| Author | Message | ||
     Scott Corder (Pastcommodore) Rating: N/A |
Nice to hear you're doing well! On Scooter, we typically like 6-7 crew as follows (from the back of the bus forward): Driver, mainsheet, 2 trimmers, halyards/cabintop (in companionway when working), mast/halyard jumping, foredeck. If we carry more than 7, the extra crew are assigned to the topping lift/foreguy, helping take down spinnakers or simply hiking on the rail. Obviously the heavier the air, the more necessary the mast and foreguy positions become. It's pretty hard to race with less than 5, although we have had noteworthy success with this few when they're all experienced folks. I agree with your thoughts on seeing the telltales, but would argue that moving the weight forward is a good thing anyway, especially downwind. Once we're trimmed for speed upwind, the only crew aft of the companionway are one trimmer, the main and driver. As for downhill, the driver (me) typically stands forward of the tiller (between his legs)(in center of boat) and trims the main as he drives (holding the mainsheet seems to help me to feel any puffs), the only other crew aft of the cabintop are the pole trimmer and a tactician (if we have the luxury of a dedicated person to that task). Only additional thought for now regards chute douses. We've had success with both dousing (and relaunching) from the forward hatch and also dousing behind the headsail, through the companionway and re-packing the chute below. There are advantages to each... primarily the requisite housekeeping of lines upwind, flexibility for the next launch (bearaway or gybe set) and preference of the foredeck crew. Currently we prefer to launch bearaway even if a gybe set is somewhat preferred because it keeps us clear of upwind traffic after we've cleared the mark, we just gybe as soon as we're ready (this is obvious if the mark has an offset and especially helpful at large regattas where we share the course with lots of other boats)(clear air rules!). We also perform alot of what we call "floater" takedowns where we remove the pole early and free-fly the kite nearing the downhill mark. Have enjoyed your many posts regarding your first season. Keep up the good work and don't get discouraged if you feel like you're not "getting there" fast enough. Lots of folks have waited much longer to get all the kinks out! You appear to be accomplishing a great deal in a very short time! |
