NOMAD - The Race and the Cruise

My heart was pounding out of my chest with excitement when we got the call on Channel 68 « Race Committee calling NOMAD, please confirm”…. “NOMAD Confirmed”. The moment was here - all the talk, all the planning, all the anticipation. Here we were, on the start line, for the 34th running of the Marblehead to Halifax Race.

The MHOR is a biennial event running on alternate years to the Newport to Bermuda Race. It’s a 363 kt mile Category 2 race with 94 boats registered to start the race. We were very proud to be one of three boats from the RNYC, along with Bella J and War Eagle.

Bringing a boat from the USA to NL is pretty common days. Over the past couple of years, several boats have come up from the BVIs, Florida and Massachusetts on their own bottoms. What was different about our trip was that it was actually ‘two for the price of one’, although we don’t like to talk about the cost, especially around my wife. We had a race and a cruise. Each required its own planning, and what was for what was good for one, was not necessarily good for the other.

For example, we needed 7-8 guys for the race, but certainly no more than 4 for the cruise. We needed two boat loads of sails, jammed into the main cabin and V berth for the race, but just a mainsail and furling jib for the cruise. We needed limited fuel and water for the race, but everything topped off to the max for the cruise.

Combine this with five local guys who have done neither before and you end up with a lot of “what ifs” and “I don’t knows”!!

We recognized our limitations very early in the game and made the decision to get some people on board who have done this type of thing before. Luckily for us, the delivery skipper, Dave Sherman, with whom I had been speaking in Boston, happened to be very familiar with ocean racing as well. He completed several races to Bermuda, the most recent being the 2011 Marion to Bermuda Single Handed Race. He committed to taking part in the race with us and would bring with him seasoned navigator, Peter Maloney.

To ensure the boat was both race compliant and safe, I entered into a contract with Tern Harbour Marina to carry out modifications and upgrades to NOMAD over the winter of 2011. Work on the boat ranged from removing and rebedding all critical deck hardware and tracks, replacing port lights, adding additional bilge pumps to stripping 25 years of bottom paint. The golden rule of racing is ‘good sails and a clean fast bottom’.

The rigging was inspected, and apart from replacing an old roller furling with a new Harken Unit and a new forestay, all seemed okay. Keep in mind though; all rigging of this age is suspect. I don’t care what any marine surveyor with a magnifying glass says! Next, I turned to the sails. As luck would have it I met a sail maker, Ralph Dimattia, at the club where NOMAD was berthed. He is a serious racer, racing his Nelson Merrick 40 throughout New England and Long Island Sound at events like Block Island Race Week. Wanting to get new race sails and having no clue what to get, it was great having him right there to do the measurements and provide me with decent quality laminate racing sails.

Captain Sherman was very helpful in pushing things along. He would make regular visits to the boatyard and update me on what was done and how much work remained. When we arrived in Boston on July 2, after a non-stop drive from St John’s, we found NOMAD looking very excited to get going. It’s amazing how boats have personalities. Her sleek lines and tall rig was saying, “Take me offshore please!! I need to strut my stuff, I have a new dress on and I want to dance!!”

And that she did; the motion of this boat was perfect. She would easily tell us when she was happy by settling into a groove and consistently holding 9kts. The crew loved her; everyone was so in tune with NOMAD.

We had no real surprises throughout the race. Our placement in the results had more to do with us being cautious and careful, especially at night, than the boat’s ability, and problems with loose steering cables and losing the inboard spinnaker pole fitting overboard meant our downwind sail would be slower than we had hoped.

The RNSYS was very well organized for this event and received us graciously around 10PM on Tuesday, July 12th after 53 hrs 30mins of racing. The next couple of days around Halifax were exhilarating! It was a sight to see all the different boats, the crews, the drying of race sails and everyone who was not from the Halifax area prepping with cruising gear for the trip home. They were all heading west; we, along with War Eagle, would head east. Bella J, who had not had her gut full of racing yet, decided to stay in Nova Scotia for Chester Race Week.

With race gear removed along with three crew members, water tanks full, fuel tanks topped off, we headed for home. We decided to detour into Bras d’Or Lake. While a bit off the rhumb line for St. Pierre, it did give us a chance to relax. The sail from North Sydney to St Pierre took us about 30 hours and was cold, damp and foggy, not unusual for the South Coast in July.

We were met in St. Pierre by a Frenchman from Montreal who was a crew member on another boat from the Magdalen Islands. He invited himself to join us for supper, where drank copious amounts of cognac and tried to impress the waitress 30 years his junior, while we sampled fine French wine and ate steak entrecote, and were on our best behavior!

