Meeting Minutes for Sonar Fleet 5 April 18th 2009

In attendance:

Ernest Brody 24
Duane and Sara Olmstead 25
Tom Brown 40
Dave Olson 41
Dan Hollinger 69 Head Up Head Down
Chuck and Cheryl Bangasser 159
John Graves 231
Mark Kochendorfer 239
Warren and Paula Weck 311
Becca Lundberg and JR Rainaldi 371
Chris Fittapaldi 370
Marty and Kathy Fossen 391
John and Liz Sligh 464
Bert and Carmella Foster 757

Not in attendance but on the roster:

Joe Becky 22
Howard and Jill Noreen 113
Allan Green 200


There were numerous other people there as well and Chris fed us all really well. Thanks you very much Chris. Here briefly are "minutes" for those who were unable to
attend. Those who did attend, please let me know what needs to be added or amended.:

WELCOME JOHN GRAVES!

Mark Kochendorfer has added to the Sonar section of the WYC.org site. Check it out.

Team Racing in Sheboygan in August. See Bert's e-mail or the link on the web site for info. Numerous people are interested. Payment secures a spot. Extra people beyond nine people might fill in on Winnipeg team if they don't fill.

See WYC.org about "Morning Light" event.

Lonar - 3rd Big Island 6/20. No normal Sonar Big Island race that day. 4th Big Island 6/27 is a backup if 6/20 gets canceled.

Star of the North Regatta 9/18,19,20 Capris and Sonars, S2s unlikely due to out of town S2 event.

2011 Sonar NAs at Wayzata approved. September, dates pending.

Area K Sears Cup qualifier (youth championship), Howard Noreen is helping coordinate and will be asking to borrow Sonars (they carry insurance)

Chris Fittapaldi is bowing out as Fleet Captain. Mark Kochendorfer agreed to step-up so he is now Fleet Captain. Marty Fossen "ascends" to treasurer. Sara Olmstead agreed to
become Secretary.

As my last secretary task, in the coming week I'll put together the schedule for who gets which Sunday for the post-race Sonar Snack.

Mark has collected dues from some. $20/boat. As your new treasurer, I'll be pursuing those yet to pay.

Mark offered a treasurer's report. There's a balance, plus pins for sale, a couple shirts?, and Bert has WYC burgee tattoos that could be sold to raise a few bucks. CURRENT BALANCE $663 $470 SPENT ON FOOD LAST YEAR FOR B-SERIES PARTY. PINS AVAILABLE AT $5. TALK TO CHUCK ABOUT HATS THAT MIGHT GET ORDERED.

As of Sunday, I believe there were more Sonars in the water than boats of any other fleet. Let's play.

CARMELLA SAID MERIDETH HOISINGTON WHO TEACHES BLIND CHILDREN WILL BE SEEKING VOLUNTEERS FOR BOAT RIDES FOR HER STUDENTS.

ERNIE PROPOSED "KIDS AT THE HELM" RACE. DETAIL PENDING.

FLEET AGREES TO CONTINUE TO WETSAIL, EXCEPTIONS MADE WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES MERIT.

BOATS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
#70 OLMSTEADS
#159 BANGASSER
#19? TOM KVALE

Meeting minutes

Meeting minutes May 18th 2008

'08 Officers
Fleet Captain Chris Fittipaldi
Treasurer Mark Kochendorfer
Secretary Marty Fossen

Boats represented at meeting: Amity Tally Ho Finns Up Encore Sonyar Liberty Ship Weck 370 Zataway Surly Angel Gusto Sesame Street
Boats not represented but, I believe, in the fleet this year: Presto Azor Happy Hours Captain Hook

Dues:
Last year only a couple paid dues. It was agreed to that last year's dues would be collected as well as this years. Please pay Mark K. $20 for this year and, if you didn't pay last year, that $20 also.

Schedule: 6/7 Lonar 3rd Big Island "Libations" to follow
Back-up day 4th Big Island, 6/21

ADA 6/14-15 Invitations to be extended to Canadians, Genevans, KCns. Who offered to do this?
8/3 Sonars and Ensigns to host B-series Party Warren, once again, offered to arrange food but asked for solid volunteering for staffing, helping, clean-up, etc.

Lake Geneva Great Lakes Regional Regatta. They want to accomodate our preference for dates if possible. It was agreed we'd ask for the event to be the weekend of 9/20-21 which is the weekend of WYC Fall Regatta

Possibly a Local Sonar Regatta in conjuntion with Capri event weekend of 9/26-28 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) potentially 7 races.

Galloway lessons from Marty

Hello Fleet 5, Sorry it's taken so long to forward lessons learned from sailing with Peter Galloway. My slowness is partly due to the fact that I've been trying to translate the concepts across various wind strengths and sea states but have had limited success. The most significant change I've made that does translate to various wind strengths is to keep the leeward tell tales on the jib glued to the sail. Before I'd too often allow them to flicker just slightly to make sure I kept speed or regained lost speed. When Peter was on board, anytime that leeward tell tale even fluttered slightly, he'd tell me to get it up. Of course riding closer to the edge of speed loss is tricky and being in the right gear become more critical. Another excellent lesson was the roll tacking stuff. Study the roll tacking video on Sonar.org if you haven't. It does take a lot of practice to get the whole crew in sinc but it really makes a difference that you'll feel immediately when you all get the rhythm right. One of the ingredients is when to stop the turn. I'd had a tendency to overtack to get better acceleration, but was, of course, giving up windward gains. Peter showed us that the turn should end just as the jib is filled (at power trim setting) and tell tales on both sides are streaming. This wouldn't give that same acceleration that I'd had before unless we employed the proper roll tacking technique. This is then followed by the final trim after speed is back up. Of course the pace of the whole roll tacking process changes with wind strength so, again, it takes practice with the crew to get that pace tuned in. With regard to sail trim in general, Peter put us in a lower power, higher point mode than I had before. If the breeze is on at all, the traveler is lower and the main sheet is tighter than I had it before. I'm steering higher but only slightly slower. Part of the reason the traveler is lower is because Peter increased my rake (now about 25' 11 5/8") I have to sail higher and have the traveler lower or my helm gets way too heavy. The boat is quieter going through the water than before but my VMG is better. Good luck applying this stuff. On our boat we continue to struggle but we're making progress. MF

Light Air trim from Marty/Shepstone

Hello Fleet 5I'd asked Steve for his perspective on the Mid winters. Some of his response touched on light air trim which prompted me to ask more questions on that. Steve, of course, was very generous in sharing his knowledge. Here's some exerps from that correspondence:
Steve: In the last race of the first day, the race started in about 3-4 knots of breeze. We loosened the uppers 4 turns, lengthened the headstay to just under 26’, and blocked the mast all the way to the front end of the partner. We sailed away from the fleet for about 7/8 of the first beat.
The end of the boom was about 6” below the centerline, so we had close to no mainsheet tension. Easing the uppers and blocking increased the headstay sag, but also flattened the main. The main is designed for some mast bend. With very little load on the rig and almost zero mainsheet tension, the mast is too straight. The main looked too flat down low from the blocking, so we eased the outhaul about 1-1/2” or 2”. We also moved the jib lead forward to power up the bottom of the jib. The water was somewhat lumpy, but not really nasty. We loosened the lowers and had about ¾” of sag to leeward at the spreaders. With the jib really powered up, you end up with lee helm unless you have enough mast rake. When you’re set up for the really light air and the breeze picks up, we found that you have to move quickly to change the blocks, so you can pull the headstay straighter without over flattening the main.
Marty: You mentioned easing the outhaul. Does anything aid you in determining the right depth, or is it intuitive?
Steve: The depth choice is intuitive, but based on years of experience in a variety of boats, especially by my teammates, who are more into sail shapes than I am.
Marty: Have you ever tried in-hauling the jib clew with the windward sheet?
Steve: We didn’t try in-hauling in Florida, but we did do it in the one race where it didn’t blow hard when we were in England. When we tried it, it worked well, good pointing and speed. Bill Lynn trims directly from the block on the jib track across the boat to a cleat. In England, we put a small hook onto the jib sheet. A loop of line with a clam cleat in it went through the hook and an eye on the cabin top. I’m thinking of experimenting this year rigging the jib sheet like Bill Lynn does in the lighter air and rigging it the normal way when there’s more breeze. That will give us two lead angles. It may not be as good as the adjustable system we had in England, but I’m a fan of simplifying things.
Spring is getting closer. See you soon