OCTOBER 22, 2013
You can really feel the fall chill in the air, and it came so quickly. Just this last weekend was hot and sunny. This Tuesday night was cool with a big fog bank hanging just off shore and the sun was already low on the horizon making daylight very short for a sail. To complicate matters, the wind was very light, with a northwest on the outside and an Easterly very weakly attempting to fill in closer to the beach. After some discussion, we decided on course 7: Start to Mile and back to start. Partcipants this night were: Sailing Pair a dice, Pacific SPirit, Blue Ribbon (Homer's C&C 25), Emeritus, Free Spirit, Iris and Tres Santos.
At the start, the transition line between the northwest and the lighter easterly was right at the start line. Since the northwesterly was much stronger, we approached from outside the start line using wind and waves to get our speed up. At the start Emeritus, Iris and Pacific Spirit and Blue Ribbon were just ahead of Pair a Dice. As we all romped toward Mile into the building northwest, most of the boat were sailing lower, further away from Mile, while Pair a Dice attempted a higher line closer to Mile. Emeritus was the first to tack over to the inside, since it was a port rounding around Mile. When we tacked over Emeritus was charging back out and crossed us easily, but attempted to tack over to steal our wind. We easily sailed out of their shadow and quickly tacked over to round mile. We all had to pinch to round Mile, Homer rounding comfortably in front with PAD, Iris and Emeritus following.
We all marched off toward Start right into a broad transition zone. We watched as each of the boats gave up and furled their sails and motored toward the entrance. Even Homer who was way ahead and seemed to be dead in the water seemed to be motoring toward the harbor. On Pair a Dice, I had visions of burgers grilling and was all ready to start toward the harbor when I felt the weakest hint of an Easterly. As the easterly began to fill in, it was not comforting to note that the start buoy was 0.38 miles away. Suddenly we could see Homer sailing back toward start, this race was not over! We crossed easily in front of him and when we tacked over to get around start we went far enough to be certain we would be windward of him for the approach to the mark. Somehow Homer was able to roll us to leeward and beat us by less than half a boat length. Good job Homer and crew.
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We had an awesome barbecue at the yacht club, with great food and company to complete the evening.
Next Tuesday will be our last Tuesday night for this year and will be another barbecue at the yacht club afterward. At this barbecue, I would like to have a group discussion. The floor will be open for anyone that wants to participate and volunteer comments on: Most important thing you learned this season about sailing, what you like most about Tuesday night sailing and how we could make it better.
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Now that winter is coming, let the racing continue! When weather permits, we meet on Saturdays anywhere from Noon on. We set up races using stationary marks such as SC3, Mile and GOV. It is even more impromtu than Tuesdays and with the lighter winds of winter can be very fun. If the weather is inclement on Saturday, we can even change to Sundays if you can make it. Winter sailing in Santa Cruz is not nearly as cold as you would expect since it is nearly always sunny with light wind and no summer fog. We can exchange phone numbers for people desiring to crew and owners needing crew, so be sure to come to the barbecue.
As the harbor shoals over in the winter, keep an eye on the harbor website to see how deep the channel is and the best way out and in.
See you next Tuesday for our grand finale.
Barry
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