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
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