I have my first repair job for my new boat....

So, I have my first repair job for my new boat. Replacing the o-rings in the bailer.

Rather than get an o-ring kit from my Laser distributor. I began to look around the Internet to find out the right o-ring diameter, so I could pick up some o-rings from my local hardware store and make the repair ASAP. To my surprise, my research uncovered these stainless steel springs from LaserSmartParts. At first glance, I thought this replacement option for o-rings must be illegal. As it was too good to be true to have a permanent fix for the regular replacement of the Laser bailer o-rings.

On further investigation, I am pleased say the stainless steel springs are now legal replacements for o-rings. As in January 2010, The International Laser Class Association had made the following rule amendment:

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Rule 13.  Self Bailer

A self-bailing device as supplied only by the builder may be added. The bailer may be sealed with tape, filler or glue along its edge where it joins the hull and at the screw hole. Filling the screw hole level with the flat surface of the bailer is permitted. Fairing the flat surface of the bailer to the hull shape or changing the profile of the bailer is not permitted. The drain bung may be removed from the self-bailer, and the self bailer opening pin may be secured to the cockpit floor with self adhesive plastic tape. The builder-supplied o-rings may be substituted with non builder-supplied alternatives provided the basic function of the bailer is unchanged.

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I purchased my stainless steel springs from LaserSmartParts via eBay. The great news is they only cost me $7.20AUD, including shipping from the UK and they arrived at my door within 7 days of ordering. I would recommend this option for anyone who needs to replace bailer o-rings in the future.

2010 Albert Sailing Club Winter Regatta

This is an article that Rod Thoms and I wrote on the Albert Sailing Club Winter Regatta last month, but I thought I would share. Enjoy.

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Albert Sailing Club's annual winter regatta on Albert Park Lake on 19/20 June, was the second event in the VLA Jolly Roger Traveller Series which runs from May to October. The regatta was successful with over 130 monohull dinghies competing in a short race format series which consisted of seven 30 - 40 minute races in three sessions.


The racing was concentrated in the four most active dinghy sailing classes currently racing in Victoria - the Laser, Impulse, Sabre and junior Optimist classes. The largest entry was in the Laser class where there were 38 boats, consisting of 17 standard full rig Lasers, 12 of the mid-size Laser Radials, and 9 Laser 4.7's sailed by teenage sailors. The light Westerly winds had plenty of shifts and changes in wind strength which favoured the more experienced and more alert sailors.

In the standard full rig Laser's there was a close battle all weekend between Sean Bly and Glenn Collings. Glenn lead the fleet after day one, but Sean hit back on day two to win the last three races and take out the class win after a countback. There was good competition in the Grand Masters category with Peter Wright from Albert fifth overall and first in the category.

In Laser Radial's Jeremy O'Connell from Albert Park Yacht Club had a clean sweep with wins in all seven heats. It was good to see Buster Hooper in his Laser Radial in the Saturday session. The Laser 4.7's, had close racing all weekend with four separate race winners. Tom Vincent, from McCrae YC and Albert winter member, sailed the most consistent to finish first overall, with Ben Hartnett (Sorrento SCBC/ Albert SC) and Lachlan Imeneo (McCrae YC) close behind in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Spot prizes of Laser parts were provided for the VLA Travellers Series race by Jolly Roger Sailing Centre, Performance Sailcraft Australia and Zik. The winners of these prizes were : George Andrysik from Albert SC (Laser Standard) ; James Catton from Albert SC (Laser Radial) ; and Natasha Van Rennes from Newhaven YS (Laser 4.7). Full results and a range of photos from the Regatta are available on the home page of albersc.org.au. There are some good shots of individual Laser sailors and Laser fleets.

Two weeks before the Regatta there was a well attended VLA coaching session on Albert Park Lake at Albert Sailing Club. Sixteen boats, with half of these from the host club, sailed in a full day session in moderate South West winds. Ricky Ironmonger took the Laser 4.7's group, and Glenn Collings the Laser Standard/ Laser Radial group. The focus was on tacking, sailing upwind, and starting. The VLA training sessions continue monthly - see the VLA coaching calendar for dates and details.

