What I Learned from the British Sailing Team Meteorologist

Last Thursday evening I participated in a webinar on Wind Strategy, hosted by Javier "Rulo" Borojovich, the head coach at the Laser Training Center in Cabarete and featuring as guest expert, Libby Greenhalgh, who has been the Skandia Team GBR British Sailing Team Meteorologist since 2007, including at the last two Olympics. Libby is also the founder of Weatherwhiz which offers a range of sports weather forecasting and support services. 

Libby's presentation was in three sections…

• Gradient wind and stability 
• Topographic effects on the wind 
• Sea breeze 

The discussion of gradient wind and stability gave me a lot more appreciation of how mixing in the lower layers of the atmosphere affects the winds we experience at the surface, how to predict in advance the direction and speed of the wind at the surface and what kinds of shifts it will have, how things can change during the sailing day, and the signs to look for to predict what will happen. Rulo chimed in to give us some tactical advice on how to sail the beats in different conditions.

Much food for thought.

I even learned tephigrams are, where to find them, and how to read them.

If nothing else I can confuse the hell out of my opposition by flashing my tephigrams at them.



The discussion on topography and how it impacts the wind and what that means for sailing strategies was even more enlightening. I had read the theory of all that stuff about frictional effects and wind bends and convergence and divergence and compression before, but I had never really absorbed it.

Maybe I never really understood it.

For whatever reason, it all became clear to me when Libby explained it. Maybe I'm an auditory learner after all?

In fact, as Libby was talking, scenes from my past life flashed before my eyes. All those scenes in which I went the wrong side of the beat and saw 80% of the fleet coming in from the other side ahead of me and I had no idea why.

Duh! I could now understand what I had been doing wrong all these years.

It's not just that I'm slow. I'm also dumb.



The final session on sea breezes was mainly about "quadrant theory" and how the direction of the gradient wind will impact the development and persistence of the sea breeze and also the characteristics of the sea breeze we will experience. I may have read this before but, once again, never really internalized it or retained ideas on how to use it. There were definitely some pointers on how thinking about the sea breeze this way will influence race strategies. The winds at the Buzzards Bay Regatta will no longer be such a mystery to me.



And dotted through the webinar were insights from Libby about the winds at Hyères, the location for this year's Laser Masters Worlds. Very helpful!



And so I was inspired by Libby's webinar to get more serious this year about studying the weather and the wind and using the data available to make better choices about wind strategy at regattas. It really is a weakness in my game right now.

This year will be different.

Right?

Backyard Boat

Things are moving fast in Ukraine.

Latest story is that President Viktor Yanukovych has quit the capital and there are rumors that he has resigned.

Be that as it may, protesters have occupied his residence and are finding all sorts of extravagances in his back yard including a private golf course, a private zoo, and…..

a galleon.

Yes, a galleon.

Lots more pictures of what Viktor had in his back yard here.

Request Permission to Come Aboard Sir

26 More Reasons to Love Sailing

The Summer Sailstice website recently published a list of about 26 reasons to love sailing written by Alistair Murray, CEO of marine hardware manufacturer Ronstan.

So I just had to make up my own list of 26 More Reasons to Love Sailing…



Sailing is Awesome.

Sailors have the best Beards.

Laser sailing in Cabarete is like being in paradise.

And there are lots of other wonderful Destinations to go sailing.

Laser sailing is great Exercise for the whole body.

You can go Foiling, even on a Laser.

You can buy all kind of fun Gadgets.

Even an old guy looks cool in a sailing Helmet.

Because Irish Coffee is the best training diet for sailing.

You can sail a magnificent yacht like a J Boat.

Sailors can tie Knots with their feet.

Sailing has always been a great way to meet Ladies.

You can go to dinghy sailing heaven in Minorca.

Even Nerds have a role in sailing

Because Olympic Laser girls kick ass.

Because Pizza and sailing just go together.

You can go sailing at places with weird names like Quannapowitt.

Sailors drink Rum.

You can race round a Sausage.

You might win a Towel.

Who will ever forget the fun we had sailing Under the Pell Bridge in race 3 of the 2013 New England Laser Masters?

You can work on Vizualization even when you aren't on the water.

You can catch a Wave.

You can play SailX  to improve your tactical skills.

You can even do Yoga on a Laser.

Maintaining your boat trailer will teach you about Zen.



Ok. Now it's your turn.  What are your reasons to love sailing. Tell us in the comments.

Wind Strategy Webinar

I have written before about the sailing webinars offered by Javier "Rulo" Borojovich, the head coach at the Laser Training Center in Cabarete. They are an excellent way to learn different aspects of sailing from Rulo and his guest experts,  and to ask them directly the questions that you have. This month last year, for example, I was learning from Anna Tunnicliffe about downwind speed.

This week, on Thursday 20 February, from 5-7pm EST, Rulo is offering a webinar on Wind Strategy. The guest expert is Libby Greenhalgh, who has been the Skandia Team GBR British Sailing Team Meteorologist since 2007, including at the last two Olympics.

If you participate in this webinar you will learn all about gradient wind and basic identification of stability, topographic effects on the wind and tactical decisions, sea breeze and thermal influences development types and effects, and much much more!

So head on over to Rulo Sailing and sign up now.

Reaching Finishes

Today we have a guest post from Susie Pegel. She does a pretty good of introducing herself at the start of her post, but by way of further introduction check out my 2009 post Susie Pegel - A REAL Laser Sailor and her 2012 opinion piece on Trapezoid Courses.

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I've sailed/raced a Laser since 1971. In that time I have sailed/raced my Laser throughout the U.S., Canada (with the exception of Alberta and British Columbia) and in Europe (Kiel Week). I have sailed locally, in district championships (I was 1984 District 19 champion), national, continental (I was 1980 Laser North American champion) and world championships (1979 IYRU Women's Worlds and 2009 Laser Masters Worlds).

I have sailed my Laser in drifters, winds gusting to 48 mph, flat seas, big waves, no current, strong current. I have raced my Laser against world champions and Olympic gold medalists. I have sailed my Laser on small ponds and the open ocean. I have raced in regattas with a handful of boats and regattas with more than 200 boats.

During my Laser career I have experienced W-L courses, triangle courses, trapezoid courses. I have experienced upwind finishes, reaching finishes, downwind finishes. I have experienced good race committees and race management, and horrible race committees and race management. I have experienced good and accurate recording of race finishes and scoring, and complete disasters regarding the same.

In other words, I have seen it all and experienced it all first-hand.

I know the challenges of handling a Laser in a variety of conditions, negotiating it around a variety of race courses and across a variety of finish lines. And trust me when I say this, the best way to go is an upwind finish preferably at the top of the race course.

It is the fairest for the sailors from a tactical and strategic standpoint and boathandling standpoint. It is the easiest for the race committee, setting a finish line of a correct length for the number of boats and conditions, a finish line square to the wind with no "favored" end of the line.

It is the easiest for the scorers. An RC person can sight the line from the line flag to the other end of the finish line (the RC boat theoretically sitting perpendicular to the finish line) with scorers right there to record the finishes, able to easily see the sail numbers of the Lasers that are sailing 45 degrees to the true wind.

Anything other than an upwind finish (preferably at the top of the race course) opens up a can of worms for the sailors, race committee and scorers.

When it comes to a "reaching" finish, I don't care how long it's been done, I don't care how many times it's been done, that doesn't make it the fairest for the sailors or the easiest for the RC or scorers.

The scenario for a Laser race with a "reaching" finish: The race goes along pretty much as normal, people sailing their Lasers close-hauled and tacking, not too difficult in a variety of wind, wave and current conditions. Then comes the downwind leg. Depending on the wind, wave and current conditions, some people may not even be able to survive the downwind leg not to mention jibing their Laser.

Now comes the last "leeward" mark that must be negotiated before the "reach" to the finish. Now your entire race is going to depend on being "inside" at that mark and executing the perfect jibe with nobody screwing you up. You have to be able to do this even in big waves, big current and howling winds. If you are not inside at this mark, executing the perfect jibe and nobody screwing you up, your race is over, you are going to lose huge numbers of boats.

So OK, now everyone who has gotten down there eventually jibes (with varying degrees of success) and now must sail that short "reach" leg to the finish line. Again, you have a variety of wind conditions (gusts to 40 mph, if you think I'm kidding you haven't been to too many Laser regattas), possibility of big waves (3-4 feet), and maybe even current as well. Some people will get in luffing matches, sailing higher and higher and now having to dive dead downwind to get back to the finish line. Some people will sail "straight" to the finish line. Some people will initially sail low to get away from boats to windward and then try to cross the finish line at a "hot" angle. From a sailor's standpoint, you have to make the transition from having just sailed downwind to now sailing on a reach. You have to readjust your outhaul tension, cunningham tension and vang tension for this last short "reach" leg. Not to mention your mainsheet. If you end up going dead downwind back to the finish line, your sail will be out accordingly. If on a beam reach, a different situation. If on a close reach, a different situation again.

There's no way the people calling and recording the finishes can see everyone's sail numbers correctly, not to mention the huge amount of overlapped boats, everyone sailing at different angles and different rates of speed. My experience has been that the finish line is usually set way too long and there is definitely a favored end. And some poor RC person who is supposed to be sighting the finish line from what is now the bow of the RC boat (since the RC boat is parallel to the finish line) has no idea what is going on as the Lasers go screaming by.

It also poses a problem for the sailors attempting to finish at the RC boat end of the line, how close can they get to the RC boat without hitting it with their boom OR EVEN WORSE how far out is the RC boat's anchor line and how close can I get to the RC boat without getting hung up on the anchor line?

What about the people who are supposed to be recording the finishes? Again they can't accurately see the sail numbers with everyone sailing at different angles, at different rates of speed, and often overlapped. (Don't forget the RC boat is parallel to the finish line) The RC just ends up guessing who beat who, and sail numbers are inaccurately recorded and some boats missed entirely.

I'm saying this all from first-hand experience at Laser regattas over the years. And did I mention some people will come around that last "leeward" mark and not jibe at all? They will just lay off and attempt to sail by-the-lee to and across the finish line. Anyone who is familiar with Laser racing knows that this is a real possibility depending on how the RC has set that finish line.

In my opinion, people who think a reaching finish is a good idea fall into one of these categories:
a) they have never sailed Lasers
b) they have never sailed Lasers in a variety of wind, wave and current conditions
c) they have never raced Lasers in a big fleet
d) they have never raced Lasers against good competition or seen Laser sailing done by experts
e) they have never been on a race committee
f) they have never attempted to record finishes at a Laser regatta, especially a Laser regatta attended by good to expert Laser sailors

In my opinion, it is also a courtesy to the sailors to give them that downwind sailing time back to the starting area to give them time to rest, drink some water and have a snack.

Also, the idea of "wouldn't it be nice if the RC could just sit in the same spot all day long" --WRONG!! Any respectable race committee is constantly adjusting the starting line for each race to take into account shifting winds and constantly adjusting the course to take into account shifting winds, sometimes during the race itself. If the RC is too lazy to do this, they shouldn't be race committee.

Just some food for thought. Now granted this only comes from someone with 42 years experience in the Laser class, people may have other opinions on the subject.

Susie Pegel

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So there you have it. One very experienced Laser sailor's opinion.

Please feel free to agree, disagree, debate, discuss, offer solutions, suggest more problems, misunderstand, or change the subject (as per usual) in the comments.

Here is a picture of me about to cross the line in a reaching finish at Cabarete in 2012.

Tillerman

The Fitter You Are The Faster You Go

Crazy Italian Kids Sailing Lasers

Blobfish

The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus), a species that lives at great depths and is rarely seen, has been voted the world's ugliest animal.

How rude!

The blobfish may be a little aesthetically challenged.

But only to human eyes.

I bet all the lady blogfish think he's very handsome.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Best Sailing Vlog on the Planet

To vlog or not to vlog. That is the question.

A vlog is, of course, a video blog.

They have been around for years. But, as always, I am usually at least ten years behind in catching up with the latest trends.

So should I vlog?



A lot of people have been supplementing their regular blogs with video for years. Jon Deutsch, for example, of the eponymous Jon Deutsch blog, is a past master at using video to report on his sailing exploits such as the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship and the famous Orange Coffee Pot Regatta.

And who will ever forget his classic 2014 drama, Snowblowing the Driveway?


 



But that is video as a supplement to a blog.

For me the word "vlog" means more than that.

A vlog is a personal journal. A series of video posts every day, in which the vlogger speaks directly into the camera and tells us about his or her life, thoughts, opinions, and interests. Videos in which the vlogger's personality and style and charisma shine through.



So are there any good sailing vlogs?

There are a lot.

Here, for example, is a sailing vlog which may just be the best sailing vlog on the planet - Sailing to Maui. This vlog really captures the essence, the feeling, the experience that ocean voyages are all about. You can find all nine posts in this series on the author's YouTube channel rdubadub.

My favorite in the series is Episode 3  in which our hero starts off by vlogging from his night watch.





So what do you think?

Should I vlog?

Will you vlog with me?

To vlog or not to vlog. That is the question.