What a month of May for both of Pied Piper's Racing Yachts. Pied Piper's Melges 24 returned to the Pied Piper Shed in Muskegon to prepare for the Muskegon Spring regatta. Mean while the SC 70 was also being prepared for the upcoming summer season.

Ben Biddick, J.B Shumaker, Dave Shriner and I worked in the shed during the day and sailed in the evenings through the week of May 14th through the 18th. On Saturday May 19th the Muskegon Spring Regatta began and 30 Melges 24's were on the starting line. In a fresh 12 to 16 knots of breeze five races were held. After day one Pied Piper was sitting in third one point out of second place overall. Consistency was the key as we never had a finish outside the top ten on day one. Day two was a big disappointment for us as the wind on the lake died during the start of race six. Our result in the only race of day two dropped us to sixth overall for the regatta.

We accomplished our goal of having the SC 70 launched first thing Monday morning and delivered her back to Chicago later that day. Torrensen marine was very helpful in accommodating our schedule and assisting in hanging our Melges 24 so we could work on the bottom and keel prior to the regatta.

This year we are attempting to improve the SC 70's performance in many small ways; First we addressed our sail inventory. In 2006 we raced with a very dated upwind sail inventory. We made some changes to our mainsail last year that added to the longevity of the sail and improved the sails performance when sailing close hauled. These changes consisted of putting two darts or broad seems horizontally through the sail and sucking some of the cloth together effectively making the sail flatter. Overall this change made the sail fit our rig and boat better. We were able to use our runners to add depth in the sail when needed and de-power enough without breaking the airflow across the sail. Our new mainsail is a development of the changes made to the previous generation. Our new main and #3 headsail are predominately built from carbon fiber unlike the last generation of sails which were entirely Kevlar construction. Carbon fiber is stronger then Kevlar meaning it does not stretch as much under load therefore the sail holds its intended design shape better. In addition an asymmetric spinnaker was added to the inventory to help in light wind downwind conditions.

Next we attempted to address some of our difficulties in wind ranges under 10 knots. Two major changes were addressed here. First we looked at the bottom of the boat which was wet sanded to a smooth finish. A similar process to what we did last year but we did a better job with a finer grade of wet sand paper. In addition we made an epoxy fairing around the zinc on the prop shaft to help the water flow around it more easily. It is always important to make sure that the boat moves through the water easily but in light wind any rough spots on the boat can slow the boats momentum through the water. The second major adjustment is in our rig and sail plan. Through the use of a hydraulic mast jack and specially designed mast plates we now can easily adjust the tension of the standing rigging and more easily control the leeward sag characteristic of the rig. This change will take some trial and error to find what settings work best in the different conditions.

We also are working to save weight aloft in the rig. We changed out the center line and main halyard and replaced both of them with considerable lighter materials. We also striped the cover off our wing halyard. This means a better righting moment for the boat.

On the topic of righting moment the lower lifeline has been fitted with hiking pads so the crew can hike harder for longer without having to adjust there weight back into the boat.

This past weekend (June 1-3) the team Ben Biddick, J.B Shumaker and I continued to race the Melges 24 in the Detroit National Offshore One Design Regatta, with the addition of a new fourth crew, Mallory Brown. We placed 3rd Overall in the light winds of Lake St. Claire (32 boats competed). Based on the forecast J.B and I choose to race with a light crew of only four people weighing in 110 lbs under the max weight limit. It was a risk that paid off as the wind speed rarely went over 7 knots. Mix that with some very good starts on a short course and we were able to stay very consistent improving in each race with a 10, 7, 2 score line.  

The summer is off to a great start, we are all looking forward to the Chicago National Offshore Regatta which we will start training for Tuesday June 12.

Jack Jennings
Pied Piper Racing