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