Things to Think About While Practicing for a Lido Regatta
–affect on forestay thus sail shape of both the head sail and Main sail.
Cunningham in different water and wind conditions.
While the skipper works on speed to weather the crew should have the jib sheet in hand, always ready to ease for chop. While the crew is hiking in heavy air and not working the sheet, they should be keeping their arms as max out to even more efficiently project their weight.
Getting the stern out of the water.
Reducing wetted surface.
Talking about the puffs.
Talking about tactics.
Other boats.
General information on the fleet.
Extra shrouds and forestay.
Extra tiller.
Extra jib fairleads
Extra cleats
Extra bolts, nuts and screws.
On the boat carry the minimum to get by, a couple of ring dings (round cotter keys, a tiller bolt, couple of various sized shackles, two of the small bolt keys for the jib tack.
Make the lines as easily reachable as possible, and color coordinate so rather then talking line named specific, talk in colors. Always react faster as left and right rather then port starboard.
Get the bottom of the boat as smooth as possible, all the way to 2000grt sand paper, not only is it fast, but the boat’s hull is more tightly sealed thus less water absorption into the glass. Another nice aspect of a 2000grt bottom is the fact that the bottom scuffs less easily and is much nicer looking (shiny)
Foils (rudder and centerboard) should be just as smooth as the hull.
Kenny Read boat handling practice.
Get the crew driving the boat so they know what the skipper is feeling at the helm.
Get the skipper into the bow position so they know how to work the crew position. Skipper may find better way of completing crew tasks, and see ways for the crew and skipper to work together better.
Lots of liquids, stay away from (heavy meals)
5 year plan for best performance at Nationals.
Start small working up to a goal for year one. The Lido is a ver y hard boat to sail because of the sloppy rig, its really not a good beginners boat for that reason, so if your beginning hang on, if not its simply a steep learning curve any way you look at it.
Start = 75 + percent of a race.
Cover, Cover, Cover.
Keep an eye on the leaders.
Where are the leaders going; there up there for a reason.
Sail with your head out of the boat.
Don’t forget about the big picture especially on light, shift or long races.
By Tom Jenkins
Version 1.3 01/02/03