MAY 14, 2013

Another Tuesday, will there be wind?   As we left the harbor, there were rumors of an Easterly blowing just an hour or so earlier, but all we could see was a north-westerly that was attempting to fill in to the inside.  After four defeats, Sailing Pair a Dice needed a win.  We decided on  course 4 with a start of 6:10, everyone was in agreement.  Our problem on Pair A Dice was we were too far from the start buoy to make a proper start and by 6:10  we were about 30 seconds late to cross the line, but everyone was stuck in the predicament of trying to get their boat moving in the light northwesterly with the chop right on the nose, stopping us every time we got any forward momentum.  It was a real struggle, with Aeolian and us fighting our way outside to where there was some wind. We find it best , when faced with a swell on the nose, to crack off a bit so you can take the waves at an angle.  This prevents them from stopping us.  You never get this discussion in sailing magazines, since many races are on smooth, lake waters.  I often say that, when racing in Santa Cruz, what you do with waves will lose or win races.  We all tacked our way toward wharf and ultimately Aeolian and PAD ended up there at the same time.  PAD with an inside overlap (Rule 18.3) at the 3 boatlength zone had rights to room at the mark.  We immediately both started our move toward Gov, with PAD trying to climb on top of Aeolian to steal their wind.  Finally we succeeded and with our greater pole length, were able to extend our miniscule lead over Aeolian.   We were feeling rather smug about this until we noticed Andiamo rounding wharf rather late and using the outside wind to work their way East to a narrow transition zone, while we were stuck in the doldrums.  One by one, all of the boats were getting frustrated with these flukey conditions and started going in, so it was Andiamo and Pair a Dice fighting it out to the finish.  Man it is a long distance from GOV to start and on this night, it seemed like start was a mirage, way off in the distance, as both boats attempted to use each lift and header to their advantage, inching our way to start.  Finally, we were both on port tack making our way up to the SB tack layline.   PAD tried to use every wave to steer closer to the mark and was closing the wide gap between ANdiamo and PAD.  Finally, at the SB tack layline, we had converged and were right next to ANdiamo.  When we tacked, we were directly behind Andiamo.  With their bad wind, we slowly fell behind and came in about 2 boatlengths behind them at the finish mark.  We love tight races.  

Lessons Learned:

Don’t get blinded by your closest competitor.  We were so focused on rolling Aeolian, we didn’t see the wind outside that let Andiamo get ahead of us.  It was a brilliant move Andiamo made and all of us on PAD were envious of their position.   As an afterthought, on the final SB tack layline to the finish mark, we should have sailed a boatlength or two further.  We could have avoided the bad wind and possibly fallen off to steal their wind.   It was all good, because we love tight races, its what keeps us alive and craving to learn more!

Please note,

I will be gone for the next two weeks on vacation, but the crew will take PAD out and hopefully win a few in my absence.  The absence of a blog and recaps does NOT stop Catalina Tuesdays and a good time. 

Sail on and Fair winds!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice (PAD)

CATALINA TUESDAY RACES

May 7, 2013

Matthew 20:16 says:"So the last shall be first, and the first last". How does this apply in the world of sailing and in particular Catalina Tuesdays?

Once again we had an awesome night with plenty of wind and from the Northwest this time. However there was an ominous fog bank obscuring Mile buoy. We finally decided on course 3 and gave the 27's a 2 minute head start. On this particular night we had 9 boats participating and most boats started on port with Pacific Spirit, Sailing Pair A Dice and Diver Down right on time at the line on starboard tack. Though Pair a Dice was following Pacific Spirit, it did not take Diver Down long to roll us to windward. For some reason pair a Dice was really bogging down and just couldn't get up to speed. As soon as we could clear Diver Down, we tacked over for clear air, once again further out than the port tack starters on a parallel course. We were noting our boat speed versus the wind we had and for some reason, we were about 0.3 knots slower than we should have been. This slowness bore itself out with every crossing: not once could we cross in front of any boat, every boat seemed to be going faster than us! Tacking on our normal lay line for the wharf rounding, we could not even round without another tack, consequently we were the last boat to round Wharf with all of the boats spread out in front of us. It was quite a sight seeing so many boats sailing wing on wing straight down wind. Even though we did close the gap a little, we never rolled a single boat downwind, even with our whisker pole extended to the max. It was quite a sight as we were closing in on Blacks to see Aeolian and Diver Down fighting it out for the lead. Finally we rounded Blacks as Aeolian crossed the line just ahead of Diver Down and Pair a Dice coming in DFL.

I am not much of a Biblical scholar, but I guess Mathew 20:16 offers some validity. In past years, Aeolian has routinely placed poorly in our Tuesday night races, but they seem to be the boat to beat this year. Sailing Pair A Dice has done very well in the past, but came in DFL on this night.

As we were motoring in the harbor, I glanced over the stern and saw something large and brown streaming behind the boat KELP! I put the boat in reverse and when the kelp passed by the prop, it nearly stalled the engine.

　

LESSONS LEARNED:

I frequently tell people: "If you are sailing with a dirty bottom, you are not racing, you are day sailing". Nothing against day sailing, it is very fun, but if you are racing, a clean bottom is essential. I go to great lengths to keep the bottom of my boat clean. Before many Yacht Club races, you always see the big boats backing down to clear the kelp and some boats even have windows in the hull to be able to see if the is kelp hung up anywhere. How is it that kelp or a dirty bottom can slow a boat down so much? Consider the importance of laminar flow over the bottom of the boat, versus the turbulence caused by scum or bulbs of kelp. In order for the keel and rudder to provide the lift they normally do, the less turbulence the better the lift. With all of the turbulence from the kelp, we were unable to round Wharf on our normal lay line. I propose it is much more than the drag of the kelp, it is the destruction of the lift normally provided by keel and rudder. I would guess that we would have been better dragging a bucket in the water behind the boat, than having the kelp preventing the laminar flow on the bottom foils.

There are many facets to winning sailboat races. Boat preparation, steady hand on the helm, a crew that can handle the sails efficiently, ability to read the wind and proper tactics. After this night, I found that a clean, unobstructed bottom is more crucial than anything else.

Hope to see you next Tuesday.

　

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

　

　

　

　

　

CATALINA TUESDAYS APRIL 30, 2013

Another beautiful night of sailing and our first night with a good East wind blowing!  It seems the blue course cards are working out well.  With the stronger wind and Easterly direction, it did not take long for a unanimous consensus: Course 8 (start, blacks, mile, gov, finish).  Since there were 10 boats out and two 27’s, I thought it would be appropriate to give the 27’s a headstart.  The PHRF difference between a Catalina 36 (150) and a 27 (210) is one minute a mile.  Since the course was just over 4 miles, I started the 27’s 4 minutes earlier than the rest of us.  PHRF adjustments are a touchy subject and I have heard many  divergent opinions. My desire is to keep everyone involved, and I feel PHRF adjustments for the 27s will keep them in the game .  Though I gave the 4 minute head start, only one of the 27s took up the offer.  The other 27 started with the rest of us.  It is important to listen to channel  69 for course number and start time.  Please offer opinions below (comments)on how to deal with PHRF.

Even though there was enough wind, the chop on the water made it very difficult to keep the boats up to speed.  With normal swells, you can alter the boats angle and avoid taking the swells straight on, but this night had swell coming from every angle.  The start was very interesting with most of the boats hitting the line right on time with speed.  Steve and Leslie on “Free Spirit” nailed the start, right on time at the pin.  The fact that so many boats nailed the start so well shows that we are all bringing our game up.  It was an interesting beat to Blacks with most of the boats rounding very close to each other.  We were all in pursuit of the Catalina 27 with Donna and Rob Franks leading the way.  The run to Mile seemed to offer even more chop to all of us.  Pair a Dice was able to squeak a small lead over Aeolian, with Aeolian using multiple tactical moves in an attempt to pass us, which they finally were able to do just before we rounded Mile.  No Name 27 was in the lead, with Aeolian the second to round Mile. Pair a dice was third and Diver Down and Pacific Spirits followed in hot pursuit. 

Then it was another run to GOV.  No Name was doing an excellent job of maintaining their lead, but we were all chipping away at their advantage.  Pair a dice was able to come up harder on the wind right after the rounding at mile, which allowed us to sail to windward of Aeolian which we finally passed by stealing their wind.  We watched with interest as No Name rounded comfortable ahead of us to see how the inside track was working for them.   Pair a dice rounded just ahead of Aeolian followed quickly by Diver Down and Pacific Spirit.  Diver down, Aeolian and Pacific Spirit all tacked out shortly after rounding gov, while pair a dice sailed for a short distance toward the beach since we had some fishing boats to clear.  We sensed as we went outside, that there was more wind and we were getting a persistent lift the further out we went.  Its not normally a good idea to “sail to the corner”, but with the lift we were in, we felt it would be an error to tack, since it would turn our lift into a header.  While we were sailing outside for the lift, Diver Down tacked back inside toward the beach and Aeolian split the difference and tacked toward the finish buoy about halfway to the layline.  No Name, having sailed more in toward the beach, was closer to the buoy and sailed out to the SB tack layline, ultimately on our same line after we finally tacked over.  We were closing in on both No Name and the finish buoy, with all of us on the rail.  We were so close to the buoy, I felt we had a comfortable second,  even though our helmsman was telling us Aeolian was coming in fast on port.  With our starboard advantage, I felt even more certain we had a second.  Just as we were approaching the mark, Aeolian appeared and easily cleared our bow and tacked over to cross the line just ahead of us, and just behind No Name 27.  I believe Diver Down came in fourth and Pacific Spirit right after them.  This one goes to No Name 27 with Donna a Rob Franks.

 

TACTICAL LESSONS:

A large part of this course involved beam reaching.  As always in these situations, you want to be the boat that is to windward of everyone else.  Aeolian played us perfectly just before Mile, heading down like they were going to pass us to leeward, then darting up to windward and stealing our wind for the rounding.  Keep in mind when playing these games that the leeward boat can luff the windward boat up at will, if being overtaken be a boat to windward.  Also remember that the more you tangle with another boat, the other boats in the race will leave you in the dust, so if you get into a luffing game try to divorce yourself from the other boat as soon as possible. Your crew should be trimming sails aggressively if you hope to get past another boat.  When maneuvering in these situations, each turn of the boat requires immediate adjustment of the sails by the crew.

HEADERS AND LIFTS:

Headers make you sail further from your destination and Lifts allow you to sail closer to it.  Obviously a header on one tack is a lift on the opposite tack.  This is all very elementary to the racing sailor.  It is a little more difficult to ascertain whether you are being headed or lifted while steering.  The helmsperson who is constantly studying the telltales, should also note either their compass heading or landmarks ahead to determine any shift in wind direction.  It goes without saying that if one boat is lifted and a boat on the opposite tack is being headed, the lifted boat will rapidly achieve a large lead over the headed boat, so this is critical to racing performance.  Also, keep in mind there are “persistent shifts” and “oscillating shifts”.  The persistent shifts can be new weather systems coming in, or due to land masses.  Oscillating shifts, shift back and forth.  If you can time these shifts and anticipate, you can get very far ahead of your competitors. I have known sailors who could look at the water and ascertain whether a patch of wind was a header or a lift before we even hit the wind.  This is a talent that still eludes me.

See you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

 Sailing Pair A Dice