APRIL 24, 2018:UNEXPECTED WIND

APRIL 24, 2018

UNEXPECTED WIND

Looking at the forecast it sure looked like this night was going to be a floater with no wind.  I was surprised when I got to the harbor and saw the flag on the Crow’s Nest showing a strong wind from the northwest.  As we left the harbor, we had over 15 knots of wind creating a great night for a sail.  Since the marks have all been set, we chose course whiskey 3: start to wharf, Blacks, finish.  It was great to see about 15 boats out for the fun, including two SC27’s.

Since I had not arranged for a sheriff boat, we assumed the position.  As we sighted the line, we were surprised that many boats held back from the line for the start, so “All clear” was the call as we hardened up on port tack.  Being the sheriff boat can have it’s advantages since you are starting right on the line, we were able to clear all boats that were on starboard tack.  When we finally tacked out on starboard, we cleared almost every boat.  Someone on my boat said “you know next time we meet we’ll be on port tack with them on starboard”. 

  Sure enough, when we tacked over we had to duck many boats to get to the layline to Wharf mark.

By the time Pair A Dice rounded wharf most of the fleet had rounded ahead of us.  We all slogged our way downwind toward blacks buoy.     One by one, all of the boats rounded Blacks and made their way to finish at start mark.

At the finish, it was Pacific Spirit, followed by Tusitala, Pair a Dice and Avatar.

                                                         Pacific Spirit          42.25 elapsed time

                                                         Tusitala                  44.46 elapsed time’

                                                          Pair a Dice           45.12 elapsed time

                                                           Avatar                 46.00 elapsed time

The length of this course was 3.23 nautical miles

Race QS,

We are now using Race QS as the tool to determine how boats finish.   This is a free app you can download to your smart phone and it is a great tool to gauge how you are doing throughout the course. We now have about 6 boats using the app, it would be great to get everyone on board with this.

Other regattas:

The Spring Score series is starting this Sunday.  This will be a short series since we will have only two days of racing.  The month of May will be occupied by the made in Santa Cruz regattas.

TACTICS:

One of the most often stated tactical strategies is to stay between the mark and your competition.  On Pair a Dice we did not follow this strategy on this night.  After we tacked over on starboard and cleared all of the boats, we should have tacked over on port sooner to increase our chances of clearing boats while we knew we would be facing them on port tack.  We may have been able to cross in front of many of the boats rather than ducking them.

I will see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

April 17, 2018: ABSENTEE SPECTATOR

APRIL 17, 2018

ABSENTEE SPECTATOR

I regret that I was not able to participate for this night.  From the predictions, it looked like we were going to have a lot of wind for this night.  I understand that the wind was about 15 knots, not as strong as predicted.  I heard that there were nearly 15 boats out for the fun, and 6 of these boats used race QS to record and upload the tracks for review later.  From the Race QS tracks, it appears that whisky 4 course was chosen again for this night.

It appears that Pair a Dice had a little better start with Pacific Spirit chasing close behind.  Alas, as can be seen by the race QS tracks, waterline played a factor as Pacific Spirit slowly gained on PAD and ultimately passed PAD before rounding Wharf.

Since I was absent, I can only go by Race QS tracks and it looks like Pacific Spirit finished first with Pair a dice one minute behind her.  Avatar was close on the heels of Pair A Dice and crossed the finish line just behind PAD.  From all pictures I have seen, it was a beautiful evening for a sail.

From Race QS the times were:   Boat                        Elapsed time            

                                                                Pacific Spirit               49.55

                                                                Pair A Dice                  50.55

                                                                Avatar                          51.04

                                                                Kicks                           59.06

                                                          Tara                                   59.39

Distance raced for this course is 3.93 miles.

If you are having trouble setting Race QS up on your phone, let me know at the barbecue.

NOTE, THIS COMING TUESDAY IS CATALINA NIGHT AT THE YACHT CLUB  AFTER THE RACE.  PLEASE BRING YOUR FAVORITE BBQ FOOD AND MEET THE OTHER PEOPLE YOU ARE SAILING AGAINST.  BAR WILL BE OPEN.

