Friday, March 27, 2015

MARCH 24, 2015 NIGHT OF MIXED WINDS


Tuesday March 24, 2015

NIGHT OF MIXED WINDS

 

As we were leaving the harbor, it seemed as though we had a North wind. Way outside you could see the wind line for the Westerly breeze.  As we pulled up to the start mark, it looked like an Easterly was building.  To complicate things, there was a Coast Guard cutter tied up to Gov.  Where is the Blacks buoy when you need it?  We sailed down and dropped our temporary mark close to where Blacks normally is.  The course was announced Start mark to SB, first mark “Blacks” SB, Mile SB and back to finish at start with start to port.  We blew a horn for the 5 minute and as we waited for the 5 minutes to pass, the wind seemed to build out of the North, practically straight off the beach.  We had 9 boats out and with the wind at such an unusual angle to the start line, the start was challenging.  With the wind building, we had to stall to not go over early.  With all of the traffic, the lighthouse on the jetty was obscured.  With the countdown to the start ticking down, the lighthouse came in to view.  It was really difficult to determine if we were OCS.  It looked very close, without a line sight, it was hard to tell if we were over.  With everyone else struggling to get over the start line, we started off with quite a lead.   I had given the Catalina 27’s a 2 and ½ minute head start and Iris nailed the start right on time.

 

We all filed down to the pseudo-blacks buoy and headed out toward Mile.  Iris was quite a ways ahead of us, as we both basically took the rhum line toward Mile.  This exemplifies that the closest distance between two points is a straight line.  The closer we got to Mile, the more the wind clocked to the West.  It was very unusual for there to be no transition zone between the two winds.  It was critical to pay attention to sail trim, because as the wind angle changed, our point of sail went from Beam Reach to nearly close hauled.  We finally caught up with Iris just short of Mile and Odonata (Santana 22) with spinnaker was trying to catch up.

 

Once we rounded Mile, we lengthened our lead using our longer waterline.  We finished ahead but with our dubious (OCS?) start, I think the second one over the line, Iris takes the honors for the night.  Odonata was after Iris, then there was quite a drag race between Sea Quake (C&C29), Pacific Spirit and Aeolian crossing the line in that order.  Toad squeaked over shortly after them, followed by Thallassia and Intrepid (Catalina 27).

 

OCS (On Course Side):

OCS means you are over the line early.  This is something that is very hard to tell from the cockpit of a boat.  Serious racers take a line of sight, lining both ends of the line up with something on land.  When this object on land lines up with the mark, you are on the line.  In this case we should have sailed outside of start mark and sighted the lighthouse, lining it up with something behind it.  All I know is that every sanctioned race I have ever finished, I think the line sighter on the committee boat must be asleep, because it always feels like we crossed the line 10 seconds before the whistle or horn calls the finish.  Without someone sighting the line, it is impossible to ascertain if we were OCS, but I am comfortable with Iris being the winner.  They sailed an excellent race.  Most important, we all had fun and what a sunset!

 

Improving your game:

Talk to any top racer and they will tell you they started racing ending up in last place for years before they started working their way up through the ranks.  The important concept is not to get discouraged.  Keep having fun and keep learning.  Catalina Tuesdays is the perfect, informal atmosphere to learn about sailing and improving.  Keep it up with a consistent crew and before long, you will be working your way up through the ranks and winning. 

 

_/)                               _/)                                  _/)

NEXT TUESDAY MARCH 31 IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT SCYC.  BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD AND BEVERAGE. COME TO SCYC AFTER THE RACE. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A SCYC MEMBER TO COME!

Thursday, March 19, 2015


ST.PATRICKS DAY TUESDAY NIGHT SAIL

 

The prediction was for a lot of wind, but it just was not showing so we left the 155 jib up.  As we left the harbor it was apparent that the start buoy was out, but Blacks was not out. We had to improvise with a course that was not on the course card.  As we sailed around waiting for the 6pm start, the wind seemed to be increasing from the North. We were amazed to see 20 knots straight off shore!

 

We decided on a course from start to Gov (P), Mile (p) finish at Start (P).  The line was between the start mark and rock view or the point at pleasure point.  We gave a 5 minute horn at 5 minutes till 6.  Being close to the beginning of the season, it appeared we were all a little rusty on the start.  At the 6pm start, the only boat that was close to the start line was Emeritus.  On Pair a Dice, I was on the helm and was struggling with confusion over points of sail.  I had broken the cardinal rule we have on Pair A Dice “Do not get far from the starting line before the start!”.  All I knew was we were nowhere near the lay line to make the start mark after tacking over on Starboard.  When I should have been sailing hard on the wind toward the line, I was broad reaching down the line, despite the pleading of my crew!  When we did finally tack over on starboard, we had to pinch to clear the mark.  It was not a great start, but we were still ahead of most of the fleet and

a perfect view of the stern of Emeritus.  This view was to become way too familiar by the end of the night. 

 

Emeritus rounded  Gov first and started their march to Mile wing on wing.  Pair a Dice had trouble setting the whisker pole, but finally got it set and started catching up with Emeritus.  The rest of the fleet was behind us as we approached Mile and Diver Down was closing in on all of us.  We tried every trick we knew to catch Emeritus, but they outsailed us.  Emeritus was first over the line and Diver Down rolled us about 200 yards from the line to finish second.  Pair a Dice got third, Pacific Spirit, Aeolian, Blue Ribbon, Sea Quake and Toad.  WE also had a new Catalina 30 out with us called Thallasia (?)

 

It is amazing.  Second night of the season and we had 10 boats out.  We hung out by the finish line to see how everyone finished, and had an invigorating sail up the harbor.  We had 17 knots of wind in the harbor.  With the north wind, we were short tacking up the harbor.  We finally furled the jib and motored to the slip.  Fred commented later that you can never be sure about the depth of the water.  We had a crew member calling out depths as we approached tacking areas. It would have been embarrassing and expensive to run aground in the harbor.  It was a nice exercise, but I don’t think I will do it again soon, with all the risks involved.

 

 

_/)                  _/)                           _/)

 

Cardinal rules:

Do you have Cardinal rules for your boat?  Some of our cardinal rules on Pair a Dice are:

·         Do not get too far from the line for the start

·         Start from the preferred end of the line

·         Start on the preferred tack (this one depends on the crowd)

 

Obviously on this night I failed miserably with all of these cardinal rules, but hey, it’s the beginning of the season, we will get better.

 

We all had a great time celebrating St Patricks day at the Santa Cruz Yacht Club after the race.
 
 
See you next week,
 
Barry L. Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice

Friday, March 13, 2015

FIRST CATALINA NIGHT OF 2015


FIRST CATALINA NIGHT 2015

 

Because of work I was not able to get to the harbor before 5:50.  With a little help from Todd on Kicks setting the mark and my usual crew on  Pair A Dice, the race was started at 6 PM.  The course was originally set for start, gov, start. 

 

With the very light breeze, the area around the start buoy looked like a boat parking lot.  Indeed, Iris and Katrina were already heading for the harbor.  As it turns out Katrina was having engine problems.  Ron Dillehay and Steve Niemann were kind enough to scoop me from the gas dock on Ron’s boat Emeritus and we proceeded to hurry toward the start area.  As we entered the procession, I happened to look at Katrina which was just attempting to enter the harbor.  It did not take any persuasion to convince Ron to go help Katrina.  There is nothing worse than trying to enter a harbor with a little swell and no wind.  We towed them to their slip and rushed back out to join the race.

 

We pulled back into the procession half way to Gov.  Shortly after this, the course was shortened to end at Gov.  Amazingly all of the boats finished the race in the breathless breeze.  The participants were Pair A Dice, Emeritus, Aeolian, Pacific Spirit and Kicks.  It was a slow tortuous “race” but still fun for a first night of the season.

 

SAILING IN LIGHT WIND:

What tricks can you use to sail more efficiently in light wind?  Three things are important, a large headsail, a clean bottom and a folding prop.  Closely observe and try different things to see what works.  Some things you can try are tightening the outhaul and fully extending the whisker pole. If there is a lot of play in the jib, you can furl some of the headsail.  This is counter intuitive.  The idea is to provide a solid sail for the wind to push.  If the wind is so light that the sail shape is not consistent but flapping in and out, try tightening everything.

 

The prevailing current can help or hinder.  Check for current around buoys and observing the kelp.  The kelp will all be streaming one way in the direction of the current.  If the direction of the current is beneficial, you want to be in deeper water, and in shallower water if it is against you.  On the way to Gov, I observed the kelp streaming straight against us.

 

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Next Tuesday is St Patty’s day. SCYC is offering a late seating for the St Patty’s day dinner at 8pm.  It is critical to make reservations if you plan to go to this event.  The cost is $16, which is quite a bargain.

