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:
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:
See you next Tuesday.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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