JULY 23, 2019: NICE SAILING

JULY 23, 2019

NICE SAILING

This was the evening of nice sailing and increasingly competitive sailors. Skies were clear and warm, and there was a nice 6-10 kt breeze out of the southeast that held up for the whole evening.  The course called was Start, Blacks, Gov, Finish. Kicks was standing in for Pair-a-Dice in setting up the race (thanks, guys!).

The start was a clean one; I heard that one of the boats was over early, but did the proper thing by returning back behind the line and restarting.  All but two boats went for the starboard end of the line, where there was a bit of a crowd scene. The other two started in clean air on the port end.  The short upwind leg to Blacks didn't allow much time for the fleet to spread out, so the approach and rounding were rather crowded and, occasionally, exciting.

After rounding Blacks, there was a fairly dense parade down to Gov, with most boats winging their jibs out on whisker poles.  New to the race, Bodacious jibe tacked outside, which worked because when they jibed back for the mark they were in second place behind Tusitala.  The boats that stayed close to the rhumb line had to contend with each other, with some blocking the breeze for the boat(s) ahead of them. Some were catching up to the boats ahead, and had to decide whether to pass to windward or to leeward.  Again, the rounding at the mark was rather crowded, but in smaller clusters as the fleet was beginning to spread out.

The nice breeze held for the final upwind leg. Some boats had success tacking up closer to the shore, while several went farther out. Most of the fleet tacked up the middle. There didn't appear to be a clear advantage with any of these strategies, however.  The first boat to finish, at least of those who recorded their tracks, was Tusitala, followed by Bodacious, Patricia J, Pacific Spirit and Avatar. On corrected time, the top four finishers (not counting Bodacious which didn't have a PHRF in the system) finished within a minute of each other. I think everybody finished the race, as the winds were good and the course not excessively long.

There was the usual crowd for dinner at the Crow's Nest.  I know that some boats like to have their own post-race gatherings, but all are welcome to join us on the back upper deck at the Nest where we get good service and it's quiet enough that the band doesn't drown out the lively conversation. Tell the guy collecting the cover charge at the bottom of the stairs that you're with the sailors, and you won't have to pay the cover (it helps of you look nautical).

Remember that next week is the last Tuesday of the month, so we will be barbequing at the SCYC clubhouse.  Bring something to grill and something to share.  The bar, as usual, will be open.

Doug.

Thank you Doug for the excellent recap.  I was in Vegas and witnessed the race on the net through the harbor-cam looking out of the harbor entrance.  It looked like an awesome evening with many boats.

From Race QS the finish times were: Tusitala 39:53, Bodacious 40:45, Patricia J 41:15, Pacific Spirit 42:34, Avatar 43:12, Kicks 45:50, Makani 45:55, Toad 47:13, Aeolian 47:38 and Sandpiper 51:28.  All times are elapsed and course distance was 2.43 miles.

The race QS link is below:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011074&divisionId=60569&updatedAt=2019-07-24T02:35:08Z&dt=2019-07-23T17:29:59-07:00..2019-07-23T19:34:54-07:00&boat=Tusitala&model=Bavaria40&time=1563933088702&focus=Tusitala&rival=Bodacious&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.951082&lon=-121.994371&tilt=1&range=604&heading=253

We will see you next Tuesday for another sail and barbecue.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JULY 16, 2019 THE LOVELY BUT FADING EASTERLY

JULY 16, 2019

THE LOVELY BUT FADING EASTERLY

This was the evening of the lovely but fading easterly.

As the fleet assembled, there was a pleasant easterly of about 6-8 kts, with warm, sunny skies, and a light swell.  The course was called as Start, SC3 (Pleasure Point), Blacks, Finish. There were over a dozen boats (eleven had RaceQs tracks). A couple were late to the start by a few minutes.

The start seemed to be clean from where we were, with no obvious conflicts. Most of the boats stayed inshore on starboard tack, while a few tacked onto port and headed out to sea with clear air. The breeze seemed a bit stronger out there. The boats that stayed closer to shore eventually had to tack out to avoid the kelp beds, but then tacked back hoping for a better easterly breeze closer to shore. 

Around this time, the breeze started to fade and several of the boats at the back of the fleet headed back for the harbor. Those that stayed in the race were flopping around with winds less than 3 kts. 

Then we called for a shortened course, changing the first mark, SC3, into the finish line. As the leading four boats drifted toward the finish, Patricia J ghosted in from the outside, Pacific Spirit came from the shore side, followed by Pair-a-Dice, and Avatar came up the middle.

Patricia J, singlehanded by Jason Lauer, crossed first. Avatar was close behind. Pac Spirit was third by perhaps a minute, and Dice followed her by about five minutes more.  It was rather amazing how all four were so spread out over the race course, yet converged so close together at the finish. Three other boats also finished: Nidaros, Mikani and Kicks.

Since it was an entirely upwind race, the two tacks made a big difference, especially as the wind speed dropped. The starboard tack was generally favored, with a good angle to the mark, and the swell coming from the starboard quarter to push you along. But eventually you had to tack out to round the mark. The port tack was the killer, as it forced the boat to head into the swell. Out near SC3, it was about three feet and steep, enough to seriously slow down a boat. The inshore boats got caught in this trap, because when they had to tack over to port, the wind had died, but the swell had not. Oh well.

Overall, it was a fun time. Those that finished dealt with fluky winds and still kept moving. Those that went in early avoided the frustrations of a dying breeze, and some made it to the Crow's Nest before the beer ran dry.  A good race by any measure. 

Thanks to Doug Mahone ( Avatar) for providing this excellent recap of the race.  I was not able to be there on Doctor’s orders, but observed the race from the Aptos hills and immediately knew course B2 had been picked.  From this perspective, it looked like a wonderful night on the water, little did I know the wind would die.  Thanks to Stefan and Fred for putting the race on in my absence and their great call to shorten course.

At the finish line (extension of line from Capitola wharf through SC3), Patricia J was first around (Race QS burped and I could not determine his time), Avatar was second 55:39, Pacific Spirit 56:38, Pair A Dice 1:02:03, Nidaros 1:05:18 along with Makani (looked like a tie with each going around together!?) and Kicks 1:32:09.  The length of the course was 1.43 miles.

The Race QS track for this race is at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011635&divisionId=60400&updatedAt=2019-07-17T03:05:09Z&dt=2019-07-16T17:49:59-07:00..2019-07-16T19:49:28-07:00&boat=Dice&model=J24&time=1563330729989&focus=Dice&rival=Makani&tab=setup&view=follow&lat=36.940767&lon=-121.973553&tilt=1&range=3902&heading=136

Thanks to everyone for participating. Next Tuesday will be another race.

Barry Keeler

Saiing Pair A Dice

07/09/2019: SOMETIMES GOOD THINGS HAPPEN

JULY 9, 2019

SOMETIMES GOOD THINGS HAPPEN

When I got to the harbor at about 4 pm, the flag on the Crow’s Nest was as stiff as a board with the 20 knot wind on the water whipping up whitecaps to the horizon.  I was considering changing down from my 155 jib, but decided to wait.  By 5 pm the wind was already backing off, but it looked like plenty of wind for a race!  As we left the harbor at about 5:15, we checked the wind and it was from 240 degrees  and about 15 knots setting up for a glorious night of sailing.

We called a course and were all ready to blow the 5 minute horn when we noticed many boats on the start line were not moving at all.  We postponed for 5 minutes to see what would happen.  After five minutes, no wind on the start line, but plenty of wind outside.  With Fred’s suggestion, we moved the start to Mile buoy and called for course F1:  Mile to wharf, finish at Gov.  We gave time for everyone to make it out to Mile and gave a 5 minute horn. Even moving out to mile buoy you had to be careful about sailing in too close to shore because of the dead wind.  Dead wind inside, 20 plus outside.  To make matters worse, the boats with excellent starts were ending up at the first mark (Wharf) with no wind at all and trying to deal with a strong current coming down the coast.

By the time PAD came on the scene at wharf, the wind was changing directions like there was a huge oscillating fan overhead with something randomly turning the wind on and off. There was plenty of wind outside of the mark, but the mark area showed no wind.  My plan was to sail further up the coast and use the waves to round the mark, but we had a gust that finally took us around and off toward Gov. The same gust that helped us round Wharf stayed with us all the way toward Gov until the Easterly kicked in.  We adjusted our sails for the new wind and made our way to the finish. Sometimes, good things happen to you and you just have to accept it!

At the finish it was Tusitala 31:20, Avatar 31:30, PAD 32:57, Perfect 36 33:41, Nidaros 33:49, Pacific  Spirit 35:00, Kicks 35:45, Sandpiper 36:08, Toad 37:05, Aeolian 42:29.  The length of the course was 1.48 miles.

The race Qs track can be seen at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2019-07-10T02:56:35Z&dt=2019-07-09T17:45:01-07:00..2019-07-09T19:56:28-07:00&boat=Pair%20a%20dice&time=1562722790452&focus=Pair%20a%20dice&tab=setup&view=follow&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&lat=36.947943&lon=-122.022915&tilt=1&range=789&heading=180

PROTEST!

In the normal course of racing, even the best sailors will make mistakes, break rules and foul other boats.  Normally, proficient racers will have a red flag they must wave (in a timely fashion) and shout PROTEST!  If the protested boat does not take a Penalty turn (or 2 depending on the infraction) the protesting boat files a protest and both boats end up in a protest hearing.  Both sides present their cases and a decision is made.  Either the protested boat is disqualified from the race or penalized in some fashion or the jury may rule in favor of the protested boat and their standings are not affected. 

For our Tuesday nights, I am sure many of the boats do not even have a red flag to fly.  On Tuesday nights, if you feel you have been fouled and someone has broken a rule, we will use the radio (channel 69) to communicate the protest.  The dialog would be: “Tuesday night sailors, boat xyz is protesting boat abc for failing to ??”  At this point the boat that broke a rule can take his penalty turn (there will be no 2 turn penalties on Tuesday nights).  If the protested boat thinks he was in the right and does not take his penalty turn, it will go to a protest hearing.  The protest hearings will be held on the last Tuesday of the month (our barbecue night) and can be witnessed by anyone that wants to attend.  These protest hearings can be a great educational opportunity for ALL OF US to: 1) see what a protest hearing is like. 2) learn the rules and 3) since Race QS is our “race committee” we can learn more about how Race QS can be used.  It is critical to learn the rules and follow them. 

Since there is no scoring for our races and penalties have no consequences, I think it would only be appropriate for the skipper of the boat that broke the rule (if not absolved by the committee), to buy a round of drinks for the crew of the fouled boat and for the judges that ruled on the protest committee.

CLEAN BOTTOMS!

One thing that is critical for race performance is having a clean bottom on your boat.  It would be expensive and ridiculous to have the bottom cleaned by a diver before each Tuesday night race.  On Pair a Dice I have used a bottom cleaning device I developed years ago.  We clean our bottom before each race with this device that costs less than $20 to make and maybe 1 hour of time.  It will clean the bottom of new growth clear to bottom of the keel.  This device will do no good if you have a garden growing on the bottom of your boat.  If you make one of these devices and use it, I am sure you will be sailing faster.  See photos, and if you want to inspect the devices, they are on my boat at Dock Q, space 16.

See you next Tuesday,

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JULY 2, 2019: LIGHT, HEAVY, LIGHT

JULY 2, 2019

LIGHT, HEAVY, LIGHT

I was at the harbor all day and was intermittently checking the flag on the Crow’s Nest as the day progressed.  There was not much wind showing through most of the day, but around 3 PM the northwesterly started showing, but by 4:30 it was already dissipating.  The crew showed up and we left the harbor at 5:25 and there was still a northwesterly showing outside.  We set the buoy for the line and called for course Whiskey 4: Start, Wharf, Gov finish.  We had 19 boats out for the fun!

On Pair a Dice, we have had difficulty getting a good starts recently with all of the traffic on the line.  On this night, I  was intent on getting a start in clean air so set up for a start on the inside end of the line.  We accomplished a good start with clear air with most of the fleet to leeward of us.  The wind at the start line was very light but we all anticipated getting outside where there was a very apparent northwesterly blowing.  As we got out to the 15-17 knot wind, one by one the boats tacked over with Zoop and Aquavie clearing us with no problems.  We sailed a little further into the wind before tacking over.  On port tack we sailed in until the wind started getting light again and tacked back out for more wind.

At wharf mark, it was Zoop, Sagitarious and Aquavie first around the mark.  We all anticipated the lighter wind inside and did everything we could to keep the boat moving.  Watching the boats ahead, we thought  we saw an easterly developing. There was a gradient at work, so you could not depend on reading the windex at the masthead. 

We all rounded Gov and headed back out to the better wind to get to the finish line.  At the finish, it was Aquavie 1:00:52, Pair A Dice 1:06:42, Tusitala 1:07:07, Perfect 36 1:09:52, Nidaros 1:10:30, Aeolian 1:15:13, Rosa Nautica 1:15:52, Sandpiper 1:29:19 and Kicks 1:32:02.  The length of the course was 3.07 miles.  It was an evening that started with light wind at the start, heavy wind outside then light wind again on the inside: Light, Heavy, Light.

Race QS:

I keep promoting this app, because it is the only way for me to record the race.  I realize there were many more boats out (Zoop, Sagitarious, Pacific Spirit) but there were no tracks for me to record for these boats.  Download this free app, you will be amazed at the information you will get out of it AND we will be able to record your results.

LIGHT WIND SAILING:

I already mentioned the gradient that was working in the light wind areas.  All sailors are accustomed to checking the mast-head windex for wind direction. It seems to me that maximizing the wind in the largest (lower) part of the sail is most effective in keeping the boat working.  On Pair A Dice, we have cassette tape strips taped to the shrouds at about 6 feet off the deck.   Checking these strips of cassette tape and comparing the wind direction below versus the windex allowed us to capitalize on the lower wind.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair a Dice