MAY 22, 2018: GREAT WIND, GREAT SAIL

May 22, 2018

GREAT WIND, GREAT SAIL

I had just returned from vacation and was looking forward to sailing again.  I had no idea what the predictions were for wind, but when I showed up to the harbor, there was a strong northwesterly blowing and my crew had the 135 jib installed for a great night of sailing.  As we left the harbor, we knew the wind would not let us down so we called for the most ambitious course, Whiskey 1 and after setting the start line, got off a 5 minute horn for the start.  We did not have a sheriff boat this night and everyone seemed to honor the start line.

On Pair a dice, we decided to start at the red buoy end of the line on starboard tack and accomplished this with no other traffic around.  Shortly after the start, Pacific Spirit crossed us clearing us when they were on port tack.  We all made our way to wharf mark with various crossings taking place and Tusitala and Pacific Spirit leading the way around Wharf Mark.

  On the way to mile buoy we had Patricia J roll us to windward and round Mile with Yellow Belly (Homer’s boat) just ahead of us.  We could not close the gap on the way to Blacks buoy. It’s hard catching up with fast boats with excellent helmsmen! 

At the finish it was Pacific Spirit with 44.49 elapsed time, Patricia J with 47.36, Pair a Dice 48.20. Kicks 55.00, Aeolian 59.21.  All of these times recorded from Race QS are elapsed time.

SAFETY IN SAILING (AND RACING):

More important than winning a race is safety on the water.  How do you accomplish this when boats are sailing in close quarters that would make a cruising sailor faint?  I heard a story that there was a beer can race up in San Francisco last weekend.  Two Catalina 30’s did not see each other and one boat hit another mid-ship, taking out 3 stanchions and all life-lines  on one side of the boat. At the same time the colliding boat impacted with such force that the bow was holed below the waterline.  This required an emergency dive from a diver that was able to apply an underwater patch to prevent  the boat from sinking. 

When all boats are sailing as close as we do in the starting sequence, it is not surprising that something like this could happen.  In order to prevent this kind of horror on Pair A Dice, I always tell my crew: “Never assume I see all boats!”  “Never refrain from telling me about other boats!”  The conversation before races is often simply: “Do you have the one o’clock  on starboard at 100 yards?”, while another crew member will say “Do you have the 11 o’clock at 200 yards?”  This keeps the skipper apprised of all of the boats that are close to us.  In theory, this should help to avoid collision and has worked well for us.  But what do you do when another boat is oblivious and sails on a collision course with you?  This is where rule 14 comes into play: “avoid collision!”  It does no good to maintain your right of way and damage your boat or even worse cause harm to crew members regardless of who has right of way.

  I emphasize that we are beer can racing and we are all trying to learn. While we have no protest committee, if a boat does not abide by the rules, let me know and I will cover it in this blog WITHOUT naming boats.  We have many excellent sailors and racers, but some are just learning about racing and may not know the rules as well as others.   Remember rule 14.

NEXT TUESDAY IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE YACHT CLUB.  REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD.  THE BAR WILL BE OPEN AT THE CLUB.  WE PLAN ON DISPLAYING  RACE QS ON THE TV AT THE CLUB TO SHOW THE BENEFITS OF THIS PROGRAM.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry L Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

MAY 8, 2018 PETER'S PARADE

May 8, 2018

PETER’S PARADE

As I was at the harbor working on my boat all day, I watched as the Easterly wind seemed to be building through the afternoon.  This was confirmed as we left the harbor, the Easterly was well in place and with the wind so strong we ambitiously called for course Bravo 2.  It took a while for us to set the mark for the other end of the line, but we accomplished a 6:05 start with Sagitarius acting as the Sheriff boat.  The call was “all clear” at the start. 

Many of the boats started on starboard tack and it got very crowded at the start mark for the start.  It was a thing of beauty to see Peter Prillinger on Sea Quake charging the line at maximum speed in clear air timing the start perfectly.

After the start, many of us were stuck in bad air behind other boats and no way to escape with other boats locking us in from behind.   We limped along until we finally had a chance to tack over and clear the other boats. We all creeped slowly toward SC3 as the wind slowly was dying just as we all entered the nasty chop created in this corner of the bay.  With little wind, building chop and an adverse current to boot, it seems like all boats had to tack several times to get around SC3.  I believe we all developed a deep hatred for the difficult conditions around SC3!

On Pair A Dice, we finally rounded and started our downwind run toward Blacks. We were making pretty good time, but we were quite impressed that Peter on Sea Quake was rounding Blacks way off in the distance.  One by one most of the boats furled their sails and headed for the harbor.  We made it to Blacks and rounded but found ourselves about 300 yards from any wind at all and finally gave up.  Peter was the only one to finish and gave a celebratory toot of a horn.  Well done Peter!

BARGING:

Many of us are just learning about racing and the rules that govern us on the race course.  In our informal setting, we do not have protest committees and there is no way to impose a penalty.  This being said, we should all conduct ourselves as if we are in a sanctioned race and we should follow the rules.

In the racing rules of sailing rule 11 “ON THE SAME TACK OVERLAPPED” states: “when boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat.  At the start, when one end of the line is favored, it is common for boats to bunch up at one end.   A boat that is sailing hard on the wind aiming to clear the mark that is the leeward boat has right of way over any windward boat trying to poke there nose in and make room for themselves (barging). The barging boat must either turn up and spin around to clear the mark when the line is clear or turn down and go astern of the boat at the mark and start further down the line.  As any rule, windward vs leeward carries the same gravity as a port vs starboard situation.  I hate the sound of crunching fiberglass and the expense of repairing two boats.  Just because a boat gives you room to barge on one start, do not count on it every time and in a sanctioned race, you will either exonerate yourself by doing a turn or find yourself in the penalty room.  It is best to avoid these situations altogether. When you see that you are going to be caught, change your plan to avoid being a barging boat.

 

It should be noted that the boats that did best on this very tricky night, were boats that started down the line in clear wind.

Let’s pray for better wind next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

MAY 1, 2018: SHIFTY WINDS

MAY 1, 2018

SHIFTY WINDS

The predictions for this evening were for very strong winds from the northwest.  I was surprised when I pulled into the harbor. One glance at the Crow’s nest flag showed a building Easterly.  Apparently there was a lot of wind until an hour before we left the harbor.   We kept the 135 jib that was already on the boat.  As we left the harbor, the beautiful Easterly wind seemed to be building.  It was building so nicely that we called an ambitious course down to SC3.   As Santa Cruz conditions often will do, the easterly started dying in the 5 minute countdown.   We postponed the start for 5 minutes to see what would happen and changed the course to B4, keeping us all inside to take advantage of the Easterly.

 

Pacific Spirit was the sheriff boat for this night and they sailed out to observe the line.  All of the boats were dealing with a very light wind and  waves that really slowed the boats down that were trying to get up to the pin end the line.  Sure enough, at the start, several boats were over the line as reported by Pacific Spirit.  Unfortunately for Aeolian,  Aeolian was the only one that was named.   Aeolian dutifully went back to dip the line for their start exhibiting the Corinthian spirit.

All of the boats charged for the first mark, Blacks.  Avatar was the first around followed quickly by Pacific Spirit and  the rest of the fleet.  We all then slogged downwind toward Gov with constantly changing winds creating challenges for all of us.  On Pair a Dice, we were constantly monitoring the wind.  We jibed back and forth to take advantage of the change in the wind direction.  On the way to Gov we all noticed that there was a Coast Guard boat tied to the mark.  Thanks to Doug on Avatar who had the brilliant idea to actually contact the cutter, we got the approval to round the mark and the coast guard cutter “as long as we left them enough room”.

As Pair a dice rounded, we had Makani right on our port quarter preventing us from tacking over toward the inside.  All boats had gone in toward the beach, knowing that when an easterly is blowing it is strongest on the beach.  Finally, Makani tacked over toward the inside and we started to follow until we saw that the northwesterly was overpowering the Easterly wind and was only 60 yards away. Our decision was made when we saw that the finish mark was surrounded by the building northwesterly.  This left Avatar and Pair a Dice racing toward the mark with Avatar closing faster than us.

GOV SUDDENLY GETS BIGGER

At the finish it was:                                                         elapsed time:

                                       Avatar                                    45:41

                                      Pair a Dice                               46.19

                                      Perfect 36                                47:09

                                      Pacific Spirit                            47:27

                                      Makani                                     48:25

                                      Tara                                           49:35

Course distance: 2.43 miles

It turned out to be a beautiful evening for a sail and a great get together at the Crows Nest after the race.

Lessons learned:

I thought it was brilliant to actually call the coast guard boat to get their approval to round them “at a distance”.

 It is not usual to have winds change direction as much as tonight.  In conditions like this, it is critical to pay attention and change sails to match the wind as well as you can.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice