Flying the kite...
Jul. 7th, 2014 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranSo, it's Sunday morning on Sydney Harbour, and I'm leaning out over the side of a small wooden boat...
I'm sitting on the windward gunwhale (rail) of a Mirror dinghy and we're on the downwind leg of a race. I'm shifting my weight out and in to try to keep the boat level. One hand is clutching the port shroud (one of the lines that holds the mast up), so I can pull my weight in if needed. The other is holding the spinnaker sheet, a thin rope which runs across to the other side of the boat and then up to the far side of the spinnaker. As I lean out to balance the boat, I'm relying purely on feel to tell me when I've got it right, because my eyes are locked on the tiny blue spinnaker that's flying above us.
Every second, as we move along, I'm constantly adjusting the trim of the spinnaker (or "kite"). Every time the outer edge begins to curl, I pull in on the sheet until it stops. As soon as the curl is gone, I start letting it out again, trying to keep the sail set at the optimum angle, just a fraction before it curls too much. The race is going on around us, but I'm barely aware of it. My world has shrunk to the edge of the sail and the roll of the boat.
As we clip along, I can hear the sound of the boat changing. Instead of going "thwok thwok thwok" through the waves, we are now going "chokka-chokka-chokka". I can feel the spray flying up around me and there's suddenly a sensation of effortless speed (speed being relative, for a Mirror, of course - we're probably only going at my normal running pace). We've started "planing", when the boat begins to lift its hull gradually out of the water.
A few seconds later, and we've crossed the finish line. Time to douse the spinnaker and get it back on-board before the start of the next race.
This was my first time working the kite and it was a huge amount of fun, though nerve-wracking for a beginner. Setting it up and taking it down involve a long series of simple, but easily forgotten steps, all done as fast as possible but no faster. It's a bit like trying to strip and re-assemble a rifle under cannon fire. One mistake and you've blown the whole race.
Are you ready to try setting a spinnaker? Here we go, fast as you can... Unclip the spinnaker pole from the saddle by pulling on the white cord; place the pole under your left arm with the end poking out about thirty centimetres (close enough that you can easily reach the end with your right hand); grab the spinnaker guy with your hand and clip it onto the pole while pulling on the white cord with your left; grab the clip on the uphaul from the top with your right hand, then clip it onto the ring on the top of the pole; now stand up and clip the other end of the pole onto the ring on the mast, taking care to pull the white cord away from the mast so the guy isn't released from the other end; next pull on the guy until the leeward side of the spinnaker comes into the right position; then cleat the guy and adjust the pole; loop the guy over the hook on the inside of the gunwhale, so you can sit on the gunwhale without getting caught; finally grab the sheet from the other side of the boat and pull it in until the spinnaker fills and then jump out on the side of the boat and start playing the sheet in and out to keep it perfectly trimmed.
There! And that's just the crew's job. Meanwhile, the helmsman's been hauling up the spinnaker halyard and somehow steering at the same time. And then to take it down again, you just have to do everything in reverse...
I'm sitting on the windward gunwhale (rail) of a Mirror dinghy and we're on the downwind leg of a race. I'm shifting my weight out and in to try to keep the boat level. One hand is clutching the port shroud (one of the lines that holds the mast up), so I can pull my weight in if needed. The other is holding the spinnaker sheet, a thin rope which runs across to the other side of the boat and then up to the far side of the spinnaker. As I lean out to balance the boat, I'm relying purely on feel to tell me when I've got it right, because my eyes are locked on the tiny blue spinnaker that's flying above us.
Every second, as we move along, I'm constantly adjusting the trim of the spinnaker (or "kite"). Every time the outer edge begins to curl, I pull in on the sheet until it stops. As soon as the curl is gone, I start letting it out again, trying to keep the sail set at the optimum angle, just a fraction before it curls too much. The race is going on around us, but I'm barely aware of it. My world has shrunk to the edge of the sail and the roll of the boat.
As we clip along, I can hear the sound of the boat changing. Instead of going "thwok thwok thwok" through the waves, we are now going "chokka-chokka-chokka". I can feel the spray flying up around me and there's suddenly a sensation of effortless speed (speed being relative, for a Mirror, of course - we're probably only going at my normal running pace). We've started "planing", when the boat begins to lift its hull gradually out of the water.
A few seconds later, and we've crossed the finish line. Time to douse the spinnaker and get it back on-board before the start of the next race.
This was my first time working the kite and it was a huge amount of fun, though nerve-wracking for a beginner. Setting it up and taking it down involve a long series of simple, but easily forgotten steps, all done as fast as possible but no faster. It's a bit like trying to strip and re-assemble a rifle under cannon fire. One mistake and you've blown the whole race.
Are you ready to try setting a spinnaker? Here we go, fast as you can... Unclip the spinnaker pole from the saddle by pulling on the white cord; place the pole under your left arm with the end poking out about thirty centimetres (close enough that you can easily reach the end with your right hand); grab the spinnaker guy with your hand and clip it onto the pole while pulling on the white cord with your left; grab the clip on the uphaul from the top with your right hand, then clip it onto the ring on the top of the pole; now stand up and clip the other end of the pole onto the ring on the mast, taking care to pull the white cord away from the mast so the guy isn't released from the other end; next pull on the guy until the leeward side of the spinnaker comes into the right position; then cleat the guy and adjust the pole; loop the guy over the hook on the inside of the gunwhale, so you can sit on the gunwhale without getting caught; finally grab the sheet from the other side of the boat and pull it in until the spinnaker fills and then jump out on the side of the boat and start playing the sheet in and out to keep it perfectly trimmed.
There! And that's just the crew's job. Meanwhile, the helmsman's been hauling up the spinnaker halyard and somehow steering at the same time. And then to take it down again, you just have to do everything in reverse...
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Date: 2014-07-10 12:53 pm (UTC)I can imagine! Watching the race, you get to see the whole flock of sailboats, vying, but if you're in one of the boats, I guess it must be like being in a parade. No way you can have a sense of the overall race.
And yes, it does sound very much like stripping and reassembling a rifle. Not that I've actually read how that's done, or done it myself, but I've seen people doing it in videos, and it seems very fiddly and precise and DIRE if there's a mistake.