Sonar Class Association Newsletter, June 15, 2011

Regattas:

New Englands:


The 2011 Sonar New Englands will be sponsored by the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club, Vineyard Haven, MA, with racing on Friday-Sunday August 5-7. The NOR is now available on the SCA website. For more information, contact Alex Meleney at ameleney@deloitte.com, 203-536-1190 or Tim Aureden, sail@aureden-downs.info, 610-715-3699


North Americans:

The 2011 North American Championships, hosted by fleet 5 and the Wayzata Yacht Club, are being held on September 23-25. Racing will take place on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota

The NOR is now available. It can be downloaded from the Wayzata Yacht Club website Here:

http://wyc.org/sonar/2011SonarNAs.aspx

The NOR can also be found on the SCA website here: http://www.sonar.org/

Results:

The Long Island Sound Championships were held on June 4-5. Hosted by Manhasset Bay Yacht Club's fleet 11 and the US Merchant Marine Academy's fleet 22, six races were completed over the two days.

Day one started with a postponement due to lack of wind. When the breeze finally did fill in, we saw up to 15 kts and 40º shifts making life miserable for the RC.

Day two was a little easier with a fairly consistent 6 kts.

For the Regatta, Rick Dominique from the USMMA finished first with a total of 12 points. Spencer Powers from Marblehead finished a close second with 13 points followed by Alex Meleney, from Noroton YC with 18 points.

Full results are here:

http://www.manhassetbayyc.org/Files/SonarLISchamps2011_Sonar_Overall.htm

A couple of pictures from the regatta:

Rules:

Our next rules question from US Sailing Senior Judge Peter Wilson:

Click to enlarge image

Go Fast:

As a follow up to the Lee Morrison's article on forestay length in the last edition, Rick Doerr, a member of US Sailing's Team AlphaGraphics and US representative in the last Paralympic Games in China, would like to offer his thoughts:


I have approached the forestay length from a slightly different perspective. I am no tech guy, so I may be out of touch, but I'll give it to you and hopefully it will makes sense.


My perspective comes from my experience with the 2.4mR, where the forestay length is very easily adjustable. In that fleet, no one uses a traveler any longer, and in order to get the boom on centerline they must have the appropriate rake for the amount of mainsheet tension in the given wind conditions. When the wind is light, if one uses a forward (shorter) forestay position, they would have to over trim the mainsheet in order to get the boom to centerline. If in windy conditions with a long forestay length, one would never get the main trimmed hard enough.


So my experience with adjusting the forestay length rose out of our preparation for the uber light conditions of the China Paralympic event. Realizing there was a limit to the effective traveler length in the sonar, I surmised that by lengthening the forestay, we could actually get the boom to centerline w/o over trimming the mainsail in 3-5 knots (yes, we raced in those conditions).


There was something else that I had heard from smarter people about the "end plate effect"..., but I was oblivious to that. What I could tell about the end plate, was that with the correct amount of rake (forestay length), the mainsheet trim should always end up block to block in all wind conditions (which is what I strive for in assessing our correct forestay length).


Lastly, I go back to the North Sails tuning guide (well sort of). Brian Hayes had always told us the correct amount of blocking will be when you are just seeing a hint of overbend wrinkles. When there is too much forestay length for given conditions, we will notice excessive mast bend (ie: overbend wrinkles) with the minimum of blocks. Therefore, we must shorten the forestay in order to correct the excessive mast bend. I can't say I know what the absolute numbers are because we start with a mid range length as suggested, and shorten or lengthen for given conditions based on what I mentioned above. I don't want to say I'm oblivious to the headstay sag mentioned in Lee's article, but I don't pay attention to it (a quick aside, our coach BA obsesses about it and she'll make us change our forestay length when she sees too much sag, but I tend to disagree with her on that. You decide who knows more, a 5 time Rolex Yacht Woman of the Year or a neophyte like me?). 


My perspective of the headstay sag is based nearly solely on backstay tension (the only control I'm permitted to use on the boat). When I need more sag, I ease it off, when I'm overpowered or need less, I put more on (I'm a simple man).

Sonar Class Association Newsletter, May 25, 2011

Regattas:


The Nyack Boat club hosted another successful Tappan Zee Challenge this past weekend (May 21-22). A total of five races were completed with Skip Shumway posting a dramatic come-from-behind victory after posting two 9's the first day.

Second and third went to the United States Merchant Marine Academy with Rick Dominique taking second and Midn. Joe Hoffman, in another day two come back, finishing third

After that, the next five boats, all from Noroton YC, were separated by a total of only four points.

The conditions were challenging, the racing tight and a great time was had by all.

Full results:

Click on the image to enlarge

Next up, the Long Island Sound Championships on June 4-5, hosted by Manhasset Bay YC's fleet 11 and the USMMA's fleet 22. There is still time to register at http://www.sonar.org/

Team Racing:

The Oyster Bay Challenge, hosted by Seawanhaka Corinthian YC, was held on May 14-15. In addition to the host team, another four teams participated including 2 from New York YC, one from Noroton YC and one from the Nyack Boat Club.

