TUESDAY JULY 16, 2013
Another night with great wind and it was out of the northwest, with not a hint of an Easterly wind forming. What is amazing to me is that we are getting a consistent number of boats out, but different boats show up every week. This night Emeritus and Wind Goddess joined in and Homer brought his C&C 25 (?) out for the fun. It was also great to have Jack Mcdermott down from the city sailing on Wind Goddess. The decision was unanimous: Course #1 (Wharf, Mile, BLacks, Start, all to port).
On Pair a Dice, we knew that a port tack start was preferred, but felt it was safer to start on Starboard to prevent any surprises on the line. We were right on time at the pin and forced Wind Goddess (coming in on port) to duck us. We went out a short bit and Aeolian went inside on port tack. After our short run out on Starboard, we tacked over and all indications were that there was even more wind than the 21 knots apparent that we were experiencing, so we put in a reef. Trying not to sail to the corners, we tacked outside in front of Aeolian, as they had tacked over to get outside for the better wind. When we saw we could clear them with a tack, we tacked back over on port again. Aeolian just kept on sailing further out, following the adage: sail to the wind! As we sailed further inside, the wind was getting lighter AND we were consistently getting headed. We kept going, thinking we were nearly on the layline to clear wharf. This was our big mistake. Aeolian was romping in much more wind and when we rounded wharf it was Aeolian first, Homers boat was second with us right on top of Homer's stern. Homer attempted to point higher to prevent us from rolling him to windward, but we finally succeeded and rounded Mile comfortably ahead of Homer, but still behind Aeolian, which had extended there lead over us. Getting tangled with other boats does takes it's toll on your position.
Aeolian finished comfortably ahead of us, then we crossed with Homers boat finishing after us. Another night with Aeolian showing us all how to do it!
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THOSE !@#$%^& MECHANICAL MALFUNTIONS:
Racing sailboats in high winds really puts our boats (and US!) through the paces. There was talk of one of the boats thinking they were going to lose their mast because of a bad shroud. There may have been other mechanical problems other boats were dealing with. One of my friends lost his forestay on the way back from Monterey this last weekend, but was able to save his mast by quickly turning down wind until he could support the mast with a halyard. On Pair A Dice, we have had our share of winch troubles. So how can you prevent these catastrophies and how do you deal with them when they occur?
Preventive maintenance is key. I recently cleaned all of my winches and relubricated them. I was quite surprised how bad they really were. Inspecting the boat frequently will find little things like an important shackle, nearly undone. When was the last time you, or someone else, climbed your mast to check out the fittings at the top using a magnifying glass? Hairline cracks and signs of wear are precursers to impending problems. Lubricating all of your shivs and blocks, keeps them smooth. Keeping your rigg properly tuned is crucial since a loose mast slopping around increases forces exponentially. It is also good to tune your crew in to the little things that lead to breakage. Jerking on a line to open a jaw on a whisker pole can unwind even the strongest circlip, while a gentle pull will accomplish the task without the damage.
When a malfunction does occur, obviously reduce the load on whatever is broken. Having adequate tools on board and being mechanically inclined helps a lot. Every sailor should know how to tie a rolling hitch to help unwind an over-wrap on a winch.
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This coming Tuesday, we will be able to barbecue at the yacht club. Once again the club will not be open, so we must bring everything (food, beer, wine). The crew of Sailing Pair A Dice did it last month and it was really fun, but needed more participants.
I will be out of town, but my crew will be there. Have Fun!
TUESDAY
JULY 9, 2013
It seems like our Catalina Tuesdays is finally getting some recognition and more boats seem to be participating. As all of our proficiencies improve, our starts seem to be getting more intense with the line getting very crowded. Additionally we are attracting new to Catalina Tuesdays, very competitive sailors which increases pressure on all of us to improve our game. This improvement in all of our abilities has been a goal of mine for a long time and I thank each boat and crew for their participation.
On this night, we had an excellent Easterly breeze blowing and decided on the Start, Blacks, SC3, start course. We had problems with our GPS and finally decided to use a horn signal at 5 minutes, 1 minute and at the start, which seemed to work well. On Pair A Dice, we did not geta a good start and ended up in the foul wind of Diver Down and Pacific Spirits on the way to Blacks. We tried to fall off to increase our speed and clear our air. This tactic normally works if used against boats of equal speed, but did not seem to work well in this case because the other boats were moving so well. We rounded Blacks behind most of the other boats and watched as they started their march to SC3, increasing their lead on us. We were really studying the conditions: "what could we do to improve our position?" We studied the wind on the water versus the other boats and noticed that all of the boats ahead of us were standing straight up, they had all sailed into a hole and there was more wind inside, so we tacked back in to the kelp line again. In order to round the mark, we had to return to the transition zone that was forming around it. As we were approaching the mark, the Jib didn't seem to be doing much good, flopping back and forth, so we furled it for a few minutes to let the wind sort itself out and we ghosted around the buoy.
The next dilemna was inside or outside? Would the Easterly fill in stronger than the northwesterly? We decided to go to the kelp line hoping for the Easterly, as the other boats were rounding the mark, the westerly seemed stronger outside and they all stayed in the westerly. We thought we had made the wrong choice, until we saw a boat inside further towards the finish mark heeled way over. In these conditions, the race is never over until you cross the line ahead of your competitors. On this night our "inside gamble" worked out well. Pacific Spirit came in second and Diver Down got third. In my opinion, this kind of night is when lighter boats often do better than longer waterline boats, since it takes more wind to move the larger mass.
I am looking forward to see you all out there next Tuesday.
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Our next night that we can use the yacht club for an after race barbecue is July 23.
Tuesday July 2, 2013
MEA CULPA
Finally, we had a night with wind and no fog. Those Laser sailors really missed the best of Santa Cruz conditions by only one week. There was not even a hint of an Easterly beginning and therefore, there were no transition zones to deal with. We decided to use course #1 with a start time of 6:10 with Iris starting 2 minutes earlier. On Sailing Pair A DIce, we decided a port tack start would be best and further from the start mark being better than right at the start mark. Watching Iris take the same approach confirmed our thoughts that this would be the best approach.
We were early to the line and had to stall and run the line and harden up for the start, with Diver Down on our starboard quarter. Pacific Spirit started right at the mark, so they were about 4 boatlengths to windward and behind us, but slowly closing the gap. My goal on this run was to pinch up, without loosing speed to steal their wind. I kept the Jib inside telltale almost flying straight up without loosing much speed. With the help of the flat seas, I was able to accomplish my goal and Pacific Spirit had to roll us to leeward. As we tacked for Wharf mark, Pacific Spirit was ahead of us,but lower. Iris had sailed further inside and may have fallen into a hole (of less wind). On the way to Wharf, Pacific Spirit was able to roll us to windward just as we approached the mark and Diver Down was breathing down both of our necks. We rounded Wharf just behind Pacific Spirits and followed by DIver Down. On the way to Mile, DIver Down passed us, as I cheered them on: "go gettem Vance", hoping she could do something to slow Pacific Spirit down. We all rounded Mile with Pacific Spirit, DIver Down and Pair a Dice in quick succession. Pacific Spirit and Diver Down left a little inside room at Mile and we were able to slip inside, between the mark the their boats. In the progression to Blacks, all three boats were in a dead heat, with PAD somehow sandwiched between Pacific SPirit to windward and DIver Down to leeward. PAD finally made a move and quickly got to windward of Pacific Spirit, which stole their wind and they immediately fell behind. Then it was PAD and Diver Down neck in neck and in very close quarters. Our boom over the SB side and their whisker pole over their port side were like dueling swords, though never quite touching. I was steering from the rail, like I am prone to do and sensed that we were getting very close so attempted to compensate, but "compensated" in the wrong direction! With my back toward Diver Down, I was clueless until I heard Vance scream "heh, heh, HEH!". They immediately compensated for my dumb error, which really caused them to fall behind.
Let it be known, Sailing Pair A DIce is not perfect, we pay attention to details and we do well, but we do make our share of mistakes. The sound of two boats colliding is abhorrant to me, thank God, Vance was able to clear us without a collision. One big lesson for me from this incident: WHEN IN CLOSE QUARTERS, STEER FROM BEHIND THE WHEEL. This prevents the confusion of turning the wheel up or down and also gives better vision of your proximity to the other boat. Mea Culpa.
This also showed me, that you can have better tactics (setting up for an inside overlap at the mark and passing boats to windward) and mess up and lose a race. The proper thing for me to do would have been a 2 turn penalty after not yielding proper right of way. A two turn penalty was not even in my thought process at the time, I was so embarassed with my stupidity. In our discussions at Johnnies after the race, it became apparent to me that this would have been the proper thing to do. This race was definitely won by DIver Down with Pacific Spirit second. Way to go guys and gals!
We will see you all next Tuesday!,
