An Evening with Dave Dellenbaugh

The Sailing Foundation, in partnership with the Seattle Thistle Fleet and Corinthian Yacht Club (Seattle), sponsored an evening lecture by Americas Cup and one-design champion Dave Dellenbaugh. The lecture was held at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle on Friday May 7, 2010. One hundred thirty two local sailors packed into MOHAI’s lecture hall to hear Dave’s secrets to success. The crowd represented a cross section of dinghy racers, keelboat sailors and even some cruisers from around the Pacific Northwest.

Dellenbaugh, author of the racing publication Speed Smarts, provided a collection of ‘rules-of-thumb’ for racers to follow to reduce risk around the race course and produce more consistent results. Lecture attendees were treated to a two-hour lecture followed by a question and answer session to close out the evening.

Thistle sailors from as far away as Portland and Eugene, OR, joined the local Seattle fleet for an on-the-water clinic run by Dellenbaugh the next day. Participants were treated to sunny weather and variable/shifty winds during the clinic on Lake Washington. Dellenbaugh, who is a six-time Thistle national champion, spent the first part of the day discussing boat set-up, crew and sail trim using a Thistle on a trailer in the parking lot at Leschi Marina.

The afternoon was filled with a variety of on-the-water drills for the 15 boats in attendance. Dellenbaugh captured video of the on-the-water action and provided a summary of observations, including individual feedback for each boat over dinner Saturday evening.

All in all, the weekend provided a great opportunity for many Northwest sailors to learn from a true champion!

Many thanks to Dave Dellenbaugh for sharing his experience and knowledge, the Seattle Thistle Fleet, TSF board members who helped make this event happen and CYC-Seattle. Click here to read an article on Dave's presentation by Bruce Sherman - CYC.

 

 

 

An Attendee's Observations - by Susannah Carr

On Friday night , Dave focused on strategic and tactical rules of thumb that he uses in fleet racing no matter the type of boat. Their purpose is to minimize risk around the race course, especially when you do not have a strong feeling for what the wind is going to do next. These are his strategic rules of thumb:

1) Sail the longer tack/jibe first;

2) Avoid laylines and corners;

3) Sail towards the next shift, i.e., where the next shift will be coming from;

4) In light air, go for puffs. In heavy air, go for shifts.

These are his tactical (boat-to-boat) rules of thumb:

1) Stay between other boats and the next mark;

2) Minimize lateral separation;

3) Protect the right side upwind (so you can approach the windward mark on starboard tack), and protect the left (looking downwind) as you sail downwind (again, so you can approach on starboard tack);

4) Cross other boat when you can;

5) Try to pass 1-2 boats at a time, not 10. That is, go for small gains.

Saturdays clinic had a great turnout—15 boats. Using Jack and Jen’s boat as a model, Dave spent a few hours going through the boat and discussing his set up. In general, he sails tighter than most boats, meaning more rig tension, more main tension, and more jib tension. This allows him to point higher, although it creates a narrower groove.

For set up, Dave thinks pre-bend is perhaps the most important thing. He has not more than ½” – 1”. The main wrinkles created by the pre-bend go to the first third or half of the main sail window. Dave sets his diamond tension pretty much to what the tuning guide recommends and doesn’t worry about it. If his crew is light, he’ll make the top diamonds looser.

Dave suggests adding tell tales to the middle of the jib luff, between the other two sets. He also suggests putting a tapered batten in the top batten pocket of the main sail. Upwind he likes the rollers for his centerboard right behind the hump in light air, and all the way back once his crew is on the rail.

For downwind, he emphasized the sail should be against the shrouds when you are DDW. Also, you probably don’t need as much vang as you think. It is good to let the top of the sail twist off so it is perpendicular to the mast. (It isn’t perpendicular without the twist because the sail is hampered by the shrouds.

For douses in light air, Dave suggested taking the pole off the mast and holding out, slightly away from the jib, at 11 or 1 o’clock as you approach the mark, so you can make your take down faster when the time comes. We in 3806 didn’t have time to try it, but it looks good.

After explaining these (and other) tips, we headed out onto the water. Conditions were light and puffy, calling for a lot of gear changing. To practice boat handling skills, we sailed extremely short (like 10 boatlengths) windward—leeward runs. We paired off and did upwind speed tuning (a great thing that is easy to practice with another boat). The whole group reconvened for practice starts and some races. We sailed a long downwind, and had a couple of rabbit start to sail back upwind. Throughout the day, Dave gave comments to each boat and took some video, which he showed the group after dinner. The video showed the importance of using your weight and sails to steer the boat in light air. Judging from the conversation at dinner, it seems as though every crew learned a number of things and found the extended practice with feedback worthwhile.