Art Silcox's KA'IO showing her winning upwind form.
JH Peterson photos
Day 1
The first day of the regatta was a distance race of about 27 miles, a government mark tour of the Northern Bay to be sailed in northerly winds of mostly over 20 knots. We made a point of doing as much setup and rig tune as we possibly could before leaving the dock, because doing any of it on the water in the rough conditions would be difficult.
The course was a couple of jib reach legs (first east across the bay, then back west) followed by a long beat up under the Bay Bridge to a shipping channel mark, followed by a jib reach west to a mark off Gibson Island, followed by a long run back to the first turning mark on the east side of the bay, followed by a jib reach to the finish. Just after the start, we were able to break loose from the pack and maintain a slim lead to the first turn- this proved important, as we were able to round cleanly, while the entire rest of the fleet basically arrived at the same time two or three boatlengths behind, causing a bit of a pileup. One boat got around cleanly and stuck with us, with the rest of the fleet involved in traffic difficulties.
The second jib reach was a repeat of the first, with little change in positions.
The long beat up the Bay was illustrative of how to manage a fleet strategically in a randomly oscillating breeze. Our speed was good, but the main thing was to not let anyone gain any leverage to one side or the other of us. We stayed on the lifted tack as much as was practical, but would sometimes eat an unfavorable shift and burn a little advantage just to keep the right positioning on the fleet- namely, with no one further ahead than abeam to leeward, and no one further to windward than slightly above our wake. Things remained relatively close among the top four or five boats until near the top mark, where our staying off the laylines until the last 100 yards provided a big gain on the rest, who gave up a lot of distance by overstanding.
The rest of this race was a downwind slide in lessening breeze, followed by a jib reach to the finish. The four boats after us were more concerned with themselves than with us, so we sailed our own race, crossing the finish line about four minutes before the next boat.
Day 2
Day 2 was a repeat of the first day wind-wise. Four windward-leeward courses were sailed in the waters south of Thomas Point Light, in northwest winds that held at around 18-20 knots for most of the day. Strategic positioning and boatspeed again seemed more important than tacking on every shift. For most of the day it paid to go out just short of the left corner right off the starting line and then tack. We won the first, third and fourth race on Day 2 by getting off the line with a minimum of fuss and headed straight to the left corner on starboard tack as fast as we could go.
In the second race we had a bad start and were sailing in traffic for most of the race. It was an object lesson in how the presence of other boats nearby can sometimes get you off your game plan. We wound up tacking too much, we allowed ourselves to sail the boat slowly to stay in a lane we didn’t need, and to cap it all off we wound up getting protested at a bottom mark. It was an astonishing relief to have a good second beat move us up to second place for that race. We fortunately were able to shake it off and sail the final two races like we had sailed the first one.
That evening, we had the protest to deal with. As tactician, I drew the short straw. Protests went through arbitration first and our arbitrator told the boat that flagged us that they were unlikely to have a successful case. In spite of this, they said they insisted on going through with it. In what was perhaps my best call of the weekend, I was able to quickly get over my fit of pique at their attitude and accepted a 40% penalty. This added four points to our score. I thought, given the fact that we had a 13-point lead going into the hearing, that the certainty of a four-point penalty was far better than the possibility of a nine-point one.
Day 3
Two races were sailed on Day 3 in a very shifty northwesterly that varied in velocity from 4-16 knots. It seemed clear that the focus needed to shift from strategic positioning to staying on the lifted tack and in pressure. We did this relatively well in the first race and finished second. We were leading at the bottom mark when we turned upwind for the second time, but chose to be conservative and cover three boats that were close rather than one that split. In the end that one got a way.
We had enough of a lead going in to the last race that finishing dead last was the only way we could lose the lead, and then only if a particular boat finished first. Sailing very defensively in the shifty and tricky conditions, we placed seventh, which was enough to secure victory by a comfortable margin.
Overview
The key to our success was simply speed. We were using a Tape-Drive Carbon mainsail that has two full seasons on it, and, for the majority of the weekend, a No. 3 that is of similar vintage. We always had the choice of being either higher or faster than the nearest boats when sailing in clean air. When we switched to the Tape-Drive No. 1 (new in the spring), it was more of the same. Also, our pointing ability let us live in very skinny lanes off the starting line for short periods while we waited for things to open up. The design and durability of the sails certainly played a part in this, but Art’s ability to “stability sail” and not stall the narrow foils of the First 36.7, and constant work by the trimmers changing gears and keeping the boat in the right mode played a big roles as well. Downwind we used two Matrix spinnakers: a narrow shouldered heavy air sail made of .6 oz cloth, and a .5 AP design. Both were quite stable and allowed us to pass when necessary downwind, as well as maintain and build upon existing leads.
Our speed let me take a very conservative approach to tactics- the faster you go, the easier tactics gets. We did not have to split with the competition to pass them, and defending a lead is almost always easier than passing. I look forward to our next effort on KA’IO; the Beneteau First 36.7 is a challenging boat to sail well, and is a growing and increasingly competitive one design fleet.
