Hi all;
As a new owner of Prindle 19 I have a question to the respected members of this forum.
I recently bought a P19. I am new to cat sailing; used to sail Finn, maybe 12 years ago.
so make long story short I participated in my first race on this Sunday. basically it was a Hobie 16 race with only me having another cat .
As I expected I came last but the most embarrassing was the fact that we had such a huge gap between our boat and H16 fleet and we were so behind! I am still feeling bad about it; you know all these jokes like thanks for coming and so on )
my weight is 210 lb , crew is about the same , there was a light wing 5-7 mph , have old style dacron jib and main.
I understand that my lack of experience and all this but I never expected such a huge gap . Could anyone give me some clues regarding
P19 setting and handling for the very light wind ? apart from my tactical mistakes is any way to be more competitive with smaller and lighter
cats ? probably P19 is not suited very well for the lakes and light winds ? when wind was increasing just a bit I saw like we were catching them up , cat started to sing but. after wind dies and we slow down the next puff do not help us too much.
but this the closest and the most convenient lake to me where I can leave the boat on the beach relatively speaking for free. the closest NJ / NY ocean shore is about 80 miles from me.
we touched downhaul , outhaul looks like nothing worked. Again it looked like whatever we did
it was wrong !! is loosing a weight only an option
thanks for reply

Ruslan, glad you finally got the boat rigged and sailing...major step forward! Regarding your race result, if you were competing against an experienced fleet, the difference in skill will show more in light wind than heavier winds.
Did you have tell tales on your sails? Do you and your crew constantly watch them and adjust the sails? What settings did you change from the upwind leg to the downwind leg (main traveler? jib leads? mast rotator? downhaul?) Considering the light winds, did you have the sail too flat? (too much outhaul/downhaul, too little mast rotation, too much mainsheet / jibsheet tension? A common mistake of novice sailors is that they think "the hard I pull, the faster I'll go").Where were you both positioned on the boat (crew should be forward of sidestay, you right next to crew). How smooth are your manoevers, do you and your crew have a trained tacking/gybing routine?

Ending last in your first race is not embarassing, even if it's against H16's...If you are just starting to race cats, you're looking forward to a learning curve many years - which makes this just such a great sport...Talk to people, keep on racing and go out training your manoevers...And come on down to our club some day for a race...

Both sails want to be somewhat curvy to make power. The main should be twisted off, just enought to notice, to account for wind shear and the higher velocities at masthead levels. I have the best luck dropping the traveller a few inches in very light air. Catius suggested having weight forward, which is great, but y'all may need to be farther forward yet. Keep going forward till the transoms quit dragging. You'll know when they stop making any kind of noise. Crew may need to go to the leeward hull as well, forward of the main beam. As for downhaul, pull it down until the sail quits getting fuller; that's your max power setting. Outhaul to flatten the foot a little, I usually want it 2-3" off the boom.
Rembember, Hobie 16's have a lot more sail area for their weight than we do on the 19's, so when it's real light, we DO tend to get sucked out back. Have fun!

The P19 is a great boat, and it can be fast in light air. Your skills may be good, but if your competing with teams that are at class miminum weight, if will be hard to keep up, even if it is a Hobie 16.
The crew weight for the P19 is about 300 lbs, if your sailing at 420 lb crew weight, your 17% high(385+300).

In light air I find pinching is slow, foot off a little and keep the boat moving.

Scott

Your total combined weight is a big problem until the wind gets over 15knots. In air that light(5-7 knots) you need 180lbs or less on the boat. The downhaul should be on enough to remove all wrinkles in the luff of the main. You need to keep your weight forward of the main beam on all points of sail. Attach a bridle fly to the point where the bridles from the bow join the forestay. You need to know your apparent wind in these light conditions. Keep the telltales on your main and jib flying at all times-especially on the leeward side. If you do all of these things you should be doing significantly better in light air. You have the distinct advantage of caring about sailing more efficiently. A lot of people just go out to float around. You're bound to improve.

Thanks a lot to you guys, all your tips are really helpful, I really appreciate that.
I managed to participate in some more races since my original post, so far results were mixed but overall much better, we even managed to finish first in one "all boats regatta" race on our lake.
Bridle fly came out to be quite handy, thanks to gregP19 . Now I see that P19 is a great boat indeed ,she has a lot of potential and it is just a matter of right handling and experience.
I've noticed that combined weight is really important but it is not all. we were the heaviest team again when took first place in one race. thanks to correct weight distribution according to Caitus and Andrew's tips. Remarkable that again a lot of H16 were singlehanded but only one H16 with 2 adults + 1 kid crew !!,
nevertheless exactly that particular hobie finished first in 2 races and passed the others singlehanded H16 . wind's speed was probably about from 5 to 9 mph .
In some other 2 races every cat was singlehanded including me; so I finished second and one time I came first .
As far as I see it right now that the guy who wins is the guy that makes less mistakes. (and sometimes forces the others to make them )