APRIL 23, 2019: THE PERFECT SAILING EVENING

APRIL 23, 2019

THE PERFECT SAILING EVENING

I had no accurate prediction for what the wind was going to do tonight.  When I showed up to the harbor, I was informed that the Easterly was in effect.  We got out of the harbor early and set the buoy for the Easterly breeze and called B4 as the course.  We had 16 boats out for the fun tonight including a new participant: Aquavi (a Juneau 42). We gave a 5 minute horn and began to set up for our start.  I had Fred Molnar on the helm and he skillfully killed time for the start and we ended up right at the start mark on time just behind Makani.

After the start we were getting bad air from the boats in front of us but we were able to point higher and get clean air.  Ultimately all of the boats tacked over but PAD continued in toward Blacks and tacked very close to the mark.  As we approached Blacks, we had a parade of starboard tackers coming down on us.  We cleared the first boat and tacked just in front of the other boats. We barely coasted around the mark and started the downwind run to Gov.

Most of the boats took the inside course, but PAD took the outside course more on the Rhum line toward Gov.  As we rounded Gov, Pacific Spirit and Avatar were ahead and Pair A Dice rounded just ahead of Aquavie  and Zoop and Makani.

On the way back to finish, many of the boats took the inside course once again, while PAD continued on an outer course toward the finish line.  At the finish, Avatar crossed at 44:58, PAD at 45:42, Makani at 47:00, Perfect 36 at 49:07, Tusitala 49:30,  Sandpiper 52:24 and Nidaros 54:00.  All times are elapsed and the distance of the course was 2:43 miles.

We had a great time eating and talking about the evening’s sailing at the Crow’s Nest. It was the perfect sailing evening.

RACE QS:

I know there were many more boats out on this night than recorded above, but the above boats were the only ones running Race QS.  Race QS is a free app you can run on your smart phone.  Once the app is downloaded, you can preset the start time and once your track is uploaded, anyone can go to the web site and view the data.  The information you can learn is amazing.  It shows how well you are steering, angle of heel and you can even analyze your tacks to see how efficient you are tacking.  Not only is this a tool we can all use to improve our sailing, we are using this app as our race committee.  It is only through this app that we can record your finish time.

 

We have a diverse group of boats in our group with PHRF’s running the whole gamut.  The only way any boat can assess how they did in the race is to compare their finish time with the other boats and apply the PHRF to see how they did.  You must run Race QS to be counted! Without Race QS running you are invisible to the “race committee”.  It is still fun sailing on Tuesday night even if not counted, but using Race QS actually legitimizes your sailing expertise.

THREE OF THE FASTEST BOATS HEADED TO THE FINISH!

INSIDE OUTSIDE:                                                                                                                                  

Many of the boats took the inside course toward Gov, PAD stayed outside.  By staying outside we were sailing straight toward Gov and we had clear air.  In the light winds we had this night, clear air was critical. On the way back to the start mark, we were sailing a line closer to straight to the finish line. On this particular night, there did not seem to be a big difference between wind on the inside versus the outside.

SAILING SAFETY:

Sailing involves risk. Driving to get to the boat involves risk.  The important thing is to manage and minimize risk.  While sailing we are involved with many risky actions. I believe it is important to always be cognizant of dangers involved.  We should always consider “what is the worst that can happen and how can we (I) avoid it?”

Consider your lifejacket.  Is it an auto-inflate? How can you be certain that it will inflate if needed? If it does not and “the worst” happens (you go overboard)  It does you no good. I notice that many of the experienced sailors have regular life jackets, not auto-inflate. 

Many jacklines run along the outside rail, just close enough to the rail to allow you to go overboard .  Why not run the jacklines down the middle of the boat so your tether keeps you ON the boat?  Getting dragged through the water would be a horrible way to go.  In essence: STAY ON THE BOAT!

I have always liked to wear a line around my neck that has a puck compass and a knife  attached: two critical tools for sailing. It was recently pointed out to me that the line around my neck could be a noose that, should it get caught around something could easily kill me.  Once again “what is the worst that can happen and how can I avoid it?”  My friend gave me a break-away strap that would break rather than hang me.

NEXT TUESDAY IS THE LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH: BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE YACHT CLUB!!  BRING YOUR BEST GRILLING FOOD AND MEET AND GREET YOUR FELLOW TUESDAY NIGHT SAILORS!      

We will see you next Tuesday!

Barry L Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

APRIL 16, 2019

ALL POINTS OF THE COMPASS

The predictions for the wind were up to 14 knots on the bay.  By the time I got to the harbor, the crew had already swapped out to the 155 jib for the lighter winds expected.  As we left the harbor, there was a very apparent northwest wind on the outside.  The wind line extended in and included the newly installed Start mark (thank you race committee!)  When we got to this wind it was about 15 knots.  We had enough wind to have a race! With such great wind, we set the temporary line mark inside toward the beach and called for course W3: Wharf, Blacks, Finish.  Amazingly, in the 15 minutes between the mark setting and the start, the wind came in with an equally strong North wind, which made the beach end of the line very favored.

Many of the boats had great starts: Tusitala, Avatar and Kicks nailed the beach end of the line at speed.  PAD got stuck in the transition zone halfway down the line and was late to the start.  We at least had clear air and were able to take a bearing pretty close to rhumb line to Wharf.  Tusitala played everything just right and was the first to round Wharf well ahead of everyone else.  Second around Wharf was PAD, then Pacific Spirit, Kicks and Avatar.

The rounding at Blacks got very interesting as some of the boats hit the mark in the strang winds that were springing up.  Some took their penalty turn and others just headed to the harbor.  Understandable, imagine trying to take penalty turns on boats that are 10-15,000 pounds in weird very light wind.  Seeing the mayhem at the mark, PAD took the mark wide into a patch of wind to propelled us around the mark. On the way to finish, Avatar was romping ahead of us by 2 boat-lengths.  With the now North wind, we apparently were able to block their wind and creeped up to barely pass them.  At the finish: Tusitala19:14:23, PAD 19:40:29, Avatar 19:40:32, Kicks 19:41:12 and Sanpiper 19:42:20.

It was a great night on the water, with a beautiful sunset.  Though it was tortuously slow through much of the race, it was way better than sitting at home in front of the TV!  The wind was so variable it covered all points of the compass.

LIGHT WIND SAILING:

This is always a challenge, especially when the direction is variable and you cannot read the wind because it is not contacting the water.  I find it best to maximize the effect of the waves as long as it is not taking you to lighter wind.  You want to avoid going into the waves if at all possible.  Another thing I learned on this night is to let the very light breeze dictate how you set the sails.  If your sails back wind, quickly reset on the other tack.  Another useful tool we have on Pair A Dice is telltales on the shrouds consisting of old cassette tape.  These telltales will indicate the direction of the wind about 8 feet off the water, which helps when there are no ripples on the water.

See you out there next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

APRIL 9, 2019: DOUGLAS MAHONE BLOG

Thanks to Doug Mahone from the boat Avatar for writing the blog for this week.  We will see you out there this coming Tuesday.

Tuesday April 9th blog (draft)

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Douglas Mahone	Apr 9, 2019, 10:08 PM (4 days ago)
to me

This week was a heavy weather race, with five boats going out. Winds were from the NW averaging around 12 kts, with shifty gusts over 18 kts (true). Skies were clear and beautiful.

Pair-Dice set up a start line based at the newly set club start mark, and called a course up to Government, down to Blacks (also newly set), and back to the Finish.

At the start, three boats were basically on time, and two were late. Tusitala took an early lead and kept it throughout. Perfect Thirty-Six and Avatar fought it out for the next two places (Perfect prevailed). Kicks was chased by Pair-Dice, but not caught.

A lot of the strategy turned on not getting overpowered in the big gusts. Some boats started with both main and jib reefed, some didn't reef, some shook out reefs for the downwind leg. It appeared that the overpowered boats that did not fare as well as those that were able to sail on a more even keel with less weather helm. Most boats were sailing at or near to hull speed anyway, so extra sail area didn't add much. The heavier boats with longer waterlines were favored under the wind conditions.

The race was exciting, challenging, and, if anything, could have been longer (had there been more course options for a NW wind).

There were nearly fifteen cheerful and animated sailors for dinner at the Crow's Nest, which showed that the summer sailing season is getting into full swing. We're hoping for more boats next week.

Doug.

Douglas Mahone
doug@dmahone.com

APRIL 2, 2019: RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING, BUT NOT TONIGHT!

APRIL 2, 2019

RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING, BUT NOT TONIGHT!

As dicey as this season has been, this night did not look like any improvement.  Indeed, as I left work at 5pm I walked to my car in a steady rain.  I was thinking there was little chance for a sail in these conditions.  I had committed to at least show up at the boat, so dutifully made the short drive to the harbor.  I was surprised to see a “hole in the clouds” as I approached the harbor and set up for a sail!  We had 5 brave boats tempting their luck with impending rain all over the place.

We set the buoy as fairly close to the jetty lighthouse attempting to set a perpendicular line to the wind.  With none of the racing buoys deployed we called for a course: start mark to starboard (start line an extension of line from lighthouse and start mark), first mark GOV to port, Mile to port, finish at line between Gov and end of wharf.  We blew a 5 minute horn and set up for our start.

As usual, we wanted to start on starboard tack, which required us to sail close to the harbor entrance and approach on starboard INTO the waves.  Amazingly the boats starting on port tack (sailing with the waves), all had great starts.  On Pair A Dice, we were late to the line being slowed by the waves and had a lot of distance to make up between Avatar and Makani which were enjoying a great lead over us, though it felt like we were starting to close some of the distance on our way to Gov.  We had a steady 9 knot wind as we rounded Gov and started to sail toward Mile.  We were steadily closing the gap on Makani, though Avatar was the first to round Mile.  Somehow we rounded Mile ahead of Makani and started sailing back to Gov for the finish.  The disturbing sound of the bow wake of Makani seemed to get louder and louder as he approached us from behind us and ultimately passed us.

 At the finish, it was Avatar with a healthy lead, Makani and Pair a Dice.   Amazingly, with dark clouds all around we did not get rained on until we were back in the harbor with sail covers on!

TOWING ANOTHER BOAT:

On this  night, we had a boat with an Impaired motor so we towed them into the harbor.  As always it was an education.  You should use a line long enough so the towed boat is not right on your stern.  You need enough distance to allow you to react if the towed boat catches a wave.  It is good to have fenders out as you approach the other boat because you need to be in close proximity to the boat to toss a line to them.  Once the line is tied to both boats increase speed slowly to get both boats up to speed.  Determine who is going to release the line when you are approaching the towee and increase speed at the last minute to give the boat enough speed to make it to their slip.  To the experienced, this is all second nature, but unless you do it frequently it can get to be very interesting.

To make it interesting consider if you are being towed by a big power boat.  They toss you a line and slowly increase their speed.  They have power to spare so start going FASTER than YOUR hull speed.  This is where things can go seriously wrong because they are trying to pull you “up-hill” and can apply incredible stress on your boat.  Always be aware of your hull speed and do not let a powerful boat tow you faster than your hull speed.

 Recently there was a trimaran being towed to Moss landing from Santa Cruz.  The trimaran washed ashore close to the Cement Boat in Aptos.  I wonder if they were trying to tow at an excessive speed?

Hopefully this coming Tuesday will be clear with some wind!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A DIce