A-Class: Helly Hansen St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta 2015

Top image by Paul Todd/Outsideimage.com – Full Gallery & Official NOOD Regatta website sailingworld.com/nood-regattas/st-petersburg – Rest of Images by Emmanuel Cerf. Full gallery here – Ken Marshack won over Bailey White and Woody Cope, with Ben Moon winning two races and 3rd on the 3 races que entered. –
Report by Bailey White:
“I left the event this weekend pretty encouraged about our current gear and learning how to sail it. I was definitely faster upwind this event compared to Islamorada. I set up a better board tacking system and was more committed to raising the boards in light air. When it was heavy, the boat was not too bad upwind with the traveler dropped a lot. Ben was really fast upwind with the JZs and I’d like to see what he could do with the Zs just as a point of reference.

The class is working. Boats of different generations are trading tacks and jibes and enjoying advantages at different times. It makes for good racing and a reasonable progression of technology.

In terms of foiling, my big learning was that I need to back off the rudder lift in breeze. I think Ben is heading the same direction. The lift is great in light air and could even be more for the lightest air foiling. However, with this rudder setting, the sterns are lifting too much in the big breeze we had over 20. After the first day, I raked my mast back to just below the top gudgeon with the Brewin sail and this did help but not enough.

Running flat and deep in big breeze while sitting on the boat my bows were still at risk and the sterns up in the air. Sometimes the boat was full foiling and sometimes not. I pitch poled starting a jibe with a big puff (we saw gusts up to 28 knots reported and stopped after the first race on the last day). I spoke with Arno this morning and he shared that he tries to run low lift on the rudders most of the time and that this should cure a large part of the problem I had in big breeze downwind. I should have over trimmed the main as another option to reduce some of the bow down drive.

Foiling downwind, particularly when on the wire, is super quick. It is amazing how even 1/4 of the run once you go on the wire can help you pass boats. The boat sails so deeply and fairly stably with the apparent at about 90 even on the trapeze and foiling once there is enough pressure. It’s addictive. I miss it already.”

NOOD Regatta official website at https://www.sailingworld.com/nood-regattas/st-petersburg