Another Finn tale.

[bamamick]

I spent the morning yesterday with my friend Lou rigging up one of his aluminum spars for the Finn while my round carbon is being repaired. I think that Lou probably has 7 or 8 Finn rigs and this is a Needlespar Diamond rig. We got it to fit into the boat with little trouble.

Met up at the FYC for their Sunday race and some practice. I threw in about a dozen tacks and a few jibes before the race began. Had a good start and was doing pretty well upwind. I couldn't tell if I was finally in front of Lou or not. We had a two-tack beat and I was to weather and behind a little and getting lifted over Lou. Then something happened and I saw Lou peel off towards the club. The further out from shore the more I was getting lifted and the more pressure we had.By the time I got to the mark I was fully extended and traveled down. Wooooweeeee. Now that is what I call fun.

A big boat crossed me just before the mark. I would have had room but with big boats and Finns I am not going to play around so I backed off a little. He overshot the mark and I cut inside of him, jibed away to clear my air, and shot out of the water like I had been shot out of a cannon. We tie a knot in our mainsheet in heavy air so that the boom can not go forward of the mast. It's called a 'Jesus' knot. Because it saves you. I can understand the name, because in my jibe the main came out of my hand and it's a miracle that I didn't go over.

So here I am, screaming downwind, with no power boat out with us, with my light air sail up (it was the only one that would fit this mast), and my friend reaching in towards the club. I did the smart thing and peeled off a couple hundred yards down the run. Had a 2-3 miles screaming beam reach in 15-18 knots of breeze, sailed into the harbor, hardened up, flipped out of the boat and dropped the sail (while Lou held the bow) and put her on the trailer. There you go. No damage done to hull or rig. No injuries. An almost perfect day.

Come to find out that Lou was hit while on port by a big boat that came up on his blind spot. He never knew the guy was there until he was running into him. The boat that Lou was sailing has a double bottom but if you're hit at the deck level and holed it'll sink, so in he came. Doesn't look that bad and it can be repaired relatively easily.

I love sailing the Finn upwind in some breeze, but I am lost off the wind. I read a lot and bought a dvd that Brad Funk did, but you've got to practice and to be honest with you I was a little nervous out there. The middle of Mobile Bay with no chase boat is no place to flip if you're not familiar with how to get her back up. Anyway, it was a marvelous day and a great time sailing.

My wonderful, marvelous wife asked me how I did in the race and I said 'I didn't finish, but I had a blast'. She just shook her head and said 'I am really beginning to wonder about you and sailing'. I just grinned.

Mickey Lake

[Jay Greer]

Glad to hear you escaped without injury. So far as power boats hitting boats undersail, it seems to be getting progressively worse as more reckless individuals take to the water. We got slammed while becalmed. No escape was possible!
JG

[Concordia...41]

Congratulations! Another good day sailing and another good story well told!

- M

[J P]

(not intended to hijack your post Mickey, which I enjoyed reading, just thought you might relate)

On a very windy day last February I was driving up the west coast of the Coromandel peninsula in New Zealand. Passing the Thames yacht club we noticed a bunch of little sailboats flying around out on the firth. Impressed with seeing these boats out in such conditions we stopped to see what was going on. It was the NZ Finn class national championship. We watched for a while and saw a few boats go over then it looked like the race was called and the boats started a run to shore. One came in with a broken mast. The landing at the club was on a lee shore and pretty rough. I got off my butt and helped a couple of the first guys get on their trolleys. Blew out my flip-flop in the effort.

Not sure what the wind speed was, but I know it takes quite a bit to get Kiwi national champ sailors off the water. Some of the sailors seemed like they were enjoying themselves that day, others not so much. Impressive sailing nonetheless. Looked like fun to me though I’ve never sailed a Finn. Read something about the event later: “… The event was closely monitored by two international judges …, who were at times relieved of their duties when flag 'O' was raised to allow for 'free pumping', much to the delight of the sailors surfing down the runs and reaches.”

What is this ‘free pumping’?

Not such a good pic but an interesting moment:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/m_FinnNZ06-2.jpg

[bamamick]

kinetics, pumping, ooching, anything you want except for paddling :).
They only do this in most classes when it's windy because in light air a guy can ooch his way around the course and win if he knows how to do it. Usually in the very windy days you HAVE to pump to keep from dumping downwind. You are basically using your main as a lever to keep the boat balanced. Most of the dinghy classes have a plus-15 knots rule for pumping.

That guy in the picture is good but I am guessing that he went over shortly after the picture was taken? I am not sailing that laid over downwind on purpose in that air (I will do it in lighter air). If that's me then I will last about two rocks and then I am swimming.

I agree that it must take some air to knock the New Zealanders off the water. Where I live we are not accustomed to heavy air and I would probably be warm and dry watching the Kiwis sailing about then. One cool thing: there is a lady Finn sailor in New Zealand that's pretty good. We have a lady trying her hand at it around here with us. She has done pretty well in the lighter stuff so far. We haven't really raced in much breeze as of yet.

Thanks for the post.

Mickey Lake

[J P]

Ah, thanks for the explanation.

No, the guy didn't go over, which surprised me because he had it laid over even further at one point (just before I took the shot - darn digital delay) and it was rough and really gusty. At the time I wasn't sure if this manouver was intentional or not. He had just come off a run and I thought he was just falling off the back of a wave. Maybe he was playing around, the race was done. Right after he flattened out he headed up and jumped in the water to prepare for landing.