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