Wind & Comparable Races

True wind ranged 5.9–18.0 kn (avg 11.7 kn, direction steady around 350° ±12°) — a reasonable match to the race note's 8–16 kn call, with wider gust/lull tails. Two races make useful comparisons here: race 18 (2026-08-31, "Monday Nights", avg 11.1 kn) was sailed by this same two-person crew in nearly identical wind but white sail only, isolating the effect of flying the kite tonight; race 16 (2026-08-24, "Monday Night", avg 11.7 kn — an almost exact wind match) was sailed fully crewed (5) with a kite, isolating the effect of crew count.

Upwind the boat held 83.7% of polar target, essentially matching both comparables (84.2% and 85.3%) — beat speed doesn't move much with either the kite or crew count. TWA averaged 49.1° against a 38.4° target (10.7° wide, footing low), the widest beat angle of the three races. Downwind, with the kite flying, run performance reached 78.6% of target — a clear jump from this same crew's 69.5% on white sail alone, though still short of the fully-crewed kite run's 84.6%; actual TWA ran 147.9° vs a 150.4° target (2.5° tighter than optimum, sailing a touch high of the groove). Reach numbers (74.2%, n=68) are too thin a sample to read much into.

Nine tacks lost 44.0% of speed on average (8.1s duration, 8.3s recovery) — slightly worse than this same crew's white-sail tacks (42.0%) and clearly worse than the fully-crewed race (38.8%), so flying the kite didn't help (and may have added to) short-handed tacking cost. Three gybes, by contrast, lost only 14.6% on average — better than the fully-crewed comparison's 23.1%, a genuinely strong result for two people handling a kite gybe. Heel averaged 20.8° upwind (higher than either comparable) but dropped to just 3.9° on the run, consistent with a flat, controlled kite run. The two clearest strengths tonight were clean, low-loss gybes and a real downwind speed gain from flying the kite short-handed; the two most important gaps were tack execution and a wider-than-usual beat angle, both plausibly tied to two people managing extra kite gear while tacking.

Coaching Recommendations

1. Tacks lost 44.0% of speed on average — worse than this same crew's white-sail tacks (42.0%) and well above the fully-crewed race (38.8%); the kite gear on deck is, if anything, making short-handed tacks more costly, so a tack sequence that accounts for where the kite/sheets sit during the tack is likely worth more than any trim change.
2. Run performance jumped to 78.6% from 69.5% the last time this crew sailed white-sail only — flying the kite double-handed clearly works and is worth repeating — but there's still a real gap to the fully-crewed kite run (84.6%), plausibly trim-related with only two people to steer and trim the kite at once.
3. Gybes were the standout tonight at 14.6% average loss, actually cleaner than the fully-crewed race's 23.1% — worth a quick debrief on what specifically went right (timing, calls, load handling) since it's a technique that's clearly working and worth reinforcing.