Hi, and thanks to all of you!
Now I got a bit more sleep, and the walls around me are not rolling anymore :)
Yes, Ilvy did great - and I learnt a bit more about regatta sailing my boat since last year. Thanks a lot to Eric, who guided me significantly with his experience!
Now, even the event producers couldn't ignore that yellow rig anymore: it was mentioned in a great picture at the prize giving ceremony, including a great foto. Some good junk rig advertisement!
Some thoughts about Ilvy in the race:
- I didn't change anything on the rig since last year. Just wasn't on my priority list, other things came in between.
- Main difference: I really didn't point too high, and instead got her running a bit lower but faster. That helped a loooot! Thanks Eric, your explanations have been amazingly helpful.
- I didn't reef as early as I would if I would go cruising. Especially in the upwind passages going west from Fynshoved to Lille Belt, I went with full sails in an 20-25kn wind. Doing that, I pinched a bit the sail (bit not the boat), so that mostly the forward part of the sail wasn't drawing. However, if a huge wave threatened to stop Ilvy, I just bear of some few degrees, got the full sail working, heeled a lot for a short moment and them jumped forward. I got the first reef in for a short while, but had the feeling that though she was obviously sailing more upright, she lacked the power to accelerate enough in between those choppy seas.
- I completely unreefed downwind in 25-30kn of wind. My knees where shaking as she flew with 9.5kn maximum speed down the waves, 8.5kn constantly. Her hull speed is 6.2kn. At times, her complete bow up to the bow railing was buried in the water, pushing a lot of water over deck and into the cockpit. In my head I estimated the cost and time to replace a broken mast more than once. But everything held up. Now I can't stop thinking of doing this kind of overpowered junk rig sailing on a light scow-bow boat...
- The high winds helped for Ilvy's amazing placement: other boats had to be more precarious with reefing, whereas I knew I could reef anytime in seconds and thus didn't need to reef in advance. Also the high winds made those other boats, even the very fast ones, to not be able to point as high as in flat seas - I think that's one of the reasons why Ilvy could match their angle to the wind.
- Even in the low winds and flat seas in the Lille Belt she performed amazingly well. That'd due to one thing I discovered this summer: If I used my bare hands to pull in the sheets upwind, I just couldn't get that high up to the wind. However, if during a tack I pulled a lot more on the depowered sheet to close the sail even more, I got beautiful tacking angles. However, doing it this way bends the mast quite aft. Then I experimented with a (temporary) sheet traveller, which pulls the sheeting point to most windward without pulling on the sheet itself. That way, the sail got closed more, but without pulling it aft. I know the saying "don't oversheet a junk rig", but it worked really well. Of course, just like with those high tech bermudan rigs, if you sail that much close hauled upwind, you have to be very careful at the helm - and it is impossible in waves. My conclusion from that: if you want the modern junk rig to point higher (if not flat cut), pull the sail more in. We might be giving away a lot of degrees upwind by not using winches for the last few cm of sheets. That's totally fine for cruising, but an interesting finding for racing. Also the traveller, which kind of works in reverse to the bermudan traveller: nothing for cruising, but interesting for racing.
- From 50 boats starting in Ilvy's group "Mini", only 23 past the finish line. Absolutely understandable, that people aborted! It was harsh. However, with her junk rig, I never, not even once, felt unsafe on Ilvy. Not in those choppy waves, not in winds gusting into the thirties when upwind or any other course. It is so amazingly safe and (relatively) comfortable to sail her, so easy to reef and sailhandle. The only difference from sailing in 10kn to sailing in 30kn is the noise of the wind and the waveheight - seasickness included. But concerning the actual sailing, it feels just the same. Amazing! I take it on the junk rig, that I never considered aborting, though a lot around me did that. I would have, too, with a bermudan rig. Definitely!
So much for now.
Thanks again,
Paul