Saturday, September 29, 2007


Z-Crew,

http://www.richmondyc.org/boatinfo/racing/pumpkin/2007/default.asp

Momentum is growing for the up coming Great Pumpkin race, and so we need to make sure we have a full complement of sailors for both the Fleet Week BBQ preparation event and the Great Pumpkin overnight.

Several of you have already advised me your intentions, but others still have not. Don’t miss out on this very fun overnight race at the Richmond Yacht Club. RYC gives great parties and there prizes out on the water if you can net a floating pumpkin.

Andrea – were counting on you
Dan – where are you buddy?
Enno – this is going to be a great party, bring Meg along!
Gwyn and Robin Jones – come on out and play with us
Matt, Michael – just do it!
Greg – don’t miss out on this one

Let us know you will be there!

Fleet Week light work day / sail / BBQ. Oct 6th or 7th
Install new inboard track and go out and do some light hearted tuning and a few kite jibes.
Please advise if you prefer Sat. or Sun. 10/6 or 10/7
Anchor in lee of Angel Island
http://fleetweek.us/fleetweek

THE Great Pumpkin two day Regatta, Oct. 27 & 28
http://www.richmondyc.org/boatinfo/racing/pumpkin/2007/default.asp


Arrrrrr,

Gary

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Guy Rittger's Reflections on BBS 2007 IRC Division "B"

Guy describes the three days of the Big Boat Series on board of Kokopelli 2, the winner of IRC Division "B" under Skipper Lani.

To read his report, click here.

Zamazaan BBS 2007 Pictures


Team,

You may have already seen them, but the photos of our swim session
start here:

http://lyonsimaging.smugmug.com/gallery/3492666#P-2-9


And a leeward mark rounding on Sunday:

http://lyonsimaging.smugmug.com/gallery/3492666#196856751

I haven't gone through the galleries for the other days - too many
photos! There is also a VERY brief shot of us on video, starting
around 4 minutes in, on www.t2p.tv - in Sunday's free video.

Thanks for all of the fun!

Mark

BBS


My congratulations to all on a tough series. All did a great job against really tough boats and crews. You know sail boat racing when the pros get involved. You don't think seconds count look at the race results. Race #2 we lost 6th place to Velos by 58s. Race #4, we were 23s out of 6th and 3 sec out of 7th. Race #6 53s out of 7th and 19s out of 8th.Race#7 35 s out of 7.

This would put us in 8th.

AHHHR!!!!

Thanks to all for a good season, Farr 40's now know how to spell Zamazaan.

Chuck

Zamazaan 4th quarter 2007 racing schedule


Crew,

All righty then, now that the BBS is over, its time to regroup the Zamazaan team for the 4th quarter of the season. This year we want to keep our sailing skills sharpened by continuing to sail throughout the fall and winter months. Then in an effort to do better for BBS '08, we will be to doing a mix of Buoy and Long Distance Ocean Races throughout the 2008 season.

Following is a tentative schedule for the season. We still need to make some decisions on what day to have a BBQ for FLEET WEEK and then whether to do two day races with an overnight party or just a single day sail for THE GREAT PUMPKIN and CORINTHIAN MIDWINTERS.

Fleet Week light work day / sail / BBQ. Oct 6th or 7th
Install new inboard track and go out and do some light hearted tuning and a few kite jibes.
Would someone please volunteer to coordinate a menu / potluck?
Please advise if you prefer Sat. or Sun. 10/6 or 10/7
Anchor in lee of Angel Island
http://fleetweek.us/fleetweek

THE Great Pumpkin two day Regatta, Oct. 27 & 28
Please advise if you prefer Sat 10/6 only or both Sat 10/6 and Sun 10/7 with an overnight at Richmond Yacht Club.
I think we should plan to eat ashore as much as possible and maybe ask for $10/PP for 2nd day sandwich buffet & munchies.
http://www.richmondyc.org/boatinfo/racing/pumpkin/2007/default.asp

Seaweed Soup Regatta First Saturdays of the month Nov. 3rd, Dec 1st., Jan. 5th, Feb 2nd., and Mar. 1st.
http://www.yra.org/racing/docs/GGYC_manuelfagundes06.pdf

Corinthian Midwinters two day Regatta, Jan. 19 & 20
Please advise if you prefer Sat Jan 19th only or both Sat 1/19 and Sun 1/20 with an overnight at the Corinthian Yacht Club
http://www.cyc.org/calendar.html

See attached Calendar for a complete schedule with visual for frequency

Please look at the entire schedule/calendar and advise your commitment to sail these events so we can get signed-up as soon as possible.

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

ARRRRRRRRRR

Gary

Friday, September 14, 2007

Big Boat Series 2007 Day 2


Zamazaan in 9-th position after 4 races.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Big Boat Series 2007


Zamazaan places 8-th after the first two races.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Big Boat Series 2007 Race Day

All righty then Zamazaan BB crew,

It’s time for the big event; By now you’ve completed your weekly exercise regime, committed to memory all the sail trim, jibing, kite hoist and dousing instructions, and are preparing to carbo-up this evening at dinner. Then it’s time to pack your sail bag with everything you might possible need for the race. Things like long underwear in case it gets cold, flash light with extra batteries, extra shoes, wool hat, extra tether etc etc – the list go on and on. STOP RIGHT THERE!

We need to remove absolutely all un-necessary weight from the boat, and that includes all that junk in your sail bag, and in fact the sail bag itself. Ideally, you should come to the boat with nothing but your fowl weather gear and PFD slung over your shoulder; no bag, no extras just in case, nothing but the absolute necessities that you will actually use.

My bag weighed in at 20lbs last night with what I normally carry onto the boat; all the extras that I never actually use, pulse a change of clothes. ---- Leave the change of clothes in you car along with all the other stuffs. If we all do this we could shave off as much as 300 lbs (20lbs x 15 sailors = 300lbs) off the boat.

OK then, now for the fun stuff;
Following is the Clubs schedule of events:

Wednesday, September 12
1800-1930 Rolex Crew Reception – Starting Line Room
Thursday, September 13
0800-0930 Breakfast
1100 RACING BEGINS
1700-2000 Rolex Party – Starting Line Room & Courtyard
Friday, September 14
0800-0930 Breakfast
1100 RACING BEGINS
1700-1830 Mount Gay Cocktail Party- Starting Line Room
Saturday, September 15
1100 RACING BEGINS
1930 Crew Dinner (Sign-up at Registration) - Main Dining Room
Sunday, September 16
0800-0930 Breakfast
1100 RACING BEGINS
1600 Rolex Trophy Ceremony – Golden Gate Room
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

See Ya
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,
Gary

Z Web site: http://www.expeterra.com/zamazaan.html

Monday, September 10, 2007

Quantum Article on Spinnaker Trim

John writes:
Attached is a must-read Quantum article on Spinnaker (and Main) Trim.

While the entire article is worth reading ( and please do), here are some of the key points for Zamazaan:

Trim Lessons: Aerodynamic Mode [less than 145 degrees apparent wind angle]

In this aerodynamic mode, sheet trim is critical. Overtrimming drastically reduces the driving force and increases the side force and drag. The first rule taught to all spinnaker trimmers—ease continually until the luff curls —holds true. In the tunnel, the best driving force numbers were produced when the sail was eased so far that it began shaking violently just before it collapsed.

A spinnaker "flying on the edge" could easily produce 10- to 15-percent more driving force than the same sail overtrimmed.

If pole height was positioned on the low side of commonly accepted practice, the spinnaker luff became more stable, and hence the whole sail could be eased farther. A lower pole also pulled the shape forward and opened up the back of the sail. This more genoa-like shape reduced side force. Setting the pole 5 or 10 degrees aft of perpendicular to the wind also, as one would suspect, improved forward force. This confirms the advantage of keeping the pole 12 to 18 inches off the headstay on breezy, tight spinnaker reaches when you're trying to sail as high as possible.

Trim Lessons: Barn Door Mode [more than 145 degrees apparent wind angle]

By 145 degrees apparent wind angle, we are fully in the "barn door" mode.

At these angles, sheet trim became somewhat less important , while pole position was critical. The best driving force was always produced with the pole farther aft than dictated by the second rule of spinnaker trim—pole perpendicular to the apparent wind. The pole could be set 10 or even 20 degrees aft of square to the wind. This reinforced another tenet of modern spinnaker trim: projected area is the key on a broad reach or run—we want a bigger barn door! Squaring the pole stretches the foot tight, projects area, and gets the sail out from behind the mainsail.

Finally, don't forget the mainsail —the tunnel showed that if it was over- [too far in] or undertrimmed [too far out], it also had a devastating effect on total power .

