Steeplechase 2013
Posted: December 16th, 2013, 10:37 pm
I was road crew this year so this is how I saw the Steeplechase Race 2013. Eric and Dave Weir sailed the 22. Dave is our third person crew on the RC30.
First day: Wind forecast was 22 to 25 knots out of the SE. We sailed with some old Kevlar sails that I had cut down in area by 30%. The race started about 10 minutes after nine. The first check point was the Card Sound Bridge. As the boats approached the bridge, the comments I heard from the crowd around me were, "oh my god, what boat is that"? There was a boat with gold colored Kevlar sails that already had a good half mile lead in a five mile leg over the F18 group. That was the last I saw of the boats until they arrived at Ann's Beach. The second boat to finish was Steve Lohmayer about eleven minutes later. Eric and Dave explained that they had lost much of their lead due to a turnover and recovery. Seems that their rudders kicked up in some shallow water out in the ocean and with no rudders the boat bore off and jibbed and turner over while Eric was trying to get one rudder back down.
The next day the wind forecast was 10 to 15 knots S to SW later in the day. It was a 2 mile beat to the channel five bridge from Ann's Beach. The 22 with small sails was the first boat under the bridge with a large lead already. Lohmayer was second. The course to the first cut was 60 degrees from the bridge. This was a long starboard tack with the spin. The 22 went out of sight long before the other boats did. About 2/3rds of the way to the finish, 30 miles,there is a decision point. One path is to continue the channel and go through two Mangrove creek cuts or the other way is to sail a little further west and avoid those cuts and come back into Blackwater Sound at the Bogies and sail across the sound, sailing east, to the finish. The distance travelled from the decision point is the same to the finish line. The possible advantage is not sailing through the sometimes wind blocked Mangrove creek cuts. As it turned out this year the F18 sailors said they shot right through the mangrove creek cuts, good wind all the way. The 22 finished first followed by Lohmayer several minutes later. Both of these boats took the outside course and came in through the Bogies. Lohmayer thought he actually lost a couple of minutes to the first F18 by sailing the outside course rather than sailing the channel route.
Sumary: Note that the 22 took an hour off its CT the second day while other boats reduced their CTs by 30 to 40 minutes. This is an indication of the time lost by the 22 in its turnover the first day. Some not so well sailed boats actually increased their second day CTs relative to the first day even though the race is 20 miles shorter the second day.
The F18s I saw are all very near "flat bottom boats" and very wide hulls. I don't know what the idea is there. The hull fineness ratio of these boats is low number, not good. The flat bottom hull shape has more wetted area per pound of boat weight to support than a round bottom. Circles have less perimeter for the same cross section area than a rectangle.
The square top mainsails on the F18s need a little tuning up.
The pink spinnaker on the F18 in Cat sailor has a very tight luff tape and way too much shape in the sail approaching the luff. This sail will only sail deep. If you try to heat it up, the luff will collapse, poor design.
I could go on and on about Rick's comments and the way he ran the race but no real value here. Hpoefully these things will correct themselves in time. Anns Beach is no longer a good mid race stopping point because there is no beach. Boats were kept out of the water overnight by having the boats up on beachwheels. The tide waterline came up to transoms which were resting on the beach backed up against a boardwalk, rudders under the boardwalk. Overnight the boats were tied down sideways as well as fore and aft in case they began floating.
First day: Wind forecast was 22 to 25 knots out of the SE. We sailed with some old Kevlar sails that I had cut down in area by 30%. The race started about 10 minutes after nine. The first check point was the Card Sound Bridge. As the boats approached the bridge, the comments I heard from the crowd around me were, "oh my god, what boat is that"? There was a boat with gold colored Kevlar sails that already had a good half mile lead in a five mile leg over the F18 group. That was the last I saw of the boats until they arrived at Ann's Beach. The second boat to finish was Steve Lohmayer about eleven minutes later. Eric and Dave explained that they had lost much of their lead due to a turnover and recovery. Seems that their rudders kicked up in some shallow water out in the ocean and with no rudders the boat bore off and jibbed and turner over while Eric was trying to get one rudder back down.
The next day the wind forecast was 10 to 15 knots S to SW later in the day. It was a 2 mile beat to the channel five bridge from Ann's Beach. The 22 with small sails was the first boat under the bridge with a large lead already. Lohmayer was second. The course to the first cut was 60 degrees from the bridge. This was a long starboard tack with the spin. The 22 went out of sight long before the other boats did. About 2/3rds of the way to the finish, 30 miles,there is a decision point. One path is to continue the channel and go through two Mangrove creek cuts or the other way is to sail a little further west and avoid those cuts and come back into Blackwater Sound at the Bogies and sail across the sound, sailing east, to the finish. The distance travelled from the decision point is the same to the finish line. The possible advantage is not sailing through the sometimes wind blocked Mangrove creek cuts. As it turned out this year the F18 sailors said they shot right through the mangrove creek cuts, good wind all the way. The 22 finished first followed by Lohmayer several minutes later. Both of these boats took the outside course and came in through the Bogies. Lohmayer thought he actually lost a couple of minutes to the first F18 by sailing the outside course rather than sailing the channel route.
Sumary: Note that the 22 took an hour off its CT the second day while other boats reduced their CTs by 30 to 40 minutes. This is an indication of the time lost by the 22 in its turnover the first day. Some not so well sailed boats actually increased their second day CTs relative to the first day even though the race is 20 miles shorter the second day.
The F18s I saw are all very near "flat bottom boats" and very wide hulls. I don't know what the idea is there. The hull fineness ratio of these boats is low number, not good. The flat bottom hull shape has more wetted area per pound of boat weight to support than a round bottom. Circles have less perimeter for the same cross section area than a rectangle.
The square top mainsails on the F18s need a little tuning up.
The pink spinnaker on the F18 in Cat sailor has a very tight luff tape and way too much shape in the sail approaching the luff. This sail will only sail deep. If you try to heat it up, the luff will collapse, poor design.
I could go on and on about Rick's comments and the way he ran the race but no real value here. Hpoefully these things will correct themselves in time. Anns Beach is no longer a good mid race stopping point because there is no beach. Boats were kept out of the water overnight by having the boats up on beachwheels. The tide waterline came up to transoms which were resting on the beach backed up against a boardwalk, rudders under the boardwalk. Overnight the boats were tied down sideways as well as fore and aft in case they began floating.