 

Thanks for coming out and looking forward to next week.

 

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice (but sailing on Emeritus)

 

 

 

Monday, March 2, 2015

2015 CATALINA TUESDAY COURSES

It is finally time to prepare for this season of Catalina Tuesdays.  It has been a long dry winter.
I have worked on the new course cards for this year and I think you'll like what I came up with!
Here are the courses I came up with this year.




CATALINA TUESDAY COURSES

_/)Marks all left to port unless designated (SB) which shall be rounded on

      Starboard.

_/)Start line shall be a line between start (to port) and jetty lighthouse approx.

      10 boat lengths from start buoy. If a different line is used, it shall be design-

      ated for the course.

_/)Finish line shall be designated for each course as rounding the start buoy to

     Port(P) or starboard(SB) within 5 boat lengths of the buoy. If rounding buoy to 

     Port from the northwest or to SB from the East, finish line is an extension of

     Line from jetty lighthouse to buoy.  Start buoy=Finish Buoy.

_/)Any foul shall be exonerated by one complete 360 executed as soon as clear

     from other boats.

 

NORTHWEST WIND COURSES:    

 

COURSE 1: START, WHARF, MILE, BLACKS, FINISH(SB)                 DISTANCE=4.04

 

COURSE 2: START, WHARF, MILE, GOV(SB),FINISH (P)                 DISTANCE=3.93

COURSE 3: START, WHARF, BLACKS, FINISH (SB)                           DISTANCE=3.23

COURSE 4: START, WHARF(SB), GOV(SB), FINISH(P)                     DISTANCE=3.07

COURSE 5: START, WHARF, FINISH(P)                                              DISTANCE=2.68

COURSE 6: START, MILE(SB), GOV(SB)=FINISH (BETWEEN

       END OF WHARF AND GOV, 5 BOAT LENGTHS FROM GOV   DISTANCE=2.24

COURSE 7: START,MILE,FINISH(P)                                                     DISTANCE=2.17                      COURSE 7A1: START, GOV, FINISH(P)                                              DISTANCE=1.90

 7A: START AT MILE(SB) (LINE IS EXTENSION OF STEAMERS LIGHTHOUSE),

         SC7(SB),FINISH AT GOV(P) LINE UP WITH WHARF               DISTANCE=1.45

EAST WIND COURSES:  

COURSE 8: START(SB), BLACKS(SB), MILE(SB), GOV(SB) FINISH(P) DISTANCE=4.03

COURSE 9: START(SB), BLACKS(SB), SC3, FINISH(SB)                          DISTANCE=3.04

COURSE 10: START(SB), SC3(P), BLACKS(P), FINISH(SB)                     DISTANCE=2.95

COURSE 11: START(SB), BLACKS(SB), MILE(SB), FINISH(P)                DISTANCE=2.72

COURSE 11A1: START(SB), BLACKS, GOV, FINISH(P)                           DISTANCE=2.43

COURSE 11A:  START(SB), SC2(P), FINISH(SB)                                       DISTANCE=1.2

COURSE 12: START(SB),BLACKS,START,BLACKS,FINISH(SB)               DISTANCE=1.12

COURSE 12A: START(SB),BLACKS, FINISH(SB)                                       DISTANCE=0.55

NORTH WIND COURSES:  START LINE FOR NORTH WIND COURSES IS BETWEEN START(P) AND BLACKS WITHIN 10 BOATLENGTHS OF START

COURSE 13: START, GOV, MILE, BLACKS, FINISH (SB)                         DISTANCE=4.03

COURSE 14: START, GOV, MILE, BLACKS, FINISH (SB)                         DISTANCE=2.45

COURSE 15: START, GOV, FINISH(P)                                                        DISTANCE=1.98

You will be receiving your copy in your boat within the next week.  I like the new color (light green).  Keep an eye out for it.
Some of the changes this year are two new courses.  I have tried to keep the same courses as on the first two cards passed out the last two years.  This way, for the casual participant that has an old card, it will be just as valid.  The new courses are given unusual numbers like 7A1. 
Since we are getting more participants, I have increased the length of the starting line to 10 boats. 
I also have a clause about fouling and exoneration.  Most sailing instructions limit the penalty to a one turn penalty, which I think is fair. So if there is contact and you are in the wrong, a one turn penalty gets you back in the race.
Once again this year, we will be having Barbecues at the yacht club the last Tuesday of every month.
we are going to have fun this year!!!
I am really looking forward to this!
Barry L.Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice