OPENING NIGHT: March
11, 2014
It was a beautiful, clear warm evening as the crews filtered
to their respective boats. It is hard to
believe we are already back to sailing our Tuesday nights! I believe I got the new coarse charts on most
of the participating boats. If you do
not have the new chart which is lavender in color, let me know or show up at my
boat at Q16 for yours on any Tuesday evening around 5:30. There are some slight changes in the coarses
from last years card which is blue in color.
As we finally were leaving the harbor, it was apparent that
we were dealing with a pretty strong Northerly breeze. It was gusting up to 20 knots straight off
shore. Pacific Spirit’s crew was kind
enough to place a buoy close to where the normal start mark is. Since we had a north breeze blowing, we set
the starting line between the buoy and the radio towers. Since it was blowing pretty strong we used a
coarse from start to GOV (to port), mile (port) and back to finish (port). There was quite a crowd of boats, some actively racing and others just “tagging
along”.
At the start it was Vance and Diver Down out in front with
Pacific Spirit in hot pursuit. There was
a whole group of boats close behind the front two boats and we (Pair A Dice)
were behind most of the boats. Iris, Aeolian
and Tres Santos were further to windward than us, but we were closing the
gap. Tres Santos was the closest
directly in front of us. We passed them
to leeward and by the time we all arrived at Gov, Diver Down was still in
front, followed by Pacific Spirit, then Sailing Pair a dice, which rounded just
inside of Scotty C on his Catalina 40, Rosa Nautica.
As we headed off to Mile, we seemed to be slowly closing the
gap sailing alongside Scotty. At Mile,
we were still trailing Diver Down and Pacific Spirit as we rounded once again
with Rosa Nautica. We tried to close the
gap sailing to windward of Pacific Spirit, but found we were getting lee bowed
by them and tacked over. Diver Down and
Pacific Spirit both sailed to the corner attempting to make it back to start
with one long tack. Diver Down finished
with a comfortable lead followed by Pair A Dice then Pacific Spirit.
TACTICS:
When passing Tres Santos in the first leg, passing to
leeward versus to windward. Since the
wind was so strong, we felt it was safe to pass to leeward. We would simply have had to pinch too much
going to windward. You certainly do not
want to stay in bad air, but you can always fall off for more speed to get by
the bad air.
From Mile to finish we tacked inside rather than follow
close behind Pacific Spirit. Actually,
this tactic employed two principles.
First, If you don’t have enough speed to pass, it is not good to
continue in bad air. It was obvious if
we followed them, we would not pass them.
The second principle is: do not sail to the corners. By sailing clear to the layline, you are
giving up any chance to use lifts to your advantage. Though tacking a keel boat is often frowned
on, if you see more wind in a certain area, it is usually advantageous to get
to the windier area and sailing up the middle of a course allows you to use
lifts to squeak ahead.
WAYS TO IMPROVE
YOUR SPEED:
First and foremost: have a clean bottom. You need a clean bottom to get the boat
moving.
Second sail trim and sail handling: In gusty conditions, your mainsheet trimmer
must keep on his toes, travelling down every time there is a gust. The object should be to keep the boat at the
same angle of heel.
Third Steering: A steady hand on the wheel is crucial. You will not pass boats by oversteering and
sailing twice the distance. As in sail trim, the skipper should concentrate on
keeping the boat on an even angle of heel.
If your boat is heeling way over and coming up to relatively flat,
imagine the amount of energy you are losing.
There are sailors much better than me participating. Please feel free to comment on these
observation, so we all can learn from your expertise.
It was an awesome start for the first time out this
year. Tell your friends about the fun
you are having and encourage them to come out.
We have a new boat joining us this year: TOAD a Beneteau 32 owned by Dan
Larson. Welcome Dan to the fun!
Unfortunately, I will be out of town for the next two weeks,
but the races will continue and hopefully, I can get a recap out on the blog.
Have fun and sail safe!
Barry
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