OCTOBER 27, 2015: CALL THAT A SHORT COURSE?

October 27, 2015

CALL THAT A SHORT COURSE?

I was encouraged as I saw the Crow’s Nest flag stiff as a board. I even thought the 155 would be too much sail.  The crew that was waiting on the boat said the wind was variable, so we did not change to a smaller sail.   I was encouraged to see so many boats milling around for the start.  There were over 10 boats out for the last very short evening.  We were all there except the wind decided to not show up.  It did not take long for that to change as a gust filled in the bay, with a very shifty direction generally from the West or North?  We decided on a course from start to gov and back to start/finish.  One of the shortest courses but, as it turned out too long for this night.

At the start, we found ourselves behind Pacific Spirit square in their shadow.  Our initial attempt to climb above them failed as we fell further behind.  Attempting this required climbing above their wind shadow into a lee-bowed position.  It may have been possible if we had 30 knot winds, but not this night!  We finally fell off until we had clear air and then started climbing and getting lifted by the changing direction of the wind.  We tacked searching for more wind which was dissipating as the sun set.  We did not argue when Pacific Spirit called for a shortened course finishing at Gov.  At the finish Pair a Dice was first to round Gov followed by Pacific Spirit, Inspiration and Sea Quake.

We all had a great meeting and BBQ at the yacht club with over 50 people attending.

End of Season:

This has been a great season for the Catalina group.  We have had up to 15 boats out at times and consistently 8-10 boats.  I feel we are all bringing our game up, improving our boats and getting more aggressive as we learn more about sailing.  It is amazing to me the infinite amount of things to be learned about sailing.   My crew has been sailing together now for over 10 years and we learn something new almost every time we go out.  This learning curve is accelerated exponentially by racing! 

Think about the times you sail by yourself.  You are out enjoying the day, the boat feels fantastic, you are just screaming along.  Everything is perfect!  But is it?  You don’t really know until you have a similar boat sailing next to you in a race situation.  This is how you learn! THIS is why we race!  If you have no desire to ever improve your sailing, don’t race!  Why not race and IMPROVE?  Why not race in every situation possible.  Tuesday nights is a start, but why not other regattas?  SCYC is a sailing club and sponsors many regattas every year.  The chances to race in Santa Cruz are unlimited and you should be taking advantage of this opportunity.  All it requires is a PHRF certificate which can be obtained by asking the SCYC yacht club.

Talking to several of the top sailors in our fleet, I have several suggestions to improve our Tuesday nights.  I will be using these suggestions next year.  This will be the last blog for this season.  Keep tuned for an even better season next year.  Have a great winter and enjoy your sailing.  The new season will be on us before we know it.

A huge thanks to all of you for your participation this year.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice.

October 20, 2015: LIGHT WIND SAILING

OCTOBER 20, 2015

LIGHT WIND SAILING

It sure looked like a great night for sailing.  The wind was filling in nicely from the East.  All of the boats made it out of the harbor early for another early start.  With the short evenings we have been trying to get started by 5:45.  We missed this time by 5 minutes and started at 5:50.  The consensus on Pair A Dice was that the wind would hold and not dissipate.  We got way too ambitious and called for course 11A1:  Start, Blacks, Gov, start-finish.  With the quick start sequence, we were not able to set up appropriately and did not have a great start.  We watched as Kicks nailed the start right at the pin with great speed followed by Odonata and Pacific Spirit. 

Since we were blanketed by all 7 boats ahead, as soon as we cleared the start buoy, we tacked over for clear air and Odonata quickly tacked to cover us.  It was fine, we still had clear wind and were eventually able to pinch up enough to give them disturbed wind just before we got to the lay line for Blacks. As all boats converged on Blacks, Pacific Spirit was just ahead of Kicks which we followed on the long slog to Gov.  As the wind was dissipating, the boats were dropping out one by one and heading for the harbor.  Pacific Spirit was ghosting along (in the Halloween spirit) and we were doing our best to catch them.  We were trying every trick in the book to get whatever speed we could, but to no avail.  We called for a shortened course to finish at Gov.  Finally, as Pacific Spirit was approaching Gov, we were dead in the water with no wind.  We conceded the race to Pacific Spirit and headed for the harbor.

                                                                                                                                                     

Light wind sailing tips:

We tried many tricks on our slog toward Gov.  First, we figured the current was stronger toward the beach.   Since it was a westerly current, we wanted to use it to our advantage.  This required sailing through the kelp beds and keeping a lookout on the bow to avoid the kelp. We also kept a sharp eye behind us for patches of wind and did what we could to sail into these patches.  For a while we seemed to be closing the gap with Pacific Spirit.  The wind was also oscillating between an Easterly and Northerly breeze, so we were changing the whisker pole from port to starboard and back as needed to maximize the effect on our speed.  Of course a clean bottom and minimal steering are critical in these situations.  It was all a great exercise, but alas it was to no avail.

Next week is the last Tuesday of the season and a barbecue at the yacht club to celebrate the end of a great season of sailing.  The club and bar will be open, so bring your best food for grilling and enjoy the festivities

NEXT TUESDAY: LAST TUESDAY OF THE SEASON FOLLOWED BY BARBECUE AT SCYC.  CLUB AND BAR WILL BE OPEN.

The evening will be short, so be sure to get on the water early.

See you next week.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

OCTOBER 13, 2015: JUST ENOUGH WIND

TUESDAY OCTOBER 13, 2015

JUST ENOUGH WIND

My first sight of the ocean on my way to the boat was very depressing, unless you were interested in water skiing on the bay.  Dead glass as far as I could see.  We got to the boat and prepped it for the evening.  As we left the harbor, there still was no hint of wind.  We all motored out to the start buoy, and on Pair A Dice, we hoisted the sail just for the exercise.  As the boat sat motionless in the water, those that were observant felt just a wisp of wind on their face.  We adjusted the boat for a better approach to the wind and though the water was dead glass, I noticed we were actually ghosting along at 2 to 3 knots.  I didn’t even have my radio on and one of the boats we were close to inquired “what course? what time? Do you have your radio on?” Time to wake up and sail.  The start time was determined to be 6:05 and with the light breeze we were experiencing I called for course 12A: Start, Blacks and back to finish/start. 

At the start Pair a Dice was third to go over the line, right after Pacific Spirit with Kicks in the lead.  Many boats had sat this night out and we only had 5 boats out for the fun.   I had Fred Molnar on the helm and as our three boats approached blacks, Pair a Dice was attempting to get an inside overlap on Pacific Spirit.  Pacific Spirit had to give Kicks room at the mark since they were overlapped inside,  Kicks did not perform a tight rounding of the mark and drove Pacific Spirit further away from the mark.  Fred saw his opportunity and drove for a tight rounding of the mark, taking advantage of what he calls “room freely given at the mark”.   Suddenly, we were in first place on the way back to the finish mark.  At the finish, it was Pair A Dice, followed by Pacific Spirit and Kicks, the Saber 34 and Toad.  We all had a great time enjoying the beautiful sunset over the water.

