Coffee and a Donut

Here in the northern latitudes it is freezing and moth sailing is momentarily out of the question for me. However it's time to train and train hard. I'm already 3kgs off my Christmas highs. A Shaolin monk could be proud of me.

I'm getting on so well that as a reward I had myself a coffee and a donut after lunch yesterday. I was high for six hours. Funny thing is some people live off the stuff and most of them don't look none too happy for it.

Is there a lesson in that?

Getting Around or How to Jybe

I've only just begun learning to sail a moth and here I am explaining how to jybe. Am I arrogant? Yes, in large part. Then there's the fact that I still remember the learning process so I'm well positioned to share it and - here goes the arrogance again - I haven't seen much in the way of well written guides that explain the most basic mechanics. I hope this very brief intro saves beginners some time.

Basics: Sailing a moth downwind is largely like riding a bike. The boat is inherently unstable and the pilot must steer for balance. Since it is very fast the centrifugal force will make the boat heel towards the outside of a turn. This translates to head up - heel to leeward, bear off - heel to windward.

Just as on a bike, a turn is initiated by a weight transfer towards the inside of the turn and then steering is adjusted to keep the boat in balance through the turn. What's different from a conventional boat? On a slow conventional boat you steer first and then shift the weight (especially in the case of a roll jybe). On a Moth such a manoeuvre is looking for trouble; it is the equivalent of turning the handle bars on your bike before leaning into the corner.

Viewed from the outside, a jybing moth will appear to remain flat and that's because steering is used to keep it that way. However always remember that the only way a Moth will stay flat while turning is if weight has initially been transferred towards the inside of the turn.

There are surely many more fine points to jybing but if you keep this one in mind you will get around.

Jybe

Advice from a former Olympian: If you are not happy with the direction you are going, jybe....

Getting it Together

Moving on is the current paradigm but it´s a little weak in my books. To me life´s a puzzle - you don´t want to bin any of the pieces. Now is the time to take inventory of what I was dealt last year and to see where it fits in the big picture.

2008 was a season of remarkable achievements that didn´t come together to deliver many results. Notable exception: second place in the Open Belgian Snipe Championship with Floris.

What about all the rest: an amazing performance in the North Sea Race where the class divisions robbed us of a crushing victory over our on the water rivals; learning to sail and tune a Moth in virtual isolation; sailing an interesting season in the Snipe having swapped roles with Floris; doing tactics for a great crew on a Swan 70 in Sardinia; surviving the Moth Worlds. The one thing I´m proudest of is keeping us off the sand banks in front of Harwich in low visibility when the GPS failed. It was a short bright moment of getting it all together when it really mattered.

Silence is Golden

31.7

This summer I got a lift from Olbia airport to Porto Cervo with the North sails guys from Antwerp on our way to the Swan Cup. They were doing the 45 series, I had a more laid back part doing tactics on a compact floating palace just 70' long. Asked them what the one design winter series scene was like in the Netherlands and they said 31.7s were a fun, active class.

So when Yan called me up and said there was a slot for doing tactics on Shark I thought I would check it out. Sunday was a little cold but the light breezes made it bearable and we sailed out of Port Zeelande relaxed but ready to do battle. We would be sailing short up and down courses 3 or 4 times around with downwind finish. The wind was expected to back during the day and the line was biased to port. We went on to win all three starts by being the dominant boat heading out to the left at the pin and we led at every mark and finish. In one race one boat did cross us at the start taking a high risk port tack option but that sent them off to the right and the wrong side of the course. Christopher could have shut the door on them but he wisely let them go, avoiding any hassles.

The boat was skillfully helmed by Christopher and well handled by his crew: Jim, Giel, Jurgen, Joost, and Yan. There's nothing like a fast boat to swell the I.Q. of the tactician and we simply put in a perfect score. Winning is simple: just go fast in the right direction.

Expectations

Crewing is a fantastic learning experience. It´s much easier to be objective about what is going on. Get a hand on the helm and vision gets clouded. I´ve speed tested against guys who always thought they were faster no matter what.

I´ve done the whole season crewing on the Snipe. It´s easier to disengage the ego and maintain positive and objective expectations at the front of the boat. From now on I´m going to helm with a crew´s frame of mind. This might be the most important thing I´ve ever learnt.