I will see all of you out there next Tuesday.

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

APRIL 10, 2018 SPRING WIND

April 10, 2018

SPRING WIND

Checking predict wind and Sail-flow in the morning, I could not believe they were actually calling for 20 knot winds at 6pm.  When I showed up to the harbor, the winds were obviously ramping up for a beautiful evening sail. We had about a dozen boats out and, after we set the start line buoy, we called course Whiskey 4.  Homer on Equity was the sheriff and he sounded the five minute horn and the start horn.

On Pair a Dice, we came off the line on starboard tack to get into the stronger wind outside, but tacked over a short distance out.  There were just too many waves stopping us on starboard tack and the wind was a little strong for the sails we were using.  We tacked over and Pacific Spirit tacked over to cover us.  We all sailed in on port tack and one by one we tacked over to get outside.  Homer and Pacific Spirit were really showing the way on this night and rounded Wharf well ahead of the rest of us. 

 

On Pair A Dice, we thought we had overstood the mark when we tacked over for wharf mark.  If we had watched closely, there were 3 boats ahead of us at the mark that had to throw in another tack to round. All of the boats were getting a header at the mark.  We had set our sail for sailing directly to the mark and we got caught in the same trap.  We had to tack to get around the mark.  Doug on Avatar expertly sailed right by our stern and easily rounded and was ahead of us

. 

We all marched off toward Gov and finally to the finish mark.  It is amazing to me how very little changes in standings after rounding the windward mark.  It seems like all gains on the race course are made during the beat to weather.

We had a great get together at the Crow’s Nest with a lot of discussions on sailing and boat performance.

RACE QS:

I cannot say enough good about Race QS.  In previous blogs, I have encouraged boats to use this app.  We are at the point where EVERYONE must use Race QS in order to be recognized.  This FREE app is one of the best things you can do to improve your sailing.  Have you ever wondered why some boats are always leading?  Race QS and studying the tracks after the race can show you how to improve your sailing ability.

Since we will not incorporate PHRF ratings in out Tuesday Night Sailing, Race Qs is one of the best ways we can compare our performance to much faster boats.  We now have a 40 foot boat and several very fast boats.  They are certainly going to finish ahead of you, but checking the distance of the course and getting the time they crossed the line and you cross the line, you can see how you would have done if sailing similar boats.  I watch several parameters when examining my tracks on Race Qs:   How tight are the dots in front of the cone showing how steadily you are steering?  How consistent is your angle of heel?  How are our tacks?  You can get all of this information from Race QS.  Download the app and use it!

I am looking forward to our next Tuesday night Sailing!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

APRIL 3, 2018: OBSERVATIONS FROM THE DECK

APRIL 3, 2018

OBSERVATIONS FROM THE DECK

Due to back problems, my physician recommended that I refrain from sailing.  I came down to the boat to see my crew off and observe conditions.  The flag on the Crow’s Nest showed a building Easterly. The SCYC crew had put out two of the yellow ball buoys during the day: start mark and Wharf mark.  I had arranged for Perfect 36 to be the Sheriff boat for this night.  I went to the Crow’s Nest to observe the action.

  For the second Tuesday nights sail, I was amazed at how many boats were out.  The problem I had from the Crow’s nest was that I could not, even with binoculars,  determine the identify of boats  unless unusual characteristics were apparent.  Pair A Dice successfully set the mark for the other end of the line.  Though I could not hear the horns, I could tell when the start began.  Our temporary line mark was set inside from the start mark and the line seemed to be long enough for the 17 or so boats that were out.  Just before the start, a smaller boat (maybe a Moore 24) thought they were OCS and whipped around the buoy for a proper start.  The course called was B2 off the course chart minus rounding Blacks.

