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