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