JANUARY 6, 2026 A SURPRISE WIND

 

JANUARY 6, 2026

A SURPRISE WIND

Once again, predictions were for a light breeze and as we left the harbor at about 2 there was a very light breeze.  As we approached the start area, the wind was even less, close to no wind at all.  Preparing for a no-wind situation, we set a temporary mark for a very short course.  We saw the wind was coming from 290 degrees.  As the clock ticked down, the wind was increasing so we called for course S5: Start>Mile>finish at S/F.  It was a beautiful day on the bay with a 10-14 knot breeze.  After a whole week of incessant rain and stormy conditions, we finally had a clear, sunny day for a sail with a surprise wind.

The track for this evening can be reviewed at:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=6.1.2026%2015:00:00&language=en

Jennifer Kinsman photo
BEAUTIFUL BLUE SKY AFTER A WEEK OF RAIN

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:  COURSE S5 COURSE LENGTH 1.929NM

PLACE                BOAT                                 PHRF                  ET                         CORRECTED

1            FLEXI FLYER                                  96                         24:43                  21:37

2            AVATAR                                            132                      27:13                  22:58

3            AQUAVIT                                         72                         26:08                  23:49

4            PERFECT 36                                    144                      29:05                  24:27

5            NIDAROS                                        118                      28:31                  24:43

6            SAILING PAIR A DICE                  180                      30:42                  24:54

7            WIND II                                           213                      33:06                  26:15

8            PACIFIC SPIRIT                             165                      31:35                  26:16

 

ZOOP SCOOP BY Paul Tara

OUTRIGGER AMBUSH!

Rule 55.3 says it’s illegal to sheet to an outrigger, which is anything that exerts “outward pressure” beyond the edge of the deck or hull.  Note the word sheet. A few miles from the finish of last month’s Sydney Hobart Race, the overall corrected time leader, a JPK 10.80  (a really cool French 36 footer), rigged with both a short bowsprit and a conventional pole, decided to pole out her asymmetric kite to port, wing on wing. Totally OK, so far. The pole is not an outrigger because the sail is not being “sheeted” to it.(even though the kite is asymmetrical, the clew automatically becomes the new tack, and the sheet automatically becomes an after-guy when the pole goes out). But, simultaneously, the original tack becomes the new clew, which makes the original tack line into, you guessed it, the new sheet, still led to the end of the bowsprit.  Now, a bowsprit or sprit pole is a “hull spar” which does exert outward pressure. You can tack a jib or an asymmetrical to it — no problemo — but not sheet to it. Easy remedies would have been to sail wing on wing without the pole, or lead the tack line (now the sheet) back to the stem-head, thereby eliminating the outward pressure, but they were unaware of 55.3. Unfortunately, you only get one tack and one clew per sail. The protest committee assessed enough of a  time penalty that the rule breech cost them first overall in IRC. Bummer.

 

WIN BY A WHISKER

If there’s wind, our races don’t usually end at the weather mark.  To be competitive downwind in a non-spinnaker fleet, boats need to consider a whisker pole.  So, what’s legal? PHRF is not homogeneous — it’s composed of regional committees — some areas control the length. But San Francisco Bay PHRF Rules simply state, “Whisker pole may be of any length.” 

 

To me, this makes sense. It avoids the hassle of trying to compensate for adjustable length poles which, in a sense, are self-regulating. If you extend one too far, it will suffer catastrophic compression failure.  (Ask Barry — and wear a helmet if you plan on sitting under one.) A popular misconception is that whisker poles are not highly loaded (only real men sail with spinnakers) but that’s not true.  The compression load on a spinnaker pole does increase as the pole goes forward, but it can be controlled by easing the sheet and luffing the sail.  The same is true of a whisker pole, but there’s no back door. The pole is trapped by the tension on the jib foot and the sheet.  Easing the sheet makes little difference;  the sail stays powered-up and will not luff until it’s flogging out forward of the headstay.  A quick by-the-lee bear away can momentarily unload the pole, but crew need to be on their toes.  A good adjustable pole can help; shortening it can take the load off. Another place an adjustable might come in handy could be tacking downwind in light air with the pole set to leeward, where the ability to shorten it might allow a tighter reaching angle.  I don’t know, Zoop doesn’t have one.   I also don’t know why a whisker pole set to leeward is no longer “sheeting to an outrigger”. Maybe it’s because it’s a “spar-spar” as opposed to a “hull-spar”.  But I suspect it’s because the rule makers just gave up and went with popular demand. 

