TUESDAY MAY 17,2016
EASTERLY WIND!
My first glimpse of the flag at
the Crows Nest confirmed a moderate Easterly blowing. We got out of the harbor and made our way to
the start mark. Since we were not
certain if the wind would hold, we decided on a moderate length course Bravo 4:
Start, Blacks, Gov, Finish. Since some
boats were waiting for crew, we delayed the start till 6:10 and gave a 5 minute
horn.
On Pair A Dice we set up for a
Starboard start at the buoy. We had a
great start with Toad right in front of us.
After the start, we were able to point higher and get above Toad. Pair a Dice was the first to round Blacks. We
felt there would be more wind toward the beach and sailed toward the beach. The
only problem with this strategy is going through the dreaded kelp beds. We gingerly worked our way through the kelp
beds. Kicks used the same tactic. As we were approaching gov, it was apparent
there was a Coast Guard cutter tied to the Buoy. As we approached the cutter, we switched our
radio to monitor channel 16 in case they tried to hail us. We rounded Gov and headed straight back to
start.
Pair A Dice rounded the
start/finish mark first, followed by Pacific Spirit, Odonata, Kicks, Aeolian
and Toad and Sea Quake.
Tactics:
It is always a risk going through
a kelp bed! You never know when you will
pick up an unwanted hitch hiker. Some
things to consider in these situations:
-High tide: makes less of the kelp floating on the
surface and makes it easier to avoid hitch hikers.
-Density of kelp bed: We have had a lot of swell through the winter
keeping the beds thin. It would be
riskier in late summer when the beds are thicker.
-Is there current? You can tell
this by looking at the kelp. If all of
the kelp is streaming the same way, there is a current. If they are streaming the way you are going,
you are going with the current which makes it easier to find paths through the
kelp.
When trying to go through kelp it
is critical to have someone on the bow guiding the way through the openings in
the kelp. On this particular night, it
was apparent that we had about a one knot current headed toward Gov. We used this current to get to the mark and
went outside to avoid it on the way back to finish.
Rules:
There seemed to be a little
excitement at the rounding of Blacks as many boats approached at the same
time. On Pair A Dice, we were busy and
did not observe what happened so cannot offer an opinion. Mark rounding can be a complex situation
because so many rules are involved. Rule
18 is the predominant rule that deals with mark rounding, but this does not
mean other rules are not at play. Rule
18 simply says that the first boat to enter the 3 boat length “zone” achieves
right of way for mark rounding. This
gets more complicated when a boat reaches the zone but is overlapped by an
inside boat, which gives mark room to behind but inside boat. This gets much more complicated when any of
the boats must tack in the zone to clear the mark which forfeits their right of
way to boats that did not tack in the zone.
Other rules also apply like keeping clear of other boats when tacking. If anyone with better knowledge on these rules
would like to comment or clarify, please do so.
As complicated as these mark rounding
can get, the boats that are seriously racing usually follow another rule “no
drinking until going downwind”.
We will see you out there next
Tuesday. (The barbecue at SCYC will be
the LAST Tuesday which will be the 31st)
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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