OCTOBER 27, 2015: CALL THAT A SHORT COURSE?

October 27, 2015

CALL THAT A SHORT COURSE?

I was encouraged as I saw the Crow’s Nest flag stiff as a board. I even thought the 155 would be too much sail.  The crew that was waiting on the boat said the wind was variable, so we did not change to a smaller sail.   I was encouraged to see so many boats milling around for the start.  There were over 10 boats out for the last very short evening.  We were all there except the wind decided to not show up.  It did not take long for that to change as a gust filled in the bay, with a very shifty direction generally from the West or North?  We decided on a course from start to gov and back to start/finish.  One of the shortest courses but, as it turned out too long for this night.

At the start, we found ourselves behind Pacific Spirit square in their shadow.  Our initial attempt to climb above them failed as we fell further behind.  Attempting this required climbing above their wind shadow into a lee-bowed position.  It may have been possible if we had 30 knot winds, but not this night!  We finally fell off until we had clear air and then started climbing and getting lifted by the changing direction of the wind.  We tacked searching for more wind which was dissipating as the sun set.  We did not argue when Pacific Spirit called for a shortened course finishing at Gov.  At the finish Pair a Dice was first to round Gov followed by Pacific Spirit, Inspiration and Sea Quake.

We all had a great meeting and BBQ at the yacht club with over 50 people attending.

End of Season:

This has been a great season for the Catalina group.  We have had up to 15 boats out at times and consistently 8-10 boats.  I feel we are all bringing our game up, improving our boats and getting more aggressive as we learn more about sailing.  It is amazing to me the infinite amount of things to be learned about sailing.   My crew has been sailing together now for over 10 years and we learn something new almost every time we go out.  This learning curve is accelerated exponentially by racing! 

Think about the times you sail by yourself.  You are out enjoying the day, the boat feels fantastic, you are just screaming along.  Everything is perfect!  But is it?  You don’t really know until you have a similar boat sailing next to you in a race situation.  This is how you learn! THIS is why we race!  If you have no desire to ever improve your sailing, don’t race!  Why not race and IMPROVE?  Why not race in every situation possible.  Tuesday nights is a start, but why not other regattas?  SCYC is a sailing club and sponsors many regattas every year.  The chances to race in Santa Cruz are unlimited and you should be taking advantage of this opportunity.  All it requires is a PHRF certificate which can be obtained by asking the SCYC yacht club.

Talking to several of the top sailors in our fleet, I have several suggestions to improve our Tuesday nights.  I will be using these suggestions next year.  This will be the last blog for this season.  Keep tuned for an even better season next year.  Have a great winter and enjoy your sailing.  The new season will be on us before we know it.

A huge thanks to all of you for your participation this year.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice.

October 20, 2015: LIGHT WIND SAILING

OCTOBER 20, 2015

LIGHT WIND SAILING

It sure looked like a great night for sailing.  The wind was filling in nicely from the East.  All of the boats made it out of the harbor early for another early start.  With the short evenings we have been trying to get started by 5:45.  We missed this time by 5 minutes and started at 5:50.  The consensus on Pair A Dice was that the wind would hold and not dissipate.  We got way too ambitious and called for course 11A1:  Start, Blacks, Gov, start-finish.  With the quick start sequence, we were not able to set up appropriately and did not have a great start.  We watched as Kicks nailed the start right at the pin with great speed followed by Odonata and Pacific Spirit. 

Since we were blanketed by all 7 boats ahead, as soon as we cleared the start buoy, we tacked over for clear air and Odonata quickly tacked to cover us.  It was fine, we still had clear wind and were eventually able to pinch up enough to give them disturbed wind just before we got to the lay line for Blacks. As all boats converged on Blacks, Pacific Spirit was just ahead of Kicks which we followed on the long slog to Gov.  As the wind was dissipating, the boats were dropping out one by one and heading for the harbor.  Pacific Spirit was ghosting along (in the Halloween spirit) and we were doing our best to catch them.  We were trying every trick in the book to get whatever speed we could, but to no avail.  We called for a shortened course to finish at Gov.  Finally, as Pacific Spirit was approaching Gov, we were dead in the water with no wind.  We conceded the race to Pacific Spirit and headed for the harbor.

                                                                                                                                                     

Light wind sailing tips:

We tried many tricks on our slog toward Gov.  First, we figured the current was stronger toward the beach.   Since it was a westerly current, we wanted to use it to our advantage.  This required sailing through the kelp beds and keeping a lookout on the bow to avoid the kelp. We also kept a sharp eye behind us for patches of wind and did what we could to sail into these patches.  For a while we seemed to be closing the gap with Pacific Spirit.  The wind was also oscillating between an Easterly and Northerly breeze, so we were changing the whisker pole from port to starboard and back as needed to maximize the effect on our speed.  Of course a clean bottom and minimal steering are critical in these situations.  It was all a great exercise, but alas it was to no avail.

Next week is the last Tuesday of the season and a barbecue at the yacht club to celebrate the end of a great season of sailing.  The club and bar will be open, so bring your best food for grilling and enjoy the festivities

NEXT TUESDAY: LAST TUESDAY OF THE SEASON FOLLOWED BY BARBECUE AT SCYC.  CLUB AND BAR WILL BE OPEN.

The evening will be short, so be sure to get on the water early.

See you next week.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

OCTOBER 13, 2015: JUST ENOUGH WIND

TUESDAY OCTOBER 13, 2015

JUST ENOUGH WIND

My first sight of the ocean on my way to the boat was very depressing, unless you were interested in water skiing on the bay.  Dead glass as far as I could see.  We got to the boat and prepped it for the evening.  As we left the harbor, there still was no hint of wind.  We all motored out to the start buoy, and on Pair A Dice, we hoisted the sail just for the exercise.  As the boat sat motionless in the water, those that were observant felt just a wisp of wind on their face.  We adjusted the boat for a better approach to the wind and though the water was dead glass, I noticed we were actually ghosting along at 2 to 3 knots.  I didn’t even have my radio on and one of the boats we were close to inquired “what course? what time? Do you have your radio on?” Time to wake up and sail.  The start time was determined to be 6:05 and with the light breeze we were experiencing I called for course 12A: Start, Blacks and back to finish/start. 

At the start Pair a Dice was third to go over the line, right after Pacific Spirit with Kicks in the lead.  Many boats had sat this night out and we only had 5 boats out for the fun.   I had Fred Molnar on the helm and as our three boats approached blacks, Pair a Dice was attempting to get an inside overlap on Pacific Spirit.  Pacific Spirit had to give Kicks room at the mark since they were overlapped inside,  Kicks did not perform a tight rounding of the mark and drove Pacific Spirit further away from the mark.  Fred saw his opportunity and drove for a tight rounding of the mark, taking advantage of what he calls “room freely given at the mark”.   Suddenly, we were in first place on the way back to the finish mark.  At the finish, it was Pair A Dice, followed by Pacific Spirit and Kicks, the Saber 34 and Toad.  We all had a great time enjoying the beautiful sunset over the water.

Tactics:

Taking advantage of opportunities.  Having been the recipient of Fred’s “taking advantage of room freely given” move before, I had a great discussion with him about this move.  It definitely requires quick appreciation of an opportunity and then acting on that opportunity.  I expressed my apprehension over having the door slammed on me, which could easily have happened.   Fred said if you are the boat preparing to “slam the door” look at the other boat and hail “do NOT even think about going in there!”.   This move requires quick recognition of the opportunity, quick action to take advantage and then having a plan if everything does not work the way as planned.  On this night the move worked flawlessly.  It was much more fun being on the boat executing the move than being on the receiving end! It is amazing what a proper rounding of a mark can do for your position.

We have two more Tuesdays.  Let’s make it out early next week also.

See you next week.  

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

OCTOBER 6, 2015: BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN NIGHT

  OCTOBER 6, 2015

BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN NIGHT

As we approach the end of the season, all we can hope for is decent wind to fill our short evening sails.  This evening did not disappoint us.  We were all early getting to the harbor and by 5:40 most of the boats were out.  We called for course 3: Start, Wharf, Blacks and start finish. Stefan was steering Pair A Dice and we executed a decent start closer to the buoy than most of the boats.  Most of the boats started further down the line from the buoy, so they were windward of us but a little behind.  It did not matter because we had the one crucial element going for us: unobstructed, clear air!  One by one the boats all tacked over for the inside track along the beach.  We sailed a little further out and tacked over also.  The wind seemed to be as consistent outside as it was inside, so it should not have made much difference. When we crossed  with Pacific Spirit the first time, it was close but they were  just slightly ahead as  they were on the crossing just before rounding Wharf.

After rounding wharf, or objective was to steal the wind from Pacific Spirit.  About a third of the way to Blacks, we started to see their jib collapse as we finally succeeded.  Just as this happened, Pacific Spirit Jibed  and headed straight toward the beach.  We were tempted to cover them, but the consensus was that there was more wind outside.  It looked good initially, but ultimately our wind died as the inside wind filled in.  Pacific Spirit rounded Blacks comfortably ahead of us.  On the way back to start, we gained a little on them, but it looked like they crossed the finish line about one and a half minutes in front of us.  We were followed by Emeritus, Kicks, Aeolian and Sea Quake.

Tactics:

When discussing sailing tactics, it is commonly said to stay between your competition and the next mark.  It is also a basic tenant to stay with your competition.  Tonight would have been a little more interesting if Pair A Dice had followed this concept.  We had Pacific Spirit in our shadow and instead of jibing when they jibed, we second guessed and thought there was more wind outside.  We gave up a golden opportunity to continue to steal their wind all the way to blacks.  The point is if you stay with your competition, even if they sail into less wind, you can block their wind and have a better chance to pass them. 

Rule 13:

A couple of blogs ago I brought up rule 13.  In essence this rule says while tacking you must stay clear of another boat until you are on a closed hauled course.  My perception was that a “close hauled course” was achieved when sails were all in and you are sailing on your new tack.  I asked a sailing judge what a “close hauled course means”.  He said the trim of the sails is not considered in this discussion.  What is considered is the angle of sail the boat is heading on.  In other words, if your tacking angle is 90 degrees and your boat has turned 90 degrees, you are on a close hauled course regardless of how well the sails are trimmed.  

The season is coming to an end and the evenings are getting shorter.  Lets get out as eary as possible next week also.

See you out there next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015: THE NEXT STEP IN SAILING

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

THE NEXT STEP IN SAILING

I am sorry I was AWOL for this last Tuesday night.  Sometimes vacations get in the way of important things.  I hope the sail and the barbecue at the yacht club went well.

  I know we all are having a blast competing on Tuesday night.  It doesn’t matter if you are battling it out for first or just trying not to be last, I sense we are all having fun.  It is also very apparent we are all bringing our game up and learning a lot about sailing and everything it entails: boat handling, sail trim, rules etc.  It is incredibly fun for me to see the novices at the beginning of the season, not knowing the rules and staying away from the clump of boats fighting for the start line.  By the end of the season, the start line gets very crowded as these novices learn and become more aggressive.  It does not hurt that we have an excellent contingent of sailors in our group for all of us to learn from. This is what our Catalina Tuesdays is all about, improving our sailing abilities.  What is the next step?

Why not progress to racing in a sanctioned regatta?  I would like to take this opportunity to ameliorate some of the fears that people may have about sanctioned regattas.  There are two things you must do before you can enter one of these sanctioned regattas.  You must get a PHRF certificate and you must have a sailing affiliation.

To get a PHRF certificate, you fill out a form from the Monterey Bay PHRF committee.  Forms are available at the yacht club.  On this form, you provide the particulars of your boat.  If you are a class boat like a Catalina most of the information is on file (length, beam).  The particulars for your boats are the sails you use.  What is the biggest Jib you use?  Are you a tall rig?  What type of prop do you have? You provide all of this data and turn the form in with $20.  This is renewable each year, so if you have made changes you can let them know to change your PHRF rating.  For my boat, I have a folding prop and use up to a 155 jib and my rating is 180.  PHRF is simply a way to compare your performance to every other boat. To put it in perspective, if I was racing against a boat with a PHRF of 0 and the race from start to finish is 1 mile. If I crossed the finish line 2 minutes and 59 seconds after the 0 PHRF boat, I would win the race by 1 second. 

Having a sailing affiliation is another necessary step to enter a regatta.  If you have not joined SCYC, now might be the time to do it.  It is usually only $1000 to join and $500 a year.  If you are not inclined to join SCYC, the least expensive way to establish a sailing affiliation is to join US Sail which is usually about $30 a year.

Any regatta you enter in Santa Cruz will be conducted by the Santa Cruz Yacht Club.  Sailors in Santa Cruz are incredibly blessed to have such a professional, dedicated group of people that work very hard to conduct races that are run incredibly well.  If you are a sailor living in the Santa Cruz area who is interested in improving their sailing and racing skills, to not take advantage of this opportunity does not make sense.  If you have been sailing on Tuesdays and been following this blog, you already know the rules, though diligence in following the rules may be a little more important in a sanctioned regatta.

Another thing that may seem intimidating to the uninitiated is the starting sequence.  All those flags and horns.  What do they all mean?  I will cover this in a future blog.

The season is winding down.  It is getting dark earlier, so let’s be early (but not OCS) to the start line.

See you out there next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice