Wind & Comparable Races

True wind ranged 2.3–14.3 kn (avg 8.0 kn). The closest comparable by average wind is race 13 (2026-08-10, "Monday Night WOW extension", avg 8.5 kn, 2.0–13.0 kn).

Overall the boat achieved 73.2% of polar target upwind and 79.1% on the reach, both ahead of race 13's 65.3%/41.9%. Downwind came in at 68.2% of target, only slightly ahead of race 13's 62.8% — but that number is misleading on its own: it's dragged down by a single incident rather than a fleet-wide technique gap (see below). Upwind TWA averaged 45.2° against a 41.0° target (4.2° wide — footing low); on the run TWA averaged 141.5° against a 147.5° target (6.0° shy — sailing higher/tighter than target depth).

The fouled spinnaker halyard, in the data: after the bear-away onto the run at 19:23 (local ADT / 22:23:24 UTC), boat speed never settled into a clean downwind groove — it drifted down through the 22:23–22:27 stretch, then collapsed hard. From about 19:27:30 to 19:40:00 local (22:27:30–22:40:00 UTC, roughly 12–13 minutes), boat speed was stuck mostly between 1.5 and 2.3 kn — well under half the polar target and far below the 4–7 kn the boat was making on the same run before and after — consistent with the kite never getting a clean set while the halyard was fouled. Speed then snapped back cleanly: by 19:40:30 local the boat was back to 3.5–4.6 kn and climbing, and by 19:41 it was running at 73–80% of target, in line with the rest of the race. So the practical answer: roughly 13 minutes lost to the fouled halyard on that one run leg, with a fast, clean recovery once it was cleared — the crew's recovery itself was not the problem, the 13 minutes stuck at sub-2 kn was.

Nine tacks lost 27.3% of speed on average with an 8.9s duration and a notably quick 3.6s recovery; three gybes lost 26.8% over 12.0s. Heel averaged 15.1° upwind and 13.1° on the reach (signed heel +7.0°, more weather heel than usual for a reach — possibly related to the boat struggling to depower cleanly while sorting out the halyard) and 5.2° downwind otherwise.

Coaching Recommendations

1. The fouled spinnaker halyard cost roughly 13 minutes of near-stalled boat speed (1.5–2 kn vs a normal 4–7 kn) on one run leg — worth a pre-race halyard/lead check specifically for snags before the first downwind hoist, since the rest of the boat's downwind speed (68–80% of target) was solid once sailing clean.
2. Tacks were efficient tonight — 27.3% average loss with just a 3.6s recovery, a real improvement over race 13's 39.5% loss on a similar wind night. Whatever changed in tack execution is working; keep it.
3. Both beat (4.2° wide) and run (6.0° shy) angles missed target in opposite directions — footing low upwind, pinching high downwind — the same pattern worth addressing as a pair rather than a single "sail lower" or "sail higher" fix.