I'm interested to know of any lessons learned about settings for the 9 rig from the August 2018 worlds that may shed some further light on the discussion below.

 

Cheers,

David A 

Jonathon,

How hard were you hiking? If you weren't overpowered then I think you may have been over-flattening.  You say kicker as hard as you can - for me that's survival conditions - but there's a big difference between as hard as you can comfortably pull WITHOUT MAINSHEET TENSION, and as hard as you can after piling on the mainsheet tension. 

 

Another thing that makes a BIG difference is where you sit. Are you getting as far forward as you can hike to have the bow in the water - you don't have big waves so you want to be right forward going upwind.

 

As others say you really need another boat but I would not expect a laser to significantly outpoint me - in fact at our club I often out point them.

 

In force 3 in a 7  I'd be worried about over flattening. I'd be on mid setting for kicker. Our mast is much more flexible than a laser and we have roach on our sale while theirs is almost straight triangle. That means if we yank the kicker on too much without lots of wind we will overflatten and hook the leach making the boat feel really 'dead'. I've posted my kicker setting for the 9 - haven't checked the boom measurements for the 7. Also if you have max kicker on you would expect to also have lots of downhaul - the two have to work in sympathy. 

 

Rounding the leeward mark onto 2nd lap I couldn't stop losing ground to the following pack: as usual if I pointed as high I slowed down & couldn’t keep pace, & to keep pace had to bear off significantly ~ 20 degrees.

 

There didn't seem to be any sweet spot in that 20 deg bear off range where a little change in heading produced a noticeable increase in speed; ie no groove in which to then start playing rudder and mainsheet in bear off for speed followed by head up for height.

Mainsheet max in, kicker as tight as I could get it, boom about horizontal.

 

The only thing I can think to do to further flatten the sail would be to tighten the outhaul for upwind, and releasing for reach & downwind legs.

I don't fiddle with the batten tension. Too much and the sail won't gybe in light winds but I don't find much to change there. Much more to play downhaul and kicker according top conditions.

 

Upwind I have about a hand of depth at max point - measuring my hand that's 6-7 inches. Much more than that and you won't point because the sail is too full. Much less and you are losing power. I do ease outhaul on reaches for more depth and power and back on for runs when it's harder to get flow over the sail.

 

I do alter kicker and downhaul a lot if the wind is squally. Have to get it on for the gusts but also need to ease off in the lulls or the boat goes dead. having a marker or two on the kicker rope really helps consistency. 

 

Seeing Peter B is easy. Start near him and look at his sail as he disappears into the distance... He's better at bow down mode than I am. I'm still trying to figure out how he does that when I'm already slightly overpowered. Maybe he just hikes harder.

 

 

 

OK, force 3-4 gusting 5.  I'd preferably be in the 7 (faster upwind) but the basic technique is the same. I weigh about 72 kg say 158 kg - bit more in sailing gear of course.

 

It sounds as if you might be pointing too high. You do need to hike quite hard, keep well forward so the bow grips the water. Masses of kicker - if you are getting the blocks to touch shorten one of the strops (or wrap an extra turn or hitch round the shackle on the loop from the mast heel). If they are coming block to block how can you know you don't need more though in force 3 you don't need too much. 4 quite a lot, 5+ very tight.

 

Then you need downhaul to free the upper leach so the top of the sail can feather. That's really important - in force 5+ I'm getting to pretty much as much downhaul as I can pull  (and I wrap the rope round my hand for purchase).  Very important to ease it again if the wind drops or the boat goes dead. Only apply more if you are definitely overpowered.

 

If still overpowered flatten the foot a bit but still have some shape there.

 

If still overpowered lift plate a few inches (say 4-5 inches initially up to 6 if really survival conditions). 

 

Play the sheet a lot to keep the boat flat and moving. You can just feather the edge of the wind or you'll stop moving and then the plate doesn't work.

 

In light weather though you need to not have too much kicker or downhaul. I have my rope marked so I can reproduce but I don't have a good measure of where that is. I keep meaning to set the boat up on land and measure boom to transom or some such as a measurement. Boom horizontal is too vague.

 

Being sensitive to shift is the biggest upwind factor - watch those tell-tales and keep the boat on optimum heading. If you get a lift ease sheets a fraction to accelerate then head up sheeting in. If you get a header tack (or wait briefly to see if it comes back - depends a lot on your local conditions - only tack if it is a shift rather than a lull).

 

You have to keep the boat moving quickly forwards so the foils work efficiently (Peter Barton is very good at sailing fast in low mode so if you get a chance watch him). 

 

Hope this helps. I find 7 or 9 fast upwind until it gets above 15-20 mph when the 9 gets to be hard work and the 7 is faster (for me anyway). Always pull away from the lasers.

 

 

Roger, that was very helpful to me!  Just a small clarification:  the puffs on our lake can sometimes be very brief but strong microbursts.  In this case, the timeframe is perhaps a bit short to play the vang? I'm assuming that, if you've already depowered as much as possible with the vang/cunningham and are still overpowered in the puffs you simply ease the mainsheet?  Or do I have that wrong?

Thanks! Chris 

We need to break this down into bite sized chunks...can you make a numbered list of questions/issues for the world wide forumers to address?

Then I am sure you will have some bites.

 

Also, you are on a challenging stretch of water with some pretty good sailors there, so I am sure it is possible to lose ground quickly when you get it wrong....