The next day, refueling, and restocking with ice, wine (lots of wine) and petits pain au chocolat, we headed out; next stop - St. John’s. I was a little nervous about crossing Placentia Bay, but after we got a report of no commercial traffic for next 12 hours we settled into a beam reach for Cape St. Mary’s.

The sail up the southern shore was breathtaking, with numerous sightings of whales and sea birds as we approached the bird islands off Witless Bay. But no sight was greater and more impressive than that of the Narrows. We all enjoyed the trip immensely, but were very glad to have family catch our lines as we moored up next to The Keg.

Still having two days to spare, before his scheduled flight back to Boston, we showed Captain Sherman around our beautiful city - the Rooms, the RNYC and we even screeched him in on George Street.

Like many who visit our fine province, he was very impressed and declared that it was, by far, the best delivery he has ever done!!

My advice to others? Do not hesitate to embark these types of trips, but recognize your short comings. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprise!!

Oh, forgot to tell you- we are registered for the Halifax to St Pierre Race for July 2012 Whoo Hoo!

Route Halifax to St Pierre July 2012

If all goes well NOMAD will be participating in the Halifax to St Pierre Race in July 2012.

Lots of planning ahead. Looking for delivery and race crew. Let me know if you are interested in being part of this great sailing event.

Tentative schedule:
Leave RNYC June 22 for Burin arriving 24
Leave Burin June 30 for Halifax arriving July 4

Race Halifax to St Pierre July 8 to 11

Race St Pierre to St Johns July 16 to 18

Book your vacation time early!

Projects for 2012 for NOMAD

We have several projects in the works for NOMAD this winter:

1) Remove engine and replace all gaskets and seals along with general refit

2) Replace existing traveller and genoa cars

3) Repair / replace autopilot

4) Refinished cabin sole

Cruising Club Meeting in November - Preparing for Safety and Speed!

Stay connected to sailing over the fall and winter. Come out to the NL cruising club meeting in November at the Crow's nest. The crew of NOMAD will be giving a presentation on "preparing a boat for a distance race".

Sailing over for 2011!

That time of the year is here when we have to put our pride and joy away for winter or in my case, joys as ORCA is not yet sold.

Had great first season with NOMAD, learned lots but lots left to learn.

Have a few projects to sort out over the winter to make sure we are on the start line for Route Halifax St Pierre on July 8, 2012.

Key project:

Replace traveller
Replace genoa lead cars
Navigation at Nav station connected to helm
AIS at helm
Get Autopilot working
Asymmetrical spinnaker

Better get to work as time flies by.

Barging on the Start Line

Barging at the start:


A boat is said to be barging at the start when it is sailing below close hauled and to windward of the outside layline to either starting mark. (In practice this appears most often for starboard tack boats at the committee boat or right-hand end of a start line however it is also applicable to the symmetrical situation for the port tack layline to the left hand end of the start line.)

The barging boat has no right to "mark room" because the entire set of Section C rules expressly do not apply a starting mark.

FYI: this exclusion used to be expressed as Rule 18.1(a) in the 2005-2008 RRS.
Any boat sailing close-hauled and to leeward of the barging boat may push the barging boat to windward and the barging boat must keep clear (per Rule 11) even if this means missing her start altogether.

Barging at the start line is a very poor strategy.

RACE WEEK is here !!!

Crew Positions 101

We have 10 Critical Positions for RACE WEEK on NOMAD !! Let me know how you can help out.

Helmsman - Dave Mitchell
Tactician -
Maintrimmer -
Port Trimmer -
Starboard Trimmer -
Port Runner - Amy Chislett
Starboard Runner -
Pitman -
Bowman - Mark Eager
Mast Man -
Grinder -

See the follow info I found online about what's involved in your position.

A Mastman is added for dip pole gybing, and usually have a grinder. On Fractional Rigged Yachts a Runner Specialist is added to get the speed up after the tacks. On Phoenix, the Hakura 37, and Bravura ,the Farr 44, we normally use 2 people on the runners for tacking and gybing. We will discuss most maneuvers with 6 to 8 crewmembers in mind. In sailing there are a lot of terms that describe the same thing. The upwind headsail may be called the Genoa, Genny, Jib, L1, M1, H1, 2, 3, 4, Blade, 150, 130, etc. If you hear any of these terms they refer to the Headsail of choice. A spinnaker can be called a chute, a 3/4 or 1/2 oz. depending on the weight of the material, or even the big pretty colorful sail. On large asymmetricals they are commonly called Frankenchutes due to the many repairs required after dropping one overboard. A line or rope can be called many things depending on their usage. Lines to pull sails up are called Halyards, and lines to pull booms or poles up are called topping lifts or uphauls. Lines to pull sails in are almost always called sheets. Any line to pull the luff of a sail down tight should now be called a cunningham because downhaul was far to easy a term to understand. Tacking can be called coming about, changing tacks, or you might hear We're going to lee bow. This means the boat will tack slightly to leeward of an approaching boat to gain tactical advantage. Gybing is always called gybing, but no one actually knows how to spell it; including me. Now that you have the terms, let's go through the maneuvers.