Tactics:

Taking advantage of opportunities.  Having been the recipient of Fred’s “taking advantage of room freely given” move before, I had a great discussion with him about this move.  It definitely requires quick appreciation of an opportunity and then acting on that opportunity.  I expressed my apprehension over having the door slammed on me, which could easily have happened.   Fred said if you are the boat preparing to “slam the door” look at the other boat and hail “do NOT even think about going in there!”.   This move requires quick recognition of the opportunity, quick action to take advantage and then having a plan if everything does not work the way as planned.  On this night the move worked flawlessly.  It was much more fun being on the boat executing the move than being on the receiving end! It is amazing what a proper rounding of a mark can do for your position.

We have two more Tuesdays.  Let’s make it out early next week also.

See you next week.  

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

OCTOBER 6, 2015: BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN NIGHT

  OCTOBER 6, 2015

BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN NIGHT

As we approach the end of the season, all we can hope for is decent wind to fill our short evening sails.  This evening did not disappoint us.  We were all early getting to the harbor and by 5:40 most of the boats were out.  We called for course 3: Start, Wharf, Blacks and start finish. Stefan was steering Pair A Dice and we executed a decent start closer to the buoy than most of the boats.  Most of the boats started further down the line from the buoy, so they were windward of us but a little behind.  It did not matter because we had the one crucial element going for us: unobstructed, clear air!  One by one the boats all tacked over for the inside track along the beach.  We sailed a little further out and tacked over also.  The wind seemed to be as consistent outside as it was inside, so it should not have made much difference. When we crossed  with Pacific Spirit the first time, it was close but they were  just slightly ahead as  they were on the crossing just before rounding Wharf.

After rounding wharf, or objective was to steal the wind from Pacific Spirit.  About a third of the way to Blacks, we started to see their jib collapse as we finally succeeded.  Just as this happened, Pacific Spirit Jibed  and headed straight toward the beach.  We were tempted to cover them, but the consensus was that there was more wind outside.  It looked good initially, but ultimately our wind died as the inside wind filled in.  Pacific Spirit rounded Blacks comfortably ahead of us.  On the way back to start, we gained a little on them, but it looked like they crossed the finish line about one and a half minutes in front of us.  We were followed by Emeritus, Kicks, Aeolian and Sea Quake.

Tactics:

When discussing sailing tactics, it is commonly said to stay between your competition and the next mark.  It is also a basic tenant to stay with your competition.  Tonight would have been a little more interesting if Pair A Dice had followed this concept.  We had Pacific Spirit in our shadow and instead of jibing when they jibed, we second guessed and thought there was more wind outside.  We gave up a golden opportunity to continue to steal their wind all the way to blacks.  The point is if you stay with your competition, even if they sail into less wind, you can block their wind and have a better chance to pass them. 

Rule 13:

A couple of blogs ago I brought up rule 13.  In essence this rule says while tacking you must stay clear of another boat until you are on a closed hauled course.  My perception was that a “close hauled course” was achieved when sails were all in and you are sailing on your new tack.  I asked a sailing judge what a “close hauled course means”.  He said the trim of the sails is not considered in this discussion.  What is considered is the angle of sail the boat is heading on.  In other words, if your tacking angle is 90 degrees and your boat has turned 90 degrees, you are on a close hauled course regardless of how well the sails are trimmed.  

The season is coming to an end and the evenings are getting shorter.  Lets get out as eary as possible next week also.

See you out there next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015: THE NEXT STEP IN SAILING

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

THE NEXT STEP IN SAILING

I am sorry I was AWOL for this last Tuesday night.  Sometimes vacations get in the way of important things.  I hope the sail and the barbecue at the yacht club went well.

  I know we all are having a blast competing on Tuesday night.  It doesn’t matter if you are battling it out for first or just trying not to be last, I sense we are all having fun.  It is also very apparent we are all bringing our game up and learning a lot about sailing and everything it entails: boat handling, sail trim, rules etc.  It is incredibly fun for me to see the novices at the beginning of the season, not knowing the rules and staying away from the clump of boats fighting for the start line.  By the end of the season, the start line gets very crowded as these novices learn and become more aggressive.  It does not hurt that we have an excellent contingent of sailors in our group for all of us to learn from. This is what our Catalina Tuesdays is all about, improving our sailing abilities.  What is the next step?

Why not progress to racing in a sanctioned regatta?  I would like to take this opportunity to ameliorate some of the fears that people may have about sanctioned regattas.  There are two things you must do before you can enter one of these sanctioned regattas.  You must get a PHRF certificate and you must have a sailing affiliation.

To get a PHRF certificate, you fill out a form from the Monterey Bay PHRF committee.  Forms are available at the yacht club.  On this form, you provide the particulars of your boat.  If you are a class boat like a Catalina most of the information is on file (length, beam).  The particulars for your boats are the sails you use.  What is the biggest Jib you use?  Are you a tall rig?  What type of prop do you have? You provide all of this data and turn the form in with $20.  This is renewable each year, so if you have made changes you can let them know to change your PHRF rating.  For my boat, I have a folding prop and use up to a 155 jib and my rating is 180.  PHRF is simply a way to compare your performance to every other boat. To put it in perspective, if I was racing against a boat with a PHRF of 0 and the race from start to finish is 1 mile. If I crossed the finish line 2 minutes and 59 seconds after the 0 PHRF boat, I would win the race by 1 second. 

Having a sailing affiliation is another necessary step to enter a regatta.  If you have not joined SCYC, now might be the time to do it.  It is usually only $1000 to join and $500 a year.  If you are not inclined to join SCYC, the least expensive way to establish a sailing affiliation is to join US Sail which is usually about $30 a year.

Any regatta you enter in Santa Cruz will be conducted by the Santa Cruz Yacht Club.  Sailors in Santa Cruz are incredibly blessed to have such a professional, dedicated group of people that work very hard to conduct races that are run incredibly well.  If you are a sailor living in the Santa Cruz area who is interested in improving their sailing and racing skills, to not take advantage of this opportunity does not make sense.  If you have been sailing on Tuesdays and been following this blog, you already know the rules, though diligence in following the rules may be a little more important in a sanctioned regatta.

Another thing that may seem intimidating to the uninitiated is the starting sequence.  All those flags and horns.  What do they all mean?  I will cover this in a future blog.

The season is winding down.  It is getting dark earlier, so let’s be early (but not OCS) to the start line.

See you out there next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINAS SAILING MONTEREY BAY: SEPTEMBER 22 HOT SEPTEMBER NIGHT

September 22, 2015

HOT SEPTEMBER NIGHT

One thing I have found is that you can never predict what the wind will do in Santa Cruz.  I realized I had the 135 jib on the boat and when I showed up and saw an Easterly wind filling in, knew we needed the 155!  I got to the boat and everyone was kicking back getting reacquainted after time away from each other.  When I asked if the 155 was on, everyone sprung to life!  Captai

n Bligh had barked orders! I guess only the owner can make decisions on sail change.  Everyone knew what needed to be done and we set for the task at hand. By 5:25 we had the jib swapped out and were ready to go.  The beauty of competent sailors working together!

We got to the start area and called for course 14A1: Start, Blacks, Gov and back to start.  I did not want to put everyone through a transition zone out to Mile buoy and kept it all inside.  We had eight boats out for the fun and gave the horn signal for the 5 minute countdown.  We had Fred Molnar on the helm and he absolutely nailed the start.  As Ernie Rideout used to admonish: “start ahead of everyone and build your lead!”  It is so much easier when you do not have boats close by to disturb your wind.  For the first time in a long time we were looking back at the fleet battling for clean wind.  Actually on the way from Blacks to Gov, it seemed like some boats were closing in a little. 

After Gov, we sailed outside until we hit the layline for the finish at the start mark.  The question as always was: Inside or outside?  Since we saw the current was flowing from East to West inside, we stayed outside to not fight the current.  At the finish, it was Pair A Dice, Pacific Spirit, Makani,  Saber 34, Sea Quest, Kicks and Aolean.

It was yet another gorgeous night for a sail.

Over dinner at the Crows Nest, there was  some interesting discussion about the rules.  Apparently, there was some confusion on the course about rule 13.

Rule 13: WHILE TACKING.  After a boat passes head to wind, she shall keep clear of other boats until she is on a close-hauled course.  During that time rules, 10(opposite tacks), 11(same tack, overlapped)and 12 (same tack, not overlapped) do not apply.  If two boats are subject to this rule at the same time the one on the other’s port side or the one astern shall keep clear.

This means that if two boats are on port tack and one tacks over to starboard tack, they must be close-hauled in order to call starboard tack rights over a port tack boat.  This is where a good crew comes into play.  That jib sheet needs to be sheeted in quickly in order to claim your starboard rights.

Fred at the helm Pair A Dice finally in the lead.

NEXT WEEK IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE YACHT CLUB.  BRING YOUR FAVORITE FOOD FOR GRILLING.  THE CLUB AND THE BAR ARE OPEN.

Here’s looking forward to next week.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINAS SAILING TUESDAYS: SEPTEMBER 15, 2015, WARM NORTH WIND

September 15, 2015

WARM NORTH WIND

It was a perfect night for a Catalina Tuesday, with warm wind blowing nearly straight off the beach.  All sailors know that when the wind blows straight off shore, you get great sailing on very flat water: the ultimate sailing experience.

We set a up for course 14, using the line between start and blacks as the start, around Gov (P) around blacks (P) and finish with the start buoy on starboard.  As it  turned out, it was a perfect course since everyone needed to tack at least once to get around Gov. We came off the line on starboard tack just behind Odonata and just to windward of Sea Quake.  Since the wind was so gusty and we were short handed, we had put a reef in just before the start.  Having a reef in helped us stand up straighter and we slowly passed Odonata to leeward.  I chided Odonata for not having a reef in, knowing that the Santana 22 is built reefed being built for San Francisco.  Odonata finally tacked off and Pacific Spirit was sailing away from us.  Tonight was a night when waterline definitely made a difference! 

Pacific Spirit rounded Gov comfortably ahead of Pair a dice and Pair A dice was just ahead of Odonata for the rounding.  Once Odonata popped their chute, they slowly crept ahead of us.  It was only fair; We water-lined them on the way to Gov and they kited ahead of us on the way to Blacks.  For some reason, I zoned and did not think to shake out the reef.  Finally, a couple of 100 yards from Gov, Jeff asked me to shake out the reef.  Once we did, we started at least keeping even with Odonata.  Once again, Pacific Spirit rounded Blacks with a comfortable lead and we rounded just outside of Odonata.  On the way to the finish line we got a gust and a burst of speed.  As we approached the finish line, It looked like a dead even tie between us and Odonata.  Pacific Spirit finished with a substantial lead followed by Pair a Dice and Odonata in unison.  Kicks followed then Thalasia, Sea Quake, Aeolian and Toad.

Reefing:

It seems to defy logic.  Decrease sail area to improve performance.  I have witnessed this phenomenon frequently, as I am sure all sailors have.  Being able to reef quickly and efficiently is crucial.  On Pair A Dice, we have it set up so one person can put a reef in within a minute.  Everyone should know the conditions that dictate to put a reef in for their boat.  Sometimes this can be changed by other factors such as crew weight.  In the recent score race from Moss Landing to Santa Cruz, I only had one other crew member for ballast.  We normally reef at about 21 knots apparent.  On this day, I noticed we were heeling 30 degrees at 18-19 knots.  Though some of this was caused from over sheeted sails, with the low ballast aboard, we should have reefed at 18-19 knots.  By reefing, you keep the boat sailing more upright, can point better and everything just seems more manageable!

See you next Tuesday.

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair a D

September 8, 2015: STEADY EASTERLY

September 8, 2015

STEADY EASTERLY

As I walked across the parking lot when leaving work, I felt a gust of easterly breeze.  This being my favorite wind direction, I smiled knowing that this was going to be a great night. I was not disappointed when I got to the harbor and saw flags confirming a steady Easterly breeze.  We had a lot of work to complete before we left the harbor. We had to swap out to the 155 jib and clean the bottom.  There was also a rather nasty strand of kelp that was tangled around my rudder.  We finally left the harbor and saw 8 boats out for the fun.

We called for an easterly wind course: start, Blacks, SC3, finish and gave a 5 minute horn. Everyone went into their start routine.  On Pair a Dice I really wanted to start right at the mark on starboard tack.  We were coming into a very crowded start line and were prime candidates for being in a barging situation since we were running parallel to the line.  We were not alone in our plan.  Kicks was just ahead of us on the same line.  Seeing that Don Radcliffe was at the helm on Pacific Spirit, I knew it was going to be a challenging start.  As we approached the line, I stalled to avoid being caught barging.  I figured it was better to be late to the start as long as I started at the pin.  As predicted, Pacific Spirit nailed the start perfectly and Kicks was pinched off attempting to barge.  As they turned to avoid the mark, Sea Quake was setting up to pinch us off also.  As we spun also we started right behind Kicks.  We were the last ones over the line, but we were at least at the pin, accomplishing at least one of my goals.

The 155 jib worked like a charm in these winds, helping us point higher than the other boats and also creep by Kicks.  At Blacks, Pacific Spirit rounded comfortably ahead of us with Kicks and Aeolian rounding behind us. The wind was consistent all over the ocean as we all made our way to SC3.  Though we were able to close the gap with Pacific Spirit, they rounded SC3 still comfortably ahead of us.

We all slogged back to start attempting different tactics: pole on port then starboard, trying to get inside to smoother water.  Ultimately Pacific Spirit finished at least one minute ahead of Pair A Dice, followed by Kicks, Sea Quake, Perfect 36 and Tres Santos.

The finer nuances of Barging rules:

The rules that govern barging are rule 11 and rule 17.1. Rule 11 establishes that leeward boat has right of way and may luff up at will.  Rule 17.1 dictates that if the leeward boat establishes its overlap from astern they can luff up at will UNTIL the start signal, then must assume proper course. This is called a restricted overlap since they are restricted to proper course after the start signal. If the windward boat establishes overlap from behind or if the leeward boat tacks into an overlap position, the leeward boat can continue to luff up even after the start signal- an “unrestricted overlap”.

If you are caught in a windward position and someone hails “leeward coming up” the windward boat must head up immediately.  The leeward boat must not luff up so fast that there is a collision.  If in a real race, you neglect to luff up fast enough as windward boat, you could find yourself in a protest hearing. 

All of this applies in sanctioned racing with committee boats, signals and race committee.  In our Tuesday night racing, it all falls on our honor and doing the right thing.  As Ernie Rideout said: “If you win a race and have lost the honor of competitors, you have not won!”

