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