I mentioned Jim Turner and his exploits with the America's Cup team K-Challenge in a recent edition of Rolltacks. If you recall, it was about setting process goals rather than outcome goals, being able to measure your success or failure not just by the end result across the finish line, but how well you performed the various parts of the race regardless of what the final result was.
Well, of course, if you put all the process goals together and execute them well, then the end result is that you can win too. K-Challenge did this in Sicily recently, and in the most extraordinary of circumstances. On the penultimate day of the regatta, the French team sailed their 80-foot America's Cup Class boat across the start line against the Italian team Luna Rossa, wound on the rig tension and saw the deck start to crease around the mast. These warning signs are worth paying attention to. The next stage after this is to see the boat fold in half and sink beneath your feet. This has happened before to ACC boats, and in the most dramatic of style. So quite understandably, helmsman Thierry Peponnet bore the boat away from the high wind and pounding waves, eased off the rig tension and got back into port with as much haste as circumstances would allow.
David and Goliath
There was still a day's racing to go, so the shore crew had a major repair job on their hands. With no obvious materials for such a major structural repair, the crew had to look around for anything they could get their hands on. So they pilfered the tent poles for their temporary sailmaking tent, and grabbed the crew's wooden dining table. All night the crew worked to have the boat ready for a final day's match racing battle. The French prayed for sub-10 knots winds, not believing that their Ikea repair would be able to withstand anything stronger. The wind gods granted them their wishes, and off they went into battle against Alinghi.
Now bear in mind that Alinghi are the holders of the America's Cup, and this year have been beaten by no one in 31 straight match races, let alone by a shoestring team like K-Challenge, with a boat held together with tent poles. This was a David and Goliath duel, except that David was on crutches with one arm in a sling. But somehow K-Challenge took the fight to the Swiss and overtook them in the dying metres of the final run to the finish. Not only that, but they went on to beat the Spanish in their afternoon race. Helmsman Thierry Peponnet was overjoyed. It had been a tumultuous 24 hours, with a fairy-tale ending. "We won the race," he said, "but when we came ashore there was nowhere for us to eat dinner!"
I was discussing this epic story with Jim Turner's brother, the west country boatbuilder, whose name I won't mention on this occasion. It prompted Jim's brother to tell of his experiences at the Scorpion Nationals in Looe, when his bulkhead pulled out of the boat on a windy day. Having dropped the mast back as much as his rig tension system would allow, the ball-bearing block purchase was butting heavily up against the bulkhead. Eventually the load of the rig tension wrenched the bulkhead out in a mess of splinters. Faced with a K-Challenge lack of suitable materials, Jim's brother went back to his bed & breakfast and clamped eyes on the wardrobe in his bedroom. Turning the wardrobe around, he removed the back panel and sneaked it down to the boatpark, where back of wardrobe was converted into Scorpion bulkhead. The next day, Jim's brother's Scorpion was ready for battle again. Not only that, but it went on to finish runner-up in the Nationals. "Funny how these things work out?" said Jim's brother. "I wonder how long it took for them to find the back of their wardrobe was missing?" So B&B owner in Looe, if you're reading this, Jim's brother is sorry for cannibalising your wardrobe, but you can at least console yourself that you made a major contribution towards a successful National Championship. But if instead you want to track down the culprit, go to www.google.co.uk, type in Scorpion Nationals, Looe, and see if you can find anything that might help with your investigations.
National Championship Attendances Table
Mark Jardine's annual analysis of attendance figures at national championships always makes for fascinating reading in www.yachtsandyachting.com. The figures for 2005 point to another incredible year of growth in dinghy racing. Perhaps the Ellen MacArthur effect, the medals at the past two Olympics, and the ongoing good work of the RYA and thousands of organisers and volunteers around the country really are contributing to a growth in the sport.
As always, the top of the table is dominated by the youth classes, with the Optimist taking first place yet again with a record-breaking 335 boats. The Topper also appears to be benefiting from its conversion from transom sheeting to centre sheeting, showing steady growth five years ago from 120 boats to this year's whopping entry of 278. The Topper's rise seems to have done no harm to one of its perceived rivals, the Laser Radial, which added 67 more sailors to its entry this year, giving it a very respectable 197 - some way ahead of the standard rig Laser in 5th place with 104 boats.
The top 10 remains dominated by traditional classes, with the RS200 being the only boat to have been launched in the last 25 years. This little asymmetric just broke back into the 100-club this year, having dropped off the pace a little in 2004. It seems that the RS200 has now established itself as the Enterprise/ GP14 of the modern generation, the hiking doublehander where the top amateur sailors come to test their tactical nous.
Conversely, the RS400 seems to be in general decline, having been a regular member of the 100-club up until 2001. Since then, numbers have tailed off to the 57 that entered this year's Nationals. However, the overall trend is enormously encouraging for dinghy racing. While the Nationals Attendance table is only a very coarse barometer for gauging the health of our sport, it's interesting to compare the 3706 sailors that competed in championships in 1998, with the 5068 that raced at this year's events.
Merlin's magic
Two classes that just scrape into the top 10 are the Fireball in 9th and the Merlin Rocket in 10th. We looked at the secrets behind the Fireball's success recently in my chat with Steve Chesney, and I decided to do the same with the Merlin by giving class publicity man Will Rainey a call. The class came to Hayling Island for their Nationals, which attracted 82 boats, up from 65 in 2004. It was the Merlin's 60th anniversary, which probably dragged a few extra sailors out of the woodwork, but even so, this classic-looking boat is certainly on a general upward curve.
I asked Will what he thought the secret was, and he replied with a simple question: "When did you last sail a Merlin?" Er, never actually. But I saw his point immediately. The Merlin is reputedly a joy to sail, and I really must find out for myself some time.
The Merlin certainly is a beautiful boat to behold, with its clinker chines and narrow waterline flaring dramatically out to a wide gunnel. It makes for an excellent power-to-weight ratio for a hiking-out boat, to the point where a well-sailed Merlin can give a Fireball a good run for its money.
The myriad number of controls favoured by some sailors has never really taken my fancy, but boatbuilder David Winder has come up with an ingenious system, where one string changes everything all at once. What he's done is calculate all the ratios between the jib halyard, the main shrouds and the lower shrouds, so that when he pulls or releases this one string, he can rake the mast back or forwards while keeping all the wires tensioned in their correct proportions. Not only that, but he has even managed to incorporate the mast puller and the kicking strap into the equation, so that this one string is adjusting five different controls simultaneously.
David says the biggest advantage of the system comes at the windward mark, when Merlin sailors like to pull their mast tip forwards over the bow for added speed offwind. Normally this is a two-minute operation while the helm has his head in the bottom of the boat releasing and pulling on different bits of rope. Meanwhile, David can work his magic piece of string and then get on with sailing, no doubt overtaking those sailors still tangled up in their cat's cradle of control lines. Small wonder, then, that many other Merlin sailors have followed suit and added this neat upgrade to their own boats. For some crews, this has become their primary control upwind, raking the mast back as a gust is about to strike or pulling the mast back upright when the wind lulls.
Having such simplicity to hand must be even more crucial at Salcombe Week, that great annual Mecca for Merlin racing. While 82 boats for the Nationals was a good turn-out for the class, you can always guarantee that the Salcombe regatta will be booked to capacity. This event is so popular that the Merlins are restricted to 96 boats, and it fills up every time.
Don't fancy yours
Of course, the quality of the boat is just one part of the answer to the Merlin's fortunes. The other is the quality of the people, and judging by some of the pictures on the class website, these people know how to have a good time. The Nationals included a fancy dress party where you had to come along dressed according to the name of your boat. So for example Alan Warren, owner of the Golden Snitch, came dressed as Harry Potter. Simple enough, you might think, but spare a thought for the owners of Merlins with names like Poached Salmon, Tight Fannylastic, or Who's a Pretty Boy. It just goes to show how important choosing a boat name can be.
As for the Nationals results, it was that man again - Phil King - who won in a class that he seems to have dominated forever. He was crewed by Linton Jenkins, who was also the man who built the winning boat, the Ministry of Pleasure, with his fellow west-country craftsman Kevin Driver, another sailor who has enjoyed success crewing for Phil. And just two points behind in 2nd place was David Winder, crewed by Jilly Blake, sailing one of his boats, which these days account for the majority of new Merlins to hit the water.
What is it with west-country boatbuilders and their canny ability to win races? Jon Turner used to build and then sail the winning Merlins and International 14s through the 1980s and 1990s. Lyme Regis-based builder Chris Turner (no relation) who borrowed an Albacore and won the World Championships a few weeks ago at his home club of Lyme Regis. I hear Chris did quite well at the Scorpion Nationals at Looe this year too, despite some ad hoc boat repairs...
