A MISTY SHEARWATERS
EVENING
TUESDAY AUGUST19,2014
As I left work in anticipation of another Catalina night of
sailing, I was impressed at what a gloomy evening it was. If I was in any other state than California
in such conditions I would expect a cloudburst at any moment. The mist was so thick in the air, I could
swear I felt a few drops on my face.
Despite these conditions, I was looking forward to sailing, but doubted
there would be much of a turnout.
Getting to the boat and out of the harbor, I was pleasantly
surprised to see eight boats already out and another 3 boats following us out of the
harbor. We decided on Course 4 with a 6:10 start time. Course 4 is start to wharf, gov then
finish. We had 11 boats out for the evening. It was great to have Brian Kieft join us on
his Catalina 27 “Intrepid” for his first time this season.
On Pair a dice, we decided to try a port tack start. This is quite a gamble with 10 other boat in
the mix and we paid dearly having to duck almost every boat. We sailed inside until we felt the wind die
a little and we tacked out, going clear out until we saw a wind line to tack
on. This worked out well for us, as on
this tack we were able to clear wharf just ahead of Homers “Blue Ribbon” and
Pacific Spirit with Makani and Diver Down in hot pursuit.
Next stop was GOV which was obscured by literally thousands
of Sooty Shearwater Birds. As we
ghosted through the birds they were taking off by the thousands. The sound was incredible, sounding like we were at the foot of a 500
foot waterfall. Behind us, Blue Ribbon
and Makani were trying to close the gap on us as Diver Down and Pacific Spirit
tangled with each other.
After rounding GOV, there was a long reach to the Start
finish. We paid close attention to sail
trim to maintain our lead as Diver Down waterlined Blue Ribbon and started
closing the gap on. Ultimately the
course was not long enough for them to overtake use. The order around the finish mark was Pair a
Dice, Diver Down, Blue Ribbon, Makani the Pacific Spirit. Even though the conditions were damp and
dreary, the sailing was red hot with great competition all around. Dinner at Crows Nest rounded the evening out
perfectly with good food and good discussions about sailing.
Tactics:
On Pair a Dice, we went for a port tack start, knowing how
risky it was, but felt it was worth it.
The wind at the time seemed to be the same inside and outside and we
felt it would be better to go on port tack until we saw the wind decrease. I think what gave us the lead was going out
until we saw the wind line and tacking on this windline. More wind=faster boat speed. As Vance said once “wherever you go, it’s a
crap shoot”. Sometimes you choose right
and sometime you choose wrong. This
night we lucked out.
_/) _/) _/) (\_ (\_
NEXT TUESDAY
NIGHT (8/26) IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT SCYC AFTER THE RACE. BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING STUFF AND
BEVERAGE.
See you next Tuesday,
Barry
No comments:
Post a Comment