SEPTEMBER 25, 2108
WHAT INDIAN SUMMER?
There was a chill in the air and a heavy fog bank hanging
offshore. And this is supposed to be our
Indian summer? At least we had a 10 knot
northwest wind to sail in. We set the
mark and called for course Whiskey 5: Start, Wharf, Finish. After all we had a barbecue to go to tonight! We blew a 5 minute horn and set up for our
start.
On Pair a Dice, we wanted to start on starboard at the red
ball end of the line. We achieved this objective and may have been 10 seconds
late to the line. We went out a short distance and were one of the first boats
to tack over to port. Nidaros pulled a
great move starting at the red ball on port tack and had zero boats to deal
with in a crossing situation. This paid
off for them because on our first crossing with them, they crossed in front of
us. We continued all the way to the end
of the wharf before tacking toward the wharf mark. Time to pray for a lift! Prayers were unanswered and we had to throw a
tack in just outside of the zone. The
first to round wharf was Yellow Belly followed by Tusitala (nice to be sailing
with them again!). We rounded with
several boats behind us.
On the long slog back to start mark, we thought we saw more
wind outside but I observed as Pacific Spirit was steadily moving ahead on us
until we jibed over sailing directly for the mark. At the finish Yellow Belly was about 3
minutes(? No RaceQS L)
ahead of us followed by Tusitala (Race QS malfunction). Pacific Spirit was quickly closing the gap on
us at the finish. We thought we sited
the finish line with PAD ½ boatlength ahead, but Race QS showed Pacifica Spirit
½ boatlength ahead of us. Times were
Pacific Spirit (47:49), PAD (47:54), Nidaros (48:43) Aeolian (52:52) Kicks
(54:04). All times are elapsed and the course length was 2.68 miles.
RACE QS:
This is a great program, but has it’s glitches. We have all had our tracks stop halfway
through a race. It is not user
error! Rest assured though, when it
works right, there is valuable information you can learn AND it is the only way
we can recognize you on the course. Please download this FREE app to your smart
phone and remember to use it. Despite it’s
glitches, it is the only thing we have to document results. As Fred says “It is not a perfect system, but
you can’t beat the price!”
THE WONDERFUL WINDEX:
This little device, at the tip of the mast, is probably one
of the least expensive tools on the boat.
If you know how to use it, it can be one of the most valuable. It is obviously the best indicator to look at
to determine your point of sail. I like
to use it while tacking to gauge how far off the wind I am steering to get
speed up after tacking. When determining
the layline for making a mark, crew will ask “are we hard on the wind”? We check the windex to confirm.
These are the most elementary uses of the windex, but there
are many more uses. When sailing
downwind, most boat do best “keeping it in the box”. Again looking at the windex, we try to keep
the point if the arrow within the angles created by the two arms of the windex
(keeping it in the box).
Once again, going downwind, the arrow will be pointing toward
the back of the boat. If you need to
jibe to the same (efficient) point of sail on the opposite side, use the windex
to determine where you will be going.
The tail of the windex will be indicating what your new point of sail will
be once you have jibed.
One more way to use the windex is to determine where your
wind shadow is cast while going down wind.
If you are trying to pass a boat going down wind and trying to steal
their wind, look at your windex: the tail of your windex is indicating where
your shadow is. You can also use the
windex on an overtaking boat to see if they are affecting your wind. If the tail of the other boat’s windex is pointing
at your boat, you are being shadowed and can expect to slow down.
Looking forward to next Tuesday. Hopefully our Indian Summer will materialize.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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