Salona 2 and Harlequin which were only lost through a couple of late and possibly unlucky tacks.

Tom Pepper II on the other hand provided the bridge between the large and small boats and kept the big boats honest by astute tactics of tacking up the middle of the course and using her windward ability to get into a commanding position within 200m of the top mark. In fact she showed her speed on several occasions to nearly embarrass the big boats and in the 6th race held her own on Harleqin’s flank as they went across the finish line.

Skellum and Rosemary were by no means disgraced by the big boats with both boats coming in within 2 minutes of the big boats in each race but their problem was that the 12-15 knot winds ideally suited the larger boats who could leave full sail up while the smaller boats were either over-pressed or under-canvassed at times, having taken reefs.

Overall another great series of drag races with a protest to boot and extremely tight racing that resulted in the first three places in the 6th race being separated by only 1 second on corrected time. The RO could not really ask for more than that - or could he?

Well, if there was one thing he would like to see, it would be an end to the dubious practice of reaching down the line in pre-start maneuvers. This creates dangerous situations where boats can ram into each other or the committee boat if they are not on a close-hauled course toward the line. We must learn to do this if we are to make competitive starts in other arenas.

For the next series it would be good to have a bit of a classroom session beforehand, concentrating on perhaps 2 or 3 of the main ISAF rules pertaining to starts and top mark rounding and the tactics available to enable us to use these rules to our advantage.

A video camera on the committee boat, and even better, one on the pin end mark as well would provide great training value and also some post-match humor at the bar.

Thanks St John Cameron and Stephanie for making it happen on the committee boat and Edward Coebergh and Rommel from Asia Yacht Services for getting the marks and times out there, and to all who came out to play and learn on the water - making it another fun day out with DBYC.

Ken Wiltshire

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