About two thirds of the boats started on starboard tack and some started on port tack at the start mark end.  As I saw Pair A Dice take the port tack start, I thought it was brilliant strategy on my boat because I could not see SC3, thinking it was too small for me to see.  I thought they were sailing directly toward SC3.  Sagitarious, Homer (Equinimity) and Pacific Spirit and the 40-foot blue hulled boat owned by John Nugent were in the Starboard tack boats.  It was interesting observing the boats make their way to SC3.  It was not until I noticed that SC3 was very visible very close to shore( from my perspective) that I realized that the port tack starters were sailing away from the mark, though in stronger wind.  The Starboard tacking starters were sailing much closer to the mark, but what seemed to be lighter wind.  The report that I got was that starboard tacking boats crossed ahead of the port tack starters.

As all of the boats approached the finish mark, my task got very difficult since I could not identify the boats that were finishing.  I started writing down names of the boats that I “thought” were finishing. Later I found out I was not identifying boats correctly.

I had attempted to arrange seating for everyone at the Crows nest 1 and ½ hours before, but there were several parties already going on taking up our space.  Maybe the Nest will be more prepared after the season is well started.

READ THE SI’S:

Since we are setting a line mark for the starts this season, I added to the SI’s (the back of the course chart): “When finishing, finish mark shall be passed within 5 boat lengths per course description. For finish at SM, line is extension (or line formed) by start mark and Jetty lighthouse”.  I noticed many boats taking the SM to port, which made sense because the line buoy was still in place.  To be correct, for B2, the SM should be taken to starboard, as noted in SIs within 5 boat lengths. The purpose of the line is to have a line square to the wind for the start.  The temporary buoy will be removed once Pair A Dice gets to it. Following the instructions on the course card prevents some people finishing through a line and some finishing without a line.

ORGANIZATION:

My observations from this and last week has emphasized the point that it is impossible to call the finishers in order any more.  With so many boats with such varied hull speeds, it is impossible to call winners when our boat is a half a mile away from the front runners.  There are many excellent sailors in our group that are very competitive. As stated previously, I cannot call the order of boats any more.  Our group of boats has grown from 4 boats 10 years ago to a regular 17 now.  I encourage all of this involvement, we even had some Moore 24’s out on this night!  Since we do not have a committee boat to call the finishing times, we need to use technology to fill in the gap.

RACE QS:

There is a FREE app available on any cell phone called Race QS. If you are serious and competitive in your racing, for our Tuesday night sailing, it will be necessary for the competitive boats to run this app.  If you do not run this app, you will not be recognized in this blog.  Race QS will replace the committee boat for finishes. It will be easy to ascertain the proper winner with the race QS app.

Once you download this FREE app to your phone, you can preset the start (6:00PM for now) before you leave your slip.  You mount the phone as close to centerline so the top of your phone faces forward with no movement.  I have a plug on my boat that keeps the phone charged at all times though this is not necessary.  Once you get back to your slip, you can either save your track to upload when you are in a WIFI network or you can click save and upload.  When you get home to your computer, you can pull up and register for race QS on line and replay the whole nights race from several perspectives.

The advantages to using this system are multitude.  First, we can see who finished first and the placings of each boat as they finish.  The other is that each boat can compare their results and the difference in time between their finish and the other boats, in a way applying PHRF rating so we can see how well we really sailed. The last advantage is being able to see how the winning boats operated: what was their angle of heel and how consistent was it, how did they perform their tacks compared to yours.  Each time a boat tacks on race QS it leaves a white dot at the “corner”.  You click on that white dot and you get a full analysis of the tack: amount the boat fell off of hard on the wind, time lost (or gained) in the tack, the time it took to finish the tack.  Seriously there are 8 parameters measured every time a boat tacks.  This is valuable information that we can all learn from.

COMMODORES REGATTA:

Keep in mind the Commodores regatta coming up on April 14.  This race does not require a PHRF certificate and I believe it is only $20 to enter.  It is time to apply all you have learned from Tuesday night sailing and enter a real race.  This is a reverse PHRF or pursuit race where the slower boats start first.  These are always fun races where you are doing all you can to stay ahead of the faster boats.  I encourage you to enter for the fun.  It is always fun at the yacht club after the race.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sialing Pair A Dice

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