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This years edition of the Michigan Hot Scot, the last event for the season in the Michigan-Ontario District, saw 17 skippers and their crew give it one more try before putting their boats away for the winter. Things got started on Friday afternoon, thanks to the persistence (actually nagging) of Forest Rogers, who was able to convince Toledo native and former Devils Yacht Club member Bill Draheim of Gus Sails to come up from Dallas and the Corinthian Yacht Club to put on tuning seminar. Bill’s first ever off-lake regatta was a Sear Cup event at our club when he was a youngster. He was genuinely excited to be back up north and at our club. The seminar was quite enlightening to all that participated. About 40 minutes were spent on shore going over the rigging and the remainder of the time, about two hours, was spent on the water in our boats with Bill riding up and coaching each of us while we ran through a series of practice races. Everyone was able to take away very valuable advice and apply it right away. Having time to reflect about all the information that was presented I think we could easily have called this seminar “Dispelling the Myth of the Boom Vang and Cross Sheeting”. What we learned was this: Lay off both.. As you can imagine this was quite shocking to a vangaholic like myself who loves strap her on at the first sniff of wind. And who doesn’t want to pull on that windward sheet to get the boat pointing? What was the reasoning for all of this? The vang on the Scot is different than other boats in that it does not run to the bottom of the mast. Instead, as we all know, it runs to the tabernacle which makes it function more in a backstay capacity and having more of an effect on the jib luff and forestay. Bill emphasized that the mainsail will naturally twist in most conditions so little to no vang is needed when sailing on a beat unless the wind conditions get very unruly. He pointed out that downwind is the time to use more vang to keep the top batten parallel to the boom especially in a real blow. In talking about jib trim, Bill recommended not cross-sheeting at all, especially on our lake with all the wind shifts. He also pointed out that very often when flying the spinnaker the pole height is too high which makes it harder to keep the boat driving and sailing deep to the mark. What struck me, and others who participated in the seminar, was how simply everything was presented just like the Flying Scot itself. As Bill eloquently pointed out that the Scot is not like a car where you set everything and calibrate the engine to a certain point. Things do change and we do need to tweak a bit but not to the degree that many of us, (myself included) start being too “technical” at the expense of focusing on the more important things like boat handling and catching the right shift. Well now, isn’t that a reality check! As far as the regatta, there were two very distinctly different days of competition. First there was Saturday with predicted winds of 12-14 but somehow the weather prognosticators were way off target as light air ruled the day. This was especially true of race #2 where the wind evaporated right before our eyes on the first up-wind leg. Those who banged the left corner upwind got the last of the good stuff for some twenty minutes and made out quite well. To my surprise, in this race, I found Bill and Forest #5235 floating along with me downwind on the right side (where the wind had been going on leg #1). This could only have meant one of two things: Either I really learned a lot from the previous days tuning seminar or we both were somehow guessed wrong on where to be on the course. Actually it was the latter and it was quite humbling watching everyone else make out as the wind went back to the other side as we fell further behind. Our entertainment during this float-athon was a plane landing just past the racing area. The race ended mercifully with the clubs own Brain and Suzy Hawkins #3288 winning the race (which I’m certain their take on these events would be much different than the authors). It was decided to cancel race #3 (since mirror like conditions were to no ones liking) and head for shore and do what everyone in the district likes the best: eat and drink. The social hour had a small debriefing by Bill where he was preaching to forget about race #2. It was also at this time that we had the changing of the guard as Jim Davis #784 was presented as the new district governor. There also was a lot discussion about the standings as the light air turned things topsy-turvey with our guest from Dallas in fourth and a group of surprised skippers including Brian Hawkins at the top of the leader board. After dinner at the club and watching the Ohio State – Penn State game (to the delight of Bill Pfund #5193 OSU grad) most of the group continued their social ways at the lakeside home of Todd and Suzanne Moore #2397. A bond fire and plenty of liquid refreshments made for a very fun evening. Dan O’Haver #4529 spent the time presenting rules quizzes to chief judge Clark Chapin. Another group including Andy Ingall #4691 was watching the Detroit Tigers game while a big contingent of Michigan State fans including BJ and Tina Johnson #4351 and Steve Last and Steve Rajkovich #4979 were glued to a second TV watching the game against Notre Dame. Too bad all of us assumed that MSU’s 17 point half time lead was enough to call it a day as the Irish amazingly came back and won much to our surprise the next morning. Sunday brought a totally different animal in terms of the wind. It was time to “strap it on” as the wind continually kept building from it’s meager 12-14 and puffy to a steady 18-20 with gusts in the 25-28 mph range. Of the three races held, the last one proved to be by far the most entertaining. Three boats opted not to race and three took mercy right after the start. That left 11 competitors to take on the very challenging conditions. The downwind legs provided plenty of fireworks, as they were both downright exhilarating and scary especially if the spinnaker was utilized. In all my years of sailing a Scot I have never gone faster. My crew could only let out a loud hoot as the boat got up on a plane and nearly death-rolled. I determined that this was where we were to use all that vang Bill was preaching about two days earlier. If you weren’t doing this, or sailing too deep or on too much of a reach, you were very likely to find your self taking a late summer swim like Dan O’Haver #4529, Jim Grant #5602 and Skip Schmidt #647. What a way to end the year! The post regatta social included hot pizza and many tales of the last
race. Congratulations to Bill Draheim and Forest Rogers for winning this
years event. We look forward to another exciting event in September 2007.
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Midwest Sailing -- Home Page -- Portage Yacht Club
Located in Pinckney, Michigan 12 miles northwest of Ann Arbor: Maps & Hours Phone: 734.426.4155 E-Mail: sail@chartermi.net |
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