_/)                                 _/)

This weekend will be a phenomenal time to be a boat owner in Santa Cruz.  Many options are available: observing the West Marine fun regatta for the Juniors, participating in the Monterey and back regatta or sailing down for the Capitola Art and Wine festival.  Whatever you do, be safe and we will see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

September 1, 2015: "AWESOME WIND"

  September 1, 2015

AWESOME WIND!

How can you figure out what the wind will do?  All predictions were for light wind and I feared another drift fest was in the cards.  It was with relief when I turned toward the harbor and saw the flags flying straight as boards.  As we left the harbor, there were around a dozen boats out for the fun. It was blowing a steady 19-20 knots from the northwest.

We selected course 1, our longest course and gave a 5  minute horn at 6:00 for a 6:05 start.  As everyone set up for their start, it became apparent that everyone is really bringing their game up. More boats are right on the line right on time.  We were stuck right behind Makani at the start and once we cleared the line, we tacked over to port tack.  The wind seemed very consistent inside so we sailed on in toward the wharf. At one point, we had Perfect 36 cross us on starboard and had to duck them. It was comforting that Pacific Spirit had to duck also.  We continued sailing all the way beyond Gov before we tacked over with everyone praying for a lift.  It certainly did not look like we were on the layline.  Diver Down crossed behind us as did Pacific Spirit and Makani.  As we closed in on Wharf we got lifted to the point that we could fetch the mark.  Within 100 yards of the mark, Diver Down passed us to windward. With this disturbed wind, it made it even harder, but somehow we cleared the mark after Diver Down. We were followed by Pacific Spirit and Makani.  On the way to Mile it was very exciting with both Pacific Spirit and Makani breathing down our neck as we tried to close the gap between us and Diver Down.

At mile, Diver Down was ahead and Pair a Dice was second in line once again followed by Pacific Spirit and Makani.  This is when the real tactics  came into play.  Where was the wind?  How were the boats doing that were ahead?  We watched as Diver Down sailed high of the next mark (Blacks) and seemed to have difficulty filling their sails.  We decided to rhum line it straight to the mark since the inside wind seemed consistent.  Makani and Pacific Spirit took the middle ground. At Blacks, Diver Down and Makani were ahead of us. We all sailed further inside before tacking over for the finish line.  At the finish it was Diver Down followed by Makani,Pair A Dice, Pacific Spirit, Perfect 36, Aeolian, Odonata and Kicks. There was real excitement as Toad and SeaQuake fought it out for the next two spots. In true “its not over until its over” fashion, Toad inched out Sea Quake to finish ahead of Sea Quake and Tres Santos.

RACE QS:

At this point there is no reason to not be using Race QS!  About half of the boats are using it and  why wouldn’t you?  This is a real tool that can improve your sailing.  It is a free app you can download to your “smart” cell phone and the information you get is invaluable.  What information can you get from this app?  How is your steering?, how efficient are your tacks?, what is your angle of heel?, what is your VMG?  How does your performance in all of these areas compare to competitors?  All answers are delivered to you for Free!

You only need to have google earth downloaded to your computer and all of this information is available to you FOR FREE! To check out tonight’s race click on this website and enjoy:

http://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2015-09-02T02:34:11Z&dt=2015-09-01T18:00:27-07:00..2015-09-01T19:22:19-07:00&boat=Pair&time=1441155654177&focus=Pair&rival=Odonata&tab=fleet&view=auto

See you next Tuesday.

  September 1, 2015

AWESOME WIND!

How can you figure out what the wind will do?  All predictions were for light wind and I feared another drift fest was in the cards.  It was with relief when I turned toward the harbor and saw the flags flying straight as boards.  As we left the harbor, there were around a dozen boats out for the fun. It was blowing a steady 19-20 knots from the northwest.

We selected course 1, our longest course and gave a 5  minute horn at 6:00 for a 6:05 start.  As everyone set up for their start, it became apparent that everyone is really bringing their game up. More boats are right on the line right on time.  We were stuck right behind Makani at the start and once we cleared the line, we tacked over to port tack.  The wind seemed very consistent inside so we sailed on in toward the wharf. At one point, we had Perfect 36 cross us on starboard and had to duck them. It was comforting that Pacific Spirit had to duck also.  We continued sailing all the way beyond Gov before we tacked over with everyone praying for a lift.  It certainly did not look like we were on the layline.  Diver Down crossed behind us as did Pacific Spirit and Makani.  As we closed in on Wharf we got lifted to the point that we could fetch the mark.  Within 100 yards of the mark, Diver Down passed us to windward. With this disturbed wind, it made it even harder, but somehow we cleared the mark after Diver Down. We were followed by Pacific Spirit and Makani.  On the way to Mile it was very exciting with both Pacific Spirit and Makani breathing down our neck as we tried to close the gap between us and Diver Down.

At mile, Diver Down was ahead and Pair a Dice was second in line once again followed by Pacific Spirit and Makani.  This is when the real tactics  came into play.  Where was the wind?  How were the boats doing that were ahead?  We watched as Diver Down sailed high of the next mark (Blacks) and seemed to have difficulty filling their sails.  We decided to rhum line it straight to the mark since the inside wind seemed consistent.  Makani and Pacific Spirit took the middle ground. At Blacks, Diver Down and Makani were ahead of us. We all sailed further inside before tacking over for the finish line.  At the finish it was Diver Down followed by Makani,Pair A Dice, Pacific Spirit, Perfect 36, Aeolian, Odonata and Kicks. There was real excitement as Toad and SeaQuake fought it out for the next two spots. In true “its not over until its over” fashion, Toad inched out Sea Quake to finish ahead of Sea Quake and Tres Santos.

RACE QS:

At this point there is no reason to not be using Race QS!  About half of the boats are using it and  why wouldn’t you?  This is a real tool that can improve your sailing.  It is a free app you can download to your “smart” cell phone and the information you get is invaluable.  What information can you get from this app?  How is your steering?, how efficient are your tacks?, what is your angle of heel?, what is your VMG?  How does your performance in all of these areas compare to competitors?  All answers are delivered to you for Free!

You only need to have google earth downloaded to your computer and all of this information is available to you FOR FREE! To check out tonight’s race click on this website and enjoy:

http://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2015-09-02T02:34:11Z&dt=2015-09-01T18:00:27-07:00..2015-09-01T19:22:19-07:00&boat=Pair&time=1441155654177&focus=Pair&rival=Odonata&tab=fleet&view=auto

See you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINAS RACING MONTEREY BAY AUGUST 25, 2015 "SOME THINGS ARE WORTH WAITING FOR"

TUESDAY AUGUST 25, 2015

“SOME THINGS ARE WORTH WAITING FOR”

It was going to be an interesting night with the presence of wind being a huge question.  As we left the harbor, there were about 12 boats milling around.  Since the wind was questionable and we had a barbecue to get to, we chose a short course #4: start, mile finish.  Someone on the radio said that the transition would arrive right at start time.  But we were th

ere for a race and by God we were going to have one.  We gave the 5 minute horn and everyone set up for their start.

