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
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