Friday, September 7, 2007

Zamazaan photograph at the Trophy Lounge of SFYC


On 9/7/07, Biz Obley wrote:
Hi Mates: There is a new Zamazaan photograph (in color) displayed in the Trophy Lounge of the St. Francis Y.C. on the south wall..Check it out....cheers, Biz

John's Tactical Recap of the Jazz Cup


Our start position was very good -- in a race this long I mostly just want to have open space, clear air, and a full head of steam when crossing the line. I deliberately set us up a bit early to let us pick our spot and to take some pressure off the trimmers.
When we ducked for position on the line I think we should have aggressively taken that boat up, to open our hole, and either force the other boat over or behind us. Zamazaan has a lot of momentum, and should be able to do that pretty effectively. Regardless, we still had a good start, although we were slow over the line and throughout the first upwind leg due to sail trim, which prevented us from tacking when I wanted to. As a result, we lost considerable time and position.
We did much better when running with kites, except for running way too deep in light wind. Sail handling was pretty good. Bodacious did a great job on tactics and boat handling to finish well ahead of us on corrected time, but other boats ( e.g., City Lights) didn't do well with similar tactics, so I'm still pretty comfortable with the course we sailed, even in hindsight. Races are mostly won by boat speed, not tactics.

We finished 8th out 14 in our division (45 out of 91 overall), but I still think we did well, beating Velocita, Aleta, City Lights, Defiance, Shaddy Daddy, and Equity Kicker. PHRF isn't intended for downwind racing (as noted by US Sailing), especially for a boat like Zamazaan . (IRC should be much more kind to us in Big Boat.)
My analysis of my GPS log is that we lost at least 15 minutes (clock time) to our own mistakes, which would have placed us much higher on corrected time, on par with Bodacious or even 2nd.

More ...

John's Tactical Recap of HDA Islands Tour


• Start: Very good start, powered up near the pin end of the line to catch stronger wind. A much smaller boat port-tacked us, barely cleared, and were cheering at having made it, although I suspect they didn't realize how close they had come to being t-boned and sunk!
• Leg 1 (beat to Yellow Bluff): Phantom Mist tried to lee bow and then luff us up, but Chuck "politely" told them to stuff it, and we promptly rolled over them. We were solidly 1st in our division around the first mark.
• Leg 2 (reach to Alcatraz): Wind angle was ever tighter than I had forecast so we couldn't carry a kite. Simply powered through wind shadows of smaller boats in divisions ahead of us, taking advantage of our big stick. Stayed high to crab against the flood tide and maintain speed and angle all the way to Alcatraz, which worked well and stretched our lead, especially against those boats that headed directly to Alcatraz.
• Leg 3A (run to Angel Island): Got our kite up early, stayed out of the wind shadow at Alcatraz, and then cooked just inside the right tide/channel line down to Angel Island, stretching our lead. Aleta initially got stuck in the Alcatraz wind hole, but then broke free to ride the wind and flood tide down after us.
• Leg 3B (run to Red Rock): We went into the classic Angel Island wind hole, changed down to lighter whoompers, and crept with flood tide toward the new wind below Raccoon Strait. Phantom Mist went low toward Bezerkeley, which looked good at first, but then she (and those with her) disappeared into a major wind/tide hole never to be seen again. Aleta had closed on us, but we still had a decent lead at Red Rock, the 1st boat of all divisions to reach it. Rounding Red Rock we stayed far enough away to avoid the wind hole that several behind us got stuck in.
• Leg 4A (beat to Pt Bluff): Immediately headed over toward Paradise Cay to get the land breeze, but made the mistake a number of times of tacking too early, then losing the land breeze and getting caught in the flood tide, allowing Aleta to gain a great deal on us. Finally did the right thing and sailed on a port tack header over to the shore, so we could then ride a long starboard tack lift down to Pt Bluff, stretching our lead again. Aleta made bigger mistakes, and soon disappeared into the distance behind us.
• Leg 4B (beat up Raccoon Strait to Yellow Bluff): Very tricky wind when we got to Raccoon Strait made it impractical to follow classic and intended tactics of hugging the north shore. We did well on the south shore at first but then tried to cross to Pt Tiburon and dropped into a big wind hole. Bodacious, coming in later, was able to play the north shore and gain hugely on us while we were trapped in the hole, why we finished 2nd on corrected time instead of 1st. Finally got wind and started charging away from Bodacious but didn't have enough distance left to go to regain 1st on corrected time.
• Leg 5 (downwind to Finish): Didn't get our act together to get a kite up, and the wind was now blowing hard, so the call was made to sail the last short leg without a kite, which wouldn't have made any difference in results and wasn't worth the risk. Good call by Chuck -- we rounded up on a jibe even without the kite, and it might well have been much worse with a kite up. Finished with a good head of steam right at the committee boat, 1st boat of all divisions to finish, 2nd in our division behind Bodacious, way ahead of all other boats.

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