Riding the Rocket - Don Martin, August 2005

We have been sailing the Rocket 22 for six months. We have sailed in every wind condition from 30 knots down to nothing and in sea states from a very lumpy tidal chop to flat water with lots of wind (or none). With more than 25 races under our keel it's a good time to reflect on where we have been, what we have learned and where we are going.

Probably the most common theme throughout all our Rocketing has been how much fun this boat is to sail. The controls just plain work and the cockpit makes everyone look like a pro. This boat is a pleasure to sail all the time. Each crew member onboard feels like part of the team since there's a job for everyone. Perhaps the greatest satisfaction we have had is how well the boat goes upwind in all wind speeds. The Rocket points like crazy without losing speed. The large sail plan provides lots of power and the deep foils and heavy bulb do the job underwater. The wide deck beam lets the crew weight really work while the narrow waterline beam cuts down drag in light airs. Of course this all-round performance, especially upwind, was our intention for the boat from the outset; we didn't want to produce another light-weight flyer that could only perform in heavy air downwind. The Rocket 22 is not a lightweight; for her length she is much heavier than many contemporary sport boats. This extra weight provides tons of righting moment to work along with the huge sail plan. The Rocket 22 is not your average sportboat.

Another thing we have re-learned is that the much maligned PHRF system is undoubtedly the best handicap system going for the people it serves. The Rocket 22 began life with a PHRF of 141, this quickly changed to 116 and now we rate 105 in PHRF-NW. There has been a lot of controversy over our handicap, but in reality I don't think one of our series results so far would have changed if we had started out life with our current 105 handicap. What should the boat rate? Hey, that's not my job but I know we sail about 15 seconds slower than an Olson 30 in most conditions and we can pretty much hold a masthead J 29. I said about 4 months ago that I thought the handicap for the Rocket would settle in around 125 - I still think this is not far off - but I understand and accept our current 105 number. Time will tell, once we have more boats out racing we will get a much better picture of what the boat should be sailing at. I said that PHRF is the best system going for the racing we do. Our handicap has changed on an average of every five weeks over the last six months for a total change of more than 30 seconds per mile. What other system could act so proactively to serve the racers? Many unpaid PHRF organizers work long and hard on behalf of our sport and they deserve our thanks and gratitude.

There is always a huge amount of unbelievably misinformed gossip swirling around out there concerning the PHRF handicap process. Of course this is the meat and potatoes of PHRF: One of the big advantages of PHRF is that no one ever has to lose, whenever they lose it's because of their handicap, whenever they win, they sailed perfectly. When the PHRF whiners start going at it, one is usually reminded of the adage: "Consider the source". Personally, I feel compassion and sympathy for all PHRF whiners, I know your pain.

At the recent Whidbey Island Race week the PHRF system worked almost perfectly. We sailed 7 races in an 11 boat fleet which included two Rocket 22s and 8 boats between 30 and 34 feet (the 11th boat was an Olson 29). In my opinion, the fleet results at the end of the week long series represented exactly the how well each crew sailed during the week with only two exceptions: "MOJO", a well sailed Olson 30, out-sailed us and should probably have finished ahead of "Rocket" to put us from 2nd to 3rd. In 4th place was a J 33 which probably should have finished 5th after the Olson 30 "Lunch Box". The J 33, despite mediocre downwind speed and some glaring tactical lapses, finished well even though she sailed with far too much crew weight all week long. If they had ditched 3 or 4 of their 11! person crew they would have been much more competitive in the flat water and light to moderate winds that prevailed. With the way she sailed, and dragging around this much excess weight, the J33 should not have been able to place 4th. Apart from these two hiccups I think that everyone in the class would agree that PHRF worked pretty darn well for the whole regatta. The regatta was won by the R 22 "Rocket Science" who out-sailed all comers, period. We finished a "not-so-well-deserved" second in "Rocket" just ahead of that well-sailed Olson 30 "MOJO".

At Whidbey we raced against a fleet of 8, faster rated, 30+ footers. We could hang with them upwind and downwind we were deadly. The big masthead kite of the R 22 allows you to sail very low on running legs - be careful not to get sucked into sailing too high - the bow wave will sound good but you'll take longer to get to the leeward mark. In light winds (up to 8) downwind you want to have the crew as far forward as possible with one crew just ahead of the mast. As soon as the wind is strong enough to allow you to heel to windward without screwing up the main do it. (try for neutral or slightly lee helm - more heel to windward = more lee helm). Having the pole lift and downhaul on both sides of the boat is excellent for running in all conditions; the crew can adjust the pole height without having to move around the boat. The pole downhaul is not too important except for steadying the pole - the twings will keep the pole height under control while running (try pulling the lee side twing fairly hard just before gybing - it keeps the new "guy" close to the boat for the foredeck hand and keeps the spinnaker from flying up during the gybe when the pole is not attached- sometime try gybing back and forth with no pole - just use the twings to control the kite. On "Rocket" we now stow the pole on the main boom. We are totally satisfied with this system - the light carbon pole makes pole management easy and the foredeck is cleared up for the jib sheets. One thing: the cockpit crew must be ready to take the pole from the foredeck hand just before takedown.

We still love the SYM kite. I will concede that the ASM is pretty good fun for ripping across the bay while day sailing - and gybing is very easy. As for boat speed; the boat will occasionally be faster in a straight line reaching with the ASM but it will virtually never be faster for running VMG - the extra distance reaching will never be compensated for by the extra speed gained (the boat is too heavy for this). One thing we did find out at Whidbey is that in hard running it is nearly impossible to go mining ("down the shaft" as the Aussies say). The bow is so full and flared that as the boat crashes into the wave ahead after a big surf a huge sheet of spray flies off the bow and it seems like you're heading straight at Niagara Falls. So far the bow has always lifted and popped up. (Ask some of the folks that were cheering as we went by on day one at Whidbey what all this looked like!!)

Ken Hope from "Rocket Science" has developed an ingenious jib halyard swivel which allows the jib to be hoisted using a conventional jib halyard - more importantly the jib halyard tension can be easily controlled while sailing. Speaking of the jib we have found that the position of the jib leads is very important on the Rocket - keep them forward for a closed jib leech until you're fully powered up, after that move the lead aft quickly (about 6 inches max range) as the wind comes up - this makes sure that the jib leech opens and prevents mainsail backwinding (very slow). If the main is flogging and the jib is full it's not because there's too much wind; it's because your jib leads are too far forward and/or your jib is sheeted too hard (very heavy winds).

What is the secret of "Rocket's" success at Whidbey? - First, the Rocket is perfect for the job at Whidbey - windward leewards, mostly flat water and lots of tacks and gybes.
Even the best boat needs meticulous preparation to be successful; we had every one of our nearly new sails re-cut just before the regatta. We optimized all our PHRF numbers just before we arrived. We refinished our keel and hull including Teflon-coating all underwater surfaces the week before the regatta. We were the first boat on the race course almost every day, practicing and checking the shifts for at least an hour before each start. We were the only boat that hauled every day after racing. AND we came second to "Rocket Science".

Is it really that much fun sailing at Rocket 22? As my friend said: new sailing gloves $34, beer tent pass at Whidbey $55, crossing the finish line ahead of every boat over 30 feet in your Rocket 22: priceless.

What's up next for the Rocket? A little more refining of the hardware package, a lot more fun and exciting racing and a fall of delivering more boats than we thought we ever would during our first year of production. Good sailing.

August, 2005