The weather was rainy the second day, but overall the conditions were excellent for team racing with adequate and relatively steady wind.  At the end of the first day NYYC 1 was in first with six points. After that there was a three-way tie for second with NYYC2, Seawanhaka and Noroton.

Day two saw things shake out a little with NYYC1 winning the event followed by NYYC 2, SCYC, Noroton and Nyack.

Rules:

Here is our next rules question from U.S. Sailing Senior Judge Peter Wilson...

Click on the image to enlarge

Peter's answer:

Yellow does not break any rules. She is entitled to mark-room from blue and as windward, keep-clear boat, mark-room includes sailing a seamanlike course to the mark. So long as she sails this course directly to the mark, as she is doing in positions 2 and 3, she will be exonerated if she breaks rule 11 (windward/leeward) with respect to blue. When blue slows and separates from yellow, between positions 3 and 4, yellow may widen her approach to the mark so long as she still keeps clear of blue which she does a position 4 and then again at position 5 when blue heads up. If, however, she makes contact with blue or forces blue to avoid contact as she widens her approach, then she breaks rule 11 and does not receive any exoneration.

Go Fast:

From time to time, we hope to post "go fast" articles from members. Here is the first from Lee Morrison, Noroton YC fleet 1 member:


Forestay Length

Debating forestay length is a time honored tradition in many classes but none more so than the Sonar.  With its relatively limber rig and large sail plan the length of the forestay greatly influences the power of a Sonar’s rig.

Forestay length is one determinate of jib sag which affects the amount and location of draft in a jib.  As we know, you want flatten sails in heavy air and add draft/make the entry finer in light air/flat water.  So, if we agree that the length of the forestay influences the shape of the jib and that we can improve the performance of a sail by changing its shape in different wind conditions, why are so many Sonar forestay turnbuckles pinned down and taped up never to be touched after winning some race back in 2006?

Granted, other controls such as mast blocking, influences jib sag as much or more than forestay length.  Moving blocks is certainly easier than changing forestay length and, blocks can be adjusted while racing.  But, after setting your mast blocks correctly (refer to your sail maker’s guide), changing your forestay length can provide some extra power when you need it in chop, a finer entry when the water is smooth, or make the jib flatter when it gets windy.  If you are not convinced that small changes in forestay length (a bit more than an inch in either direction using the adjuster mentioned below) can make a difference, the next time you sail your boat in heavy air look at your forestay and visualize how sag is adding unneeded power to the jib.  Think about the amount of tension on the forestay – hundreds of lbs of pressure.  Then imagine how much sag would be removed if you could easily make the forestay just one inch shorter.

If this sounds like something you would like to explore then read on.  Here are some tips picked up from experimenting with forestay length last summer.

1) You need to make your forestay easy to adjust on the water between races even when it’s windy.  Believe me, when it starts getting rough, you don’t want to be on your foredeck cutting off tape and pulling pins.  I use a ? Hold Allen High Load Calibrated Adjuster HA4772H ($42.95 at APS) and Ronstan RF115x3/4 Toggle Pin ($16.95 at Jamestown Distributors).  Sailing downwind between races I can easily and accurately make 1/4” adjustments even in the windiest of conditions.  You will need a new forestay ‘wire’ since cutting off the existing turnbuckle would make the current forestay too short for the new adjuster.  Here’s a bonus tip if you have a 3.8mm backstay – the diameter that typically comes standard with a new boat.  The rules allow a slightly narrower diameter backstay - 3.0mm (rule F.7.6 (d)).  If you purchase a new minimum diameter backstay you can repurpose your existing backstay making it the new forestay.  The current backstay end fitting should fit into your new adjuster.  Set it to the mid point and then have a new t-ball fitting swaged on at the desired length (see tip #2).

2) If you feel that your boat is fast, measure your current forestay length to use as a reference.  If not, start with the number provided in your sail maker’s guide.  Make that the length of the new forestay with the adjuster pin at the midpoint in your forestay adjuster.  Make sure that when the adjustment pin is at the top of the adjuster that the forestay is less than the class allowed maximum length.  Similarly check the minimum length with the adjustment pin at the bottom of the adjuster.

The rest is easy.  If its light air and flat water move your adjustment pin up a little bit (try 1/2”) from the midpoint.  All else being equal, that will increase jib sag resulting in greater power.  As the breeze picks up move the adjustment pin down.  The next time the wind speed gets to the point that you believe that the crew will be on the rail most of the time going upwind – for example, the last day of last year’s North Americans, try sailing with the pin at the bottom of the adjuster - ~1 1/4” inch shorter than your sail maker’s ‘all around’ setting.  You’ll feel the difference!