On Pair A Dice we were setting up for a starboard start a little down from the start buoy.  Pacific Spirit was directly ahead of us as we stalled to not be early.  It was obvious they were OCS and they dutifully started rounding the buoy to start again (kudos for doing the right thing), when suddenly the wind DIED.  The wind died much quicker than our optimism did.  With the waves on our nose and the dead wind, we were actually moving backward.  Looking through the fleet it was apparent very small patches of wind were moving through the boats.  You would see a boat sprint forward then stop. Toad was the first boat over the line, soon to die in the transition zone.  Everyone was focusing on getting to the westerly winds just outside of the transition zone we were hopelessly mired in.  Many of the boats had caught their patch of wind and were substantially ahead of us.

As usual, Mark was on Pair A Dice and had his “head out of the boat” surveying for conditions everywhere.  Those flags, the anchored boats and of course wind on the water everywhere was being considered.  Mark announced that we should turn toward the harbor to catch the building Easterly.  As I was considering the illogical move of sailing AWAY from the mark to get wind, Pacific Spirit turned and went directly for the building easterly and seemed to be picking up speed.  We followed suit and immediately started sailing.  After bobbing for over 45 minutes it was exhilarating to be sailing again. We sailed toward the wharf, picking up more speed the further we went.  We set our pole and turned toward Mile, seeming to close the gap with Pacific Spirit.

The rounding at Mile got to be very interesting with Pacific Spirit clear ahead and Makani,  Aeolian and Odonata just ahead of us.  We had all taken different paths but ended up at Mile at the same time.  After Mile, most of the boats turned and headed further inside on starboard tack, while Aeolian and Pair A Dice took the port tack on the now predominantly Northerly wind.

AEOLIAN AFTER FINISH HEADING TO BBQ

At the finish, Pacific Spirit was one minute ahead of Pair A Dice followed by the Saber 34, Aeolian, Perfect 36, Kicks, Makani and Toad.

We had a great barbecue at the club with many discussions about the sailing that night.

Dealing with Transition zones:

Transition zones are a way of life sailing in Santa Cruz so learning how to deal with them is critical to do well.

-Critical in any light wind situation is having a clean bottom on the boat. 

-Another concept:  in very light wind DO NOT buck the waves, let the waves roll under the boat at an angle even if you must sail away from the mark. 

-Where is the wind building?  Use anchored boats, flags, birds and wind on the water to determine this. 

-Use sails to turn the boat rather than the rudder, if you have a large jib, you may need to furl some of it to steer using the sails. 

-Last tip is to remember we are on sailboats, we need wind to move, get to the wind even if it means sailing away from the mark!

Other Regattas:

Last Sunday was the first of the SCORE series.  It was a great day for a sail with 13-22 knot winds on the course.  This first of the series was a run from Moss Landing around wharf mark and finishing at Gov.  Though we motored down early in the morning for this race, it was a blast.  These SCORE races are a blast, and you can register on SCYC.org if you have a Monterey Bay PHRF certificate.

September 12 and 13 is the Down and Back.  This is another long race, down to Monterey on the first day and back home the next.

You’ve been learning about racing all summer.  Now is the time to apply that knowledge in a sanctioned race!

See you next week.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINAS SAILING MONTEREY BAY AUGUST 18,2015 'A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT FOR A SAIL'

August 18, 2015

A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT FOR A SAIL!

The predictions were for light wind and as I saw the ocean, there were no white caps.  The flag on the Crows nest looked like there was a little more wind than on the water.  We swapped to the 155 and left the harbor.  There were 11-12 boats milling around and we picked course #4: start, wharf, gov, finish.  We gave our 5 minute horn and watched as all of the boats set up for their start. 

On Pair A Dice, we wanted to be on starboard for the start, but down the line a bit  from the buoy for clear air.  As it turned out, we were a little early.  To make matters worse, Makani was on the line just waiting for us to pass them to windward so they could luff us over the line.  We quickly tacked over, went back down the line a little and started off on port tack.  With this position we were the furthest boat inside toward the beach.  With the wind we had, we were able to slowly pinch up and  Lee bow Diver Down that was trying to pass us to windward.  Diver Down tacked over for clean air and we continued on inside.  As we sailed further inside, we kept expecting the wind to die, but it just kept on blowing.  The wind seemed to be a little more outside, but we did not want to tack over and buck the waves.  All of the boats except us tacked over to the outside and we just kept on going straight toward the wharf.  About the time we thought we were on the layline for wharf we got a huge lift.  We decided to go until the lift started decreasing.  Finally we tacked over for wharf and came pretty close to laying the mark.  Pacific Spirit passed right in front of us and rounded wharf just before we did.  Diver Down and the rest of the fleet rounded and we all headed toward Gov.

We attempted several maneuvers attempting to steal Pacific Spirit’s wind but to no avail.

After rounding Gov , Pacific Spirit lead the whole way and rounded the finish mark just ahead of Pair A Dice quickly followed by Diver Down.  The rest of the boats finished with Kicks, Odonata , Makani and Thallasia rounding next.  We had 11 boats starting and finishing the race  tonight.

Tactics:

It is amazing how sailing so far inside seems to have worked so well for us.  It is critical when following this tactic to be sure the wind is consistent.  Many boats attempted to tack outside for more wind, but taking the waves on the nose seems to have slowed them down.  The lift we experienced toward wharf was a 15 degree lift which prevented us from tacking as early as we wanted to, since we would be headed after tacking.   We finally tacked over when we saw the wind start clocking back to a header.

Waves:

Sailing in Santa Cruz is different than most sailing venues because of the ocean waves.  I often say how you handle waves while sailing in Santa Cruz is critical.  Going to weather, taking waves on the bow can dramatically slow your boat.  When this is happening, even cracking off 5 degrees and taking the waves at an angle can lead to dramatic increase in speed.  When sailing down wind, get the crew out of the cockpit and on the bow will help get more momentum out of waves.  When I am on the helm and feel a wave coming behind me, I will crank the wheel over for a very brief moment, so the rudder catches the energy of the wave.  This cranking of the wheel is certainly controversial and flies in the face of the “minimal rudder movement” preached by many top sailors.  It may be my imagination, but sailing against other boats on the same downwind angle, I have seen small gains by using this technique.  How do you use waves in your sailing?  Leave a comment.

NEXT TUESDAY WILL BE BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE YACHT CLUB.  BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD!  THE CLUB AND BAR WILL BE OPEN.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING MONTEREY BAY: AUGUST 11, 2015 THE WIND GODS

Tuesday August 11,2015

THE WIND GODS

The first sight of the ocean delivered a view that left no doubt there was plenty of wind for this night.  There were about 10 boats milling around, waiting for the start.  We called for course 3: Start, Wharf, Blacks finish and gave a 5 minute horn.

With this many boats, as bad as you want to start on port tack, it is way too risky.  Very risky when you consider how everyone is bringing their game up with excellent starts.  We fell in line with the rest of the starboard tackers and were fortunate enough to establish a position windward and behind most of the fleet, pinning most of them.  Finally Pacific Spirit tacked over onto port and we tacked to cover.  We all made our way toward Wharf with several crossings taking place and boats all ducking appropriately.  At Wharf, Pacific Spirit was just ahead of Diver Down and we followed them on Pair A Dice. 

The long parade to Blacks saw each boat attempting different tactics. Wing on wing pole on port or jibing to see if that worked better.  At one point one boat veered dramatically toward another.  From our perspective, it looked very close.  On  Pair a Dice we heated up and sailed outside looking for more wind deploying our jib and pole on starboard.  Though it appeared we were gaining on the two other boats, we still had to steer down toward the mark.  As we approached Blacks, the boat that had veered toward the other earlier did their 360 penalty turn. We still had a chance for second. We rounded blacks just in front of the penalty boat.  We sailed a little further inside to avoid the bad wind from Diver Down and sailed into lighter and lighter wind, while Pacific Spirit headed outside.  Ultimately, this smart move gained their lead again.  At the finish it was Diver Down, Pacific Spirit and Pair A Dice.  Behind us the transition set in and all of the boats were sailing wing on wing on an Easterly wind toward the start mark.  It was quite a photo finish with Aeolian squeaking ahead followed by Tres Santos, the Saber 34 the Catalina 27 and Sea Quake.  A great night for sailing.

Sportsmanship!

It is really exciting to see our fleet improving tactics, strategy and sportsmanship. Observing the rules of sailing, yielding right of way when appropriate and taking penalties when appropriate.  Of course when startling things happen while racing, inappropriate language may be used as a natural reflex.  As long as apologies are offered later, and appropriate penalties are taken and no damage or injuries occur, we all will continue racing and learning.  It is an honor to sail with and against such a classy group of sailors!

There were several crossing situations on the windward leg.  It is said that a duck performed correctly loses very little and if the lift from the other boat is taken, you can even gain.  Diver Down was performing text-book perfect ducks, coming close to the stern of the other boat and taking advantage of the lift.  It was a thing of beauty to witness and learn from.  Though ducking twice on this leg, they went on to win! Good job Diver Down!

A PHOTO FINISH

See you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINA SAILBOAT RACING: AUGUST 4, 2015, CLEAR AND WIND FROM THE SOUTH

TUESDAY AUGUST 4, 2015

CLEAR AND WIND FROM THE SOUTH

Checking Predict wind and Sailflow in the morning, it looked like we were in for a blow this evening.  Indeed the wind was light during the day and started to increase as the evening ensued.  In the harbor it felt very windy but there were no white caps outside.  We stayed with the 155 jib, which worked out perfectly since the wind was 15-18 knots from the south.

Looking at the course chart, someone said “where are the south wind courses?”  We had to improvise and came up with Course 6*.  The * indicating to finish at the start mark rather than Gov.   We gave a 5 minute horn and all of the boats started setting up for their start.  With the wind from the south, it gave the pin end a dramatic advantage.  Everyone knew this and all boats converged on the pin.  We were in the pack also, and with about 30 seconds to the start, I saw a path through the following boats and jibed around for a port tack start behind all of the starboard tacking boats.  It turns out Pacific Spirit had the same idea and started on port with us down the line.  Pair A Dice was slightly to windward behind Pacific Spirit.  We tacked toward Mile early so we would not get shadowed by Pacific Spirit.  We crossed Makani but Diver Down had us clear ahead in our crossing.  Diver Down is one fast boat.  Good job Vance and team! As any competitor would do, Diver Down tacked to windward of us but were not able to steal our wind.  As we approached the layline for mile, we knew Diver Down would tack on our wind.  With disturbed wind it would be difficult to clear mile, so we overstood the layline as did Diver Down.  Finally we tacked over for Mile, but overstanding allowed Makani to cross in front of us and round Mile just ahead of us.

At Mile, Pacific Spirit rounded with a comfortable lead, followed by Diver Down, Makani, and PairADice.  Behind us, Aeolian an Olson 30, Perfect 36, Toad  and Kicks rounded.  We all surfed our way around Gov and reached toward start with little change in the standings.  At the finish Pacific Spirit finished with a comfortable lead followed by Diver Down, Makani, Pair  A Dice, Olson 30, Aeolian, Perfect 36, Toad and Kicks.  It was a great race for all of us, congratulations to Pacific Spirit for their win.

Tactics and Rules:

Nothing gets more exciting than a start with good wind with one end of the line heavily favored!  Everyone wants to claim the favored end.  It is a beautiful thing to see such a competitive atmosphere and everyone following the rules of sailing. 

Once again the inside (port tack at start) was the favored move.  Pacific Spirit opened a huge lead over everyone by following the line clear inside before tacking out for Mile.  Why does this work so well?  I believe it is a combination of a current that sometimesheads toward the wharf, flatter seas and more protected (flatter water) when finally heading toward Mile.  The inside track seems to work IF the wind is consistent across the race course.

We had a great dinner and discussion at the Crows Nest after the race.

Hope to see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING: JULY 28, 2015 FOGGY NIGHT

JULY 28, 2015

FOGGY NIGHT

The prediction was for light wind, so we changed to the 155 headsail for this night. One of the new guys from Q dock asked “do we sail in fog?”  I said oh yeah!   As we were leaving the harbor wisps of fog were even drifting into the entrance.  Out on the water, the visibility seemed to improve, though it was difficult to see how many boats were actually out.  The wind was steady but light. Since we had a BBQ to get to, we called a short course: Start, Mile finish at Gov.

We gave a 5 minute horn, but with the lighthouse lost in the fog, it was anyones guess where the start line was.  The pin end was so heavily favored with the south wind that it was difficult to clear the pin on starboard tack.  A port tack start was heavily favored, but with eleven boats out a very risky move.  Despite the risks, some boats attempted it anyway making the start very interesting to put it mildly.  After crossing the line for the start we all tacked our way toward Mile which was lost in fog.  This was a night where having a GPS was essential to compete just to find the marks.  On Pair A Dice, we tacked and cleared ahead of most of our competitors until the crossing that counted the most, right at Mile, Pacific Spirit crossed clear in front of us and rounded Mile just in front of us.  On the way to Gov we tried various sail configurations in an attempt to catch them.  We tried a short pole on starboard and finally a pole extended with the jib on port.  We were slowly closing the gap and were just beginning to put them in our wind shadow when they crossed the line. It was a close one.  Congratulations to Pacific Spirit for sailing a superb race.  After Pacific Spirit, Pair A Dice crossed then Makani, Odonata, Diver Down, Kicks, Aeolian, perfect 36, Saber 34, Toad and Tres Santos.

Close Quarters:

One aspect of racing that cannot be escaped is being in close quarters with boats. As always, the rules of the road should be followed.  I know when we are prepping for a race, be it Tuesday night or a sanctioned race I always tell my crew “do not assume I see anything!”  The crew is constantly looking under the jib and scanning for boats.  The communication goes like “you got your 2 oclock?  “You’ve got a starboard tacker coming at 3 oclock”.  Crew, as well as skipper must be vigilant.  This is especially difficult when short on crew.  Despite the best plans, mistakes will happen.  If an error is made, a penalty turn should be taken and then continue racing.  From personal experience, I will attest that taking a penalty turn really keeps you on your toes and makes you more careful in the future.

Sailing in the fog:

As we were sailing before the start, someone asked over the radio “what is the bearing toward the lighthouse from the start mark?”  This was an excellent question, which I did not know the answer.  Fortunately the fog dissipated as the evening went on and there was no problem finding the harbor.  On my GPS, I have two waypoints set to find the harbor.  One is 200 feet off the entrance and the second one is dead center in the entrance of the harbor.  With this tool, I can always find the harbor in the deepest fog.

If you have no GPS on board, one way to find the harbor is to go to mile buoy which is at approximately the 70 foot line.  When at Mile, steer magnetic due North.  A friend once told me that he was out in very thick fog one time and followed this technique.  He slowly approached the harbor in the very thick fog and found himself already in the harbor before he saw anything.

Looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINA TUESDAY JULY 21: CORINTHIAN SPIRIT

July 21, 2015

CORINTHIAN SPIRIT

In the mid 80’s I moved to Santa Cruz for one single reason.  It is an awesome surf city!  After my first summer of no waves, I yearned for something to “get my ya-ya’s” during the summer months.  I bought my first Hobie Cat and found what a turn on sailing is.  Surfing was still my all consuming passion.  I stepped through many frozen puddles at the crack of dawn to get empty waves.  Ultimately, the lure of the waves lost its luster for me because of all of the “idiots” in the water.  I was drawn to sailing because of the predominance of the “Corinthian Spirit”.  I tired of dealing with 18year olds that wanted to fight it out on the beach after they would burn me on a 3 foot wave.  There was no comparison to the experience I got from my sailing partners, who were always offering words of encouragement and giving pointers on how to improve.

Sailing has always been known for its Corinthian Spirit.  A few summers ago, I assisted the race committee in the North American 505 Championships.  At the national championship level, you would think that some of the Corinthian spirit would dissipate.  I was astounded coming down to the lower parking area to find all of the competitors sitting in a huge circle.  Imagine 50-70 people sitting in a circle while the top sailors are offering tips on improving their sailing and results!  This is a key example of the Corinthian spirit that draws me to sailing.  Now I would not expect Dean Barker and Jimmy Spithill to be trading secrets over beers.  Big money can dampen the Corinthian spirit.

I challenge anyone to offer another sport that has a Corinthian spirit like sailing.  Look at all of the sports fanatics when their team wins or loses.  Terms like “WE DOMINATE!” or “WE KICKED ASS” are common.  Sailing is not like this.  Though there was tremendous patriotic spirit when Oracle won the Americas cup, EVERY SAILOR showed tremendous respect for Dean Barker and his team. 

What does the Corinthian Spirit entail?  I would think it would always be to compliment people that have sailed with and against you.  The boats that did not win should compliment the winners.  Winners should graciously accept the compliment.  Of course there is a certain bravado that occurs on the boat of victors.  The high fives and congratulations exchanged between crew members for a race well sailed.  Off the boat, humility should be the rule.  When people compliment and ask about your tactics or how you did this or that to win, be willing to discuss the aspects of the race that allowed you to dominate.  This is the Corinthian spirit.  

It is very rewarding to me to see everyone pick up their game.  The starts are much more interesting as the season progresses as everyone improves.  It is always exciting to have 4 boats rounding a mark in close quarters even after 4 miles of race course.  Vance has improved her boat with Homer’s work improving bottom defects.  Pacific Spirit got a folding prop.  One by one, each boat is doing what it takes to improve.  This is a good thing.

Sailing Mentors

We have all had sailing mentors.  It is said that Ernie Rideout taught and mentored literally thousands of sailors.  He will certainly be missed.  I am guilty of using mentors.  I have some very good sailors on my boat that I learn from constantly.  The week before last, Mike Gross was on my boat suggesting we tack over early to the inside.  I negated his suggestion, thinking it better to at least clear the pier when we did tack.  While we did moderately well, we would have done better if I had followed his suggestion.  The following week, Mike was not on board and we were presented with an identical situation.  I tacked over early and we did much better.  The point is: Mentors are there to teach, you’d better be learning because they will not always be there.  Most of our boats on Catalina Tuesdays have a mentor on board, so learn while you can.  Of course if your competitive spirit is excessive, you can always only race when your “ace-in-the-hole” mentor is on board.  Many of the sailors that Ernie mentored learned from the master and went on to win national championships in their class.

OTHER REGATTAS:

As I said, everyone is picking up their game.  It is one thing to do well in our informal Tuesday night races.  Why not show your improvement in a sanctioned race.  Big Brothers Big Sisters will be August 9.  Let’s all participate and show our improvements, you may even get some hardware (Trophy) to take home.  There is also the Fall Score series put on by SCYC that has a Jib and Main division that we all should sail in.

_/)         _/)

I was out of town for the July 21 Catalina Night.  The report I got indicated the order at the end of the race was: Perfect 36 FIRST! Followed by Pacific Spirit, Kicks, Aeolian, the Saber 34 and Tres Santos.  Congratulations to Perfect 36.

THIS COMING TUESDAY (JULY 28) IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT SCYC AFTER THE RACE.  THE CLUB AND BAR WILL BE OPEN.  BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD TO SOCIALIZE WITH OTHER CATALINA TUESDAY PARTICIPANTS.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday’s sail.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A DIce

JULY 14, 2015: PLENTY OF WIND, SHORT CREW

Tuesday July 14, 2015

PLENTY OF WIND, SHORT CREW

The first sight of the bay was whitecaps as far as I could see.  And yet another night of great wind!  On Pair A Dice, we were a little short of crew.  We had Jeff and Don with me on the helm.  We set up for course number two and gave the 5 minute horn.

On pair a dice we wanted to start on starboard down the line a little.  Everyone was setting up for the start and a gust of wind hit the line and increased everyones speed, making it rather tricky negotiating the start.  On Pair a Dice, I realized we were closing in way to fast on the start mark and implemented one of our primary rules: do not make any radical moves in the last minute before the start.  I immediately announced to the crew that we were jibing around to kill speed.  It was not pretty with no one in position, the jib was back winded but it was effective.  We finished our 360 and sped toward the start line and came off windward of the whole fleet in great position.

After the lesson I got last week to tack over on port right after the start, I followed through with this tactic. All of the boats traded tacks on their way to Wharf.  On our first  crossing with Diver Down we crossed ahead.  I was tempted to tack to cover, but thought sailing further inside was a better decision.  In retrospect, this was a bad decision because the next time we crossed, Diver Down was clear ahead.  We judged the lay line to wharf a little short and had to pinch to make it, but Diver Down tacked a little earlier than we did. Alas their lift never developed so they had to tack again to get around the mark.

Diver Down rounded wharf comfortably ahead with Pair A Dice following, then Makani, Kicks and Perfect 36 all in quick unison.  The trek to Mile was rather interesting with all of the boats breathing down our neck.  Alas we were able to round Mile quite a distance behind Diver Down but just in front of Makani and the rest of the pack. 

On the way to Gov, Makani was trying to crawl up over us to windward. Alas we had inside overlap at Gov and rounded just ahead of Makani and Perfect 36.  On the way back to the start mark, Makani set their pole and pulled ahead of us.  I tried to steer up and take their wind, but with all of my extra steering to pull this off, Makani cleared our wind and skated away from us.

We set our pole and dipped below Perfect 36.  At the finish it was Diver Down way out in front, then Makani and we crossed the line just in front of Perfect 36.  After Perfect 36 was Kicks, a Saber 34, Tres Santos, Sea Quake and Toad.

Tactics: Inside Overlap

One critical tactic when racing is to have inside overlap when approaching any mark.  This overlap is considered at the 3 boat length ‘zone’.  Frequently it takes a lot of planning to accomplish this. Planning for inside overlap at a mark takes place as you are rounding the previous mark.   There are always other considerations, such as trying to pass and roll someone to windward.  If you try to roll someone to windward, be sure you can break the overlap before the “zone”.  Sometimes you can break an overlap right at the zone by radically steering your boat to clear an overlap.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

July 7 2105: FINALLY SOME WIND

Tuesday July 7, 2015

FINALLY SOME WIND

All predictions were for great wind for this night.  As I turned into the harbor I saw the white caps and knew the predictions were true.  As we left the harbor we saw 22 knots on the wind meter.  We put a reef in the main and headed for the start area.  With all of this wind, it was a no brainer for the course.  We chose course 1: START, WHARF, MILE, BLACKS, START FINISH.

Pair a Dice decided to start on starboard down the line from the start mark.  Pacific Spirit and Odonata had the same idea and we all crossed the line together.  Kicks and Diver Down started right at the mark at the Buoy: Kicks on port and Diver Down on Starboard.  Everyone had different reef  set ups for this much wind.  Pacific Spirits had a reefed main and partially unfurled jib.  We started with the same setup. Odonata, well it’s a Santana 22 “born reefed” and ready for these conditions. We rolled off the line and got ahead of Pacific Spirit.  I am fortunate to have several very experienced racing sailors on my boat.  As soon as we got ahead of Pacific Spirit, Mike on my boat was calling for a tack to the inside.  Since I was at the helm, I thought it better to go further out so we could clear the wharf.  As it turned out, Mike was right: we needed to cover the inside.  When we finally tacked over to the inside, we were amazed to see Diver Down passing us comfortably ahead.  Until this point, I didn’t even know they were out tonight.

Diver down rounded Wharf comfortably ahead and Kicks was just ahead of us on the way to mile.  We did everything we could to close the gap between Kicks and us, but at mile, they rounded just ahead of us.  Kicks, with their reefed main was able to keep ahead of us.  After rounding mile, we were on the reach to Blacks. On Pair a Dice, we were torn between heading directly to blacks and heating it up to overtake Kicks.   I was having trouble steering a straight line.

After rounding Blacks, we all marched toward the start line.  At the finish it was Diver Down, Kicks, Pair a Dice, Pacific Spirit, Aeolian, Odonata, Sea Quake, Andiamo and Toad.

Tactics,

It was a great night for wind.  On Pair A Dice, we made the huge error, not tacking over earlier, as Mike had called for. It is common knowledge to cover the inside earlier in Santa Cruz.  At the finish, Kicks was 6-10 seconds ahead of us.  Better steering on the leg from Mile to Blacks could have made this difference.  We should have heated it up to get up wind of Kicks and then drop down to take their wind.  My personal error was steering from the rail rather than steering  behind the wheel to be able to control the  boat better

See you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A dice

CATALINA TUESDAY JUNE 30, 2015: START WHARF FINISH BARBECUE

Catalina Tuesday June 30, 2015

START-WHARF-FINISH-BARBECUE

All signs pointed to another drifting night.  The flag on the Crow’s nest was limp as we motored toward the harbor entrance.  As we left the harbor, it looked like the light easterly wind was dying but outside boats were heeled over with a steady south westerly breeze.  As we approached the start mark, Pacific Spirit recommended course 5: start, wharf, finish.  Since we had no idea what the wind was going to do and we all wanted to get to the barbecue it was hard to argue against the course. 

 

We gave a 5 minute horn and everyone started setting up for the start.  Pacific Spirit nailed the start once again right at the mark with Pair a Dice just down the line behind and just to windward.  We were fortunate to be far enough windward to prevent a lee-bow as we all sailed out on starboard tack.  The rest of the fleet was following us out and one by one all of the boats started tacking over toward wharf.  Pair a Dice tacked just before Pacific Spirit and we all sailed toward wharf trying to find the mark in the encroaching fog.  Pacific Spirit was the first to round Wharf followed by Pair A Dice.  We set our whisker pole and did all we could to catch Pacific Spirit.  We were having problems finding the finish mark with GPS problems and too much fog and the distraction of thousands of sheerwater birds flying around us. 

 

Ultimately Pacific Spirit crossed the finish line about 1 minute and 10 seconds ahead of us. After us it was Kicks, Odonata, Aeolian and Sea Quake.

 

After the race, we had a delightful time at the yacht club with many discussions about sailing and racing.

 

Using RaceQs to improve your sailing:

Several boats are now using the RaceQs app to track their performance.  I have spent some time using this software and have found several ways to use it.  I have always been heavy on post analysis of races, so this software is right up my alley.  First you must have google earth downloaded on your computer.  Once you get to raceqs.com you can pull up races that have been uploaded.  When looking at these races, there are several tools you can use to evaluate your performance.  The two I will focus on are track analysis and groove analysis.

 

Looking at your track can be very illuminating.  You can click the icon on the lower right of the screen to see your boat sailing toward you as if a camera was mounted about 30 feet off your bow looking back at you.  Click on the arrow on the left part of the screen and it opens a menu.  Be sure the icon clear to the left in the new menu is clicked to show your track.  The track is color coded.  If green, you are going 5-6 knots, if yellow, 6-7 knots, light blue is 4-6 knots. To really get a perspective click the icon that looks like a gas guage.  This gives you a view from above looking down on your boat.  You can choose two boats to compare.  Each boat has an arc out in front of it.  Each second you are sailing, a dot appears on this arc indicating where the bow of your boat is pointed.  These dots start fading immediately.  Compare your dots with a close competitor.  If one competitor has a tight group of dots and yours are floating all over, you have your explanation why you are not able to keep up with them.  You have to be ‘in the groove’ to sail efficiently!

 

Another feature I like to look at is Groove analysis.  Click on the icon second from the left (in the screen to the left) which gives you your groove analysis.  When this button is clicked, every time you tack a white button appears on the screen.  When you click on this white button, it opens a window that analyses your tack by 7 different parameters.  From the top they are: Tacking angle, oversteering, min SOG, min VMG, Duration, Recovery and Time lost.  These terms are pretty self-explanatory.  Your oversteering depends on what conditions you are sailing in: You want Higher angles in light wind and lower angles in higher wind. You want to keep your SOG up, with Catalinas you can expect to slow down to 3 knots during a tack. Duration you want to see 10 seconds or less and recovery under 15 seconds.  I believe the key is the last metric: time lost.  I have seen time lost everywhere from 30 seconds lost clear down to -1 second.  If you are able to have a -1 second lost, you have actually gained on this tack rather than lost.

 

All of these metrics measure boat handling which has two components: the helmsperson and the crew.  The helmsperson cannot do anything without a good crew trimming sails and getting the jib in quickly. With a crack crew and an inattentive skipper steering, you will be sailing twice the distance wandering all over the place.  Obviously the key is having a focused skipper and a quick and efficient crew working together.

 

You can pull up RaceQs by clicking on this website:

 

http://raceqs.com/tv/tv.htm#userId=1011017&video_offset=&track=31be0d85-d948-4308-9860-d6aaa4fae78c&start=2015-06-30%2018%3A00%3A04.210%20-07%3A00&finish=2015-06-30%2019%3A09%3A43.897%20-07%3A00&boat=Pair&extradata=1&fleet=3&race=1&time=1435714309262&focus=Pair&rival=Pacific%20spirit&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.948710&lon=-122.020054&tilt=5&range=121&heading=255

 

 

Looking forward to next Tuesday.

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice