CATALINA SAILBOATS SAILING MONTEREY BAY SANTA CRUZ, CA. September 17, 2013

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

What a difference one week makes. Last Tuesday: overcast looking like rain and no wind at all, with only 3 boats participating in a floatfest. This Tuesday:A clear evening with plenty of wind coming out of the North by the beach and slightly Northwest further out in the ocean.

Since the wind was coming from the North, we chose course 13: Start line between start and Blacks, Gov, Mile, Blacks and finish to port. It sure was great sailing again and we had 6 boats out. It was a pleasure to see Aeolian out again and it was really neat to see Paul Niebank back out. Oh, did I say there was WIND? at least 20 knots.

I attempted to implement the horn system, but since we had limited crew on Pair A dice, I missed several of the signals and we had to postpone the start time to get everyone on the line. Pair a dice had a pretty good start, with Pacific Spirit being the second boat over the line. Since the wind seemed to be the same all over, but there seemed to be less wave action closer to the beach, we headed further in toward the beach, with Pacific Spirit taking the outside course. Mark and I were on the rail studying the wind coming off the beach. A perfect indicator of headers and lifts coming off the beach was how the 2 or 3 boats that were anchored close to the beach were swinging on their anchor. Using the direction these boats were facing allowed us to anticipate headers and lifts as we closed in on GOV. At the same time the wind was decreasing to 16 knots, so we shook out our reef and continued on to Mile and Blacks and Finish. PAD rounded finish first, followed by Pacific SPirit then Aeolian.

It was a gorgeous evening: lots of wind, beautiful sunset on one horizon and a nearly full moon rising on the other horizon.

We had a good turnout at the Crows Nest celebrating an awesome night of sailing and, as it turns out Mark Barshay's birthday. Happy Birthday Mark.

_/) _/) _/}

Keep in mind that next Tuesday is our BBQ night at the yacht club. So bring your grilling stuff.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry