TUESDAY APRIL 28, 2015: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WIND?

TUESDAY APRIL 28, 2015

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WIND?

There are more races than our Catalina Tuesdays.  SCYC had a regatta this past Sunday that became a rather tortuous event. The course called for us to round SC3.  By the time we approached SC3, the mark was smack dab in the middle of a transition zone between an Easterly and our normal northwest wind.  The problem was that the waves in this corner of the bay are disorganized and very choppy.  The Easterly would fill, then the northwesterly would fill, back and forth multiple times with the wind never getting over 3 knots.  On Pair A Dice we were stuck attempting to round this mark for one to one and a half excruciating hours.  Finally the race got cancelled.

Imagine going through this and coming back out on Catalina Tuesday and have some idiot (me) call for a course rounding SC3.  What was I thinking?  I figured we had experienced enough “Yin” at that mark and deserved a little “yang”.  At the start of the race, we had plenty of wind from the East. 

It was a beautiful, clear evening with 13 boats out for the fun.  We called for a 6:10 start time and Course 9.  It was a great start with several boats right on the line just a little late for the start.  Since the ‘pin end’ was favored, we set up to cross right at the start buoy.  Several boats were ahead and to leeward of us.  With a start right at the buoy we came very close to laying the first mark and we were all on our way to #$%^&*  SC3.  It was really fun on such a long leg trying to use the headers and lifts to out sail competitors.  Finally as we approached SC3, it was a replay of our race on Sunday.  The wind died and we were at the mercy of the waves.  After bobbing for close to a half hour, Homer expressed that it would be good to finish the race on rounding SC3.  Since Pair A Dice was closest to the mark, I thought it was an unusual request but agreed to it.

We bobbed for another 5 minutes and noticed that Diver Down was moving and increasing speed.  We watched in amazement as they easily rounded the mark ahead of us, then Makani inched around with Pair A Dice right on his stern, followed by Odonata (Santana 22) and Pacific Spirit.  It was a long motor back to the harbor.

 

We had an awesome barbecue back at the club with over 50 people showing up.

Light wind tactics:

We all love the feeling of sailing in great wind.  How do you deal with light wind?  On a Tuesday night about 5 years ago, we got caught in a transition zone with a very light Easterly blowing.  The rhumb line to the mark put the waves square on our beam.  The very light wind was not enough to overcome the intense rocking caused by the waves on our beam and we were not moving at all.  I told the helmsman to steer so the waves took us on the stern.  This had two effects: The waves would wash us further (though sailing away from the mark) and the boat started rocking  stern to bow.  Think about this effect.  Every time the boat rocked forward, the sails filled momentarily and sucked us forward, increasing our speed to catch the next wave better.  We immediately sped up  sailing more into the Easterly and soon rounded the mark.  I was excited and announce to the crew that this was the “Keeler Effect”.  To this day, on Pair A Dice whenever we use waves to our advantage, someone will quip “the Keeler effect”.  Give it a try next time you are caught in light wind and waves.

Leukemia Cup:

It is not too late to partake in this regatta.  It would be great to have a healthy contingent of Catalinas in this regatta.  I hope to see all of you out there on Sunday.

 

It seems last months picture of our barbecue attracted a lot of attention (and more participants).
Here is another picture to entice!

 

See you next Tuesday.  Hopefully we will have better wind.

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice