TUESDAY APRIL15, 2014
It was a beautiful evening for a sail. Beautiful sunny
evening with no fog. The only problem
was, there was no wind! We had a dozen
boats out and no wind. All we could do was wait! It only took about 20-25 minutes and we saw
the water get darker in the distance.
The wind was filling in from the East.
We decided on course 12 which was Start, Blacks, Start Blacks and finish
at start. Some of the boats participating were Aeolian, Andiamo, Emeritus,
Pacific Spirit, Tres Santos, Toad (Beneteau 32), Iris, Katrina, Free Spirit,
Sailing Pairadice and a C&C 29(?) to round things out for us.
We started the count down to the start and were lucky enough
on Sailing PairADice to be right at the start buoy on time with clear air, with
Tres Santos close behind. Most of the
other boats got tangled further down the line, giving each other bad, unclear
air. We pressed our clear air advantage
to lengthen our lead. As we looked back
as the pack of boats rounded Blacks, it was getting very interesting with many
boats attempting to round at the same time.
You can’t do better in a race than lucking out with clear air, when
everyone else is crowded together. We
finished comfortably ahead with Toad (Beneteau 32) second and Tres Santos
third.
Tactics:
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, you can’t beat being in
clear air with no other boats around. We fought for and won the pin end which
allowed us to lay Blacks without a single tack.
The boats that were too early to the line sailed down the line and could
not make Blacks without putting a few tacks in. Extra tacks in dirty air really
allowed us to lengthen our lead.
Racing rules of sailing:
When sailing and especially when racing, it is essential to
have a working knowledge of the rules of racing. Basically there are rules always in effect,
call them the right of way rules. These
rules are numbered 10-13 in the rule books.
A boat on Starboard tack, with the boom out to the port side of the boat
has right of way over a port tack boat.
When two boats are on the same tack, the leeward boat has right of way
over the windward boat. If there is
overlap, the leeward boat has the right to luff up and force the windward boat
over the start line. Another critical
rule is that a boat that is overtaking another boat must yield to the slower
boat. When any of these right of way
rules is broken, the rule book requires the offending boat to perform two 360
degree turns, but most SI’s have shortened this to just a single turn. This
turn must be performed as soon as possible and out of the way of other
competitors.
When setting up for a start, boats frequently take a
line pretty much parallel to the start line,
then try to harden up at the mark. When
employing this tactic, it is common for a leeward boat to luff up to close you
out of the start. This is his right as the
leeward boat and he will hail “no room, you are barging!” We have all tried to barge and it is
frustrating, because your only option is to take the wrong side of the mark,
turn around and cross the line when the line is cleared.
One other critical area is rounding marks. There is a
“3 boat zone”. This is determined
by the first boat to reach three boat lengths of the mark. If as the first boat reaches the “zone” there
is an inside overlap, the boat that is overlapped inside of the other boat, has
right of way and must be given room to round the mark. This is a very simple description of a
situation that gets very complicated when there are multiple boats rounding at
the same time. The inside position is a very desirable position to be in and
requires planning and tactics to achieve.
This description of the rules is very crude, and covers only
the very basic rules. I encourage
everyone to get a copy of the rules.
There are many books and DVD’s that explain the rules in great detail.
We will see you out there next Tuesday.
Barry Keeler
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