The third event in the VLA Jolly Roger Traveller Series will be at 1pm on Sunday July 18 at Elwood Sailing Club. The Albert Sailing Club winter sailing season continues weekly till mid September, with details and dates on albertsc.org.au.

My New Laser

A photo from last Saturday. Thanks to Leisa Hartnett for the photo. You can see some more of Leisa's images at sailingshack.com

Second Outing in the new Boat

Yesterday was my second outing in my new (read as "second-hand") Laser. I am very pleased with a 3rd and for all bar the last 10 minutes of the race I was mixing it up the the two front runners.

Reviewing my race on TrackTacker I believe I have been able to pin point my key mistakes. Referring to the diagram above, point 1 circled is the place I managed to loose 100+ meters on the front runners, with my VMG for the leg reducing to 2.27 knots vs ~3 knots for all other upwind legs. Basically for me, after 75 minutes of sailing I lost the opportunity to challenge for first or second place in the last lap (another 10 minutes of sailing). My focus quickly changed to protecting 3rd, as Ken had been tracking me all day and the gap had reduced between use by the end of this leg.

My analysis of the situation was that I was faced with two problems:

1. The breeze had significantly eased between the circled area and mark A, and
2. I had a Solo and Sabre pinning me to the Island side for this leg, based on position relative to me.

Lessons learned for me from this situation is to observe boats in other classes around me earlier, rather than solely focusing on the leaders and pressure zones on the lake. I believe if I had observed what the other class boats had been doing prior to or at Point 2, I would have mitigated the loss of the breeze easing. In hindsight, I should continued the port tack closer to the edged of the lake, which would have provide me options to pass the Solo and Sabre to the right side, which in all the past legs was working for me.

We will see next time when I am in this situation, if I have learnt from my past mistakes.

Like To Improve You’re Sailing?

Well, late last year I came across a new website called www.tacktracker.com. It is run by an Australian company that has constructed a software application that allows you to analysis your own races via a GPS logger in the luxury of your own home and easily sharing your tracks with others who raced that day.  After looking at how the software worked with the publicly available races. I decided to invest in the racing software + the GPS logger + a water proof pouch.

So far I have been pleased with my purchase, as it has been a great tool to review my own race, put notes in regarding conditions, note what was happening to you at the time, etc. Even if it is your own track you have loaded I have found that you can compare your approach to similar legs to see which one was quicker and why.

The real power of the software comes into play when you start to load multiple tracks, as seen in the screen shot below. Luke on several occasions has been kind enough to send me his track data so I can see what is happening between our boats. One thing that I have picked up is that Luke picks lifts better and more consistently as 9 times out of 10 his upwind legs are quicker. On the other legs the time is much closer with me having a better chance in closing the gap.

Now you might wonder to yourself that all this data looks good, but how long does it take to load? Well the answer is no long at all. For example the screen shot included is of Summer Series Race 4. If anyone remembers the course was 3 large and 3 small triangles. This equates to 20 legs in total. All I needed to do was transfer the data captured from the GPS logger into TackTracker (30 seconds). Create an Event and type in the course marks i.e.( C B A C B A C B A C D A C D A C D A G) ( 2 minutes). Then place marks on the graphic screen, so one placement are required for the A, B, C, D & G marks (2 minutes). Then finally place your start and finish lines (2 minutes). Once this is done the software automatically calculates all legs and the data associated, so you can start analysing straight away. So in less than 10 minutes you have your race broken down into legs and ready to share with others.

The TackTracker software has a nice feature, instead of sending emails with data to your fellow competitors. All you need to do is click on the Share button and your track is stored in the TackTracker site and is downloadable to others who share their tracks and are in the same race location as you are.

Finally, I would recommend this software as I believe that it is helping me with my sailing and it is also good to see your own race warts and all. If this article entices you to invest, then please let me know so we can share our experience/knowledge.