mustoskiff.com

Diving is sorted, Will be free for training on the 2nd and 3rd

I will be running a 2 day training event at Stokes Bay SC on Sat 2 and Sun 3 April. I am grateful to the Stokes Bay Musto Fleet who are also going to share crewing a second RIB so we can expand the training to 20 boats. To date I have the following 15 confirmed attendees:
385 Chris Wright
291 Ben
323 Griff
373 Paul
Serega (and Tania for Photos)
Stuart Harris
Andy Rice
Ed Wilkinson
324 Dave Poston
Jamie Hilton
376 Brendan
Steve Janering
Andy Le Grice
Tim Chapman
Gavin Brewer

The programme (weather dependant will look something like this)

Sat
1030-1115 Intro, Safety Brief and exercise briefing
1130-1330 Sailing session 1 (boat handling)
1130-1430 Lunch (Bring your own or from the Cafe next to the Club)
1430-1630 Sailing Session 2 (Starting, short course racing)
1700-1800 Debrief and Q&A
Sun
0930 Briefing
1015-1400 Sailing Session (Racing, speed work, boat handling)
1430 Lunch in Club and debrief
1600 Relax

Options for bad weather include: Tuning and Rigging seminar, On shore drills, weather and tidal forum, starting tactics, layline thoughts, pre start routines. This list is flexible and if anyone has a topic they have any burning questions please let me know.

Cost per boat £25 for the training, sailing club fees are £10 (Total £35) which will also allow travellers to leave your boat at the club ready for the following weekend open.

If anyone cannot make it please let me know on 07801234433 as demand is high.

I look forward to seeing you all at the home of some of the National Champion and some of the best Musto sailors in the World (as Jeremy Clarkson would say)!

Russ

Sounds like a great weekend for us, Great, Can you all bring your loos gauge to the event as my new loos gauge reads different to most, I will make a chart so we can get an average to calibrate from, please take a reading from my boat Saturday morning Musto 385, ill put a form on the mast then post results on here.
Wind looking good so far, windguru Tuesday morning,

Chris

Are you guys still using wind up analogue watches?

get with the programme ...

http://www.harken.com/press/harken-rigtune.php

Hi Chris,

Check that the gauge has not worn on the teflon discs that attach to the stays. I compared two gauges once and found that the one which read less was quite worn, so was deflecting less, therefore reading less. I loosen the bolt and nut and turn the discs slightly, about once a year.

Thanks Bruce, thats a good tip, loos are on a special offer at the moment so I got one instead of asking other around the boat park, so its only one month old, I had a play at Chew with some other sailors loos gauges and they were all different so as a group we need to check them all to get a mean to work with, the each sailor can adjust to the mean setting.
My gauge said 30 on the gauge and some were two loos different, mine is new and reads light?

Chris

Hi Chris,

Yes, I would expect the new one to read correctly and the older ones to under read, at least that is my experience. As long as your's is similar to the others I wouldn't worry, as the forestay and sidestay chainplates mean you can never get exactly what you want anyway.

I'm afraid that due to a football injury (ankle) at lunchtime I'll no longer be coming this weekend.

Fingers are crossed for the open next week, but even that's pretty doubtful.

Enjoy the perfect forecast..

- Griff.

Russ,

Afraid I've bust my shoulder skiing last week (final day speed run wipe out - gutted) so won't be able to take part in the training. I'm keen to come out on the water on the resue boat (blow whislte's, be camera man) if that's ok to pick up some tips?

Cheers,

Ben

posted on the Stokes Bay open forum.
" It sounds like the week before the event could be quite good fun, A long way to come for me but too good to miss, Can we camp at the club grounds the week before?
Chris "


I was correct, it was the best weekend for a long time, we had the best wind for training in and a good mix of wind strengths, the standard of the sailors was very strong so produced some good training instructed buy Russ, we all had a great time while Russ had us playing around, he pushed so hard that we were fit to drop on Saturday night, Mike found a great pub with very good food overlooking the solent on Saturday night, this is why Bendan, Tim and myself had the energy to sail on Sunday. We also had some sunshine as I have a tan now.
Thanks Russ for suck a good weekends training, also all the others for helping him so we could sail, also for putting this all together. Well done from the Musto class at Stoke Bay.

Chris

Russ, like Sten and Kit training has asked for a few lines of feedback,
I must start like I did with Sten and Kits training, that to miss this training was a bad idea, you will find it hard to get this standard again at this location with such a good lot of lads.
The tips that came through were thick and fast again,

1. Mark your main sheet to show the quarter out position and to show the gybe in windy position.

2. Mark your kite halyard to show the fully up position.
3. Get on the wire as soon as you can downwind even in the very light stuff
4. Mast rake settings

5. You need to know the time of high water, put the time down on the boat with the map of the tides for the sea area from the Internet.

6. Have a practice run to the pin end of the line, the time will change as the tide will push you at a fast rate at Stoke Bay, take transits.

7. Have a practice run to the committee boat side of the line, the time will change as the tide will push you at a fast rate at Stoke Bay, take transits.

8. Have a practice run down the of the line, the time taken to travel between the marks will change dependent on the tide, going left to right or right to left, as the tide will push you at a fast rate or slow you, take transits.

9. Up the first beat head to the favoured tide side of the beat, reference your tide diagram for the hour of the race, race 1 would start 1300 hours could be high tide + 2 hours, race 2 would mean looking at the next diagram, or two down the sheets.

10. Only sail two-thirds to the lay lines unless the tides are strong and very one sided, take transits

11. Downwind take a transit to see if the tide is pushing you sideways, only sail two –thirds to a lay line unless the tides are one sided, take transits.

12. On the waves get your weight forward once the boat slows, if the wave slows you the boat sticks in the water, head up or down to sail through the lowest waves ahead, like going through parked cars in a car park, look behind to catch a big wave in light winds.

13. Move 60cm back on the racks than inland waters in any breeze or waves upwind. Just some of tips.

The downwind practice, two boats lengths apart showed if you mess up the gybe then you end up going high to miss the boat now below and their wind shadow, if you get it right you can power away and sail your own course.

The upwind practice showed that a duff take will cost you big time, the best of all was the three starts and then a race, I managed for the first time to hold my lane before going bow down for speed, for one race I was above Bruce holding my lane for 15 seconds, I then went in to adjust my kicker and lost half a boat length, he then power off without me, should have left the kicker alone for a while, good training boat on boat, lots of boat on boat upwind training with my eyes wde open on the faster boys ahead.

Boat trim on the waves downhill was a big learning curve; start line positions on the tide with different angles due to the tide took many attempts to get right, times to the pin and committee boat are very different on the sea and need lots of practice.

All in all what a great two days was had,
Thanks again
Chris

Russ,

Great weekend thanks. Got a love/hate relationship with pretzels now! (you had to be there)

Got loads out of it, appreciate all the helpful from Russ and the Stokes Bayers in the RIBs - yes, thanks Dan, I'll remember to keep a spare tiller x down my boom, cheers.

Chris, great summary of some of the points made over the weekend.

Tania, can't wait to see the photos, especially of Rich riding bareback (is that the right word?)

I'd be keen on another training w/e at Stokes some time in July (or sooner).

Cheers

Andy

Some new over the weekend reading between the lines, it looks like the one rig setting for all winds may be on the way out, with the Stokes Bay fleet standard getting so good and with a lot of helms with the same weight they are playing with the settings, boat on boat training upwind with the same weight on the wire has to be the way forward.
Russ said we were all going fast in the last race so we all need a edge as the fleet standard keeps getting better and better, Dan was trying to sail bow down like me at Rutland, I was trying to sail like Dan going higher, we were within a boat lenth at the top mark, I will swop for Dans Results any day.
Did we get the record for the fastest rigged musto when Tim was a bit late, how many sailors does it take to change the spreader angle on Serega boat 10?
And will Tim pay the money to Tania to keep photo of Tims new way of keeping station on a mark off this site?
all in good fun

oh, and the only way I could station on the mark in the big tide was to sail downwind with the main pinned, not what Russ had in mind, but hay, there always one Russ.

Chris

chriswrightlaser wrote:The upwind practice showed that a duff take will cost you big time...

Interesting read, thanks Chris.

I'm intrigued what you're meaning of 'taking a duff' is. I can only think of one context (i.e. 'up the duff') which, lets be honest, doesn't sound all that...err...comfortable.

over the weekend I did about 200 tacks, 197 of the were Duff (crap) (not very good), 180 of the I dropped the tiller and crash tacked for speed of tack, not fast or good, three time I made effor to tack without letting the tiller go, one was just by RUSS, walked to the back of the rack hooked on, walked in while heading up, under the boom and onto the other wing walking up to the front of the boat still standing, hooked on and go out pulling the main in as I go, much faster than my crash tack.
Russ said good tack. I can do them just not racing and on the lumpy stuff.

50 years ago if you were happy go lucky the were said to be gay, words change over time.

Chris