The Start (typical starboard approach)
Helmsman - Get a good position in the fleet with room to duck and come up
Tactician - Check wind shifts and determine the favored side of line and course. Call Time.
Maintrimmer - Keep main trimmed fully unless told otherwise. Be ready to dump the entire sail if necessary. Trim hard and fast on final approach giving the boat full power.
Port Trimmer - Let Helmsman know of leeward boats. Grind for Starboard Trimmer on Port Tack. Trim to full speed unless told otherwise. Call Genoa skirt on final approach.
Starboard Trimmer - Let Helmsman know of leeward boats while on port tack. Trim to full speed. Grind for port trimmer. Wrap starboard winch. Get to rail.
Pit Man - Call Time, Double check all sheetstoppers. Get to rail. Watch for kelp.
Bowman - On bow calling approaching boats and distance to the line. Don't forget genoa skirting.

Tacking to Weather
Helmsman - Call "Tacking". Start to tack slowly to maximize weather gain. Then quickly find opposite tack angle after crossing head to wind.
Tactician - Look for a clear lane. Make sure there is breeze where you are heading.
Maintrimmer - Ease main per boat stability to allow boat to tack easier. Then trim as the boat accelerates.
Existing Trimmer - Cut Sheet as boat gets head to wind. Grind for New Trimmer. Get to Rail.
New Trimmer - Tail sheet. Trim in till sail is a few inches off spreader. Trim as boat accelerates.
Pitman - Adjust Halyards or Cunninghams if needed. Get to rail. Look for kelp.
Bowman - Help Genoa across. Skirt genoa. Get to rail.

Windward Rounding - (standard port bearaway)
Helmsman - Watch traffic. Find new course angle. Fill chute before bearing away completely.
Tactician - Determine favored side of the course. Help find optimum VMG angle.
Maintrimmer - Ease Mainsail and it's controls.
Port Trimmer - Ease Genoa 2 to 3 feet. Over easing the genoa causes problems for the spinnaker hoisting. Cleat, and then trim Spinnaker. Do not over trim as the chute is going up.
Starboard Trimmer - Pull back afterguy. Trim afterguy as if it is a sheet until the course is set. Most spinnaker raps are caused because the afterguy is late in coming back allowing the chute to twist behind the genoa. Make sure the pole is square (perpendicular) to the wind. The helmsman may tell you to over square or under square the pole according to the wave angle. The angle of the pole directly affects the heading of the boat.
Pitman - Make sure that genoa halyard is flaked out. Top the spinnaker pole and hoist the spinnaker. Drop the Genoa, tend the Foreguy, and then adjust mainsail controls. Raise staysail if required.
Bowman - After Spinnaker setup; which is different on every boat; top the pole. Jump the spinnaker halyard, secure the genoa on deck, and prepare for a gybe or staysail hoisting.

Gybing
Helmsman - A book can be written on the subject of driving through the gybe. A good helmsman develops a feel for the boat in every sea and wind condition. If the helmsman can call the gybe in a puff, on the roll of the sea he can accelerate during the maneuver and gain time on his opponents during the gybe. The trip should be called by the helmsman just as the boat rolls to windward.
Tactician - Look for clear air to gybe into. Make sure that you won't have to duck or head up around any boats just after the Gybe. On many boats, the wind speed is as important as the wind angle; so avoid holes if possible.
Maintrimmer - The safest way is to bring the main to center and then ease it out on the other side as the pole is made on the new side. The fastest way is to wait for the trip call and throw it around as the boat rocks to windward. If done properly the boat stays at full speed the entire time. If done improperly on a boat with a tall fractional rig and runners, can result in the total annihilation of the rig, the boat, and all life as we know it.
Trimmers - There are three setups for trimming chutes and poles. The most common setup today is the single sheet with tweekers, for the sheet that becomes the afterguy. The other two are separate sheets and guys for dip pole gybing or end for end gybing. On any of the three setups, the only important thing to remember is to keep the spinnaker full and trimmed at all times. On the single sheet setup, the pole should be squared before gybing so that the pole can come off the mast. Trim through the gybe and give a slight ease of both sheets as the Bowman secures the pole on the mast. Remember to adjust the tweekers during the gybe. The sheet and guy dip pole arrangement is common on boats from 36 to 100 feet long. The pole gets squared back and tripped. On larger boats the old afterguy person becomes the new spinnaker grinder. Depending on the setup, one trimmer can handle both sheets and the other both guys. Or, each trimmer can take a side trading from sheet to guy and visa versa. As the pole is tripped, pull a little on the new sheet to prevent the chute from darting to the new windward side. As the new afterguy is made, ease the sheet slightly to allow the pole to come back quickly. The new afterguy must be pulled back as fast as possible to avoid wrapping the chute, but don't over square or pull before the bowman calls made.
Pitman - Tend the topping lift and foreguy through the entire process.
Bowman - Timing, speed, and agility are required for this daring maneuver. On the end for end gybe, the pole should be tripped from both sides at once; freeing the pole to move to the new side. Grab the new guy with your outboard hand and shove it into the jaw of the pole that you are holding with your inboard hand. Then slide the pole through your hands and push it outwards with all you have till you can make the jaw onto the mast ring. Call Made and prepare for the next gybe or mark rounding. Don't worry about the genoa sheets until the final gybe to the mark. On dip pole gybes, a Mastman is usually involved to raise the inboard end of the pole, trip the pole, and help jump the topping lift as the pole is made. The Bowman is truly in his glory as the pole comes at him at twenty to thirty miles an hour. All he has to do is set the new guy in the outboard pole jaw, call "Made", and push the pole out as it goes by. If done correctly, the Bowman is the star. If done incorrectly, the entire boat slows down as the pole and afterguy are brought back to the bow for proper placement.
Leeward Roundings
Helmsman and Tactician - It is critical to call the drop at the appropriate time. Too soon and you might lose an inside overlap. Too late and the spinnaker can be left flailing in the breeze as you're trying to go to weather. Once you have called for the genoa up and the spinnaker drop, the Helmsman should give all attention to driving properly around the mark. The Tactician must start looking up the weather leg before getting to the leeward mark or gate to determine what side of the course will be favored. If the crew work goes well the Tactician can sit back and do his job. If something goes wrong on the takedown, the Tactician becomes the extra hand to access the problem and help with the solution. There are no tactics when you can't tack.
Maintrimmer - Set your controls before you get to the two boatlength circle. Trim well because the main is the driving force during the sail transition.
Trimmers - Each boat and each rounding require different techniques for dropping the spinnaker. On the standard leeward drop, it is best to ease the pole to the headstay and then six more feet of afterguy so that the chute can be pulled down the foredeck hatch if possible. The sheet should be eased as the chute starts to drop. On floater take downs ease and tend the sheets. A sheet that is let go will try to go overboard and wrap on the prop or rudder according to Murphy's Law. The rule of thumb for trimmers is to trim the spinnaker to full speed whether the pole is attached to it or not. Make sure that your genoa is ready to come in at the mark. Trim the genoa to full speed through the entire rounding.
Pitman - You must go with the flow of the foredeck crew. Make sure that your spinnaker halyard is flaked and ready to run free. Hoist the genoa as soon as it is called for. Get the genoa halyard to it's mark. Lower the spinnaker halyard as fast as the crew can pull the spinnaker aboard. As soon as the spinnaker head hits the deck, slowly ease the topping lift to the deck. This allows the Bowman to start cleaning up the foredeck immediately for a tack. Once the pole hits the deck, get to the rail and watch for kelp. The leeward trimmer can help with cleanup if needed. On floater drops, the pole comes down before the spinnaker making your job easier as you approach the mark.
Bowman - Have the genoa ready to hoist. Make sure that the genoa sheets will be clear for a tack. Get spinnaker lines ready for the drop. Jump the genoa halyard then grab the appropriate sheet and start bringing in the foot of the chute. Once you have most of the foot aboard, you can start pulling the belly and the leech of the spinnaker in at warp speed because it should be hidden from the wind behind the genoa. On 35 foot and larger boats, we have someone go down below and pull the spinnaker in from the foredeck hatch. It should take 4 to 6 seconds to pull down a spinnaker on any boat up to 70 feet long, if done properly. Once the spinnaker is down, secure the pole and do the minimum cleanup required to get the boat heading quickly to the next mark. Double check the windward genoa sheet for tacking ability. Do the rest of the cleanup when the boat is in clear air and sailing at full speed.

There are different quirks on every boat that need special attention. These can be identified in a few practice sessions. Remember that boatspeed is the key to 80 percent of racing. Boats with good maneuvering ability will be able to capitalize on smaller windshifts. Also, nothing read in a book can equal the time out on the water experiencing the maneuvers first hand. We gybed Shock and J-35s at least a couple hundred times before we realized that boatspeed can increase during the maneuver when everthing is just right. Enjoy your sport and remember those poor starving Supermodels when everything isn't going just right aboard. I know that I will be.