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Mark Nichols
Top Tick, J/92 #03
(Lake City, Minnesota)
Last weekend - October 5, 6 - marked the grand finale of our racing season for the Lake City Yacht Club. The Hoyt Cup which has been held for the past twenty or so years is typically a heavy air affair and this year wasn't an exception. The field included primarily J/boats including a J/80, J/27, (3) J/30's, and our J/92. Our J/92, (Hull # 3) Top Tick, ended up having a great regatta but not without a few mishaps. The old saying. "you don't win races, you just don't lose them" is very apropos.
For the first race we saw an offshore breeze of about 13-15 knots. Our lake which is really just a wide spot in the Mississippi is three miles wide and 22 miles long. The lake is bordered by 425 foot bluffs which cause shifty (to say the least) winds particularily when they are offshore. As the gun went off, the wind which had gone left caused everyone to flop over to port at about the same time. With the fast acceleration that the J/92 has out of a tack we squirted out about a boat length and gassed about three boats with this maneuver. With the shifty breeze the entire crew was constantly eyeing the Sail Comp. Given the conditions we decided to be very aggressive on our tacking. Out of the eight tacks on the first leg we were in phase on about four, out of phase on two, and, neutral on two. I am continually amazed with the acceleration out of a tack and would suggest an aggressive attitude towards tacking with the J/92. We found in AP winds of 18-20 with the #1 that we lost only about a half a knot on a good tack. During the tacks in heavy air we come through the first half of the tack quickly and then pause for a second while coming out of the tack. This helps out the trimmers a bit. The course was a triangle, up, down, up and on the reaching legs the boat screamed hitting 10 knots with our big runner A-sail up. When raising the spinnaker the crew, being overzealous, jumped the gun on the launch and just about hit the mark. We are learning that with the size of the big kite it pays to delay the launch until your at the mark versus a boat length before the rounding -- as we used to do with the symmetrical spinnakers. We stretched our lead around the reaching legs and during the last three legs we sailed conservatively, tacking only on sustained knocks. Down wind with our comfortable lead we jibed more often then normal, as a conservative strategy to cover the fleet. This lost us a little ground as we sometimes would sail out of the breeze but provided us with insurance against a potential race killing huge shift. We got the cannon with a J/80 crossing second about five minutes later. The course was about 7 1/2 miles long.
Race Two had winds gusting to about 22 AP with lulls around 10. With three well sailed J/30's that love heavy air in the regatta we had no choice but to go with the #1. We had an excellent start with clear air and pulled immediately out into the lead on starboard. The wind was to clock during the afternoon so we decided to protect the right side in anticipation of a shift. Our competition had the same idea and tacked to port to get over to the right side. We tacked and immediately we were knocked and tacked back. That started our "out of phase" tacking which put us at the windward mark with the entire fleet. We rounded the mark first and launched the chute within a few seconds of rounding. We launch out of an A-Sail bag which the spin-trimmer is responsible to set up. He then announces that the bag is set and steps to the mast where he hoists at the mast while a pit person tails the halyard at the cockpit. The chute is so easy to launch that it is a two person affair. The live spin sheet is usually trimmed standing by the weather shrouds as we find the chute is more visible from this position. We have found that the downwind angles must be watched continuously with the driver communicating his coming up or down to the trimmer. We have found we can sail deeper angles by heeling the boat to windward in lighter air and in heavier air we have the driver do "S" curves. We never sail below 115 degrees apparent unless the boat is going very fast. We also are very aggressive on jibing the boat and keep a close eye on the compass. Our crew actually loves to jibe the boat and we have found that in very light air we will have someone on the bow to help the chute around the foresail. Our reaching A-sail is especially a snap. On any jibes, it is particulary important to use fast, big sweeping elbows movements while pulling the new live spin sheet and then letting the chute breath. During the downwind leg the wind was now piping to around 13 AP with our boat doing about 8-knots. The other boats were at hull speed and sailing deeper angels than us. We rounded the mark about 2 minutes in front of the J/30's and worked our way up the final leg with a little too much sail up and finished fourth.
Sunday's Race Three ( Triangle, up, down, up) started with 19 knots of true wind. The crew which had celebrated long into the night was excited about the heavier wind as this meant we would fly the #3 jib and the jib trimming would be quite easy. We found that the #3 provided more than enough power with very little lost pointing ability. We maxed out the backstay, vang, and, dropped the traveler which found our boat speed at around 6.7 knots. We rounded the 1 1/2 NM first leg with the fleet in close pursuit and launched the chute perfectly except the tack and clew were reversed. With such a short leg we held the chute through the jibe mark and then prepared to take it down. The guilty party admitted his mistake and raised the jib in preparation for a quick take down. With the wind gusting in the low 20's we were forced to fall down to blanket the chute with the main but we did get it down and reached under jib and main to the turning mark. During the next three legs the J/27 stuck with and ended up correcting over us by about one minute. We ended up second for this race and finished first for the regatta. Our first, fourth, and second proved to be consistant enough scoring to put us in first by 1 1/4 points.
Our family really enjoys our J/92. Our ten year old son drives the boat with ease and between races this weekend hit 8.5 knots under main alone. We also cruise the boat and spend about eight to ten weekends a summer aboard her. For the family that wants a truly competitive raceboat that also is cruiseable, I suggest the J/92.