JUNE 21, 2016: B4 YOUR SOLSTICE SAIL

June 21, 2016

B4 YOUR SOLSTICE SAIL

After the raucous sail last week, and the predictions for light wind for this night, I knew we needed to change to the 155 for tonight.  By the time I got to the boat, my crew had already swapped to the 155.  As we left the harbor, there was a delightful Easterly blowing. Not knowing if the wind would sustain, we called for a shorter course that kept us inside. Bravo 4 (B4): start blacks, Gov and finish.

We set up for the start and we had it timed perfectly.  Our problem was that Pacific Spirit was leeward of us on the line and would certainly luff us up and pinch us off at the mark.  We took their stern, which slowed us down and put us behind a wall of sails in front of us for the start.  In this “dance of the start” I got my toes stamped on badly.  As soon as we could we tacked over for clean air.  At Black buoy, Odonata rounded first followed quickly by Pacific Spirit and Homers’s Hunter 43 and Kicks then Pair A dice.

After rounding Black everyone seemed to have different tactics.  Odonata went way in to the beach, many boats went outside where it looked like there was more breeze.  Pair a Dice split the difference and sailed a line just above the lay line to Gov. Soon we were all sailing along in very light breeze, barely ghosting along.  Just as I was thinking we were going to get skunked with no wind, the wind started building again from the East.  All of the boats catching this breeze started closing the gap with the Hunter 34 and Pacific spirit. At Gov it was Odonata, Pacific Spirit the Hunter 34 (Homer) and Pair A Dice. 

The wind back to the finish mark was much more brisk, but very shifty.  There was no way to accurately predict tacking angles.  As soon as boats would tack, they would get headed.  Even the winning boats needed to tack multiple times to get around the finish mark.  At the finish it was Odonata, Pacific Spirit, Hunter 34, Pair A dice, Toad, Perfect (new engine!) 36, Aila (Beneteau 36), SeaQuake, Aeolian and Kicks.

Way to go Odonata!

Tactics:

The start is very important but not everything.  Rather than ducking and sailing to the lee of Pacific Spirit, I could have slowed down and followed them over the line.  By doing this I could have avoided the dreaded wall of sails in front of me and tacked over sooner for clear air.

Outside or inside?  On this night Odonata played the inside track perfectly.  As the wind died for most of us outside, the inside current was working for Odonata.  Additionally he seemed to be getting better wind inside as his spinnaker was flying nicely!  It was a crap shoot, because the wind could have filled in outside, but Chris played it perfectly and ‘made his point’ rounding Gov in front of all the other boats.

Other Regattas:

Put it on your calendar: July 16&17 is the Monterey and Back regatta.  I have done this jaunt before and it is a very fun event.  Hanging out at the Monterey Bay Yacht club is very fun.  There is not a lot of tactics, usually staying on one tack all the way down and back.

NEXT TUESDAY (JUNE 28) IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE SANTA CRUZ YACHT CLUB.  THE BAR WILL BE OPEN, BUT BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD!

I am looking forward to next Tuesday and seeing everyone at the barbecue.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair a Dice.