{"id":193,"date":"2014-11-09T22:31:47","date_gmt":"2014-11-09T22:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/?p=193"},"modified":"2014-11-09T23:50:27","modified_gmt":"2014-11-09T23:50:27","slug":"wurstfest-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/?p=193","title":{"rendered":"Wurstfest in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone had a great time. \u00a0There was every kind of condition to challenge everyone. \u00a0From zero to no wind to 15+ with waves, everyone got their favorite. \u00a0Below is a write-in from the regatta winner who happens to be an Olympic coach, Luther Carpenter. \u00a0Here is a link<\/a> to some\u00a0that might be of help to your sailing career.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wurstfest 2014 delivered amazing conditions for the 16 Lasers (and 2 4.7s) that assembled in Canyon Lake. \u00a0Day 1\u2019s forecast was a promised 7-10 knot easterly, in perfect mid 60-70 temps, and it delivered exactly that. \u00a0It was shifty and puffy, never left us in the doldrums, and the next feature was always coming in the next 30-60 seconds. \u00a0Courses were 2-lap W\/L which took about 20-25 minutes. \u00a0Our RC cranked out 6 races on Sat.<\/div>\n
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The competition was great, with virtually everyone having their moments on the first beats, hooking in some nice shifts. \u00a0Consistency was the game, \u00a0but glory moments sure are fun!<\/div>\n
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For me, I thought there were a number of interesting observations of the day:<\/div>\n
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1) Would the close right hand shore, \u00a0and the subtle right shift in the forecast, \u00a0favor the right?<\/span><\/div>\n
Well the glare in the first few races made it really hard to assess the wind looking right, \u00a0and I chased what I though was velocity over there several times. \u00a0After a few beats, \u00a0I began to think the shore had little or nothing to do with the wind.<\/div>\n
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2) The wind was easy to see coming, so standing up pre-start was essential, \u00a0and believing in what you were seeing was the law.<\/span><\/div>\n
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3) Reading start-line geometry in the last minute was critical to sprinting out early in the beat. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Several early starts were \u201ctack at the gun\u201d, or shortly after. \u00a0These kind of starts can frustrate many, but you must learn to love them. \u00a0The sweetest component of these starts, is that it does not matter how you look on the boat to leeward of you. \u00a0He can be right in front of you, or closely lee-bowed – but it doesn\u2019t matter, because you will be tacking right away. \u00a0Now what does matter is that the boat on your hip cannot be in a position to pin you. \u00a0So on those starts that the wind was heading at 30 seconds, I tried to charge toward the line aggressively so that my hip boat was almost dead astern. \u00a0Of course that sounds like a formula for OCS, but if the wind is heading (pin favored), there is little danger of sailing over the line – your are paralleling it.<\/div>\n
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Once we got to Race 4, \u00a0the wind started to favor the Committee boat, so it took more discipline to hold back. \u00a0I realized (later on Sunday!) that since I was lining up early in my spot, \u00a0I should have held back a little more, \u00a0so when the 30-20 sec crowd can in, \u00a0we weren\u2019t already too close to the line. \u00a0Now it was a unique event in that the RC was being VERY liberal with calling the line on Sat, \u00a0and then quite accurate on Sunday – something you have to track and discuss with your buddies in the fleet, and develop into your discipline and strategy.<\/div>\n
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4) The phases were usually big enough to defined what tack the fleet should be on.<\/span><\/div>\n
That was great when you were in the lead, and took some patience when in a tight lane. \u00a0If you could manage your lane, minimizing your loss and being patient for the next pressure line ahead usually worked out. \u00a0If you had to clear out of your lane, don\u2019t let it turn into a long corner bang if the phase is obvious.<\/div>\n
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5) It was shifty, but velocity rules (and usually comes with a nice shift!)<\/span><\/div>\n
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6) Downwind always matters\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
The downwinds were really fun from my perspective, \u00a0and I was psyched to improve throughout the day. \u00a0The fleet was good at seeing velocity and lining up well for it. \u00a0My day turned around when I started steering almost purely by weight, \u00a0fine-tuned board height (put it down more) and was super attentive to the C-vane wind angles. \u00a0Since the phases were going back and forth, \u00a0the by-the-lee to reaching changes were coming fast, \u00a0so transitioning into those with power and precision with sheet and correct heel made a huge difference. \u00a0This was especially true at the end of the day when the waves built enough to dictate more surfing than a rigid sailing angle.<\/div>\n
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Sunday brought more wind, ranging from 10-16 and a bit further right. \u00a0Pre-race warmups, \u00a0a weather mark quite close to shore, \u00a0and the wind trying to go right most of the time made it feel like a right favored course. \u00a0But the interesting thing was we were so lifted off the line each race, \u00a0that staying on starboard was the only move, \u00a0until a nice windy port slant meandered it\u2019s way to us – usually up near the port layline.<\/div>\n
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My big take-aways from Sunday were:<\/div>\n
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7) Holy re-calibrate on the starting line!<\/span><\/div>\n
The RC is a new sheriff today, \u00a0it was mostly boat favored, \u00a0and it only took 3-4 seconds to get up to full speed. \u00a0My first start I sheeted in at 8 secs, \u00a0and was frantic trying to hold back. \u00a0The rest of the day fully committing at 3 seconds with the vang already pre-set was much better.<\/div>\n
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8) Just like Saturday, playing the vang and cunningham upwind was important\u00a0<\/span>on both sides of the wind range. \u00a0Reading the size (length) of each lull or puff kept you hiking and balanced for the majority of the beat.<\/div>\n
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9) Although the wind was up, since the\u00a0course was skewed right, the downwinds were more of a by-the-lee parade<\/span>. \u00a0When I tried to sail them with \u00a0square-run technique, I usually felt like I lost boat-lengths. \u00a0It was hard to be disciplined in the wind, \u00a0but it was the course.<\/div>\n
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Well those are a collection of things that I least I ponder about, perhaps they might be interesting to some of you.<\/div>\n
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It was fun seeing all of you again. \u00a0The racing was action packed and challenging, \u00a0yet the perfect length and conditions for our fleet. \u00a0Many thanks to the Wurstfest Regatta Race Committee and LCYC for putting on a great event!<\/div>\n
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Luther Carpenter – 195162<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone had a great time. \u00a0There was every kind of condition to challenge everyone. \u00a0From zero to no wind to 15+ with waves, everyone got their favorite. \u00a0Below is a write-in from the regatta winner who happens to be an Olympic coach, Luther Carpenter. \u00a0Here is a link to some\u00a0that might be of help to …<\/p>\n

Wurstfest in Review<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-regatta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/laserd15.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}