 

Our pole is double-ended, and is rigged with both topping-lift and fore-guy bridles. We jibe end-for-end. The fore-guy acts as the jib’s vang; it controls the amount of twist, and can make a big difference. Without it, when there’s a puff, the pole end rises, the jib leech twists off at the top and dissipates power. Conversely, in light air, no topping lift means the weight of the pole is carried by the jib leech, making it straight and unresponsive.   The helmsman’s job in light air is to find the right compromise between leech tension and apparent wind angle so that the sail stays full and relatively stable. 

Thank you Paul.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

DECEMBER 30, 2025 CLOSE, BUT SO FAR AWAY

 

DECEMBER 30, 2025

 CLOSE, BUT SO FAR AWAY

I was encouraged with the predictions of 9-11 knots winds.  Through the early afternoon, the wind was nonexistent.  With a heavy cloud cover, could we get any wind?  As we left the harbor at 2PM there was a wind line showing about a mile offshore slowly coming in towards the start area.  The very light wind was coming from an unusual 140 degrees. We set a windward mark practically a stone’s throw from the start line.  We set the start line mark and called for course E7 as boats drifted aimlessly in the start area. With the wind line getting closer, then receding it was frustrating.  It was totally understandable when boats started retiring from the race to go out and sail in some stronger wind.  Ultimately, the wind did fill in and the boats that had not retired finished the race.  As expressed by one skipper, “we waited 30 minutes for an 8 minute race”.  Kudos to the Nidaros crew who started in clear wind at the port end of the line and was first of the 4 boats to finish.  It was a frustrating afternoon with a windward mark that was close but so far away.

To review the track for this race:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=30.12.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:  COURSE DISTANCE 0.12NM

PLACE                BOAT                                 PHRF     ELAPSED TIME           CORRECTED

1            NIDAROS                                        118       20:07                                 19:40

2            ROSIE                                              162       27:48                                 27:11

3            QUIXOTIC                                       57        32:47                                 32:34

4            ABSLOLUTE 05                              117       37:50                                 37:23

 

RESILIENCE!  

As we enter a new year, I want to express my appreciation for the resilience of our group of sailors.  On this evening It was amazing to witness eleven boats coming out for a sail when there was no wind.  During this season, I have witnessed multiple times when there was very light wind with boats inching their way to the finish line even in the dark.  I appreciate the demeanor, resilience and the Corinthian spirit displayed by our group of sailors.

ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

 

AN UNFULFILLED FORECAST  

This Monday, the northern edge of the circulation around a low to the southwest of us produced a beautiful sunny southeasterly (not our usual Santa Cruz Eddy easterly).  I spent the day, gnashing my teeth, fiddling with a shroud roller, knowing that I could have been sailing my El Toro.  But I had to finish the job, because the next day was going to be the last sail of the year.  Mistake. On Tuesday, even though NOAA stuck by their forecast, the earlier offshore, didn’t hold.  By 1300 the Harbor glassed off with no sign of new breeze and I reluctantly called off the crew.  As Barry headed out, whiffs boxed the compass; what Neils Kisling calls “Guilt wind — it shows up after you’ve decided not to sail”.   Beneath increasing overcast, Monterey was as clear as a bell.  “If it’s cloudy and you can see Monterey, it’s gonna rain,” was my parents’ weather axiom.  They didn’t say anything about wind.





A CAPFUL O’ WINDage

Last week’s storm certainly delivered more than a capful, fulfilling NOAA’s forecast of “wide-spread gales with storm force (55-63 kn) gusts.” It also delivered some valuable lessons on windage.  At one point, early on, the forecast included the phrase “hurricane force (63+kn) gusts” which made my hair stand up, but it was later downgraded to “storm force”.  They should have left it in; on Christmas Eve, a 77 knot (91 mph) squall went through that rolled up the beach cats stored on the hard like so many dry leaves, and left the usual trail of shredded tarps and roller-furled jibs, broken dock lines, missing fenders and dock box lids, only to follow it up with an encore tornado warning on Christmas Day.  Mount Hamilton saw a 100 knot gust, which damaged a telescope dome and adjoining structure. But, not much rain locally, so no reenactment of 1955.

 

Let’s talk some numbers.  Wind load increases as a square of the wind speed.  At 77 knots, dynamic wind load is around 15-20 pounds per square foot.  The windage of a 25’ mast, with a 3” cross section (most catamarans have wing masts, which may, or may not be aligned with the breeze) could easily top 90 pounds. (Correspondingly, the windage of a 45 foot roller-furled jib, could easily top 200 pounds!) In the case of the cat, given the mast’s lever arm, 90 pounds is more than enough to flip it and its trailer (not to mention the windage of the trampoline).  This is especially true if it’s not parked head-to-wind. Most of the flipped cats  appear to have been parked beam-on, which would be silly. But they’re so light they may have been ‘re-parked’ by the wind . 

 

Now let’s talk seamanship. Windage is not a new concept. Take a close look at this painting of the frigate USS President riding out a gale at anchor. Her topmasts and upper yards have been ‘sent down’, and her lower yards are not just braced sharp up; their slings have been eased, so they can be pivoted clear around, outboard of the shrouds and secured fore-and-aft, parallel to the wind.  That’s a lot of work, all to reduce windage.

 

 

  Those guys knew how critical windage could be.  Sending down upper spars was a standard drill. No Towboat US for them. Come to think of it, it seems as if they may have had a slightly different philosophy than the characters responsible for Bayesian, the 184’ mega-sloop with the 247’ rig, that was knocked down by a squall at anchor in the Med., sinking with the loss of 7 lives.  For us, those types of downbursts are rare. Our weather can be so predictable it’s almost hypnotic. But it may be changing. Don’t be lulled into complacency — our winter storms should not be taken for granted — anytime you see the words “gale”, “south”, or “southeast” in the same paragraph, it’s time to pay attention. Double check dock lines, triple check, or lower, roller furled sails.  If you’ve got a beach cat on the hard, unstep your rig and chock your trailer head-to wind.

 

Force increases as a square of the wind speed. Reduce your windage. 

Thanks Paul!

Lets hope for good sailing conditions for next Tuesday and for the new year.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

  

DECEMBER 23, 2025 STORMY WEATHER

                                                                  DECEMBER 23, 2025

                                                                   STORMY WEATHER

As noted, we cancelled the race for the 23rd because of the foul weather.  We are planning to sail again on this coming Tuesday the 30th if conditions permit.  If we race, it will be another single start with all boats starting at 3pm.   Stay tuned for further announcements or possible cacellation.

Paul Tara has come through with another pertinent ZOOP SCOOP.  

STORMY WEATHER

I started writing this on Tuesday morning, just as  Barry cancelled the day’s sail. A wise call, in my opinion.  Our Pacific storms are among the largest weather systems on the planet — last week’s Pineapple Express delivered flooding to both in Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest. Sometimes it’s hard to anticipate just how long it takes to wind those isobars up. But the same rules still apply, face the wind and the low is on your right.

Which reminds me that today, December 23rd, is the seventieth anniversary, of the 1955 Flood, one of the more seminal events in Santa Cruz history.  A 50 knot southerly, a high tide, heavy rain in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and incomplete construction of the Highway 1 bridge over the San Lorenzo River all coincided to produce disaster. The southerly and the tide backed up the river’s flow, and raised its elevation at the  mouth. Rain in the San Lorenzo Valley sent debris downstream, where it promptly fetched up against the scaffolding and forming still in place at the highway bridge.  This effectively dammed the River, which immediately excused itself and headed down River St., straight through Downtown, and back out to sea through the gap between Beach Hill and West Cliff, leaving everything in between submerged and Beach Hill sticking up as an island.  

Of course this all happened at night. There were no levees, so, eventually, much of the water was able to flow back into the river. It took about a week. (My grandparents, who had been evacuated in the bucket of a skip-loader, spent Christmas with us.) But, it’s effects lasted much longer.  Chief among these was the San Lorenzo River Flood Control Project (the levees) and the redevelopment of downtown, including the County Governmental Center. Not every storm results in disaster, but it pays to prepare.

A HITCH IN TIME

Storms require some additional seamanship.  In Santa Cruz, southerlies erase the lee normally afforded by the land.  Whenever a ‘big’ southerly is forecast, we double up our dock lines.  This requires use of one of the most basic tools of seamanship: the lowly Cleat Hitch.

Note the full turn around the base.  This allows the cleat to serve as a snubbing post, and minimizes the chance of the line jumping the cleat if the lead changes.  Also, note how the tail of the hitch lies parallel to the previous crossover.  That’s it! Do NOT keep adding crossovers to use up extra tail. Coil it down separately. Somebody’s going to want to uncleat that line eventually, which they’ll be able to do safely under load thanks to the control offered by that first turn.

Thanks Paul.   

HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

DECEMBER 16, 2025 AWESOME WINTER SAIL

 

DECEMBER 16, 2025

AWESOME WINTER SAIL

Check out the Zoop Scoop below for an excellent recap of this awesome winter sail.

To view the Regatta Hero track:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=16.12.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

 

Jennifer Kinsman photo

 PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:  course W5 course distance 2.4NM

PLACE                BOAT                      PHRF              ET          CORRECTED TIME

1            FLEXI FLYER                      96                     37:05                 33:14

2            ABORIGINAL                     33                      34:49                 33:30

3            ZOOP                                   144                   41:18                  35:32

4            WIND II                               213                   45:16                  36:44

5            ROSIE                                  162                   43:36                  37:07

6            NIDAROS                           118                    42:09                  37:25

7            SAILING PAIR A DICE     180                    45:56                  38:44

8            MAIN SQUEEZE               72                       42:39                  39:46

9            PERFECT 36                      144                    47:24                  41:38

10          OLD ENOUGH TKB         243                    51:37                  41:53

11          AQUAVIT                           72                       45:36                  42:43

 

ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

 

WOW, WHAT AN EVENING!

This Tuesday’s race was spectacular.  You could have fooled me — we almost didn’t sail.  When I was at the Harbor on Monday, there was thick fog and practically no wind, and Tuesday’s forecast was for more of the same. I had already made up my mind to pull the plug if I couldn’t see the Crows Nest flag from our slip.  But instead, Tuesday dawned clear, and by 1200 there was a nice southwesterly filling in. And it was warm. Which made me suspicious.

 

Inside or outside, which to choose?  Course was W-5. We figured go right.  We were wrong. There was slightly more breeze outside and the wind was starting to hint at backing or shifting left. Remember how I said I was suspicious?  Didn’t matter — we were about to get rolled after the start — we had to bail and go right anyway. But the duck was a big one, and it cost us.  Meanwhile the boats on the outside were launched.  If you look at the track, the whole fleet is gradually lifted on port, with Nidaros II smiling all the way to the starboard tack layline. 

 

On the run to the finish, the breeze held, but still continued backing.  We started  the run DDW on port tack, jibed onto starboard about half-way down the leg, and finished up barely being able to carry the pole on starboard. In fact, we probably should have dropped it, and jib reached the final portion.  That’s a big shift — and not the first time. 

 

After we finished, the conditions were so perfect that we took another lap, rendezvousing with Chardonnay at MB, where her skipper, Krista Swedberg, took this shot.

  

 ZAP! — MORE SHOCKING NEWS — D DOCK NOW LIVE

D Dock just became the first dock in the Harbor to install a sea lion deterrent system on every slip, including (attention SC-27 fleet) the entire end tie.  So far, it seems quite effective. But it’s non discriminatory — it can shock humans just as easily. As long as you don’t touch the thin yellow guard wire and the water at the same time, you’ll get just a tickle. But, if you do, watch out.  And, before we have an environmental hue-and-cry, it’s important to know that it’s NOAA approved, and MBARI just installed it on their docks in Moss Landing. So, say good bye to buckets and paintballs, and ….

 

1. Don’t step on the wire if you can avoid it, especially if barefoot.
2. Beware when folding sails, they don’t catch on it.
3. Don’t leave dock lines in the water and let them lay on the wire.
4. Report problems to either me (831) 251-3622 , or Neils Kisling (831) 332-7454  
5. Controller is at D-4 (Zoop). Off switch is on the bottom of the SW corner.

6. DON’T FALL IN

 

Thank you Paul Tara!

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

DECEMBER 9, 2025 SURPRISE WIND

                                                                   DECEMBER 9, 2025

SURPRISE WIND

Once again, predictions were for light 1-6 knot winds.  Initially it looked like the predictions were accurate and a windward mark was set halfway to Mile.  As the clock ticked down to the start, the wind seemed to increase so the course was changed to S5: start>mile>S/F.

Once again all boats were sailing in a single fleet of about 12 boats.  All boats got off to a clean start in the 8-10 knot winds. It was a beautiful sunny day to be sailing and, even though the wind seemed to die a little on the run back to S/F, all boats finished.  Such is life when you get a surprise wind.

 

Jennifer Kinsman photo

 

 

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

ALL BOATS IN ONE FLEET  COURSE S5   COURSE DISTANCE 1.929NM

PLACE          BOAT                             PHRF             ET             CORRECTED TIME

1         MAIN SQUEEZE                    72           35:58                 33:39

2         ABORIGINAL                         33           35:28                34:25               

3         RIO                                          141        42:21                 37:48

4          WIND II                                  213        44:41                37:50

5          SAILING PAIR A DICE        180         45:01               39:13

6          AQUAVIT                              72            41:38              39:19

7          PERFECT 36                         144         48:42               44:04

8          MAYBE                                 249          52:38             44:37

9          OLD ENOUGH TKB            243         56:16              48:27

10       SIMPATICO                           165          55:39             50:20 

 

THE ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

MORE SLOW HORSES (not a spy novel)

Here’s a present for the Holidays; a line-up of usual suspects.  The data was gleaned from sailboatdata.com (an addictive website if there ever was one). I started with the B fleet, but then just kept adding boats I remembered until I pooped out.

 

 

 

Speed increases from top down.  The year represents the design’s age, not when a specific boat was built. The “s” number is a theoretical estimate of a boat’s relative speed based on it’s design characteristics; it sort of tracks the PHRF rating, but inversely. “S” goes up with speed, whereas PHRF goes down — the difference being that PHRF is empirical, or based on actual race results.  SA/Displacement is the number to watch; it represents power to weight. Once it goes above 20, we’re talking about different animals. That’s the crossover point where  design focus shifts from cruising to racing. 

 

Chronologically, that point corresponds with the 1970s’ spread of the influence of Ultra Light Displacement Boats. A good comparative example of this is the C&C 35 with the Santana 35.  The C&C is the only boat in our fleet designed in the 1960’s to the Cruising Club of America (CCA) Rule.  While still relatively light, she’s narrower (10.58’), and carries a higher percentage of ballast lower.  The Santana went into production in 1978. Her ton (!) less displacement and greater beam (11.92’) reflect an increasing reliance on human ballast as a substitute for keel weight.  The problems inherent in this trend only became apparent a year later, when a fleet of similarly ballasted yachts encountered disaster in the 1979 Fastnet Race — out of 303 boats, 75 capsized, 5 sank, and 15 sailors died. 

 

If you’re interested, I heartily recommend John Rousmaniere’s  Fastnet, Force 10, and Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts by the Technical Committee of the Cruising Club of America.  The “capsize screening number” shown in the last column of the table came out of the work of that committee.  The higher the number, the greater the risk of capsize in extreme sea states. Over 2 is not considered ideal.    

 

In summary, the fleet represents quite a cross section of production yacht design over the past fifty years. Not only does this speak to durability, but also to the effectiveness of the PHRF rating system. It also shows that there’s no free lunch.  Every design is a compromise. The trick is to find the right match. Or, hey, you know how they say, “It’s all about money.”  New boats are really expensive — we might  just be a bunch of  Sailing Scrooges.  Happy Holidays.

 

Thank you Paul

SEASONS GREETINGS:

We are planning on sailing, conditions permitting, every Tuesday through the holiday season.  Unfortunately the club will not be serving food until the latter part of January and several Tuesdays will not even be open.  If we want to socialize after the races, we will need to meet at restaurants.  Johnnies on the East side of the harbor has an excellent “Taco Tuesdays” that is very reasonably priced.  On the West side of the harbor, there are several excellent restaurants at the Seabright/ Murray Street intersection.

                                             

DECEMBER 2, 2025 AN ULDB DAY

 

AN ULDB DAY

Predictions for the afternoon were for 1-10 knot winds.  The flags confirmed that there was at least some breeze.  As we left the harbor at 2 o’clock there was a consistent light breeze of about 7-10 knots.  The question, as always was “what does the future hold?”.  With the wind coming from roughly 230 degrees, we got ambitious and called for W5: S/F>Schuyler>S/F.  I had posted in the blog and announced on the radio that it was a single fleet race and that the horn would blow at 5 minutes to the 3:00 start.  I also instructed to register as Fleet B in Regatta Hero. All but one boat followed the instructions. 

All of “B fleet” got off to a clean start and tacked their way to Schuyler.  After rounding Schuyler, all boats sailed down-wind to the finish.  It was a challenging down wind run with all boats experiencing very light patches of wind.  Homer once told me that if you knew exactly what conditions there will be for a race, you can design a boat specifically for those conditions that will win.   This afternoon presented conditions that was definitely a ULDB  (Ultra Light Dispacement Boat) day.

 To review the track for Fleet B:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=2.12.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

 

 Photo by Jennifer Kinsman

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

FLEET B (ALL BOATS) COURSE W5  DISTANCE 2.4NM

PLACE                BOAT                                 PHRF                  ET             CORRECTED TIME

1            RIO                                                 141                      49:06                  43:28

2            PERFECT 36                                  144                      49:25                  43:39

3            ROSIE                                            162                      50:14                  43:45

4            YELLOW BELLY                          141                      49:33                  43:54

5            ZOOP                                              144                      50:46                  45:00

6            AVATAR                                          132                      50:40                  45:23                                               

7            SAILING PAIR A DICE                 180                      53:23                  46:10

8            SIMPATICO                                    165                      53:33                  46:56

9            AQUAVIT                                        72                         53:25                  50:32

10          WINDLUST                                     66                         1:00:25             57:46

NEXT TUESDAY WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER SINGLE FLEET RACE. PLEASE BE CERTAIN TO ENTER FLEET B IN REGATTA HERO AND BE CERTAIN YOUR PHRF IS CORRECT.  ALSO MONITOR THE VHF CHANNEL 69 FOR ANY PERTINENT ANNOUNCEMENTS.  A SINGLE HORN WILL BE SOUNDED AT 2:55 FOR A 3PM START.

THE ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

HORSES & COURSES

It has been hinted by some that one of the reasons Zoop sails in the B fleet is that we are “afraid of getting beat”. (Betcha I got your attention with that!) While we have enjoyed success in the B fleet, that’s not the reason.  There are actually two, Perfect 36 (a Catalina 36 Mk I), and Avatar (an Olson 911).  Zoop rates 144, P-36 the same, and Avatar rates 132 (she owes us 12 sec/mile).  Depending on conditions, and crew performance, it’s anybody’s game.  Two weeks ago and again this week P-36 sailed a very nice race and beat us quite handily, while this week we finished overlapped with Avatar.   

 

Let’s take a look.  P-36 displaces 13,500 lbs. (44.4% ballast), on a 30.25’ waterline, with a SA/Disp ratio of 15.71 and a Disp/L ratio of 217.73.  Zoop displaces 13,450 lbs. (40.5% ballast) on a 28.25’ waterline, with a SA/Disp ratio of 16.35 and a Disp/L ratio of 266.1.  Avatar displaces 7,500 lbs. on a 27’ waterline, with a SA/Disp ratio of 20.45 and a Disp/L ratio of 205.7.  P-36 is longer, lighter for her length, but has a little less power for her weight.  Zoop is shorter, heavier for her length and has a little more power for her weight, while Avatar is shorter, but only about half as heavy, and has a much more power for her weight.  

 

So, why doesn’t Avatar just speed away?  The answer is in the kind of races we’re sailing — predominantly moderate air windward leewards.  Upwind, if there’s breeze, the two bigger boats with their longer waterlines, have an advantage. Downwind, the advantage should shift to the much lighter Avatar.  But, as they say, the devil is in the details.  One of those is wetted surface, which is a key factor in light/moderate air. Unfortunately, it is also very difficult to calculate absent a set of lines or a CAD design program.  Suffice it to say, for a given displacement, the geometric shape with the least wetted surface is a sphere, ie round boats have less wetted surface.  Wide flat boats have more. Compared to the other two, Zoop is actually quite round.

 

 

Which brings up the next question. Why isn’t P-36 faster upwind? She’s longer, and has more ballast.  But Zoop carries hers lower. She draws about 6” more, has a significant bilge (stubby) above the lead, and her keel is a ‘camouflaged bulb’, having a much thicker section at the bottom. Many light displacement boats have no bilge, because their canoe bodies have been made as shallow as possible to shed displacement. But, hey, there’s no free lunch. This adds wetted surface, while at the same time placing the ballast higher, where it’s less effective. Unless, of course you have a true fin/bulb where all the ballast is at the bottom.    

 

But, every design is a compromise.  I’m sorry, I can't resist — “What kelp?”

 

Thank you Paul.

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

NOVEMBER 25, 2025 QUITE THE SURPRISE!

 

NOVEMBER 25, 2025

QUITE THE SURPRISE!

With predictions of 1-7 knot winds for the afternoon, I was expecting another light wind drifter.  When I got to the harbor, as usual I checked the flags and saw a light breeze. When we left the harbor at 2pm there was a good 9-10 knots of wind across the bay.  We determined the wind direction of 230 and there was talk of calling for course W5: (Schuyler and back), but as the wind has been known to drop off, I called for a shorter course S5; (Mile and back).  We had 8 boats in Fleet B, 1 boat in fleet A and 2 boats in spinnaker fleet and all boats got off to a clean start.

As it turned out, boats that started on the starboard end of the line could lay  Mile with no tacks which was a huge advantage.  Maybe, Schuyler being more to weather would have been better, but I did notice the wind decreasing as we progressed on the shorter course.  Still, when expecting very light wind, is was quite the surprise to have 8-13 knot winds. 

It was such a beautiful afternoon on the water, we went for a sail after the race. How could anything be better?  Answer: a buffet of excellent soups offered at the club after the race.  This was organized by Mike Gross and we had multiple (excellent) soups provided by superior cooks. Mike brought Jambalaya and Christina Shaw brought split pea soup. Tortilla chicken Soup was by Maggie Rathman and vegetable  from Casey and Dolce Dekessian. What a way to finish a day after an awesome sail!

We are about one month into the Winter afternoon sails.  We have tried three fleets but it is excessive to have three fleets when we only have about 10 boats participating.  Next week we will try a single fleet race starting at 3pm.  Be sure to register in Regatta Hero for “Fleet B”.  We will also blow the horn at 2:55 which will be the 5 minute horn.  All three fleets will start at the same time.

 

                                             PHOTO BY JENNIFER KINSMAN

 To view the tracks for Fleet B:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=25.11.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

 

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:  COURSE S5  DISTANCE 1.929NM

PLACE                BOAT                  PHRF                  ET                         CORRECTED

FLEET A:

1            SAGITTARIUS                 120                      22:40                  18:48

FLEET B:

1            WATTS MOORE              150                      22:42                  17:52

2            ABSOLUTE O5                117                      23:34                  19:48

3            AVATAR                            132                      24:45                  20:30

4            PERFECT 36                    144                      25:30                  22:52

5            BIG MAC                          222                      28:52                  21:43

6            SAILING PAIR A DICE   180                      27:39                  21:51

7            SIMPATICO                      165                      29:31                  24:12

8            WINDLUST                      66                         40:11                  38:03

SPINNAKER FLEET:

1            ROSIE                                162                      25:01                  19:48

2            DUET                                 100(?)                34:40                  31:27

The ZOOP SCOOP by Paul Tara

A TURKEY’S TURN

We did not sail this week, but for those of you who saw last week’s blog, I would just like to thank Jennifer Kinsman for her great photo of Zoop. (I categorically deny bribing Barry to use it). Marine photography is challenging and we should all appreciate Jennifer’s “have camera, will sail” attitude.

 

The photo was taken on the approach to Schuyler from Aquavit, shortly before she drove over the top of us. We’re sailing with max backstay, flattener, and our 130% # 2. About 7-8 lengths out of the photo to the right is Perfect 36, which had been covering us very effectively for the whole starboard tack approach. At this point we are laying the mark.  But a close look will reveal that the weather jib telltales are lifting, as I try to work up, in anticipation of what was coming.  After Aquavit rolled us, her exhaust prevented us from laying. We tried to shoot the mark, but stalled out and ended up hitting it.

 

When I started racing, in the 1960’s, if you touched a mark you were immediately DSQ’d. Period. Full-Stop.  This rather hard-ass attitude came from the fact that the racing rules derived from the navigation rules for sailing ships, where ‘marks’ were often points of land, and ‘touching’ was often fatal. So, if you hit a mark, you were considered ‘wrecked’. Now, if a boat touches a mark, she may exonerate herself by completing a 720° penalty turn. Most RC’s, including ours, amend this to a single 360. To count, each turn must include one tack and one jibe. 

 

That one vs two turn distinction was a factor in our decision to shoot the mark.  I knew, in that much wind, there was a limited chance of success.  But, I also knew that our other option, executing two tacks in quick succession with our attenuated crew, would take more time than a single 360° penalty turn. Sure enough, we came to a full stop at head to wind, and slid down onto the mark as we bore off around it. Note, when attempting this maneuver, it’s critical for the heads’l sheets to be freed, thereby minimizing the chance of accidentally going aback and tacking onto port. Because the last thing you want is to fail to round the mark, even if you have to bulldoze it out of the way to manage it. Bad seamanship, but how the game is now played. Once we slithered around, we saw we had just enough room to keep clear of the boats coming up astern, and immediately jibed and tacked, coming out of our penalty turn still on starboard. One might say we were basted and stuffed, but not quite in the oven.  If the penalty had been a 720, we’d have been cooked for sure.

 

It’s Thanksgiving. I’m very thankful Schuyler is a light foam mark and not a giant steel one like Mile Buoy. Practice those penalty turns. Sooner or later they’ll come in handy. I’m also very thankful to Barry, Doug, Fred, Chris, and Mark for making another season of Tuesday’s possible.

 

Thanks Paul and thanks for the kind words.

I hope to see you sailing next Tuesday starting around 3pm.

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice