JULY 24, 2018 VICARIOUS SAILING

JULY 24, 2018

VICARIOUS SAILING

Hi Barry,

Enough crew showed for us to go out. Don and Mike were on board and we picked up a hitchhiker at Aldo’s. Gunter waved us over and jumped on board. There was a big South swell and Tusitalia was parked at the harbor mouth but decided to turn back. We waited until the set passed and motored out without problem. Nidaros 2, Avatar and Kicks joined us. A 27 came out to play as well. We had a little trouble setting the mark. As Don was streaming it, he caught a huge kelp patty and had to let go. There were kelp patties all over the place torn up by the swells. We called a delay and came back to pick it up. Of course the kelp fouled our prop and we had to back down to free it. Finally got the mark set for a good East breeze. We called Bravo 2; Start, SC3, Black’s, finish. We had the Start buoy end and the other boats were spread out down the line toward the pin. Avatar and Nidaros tacked ahead of us, Mike thought we had better wind inside and we actually went a little way into the kelp before tacking out. The current kept us from picking any kelp up. When we tacked out, we tacked back as soon as we could clear the kelp field. The wind was better inside as predicted for an Easterly, but the combined South swell, left over NW wind waves and a building Easterly chop slowed us down. It was like being in a jeweler’s cleaning tank. We twisted the sails off a bit and “powered up.” When we tacked near the lay line, Avatar passed clear ahead and we almost had to duck Nidaros. After rounding, Mike took us in just a little way. Again, it was to get better breeze. We set the pole and soon passed Nidaros. Mike asked if we could see the mark. I took a look and we were dead on it! Avatar got there first and we hardened up and headed straight for the Finish. With the wind at about 120 all the usual angles were changed. The course was much easier. Avatar was ahead of us. Have to see the RaceQ track to find out if we got them on corrected. We were lucky and got in between sets without having to wait. I put the boat in bow first again as there was a lot of surge. It was a beautiful evening. Gunter said he had a lot of fun. We did, however, have to explain what a winch was and how to use it. Thanks for the opportunity to sail your boat.

Stefan

Thanks Stefan for the excellent report and for taking care of my boat.

Race QS shows Avatar finishing at 46:05, Pair a Dice 47.52, Nidaros II 49:22 and Kicks 56:33.  All times are elapsed time and the length of the course was 3.04 miles.

WAVES:

With the harbor office issuing warnings about large swells at the harbor entrance, I think it is good to discuss waves.  After years of surfing, I have had a lot of experience in dealing with waves. 

Most waves we deal with are storm generated.  The size of the swell is determined by the strength of the wind and the amount of area the storm covers.  During our summer months, a lot of our waves are generated by storms in the Southern ocean since it is winter in the south.  What is so important for us in the Santa Cruz Harbor is that our harbor faces due south so all of the swell energy is directed straight up the harbor.

The storm generated swells travel away from the storm and as they travel over a large distance, will organize their energy into sets.  If the storm is a long distance away, like New Zealand the characteristics of the sets will be well defined.  Characteristics to watch for are time between sets and which waves are the biggest in the set. A swell coming from New Zealand often will have 20-30 minutes between sets, allowing easy exit from the harbor and easy entry into the harbor. I compare it to crossing a street: you don’t step off the curb with cars speeding toward you and it is better to not transit the harbor entrance with big waves breaking. Always wait for “traffic” to clear. The trained eye can definitely see sets approaching from off shore.   Winter waves are a lot different, with sets a lot closer together with the surfers dream: corduroy to the horizon!

One other consideration is what causes a wave to break.  Obviously, it is the shallower water near shore. As waves travel toward shore, the bottom part of the wave slows down due to friction with the bottom and the upper part of the wave continues at a faster pace causing the top of the wave to cascade down the face and “break”. Waves will break in 1.3 times their wave height.  This is a convenient way to see how deep it is where waves are breaking.  Granted a 3 foot wave breaking in 4 feet of water will just crumble down the face in what surfers would call a “mushburger” without much energy. 

When you get a wave with a lot of energy, travelling over long distances in very deep water that suddenly meets a very shallow bottom, you get a very powerful wave where the crest pitches out and forms a tube.  Surfers describe these waves as breaking “Top to Bottom”.  The top of the wave pitches over clear to the bottom of the wave in a “totally tubular” way. These waves are very powerful and are the types of waves that accomplished surfers crave.

To summarize:

·    >   RESPECT THE SURF, NEVER LEAVE OR ENTER THE HARBOR WITHOUT PAYING ATTENTION. SURFERS SAY "NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON THE OCEAN".

·       > CHECK THE HARBOR WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST SOUNDING MAP OF THE HARBOR

·         >THOUGH THE WATER MAY BE DEEP ENOUGH FOR YOUR KEEL, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLAM DOWN THE FACE OR OVER THE BACK OF A WAVE AND BOUNCE OFF THE BOTTOM

·         >IF CATCHING A WAVE IN THE HARBOR, STEER STRAIGHT DOWN THE FACE OF THE WAVE IF POSSIBLE (SET UP FOR THIS IN ADVANCE).

·         >TIME THE SETS FOR SAFE EXIT AND RETURN TO THE HARBOR.
>     >ALWAYS CONSIDER THE STATE OF THE TIDE.  A SWELL CAN BREAK WITH LITTLE POWER ON A HIGH TIDE AND TURN INTO A GRINDING FREIGHT TRAIN AT LOW TIDE.

·        >MY PERSONAL RULE: IF THERE IS A 5% CHANCE OF CRASHING IN THE HARBOR ENTRANCE (EVEN WITH TIMING THE SETS PROPERLY) WAIT FOR A BETTER DAY. THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES I HAVE CHOSEN TO NOT GO OUT.

I will see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair a Dice

JULY 17, 2018: SEPARATION

JULY 17, 2018

SEPARATION

It was blowing like stink all day, but as evening set in the wind seemed to be dissipating a bit.  When I arrived at the harbor after 5pm the flag on the Crow’s nest was still showing a northwest wind.  As we were leaving the harbor the northwest wind was blowing all the way to the start mark.  We set the pin end of the mark and gave a five minute horn, though it was a feeble sounding horn! With predictions for the wind to die, we called a medium course W3: start, Wharf, Blacks, Finish.

Everyone started on starboard tack heading out for more wind.  Pair A Dice was suffering from a dirty starboard bottom that was really slowing us down on port tack.  One by one many of the boats rolled us on the way to Wharf. The Pacific Spirit crew was out on “Scapa Flow” since their boat is still being worked on.  Avatar and Scapa Flow were the first boats around wharf and everyone set off for Blacks.

THE FLEET ON THEIR WAY TO WHARF

Since the wind was quite a bit more on the outside, we sailed high of the mark staying in the better wind as long as we could then Jibed toward the mark.  We were all struggling to keep speed up through the transition and the building Easterly, as all of the boats compressed together approaching Blacks.  It was interesting as all of the boats seemed to be rounding Blacks at the same time.  Since we were on the outside with two boats enjoying an inside overlap, we decided to do a “Jenny Craig” coming in fat to the mark and coming out skinny.  That was our plan except when we came around Blacks there was a train of 5 boats in front of us.  I decided to sail a bit further inside to increase distance between us and the “train”.  It seems we lucked out and got into better wind that was also clearer and allowed us to sneak ahead.  I know separation can often be a painful ordeal, but for Pair a Dice on this night, the secret for us was separation from the fleet.

AEOLIAN LOOKING GOOD

PETER AND SEAQUAKE CREW

At the finish, Avatar crossed the finish at 54:25, Pair a Dice 56:25, Scapa Flow 56:40, Kicks 56:53,  Aeolian 57:13, Perfect 36 57:15.  The time difference between Aeolian and Perfect 36 was too close to call!  All times are elapsed and the course was 3.23 miles.

We had a great time at the Crow’s Nest discussing the sailing over dinner.

SEPARATION:

We all know that clear air is best for sailing and racing.  How often do you see boats messing with each other sailing in close quarters.  Whenever I see boats engaging in these tactics, I enjoy the moment because they are almost always sailing slower.   I strive for clear air (SEPARATION) every chance I can get it.

IMPORTANCE OF A CLEAN BOTTOM:

Since my boat had not been out for 2 weeks and we did not have time to clean the starboard side, I had quite a growth on the starboard side.  With the great northwest wind we had, on port tack I could not get the boat over 5 knots. With a clean port side, I was sailing close to 6 knots on starboard tack.  This shows me that a clean bottom can increase boat speed by a whole knot.  This is huge in a sport where many boats strive for a quarter knot difference in speed.

 

PENALTY TURNS:

Kudos to Perfect 36 for taking their penalty turn.  Little known to many of us out there, they barely touched wharf mark while rounding and immediately sailed clear of other boats and took a 360 spin to exonerate.  This is the true spirit of sailing: when you commit a foul, exonerate yourself.

OTHER REGATTAS:

This weekend is the Monterey and Back regatta.  It starts in Santa Cruz on Saturday and sails to Monterey.  There is another race on Sunday back to Santa Cruz from Monterey.  This is a very fun regatta and a great party down at the Monterey Yacht Club.  Since I will be out of town, I am disappointed that I will miss this one this year.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JULY 10, 2018 FIRST TO THE WIND WINS

JULY 10, 2018

FIRST TO THE WIND WINS

We had 8 boats out for the fun on this night, but only about 5 had race QS tracks. This is a light turnout for our group but I know of 2 boats that are in the yard and 2 boats had mechanical problems.  In fact I had the pleasure of sailing on Nidaros II and using this boat to call the race from.

The wind was blowing lightly from the East so we called a short course, B5 which is start to Blacks twice around.  As we counted down the five minutes after the horn, there was no competition at the start mark end of the line and Nidaros had a great start at the pin and was able to lay the mark without any tacks. On the second rounding heading toward start for the finish, there was a transition zone that trapped all of us.  We thought it looked like more wind inside, but as we all bobbed in the dead air we noticed the northwesterly was filling in nicely.  Since we were the closest to the the northwesterly Nidaros II was the first to catch the wind and finished at 49:47.  Aeolian finished at 55:47.  The length of the course was 1.12 miles.  Unfortunately many of the boats were so deep in the transition zone that they retired and did not finish.

WHY RACE QS?

I encourage everyone to use this app.  This is the only way for us to record results.  Since we are setting a line each week, we must pick up the mark after the race and we are not recording results.  To me PHRF is a four letter word for Tuesday nights, but if someone wants to see how they actually performed against a faster boat, they can apply this measure when they see how much time was spent by each boat on the race course.  If you want to come out for an evening sail on Tuesday, have fun, but if you want to be counted run Race QS!

OTHER PEOPLES BOATS (OPB):

As noted earlier, I had the chance to sail on Nidaros II on this night.  It is always a way to improve your sailing by sailing with various people and on other boats.  You will always learn something from the experience.

Barry KeelerSailing Pair A Dice

JULY 3, 2018: HEADERS AND LIFTS IN LIGHT WIND

JULY 3, 2018

HEADERS, LIFTS AND LIGHT WIND

As I was working during the day about a mile inland, I kept glancing out the window searching for a hint of wind.  It sure looked like light or no wind all day long.  I was pleasantly surprised when I came to the harbor to see a moderate northwest wind blowing.  As we left the harbor, there seemed to be enough wind to have a race and there were about 10 boats out for the fun.

We set the buoy for the line and called for course W4: Start, Wharf, Gov, Fin.  Dice set up to be Sheriff and as the clock ticked to zero, everyone was clear.  We tacked around to starboard tack like the rest of the boats.  As we sailed out, we thought we saw more wind outside but the direction of the wind was very shifty.  The common knowledge in Santa Cruz is to sail inside for the lift inside.  As we sailed further outside we could see that there was a wide angle between us indicating the inside boats were getting headed as we got lifted on our starboard tack.  Indeed Race QS shows that Dice actually pulled ahead of Avatar briefly as they got headed inside, but there was a lot more race to go and headers Dice had to fight it’s way through.

 

At Wharf Avatar had extended their lead on us as they rounded just ahead of Nidaros II.  Quite a bit later, Tusitala, Dice and Sea Bird rounded.  By the time we got set up on our run to Gov, Avatar and Nidaros II were just about rounding Gov and headed for start/finish.   Avatar finished in front (1:22:59) followed by Nidaros II (1:24:12) followed by Sea Bird (time unavailable).  It was a very close finish between Pair A Dice and Tusitala, with Dice possibly a couple of feet ahead.  Dice 1:32:55, Tusitala 1:32:57.  All times are elapsed time and the course length was 3.07 nautical miles.

HEADERS AND LIFTS:

As wind direction varies from side to side, a lift allows you to sail closer toward your destination.  A header forces you to sail further from your destination.  There are oscillating shifts and Persistent shifts. On this night we were experiencing oscillating shifts.  It goes without saying that you can gain incredible gains if you use shifts to your advantage.  A header on one tack is a lift on the other.  Generally you want to sail a little into a header before tacking so you don’t immediately sail back into a header on the other tack.  Another good rule of thumb, pinch in the headers and fall off in the lifts to maximize speed.   When you are getting lifted and other boats are getting headed, you can enjoy it, but don’t get too smug, your header is on it’s way. 

It is amazing to study the two winners on this night and their tactics.  The winner played the inside in what seemed to be lighter wind and possibly a little westerly current to help.  The second place boat sailed straight outside almost “to the corner” before tacking over toward wharf.  In the end, both boats finished 1^st and second, so the difference between inside and outside was not that much.

What really is meaningful in these light conditions is the weight of the boat.  All boats that finished in the lead were light weight boats.  It only stands to reason that light wind propels lighter boats easier than heavy boats.

See you next Tuesday!

Barry L Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice