Tuesday July 8, 2014
As we were exiting the harbor,
there was plenty of wind coming from the northwest, but a cold damp fog bank
hanging off shore. With 10 to 15 knots
of wind and no hint of it backing off, we decided on the same course as last
week: course number 1, with a 6:10 start time. We had twelve boats out for the
fun.
Once again, it was an exciting
start, with all major contenders right on the line on time. On Pair A Dice, we were happy with our start
being to windward of Makani and another boat just ahead of us and to
leeward. We were happy with our position
until we noticed Diver Down creeping up behind us just windward of us. We tacked over and ducked Diver Down trying
to use the inside advantage, but found we were in the wind shadow of Pacific Spirit which was trying to close the gap Iris
had opened with their head start. We
attempted to sail lower to pass Pacific Spirit but were not able to pass
them. We finally tacked over for clear
air and passed in front of Makani. We
thought there was more wind outside where the fog line was, and continued on outside separating from the rest
of the fleet. When we finally tacked
over and approached the layline for the wharf mark rounding, we realized our
error in separating so much from the fleet as Iris, Diver Down, Pacific Spirit,
Blue Ribbon and Makani had all opened a sizeable lead on us. We finally rounded Wharf and started toward
Mile trying to close the gap.
We rounded Mile and extended our
pole. As we witnessed Iris, Diver Down, Pacific Spirit and Makani all in a pack
aiming low to Blacks, we attempted to
sail higher like Blue Ribbon thinking we could heat it up to round the
mark. It was amazing after over 4 miles
of racing to have 5 boats rounding Blacks all at once with Pair A Dice in close
pursuit. We all tried to judge the best
layline to make the 5 boatlength finish area by the start/finish mark, but we
all got headed and had to tack over to make the line. Blue Ribbon was the first
over the line followed by Diver Down, Iris, Pacific Spirit and Makani with Pair
a Dice coming in sixth.
Tactical errors:
The thing that is so great about
our Catalina Tuesdays is the ability to analyze your performance after each
race. I encourage all crews to go through this exercise, even if you win! Get opinions from the whole crew: What did we do right? What did we do wrong? How could we improve in the future? It can also be a learning experience for the
skipper by getting opinions and self analysis.
Questions such as: Was I using too much helm? Was I pinching too
much? Were my tacks smooth and
efficient? Once again, it is all about
learning and improving your sailing.
Our analysis on Pair a Dice came
up with several major tactical errors for this night.
- We should have analyzed the
direction of the wind to determine to preferred end of the line. This night, the pin end was not favored and
Diver Down correctly chose the right end of the line.
-We sailed too long in Pacific
Spirit’s bad wind and attempting to roll them to leeward got us even further from
the mark. We should have tacked over for
clear air much sooner than we did.
-We separated ourselves too much from the fleet sailing way
outside and when sailing further in got headed horribly. We should have tacked over to take advantage
of the header rather than sailing even further from the fleet.
Here’s looking forward to next Tuesday for some more fun!
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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