My friend and knowledgeable critic Tink on the Woodenboat forum asked if the Oz Goose sailing dinghy was crew weight sensitive in our racing. In other words whether light or heavy crews have an advantage in Oz Goose racing for getting the best speed.
We have already demonstrated the low cost and quite good performance of the boats for racing.
Competitive Sailors are crew weight conscious – is that important in an Oz Goose?
He made the good point that many good sailors choose boat types that favour their body weight.
At my club for many it is all about the winning and some people chop and change classes to give themselves the best chance of winning. A skilled sailor can probably win in most boats but having the right boat for your weight is a key factor.
I moved to the Streaker because I am top of the weight limit and would like to be the weight that is optimal for the Streaker. My race results are improving as a get closer to that weight, currently (well before the holidays) half way there. There have been attempts to have equalising systems, movable racks etc, but they never seam to catch on because people actually don’t want to be equal they want and advantage – perceived or real.
And then the question
How crew weight sensitive is the goose?
After two years of racing we are starting to know if the goose is crew weight sensitive or not
The geese have been racing regularly and are starting to attract some good sailors.
It was nice being usually at the head of the pack for two years – but I think that seems to be over.
So now … there are a number of sailors that I would say are as capable at keeping racing dinghies going fast in the fleet. Some may be more capable as we will see below!
A couple of times we have had a mix of singlehanded geese and two handed geese racing together. This is something we will keep going. Never separate the fleet so that there is flexibility for families, school groups and friends to swap crew members in and out. From morning to afternoon or between successive races.
Heavy vs light crews in the Oz Goose Nationals 2017 – one up vs two up.
Nice shot from the second day of the Nationals 2017. Winner, Peter and Angelique in #05, Second (me and crew Lyn) in #3 and third place finisher Job and Mikee in #14. There were some serious windshifts with wind coming off the hillside to windward, so I am behind and sailing high in a lull so won’t underlay the mark. Peter is closer so can head more directly for the mark.
At the Nationals Peter Capotosto won. He sailed the first day singlehanded when his crew didn’t turn up. Winds were very light. I had Lyn who was visiting with her school from the southern capital of Davao as crew in my boat.
Here is a photo of the conditions going Peter has just gone around the mark and both of us have been affected by a large windshift.
In the light stuff when he was singlehanded we were right on his tail for most of the races.
My feeling was with windward leeward courses there is almost no difference in speed.
He ended up winning and we came in second. There was more wind the second day and Peter had a crew and it was still close fought. So whether he had a crew or not the distance was about the same in light winds showing the Oz Goose is not very crew weight sensitive.
Club Racing April 2018 Morning – good fleet, light wind and short courses.
The geese are starting to get good fleets for club racing so consistent trends about ideal crew weight are becoming clear.
In the morning the wind was very light and a visiting sailor from India, Sriram, showed up how it was done. He enjoyed himself so much he is going to bring his family to racing. His kids are now the same age he was when he started sailing Optis.
Even the singlehanded boats having an advantage in the extremely light winds (first race was abandoned) at the top end of the fleet the boats were very mixed and matched.
In the afternoon racing, Sriram had gone to an appointment (Phew 🙂 That is him giving us a lesson in the photo above but Peter got past the mark a bit ahead). the wind was very light winds (2 to 3kn).
Club Racing April 2018 Afternoon – a tiny bit more consistent breeze – single handed vs double handed boats
In the afternoon a little more breeze – still patchy but topping out at around 5kn.
The fastest boat left was Peter alone with the radical paint scheme below. Then me and new sailor Jen as crew in the light blue boat and then Edwin and crew in a white boat. Another reasonable test of crew wind sensitivity in conditions where it is critical in other boats.
I kept making major foul ups in my racing – getting tangled with other boats, getting the course mixed up a couple of times. Each time these setbacks were quite major.
Jen got some steering practice between races timing our approach away from then to the committee boat for the last 60 second countdown where I would take over.
Each time I messed it up, Jen and I managed to work our boat back into contention in almost all the races, within shooting distance of Peter.
He never made the mistake we needed to get past him … but we were right there waiting … and waiting …
… Oh those endless light wind downwinds.
The blue boat we were sailing had the reputation of being the slowest in the fleet . Crews swap boats regularly as they are allocated on the day. But the blue boat is considered slow because it is pretty heavy.
We all put the boats in and out of the racks each day. It doesn’t help the crew’s mindset that the paint was put on with a thick nap roller.
But it did good for us.
Speed differences vs crew weight sensitive in the Oz Goose class
My suspicion is that there will be a significant difference in single handed vs two handed speed if there is high medium and strong wind power reaching.
But most modern windward leeward courses don’t really allow that possibility very often.
I think part of the reason is the very big sail – almost 90 sq ft. Lightweight solo crews don’t get a strong upwind advantage as they do in some classes. But, they can hang in and just about make up the distance on equal length downwind legs. Not so much slower upwind and not so much faster down.
Job in the brownish boat is quite light and is around the third quickest in the fleet. But even in moderate breezes he has problems keeping the boat optimally flat. This slows him up a fraction, but he makes much the same distance up again downwind. It is pretty close with Roy who is a big fellow. Job and Roy are always battling it out just behind the leaders. And the leaders have to be careful not to slip up 🙂
With two on board there is much more power available in moderate and strong winds.
The Oz Goose behaviour is quite different. Singlehanded in these conditions it is like many light dinghies. You have to weave a course between the worst of the waves. With a crew of two the waves hardly stop the Goose. There is so much power available. Free off a fraction, small amount of heel, hike hard and the wave is smashed into oblivion. If the bow catches it at all.
Up to about 20knots the best double handers and single handers are about even. But above about 22/23 and the singlehanders start to be too overpowered to get upwind well.
Look out downwind though!!! So at this stage of the class’s development it would have to be considered to be not very crew weight sensitive.
Find out about the Oz Goose sailing dinghy.