OCTOBER 22, 2019 PHOTO-OP EVENING

OCTOBER 22, 2019

PHOTO-OP EVENING

When I got to the harbor around 4 pm I was wondering why there was no flag on the Crow’s Nest. On closer examination, there was a flag but there was no wind!  Time to cut a check to the “wind gods”.  We left the harbor and made our way to the start mark trying to ascertain the direction of the wind.  There was a dying Northwesterly and a very faint Easterly.  We started our countdown for the 5:45 start and just before the 5 minute horn there was no wind, we postponed for 5 minutes and then had to postpone again for another 5 minutes.  With 15 boats out, we were all entrenched in a “Bob-fest”. Finally the Easterly started to fill in faintly just enough for a start at 5:55 and a very short course B6.   The check to the “wind gods” had just cleared!

 

On PAD we found ourselves in the un-enviable position of being to the lee of multiple boats in very light wind.  We couldn’t even get enough speed up to turn toward the line as we watched the boats that got good starts sail into an even stronger Easterly.  Finally we got under way as the first boats were rounding Blacks. At least we were not looking at all of those sterns any more.

At the finish, Patricia J 18:01, Avatar 20:17, Pacific Spirit 20:33, Tusitala 22:00,  Makani 22:02, Perfect 36 23:38, Nidaros 24:30, Pair a Dice 24:50, Dusk to Dawn (Sweet Pea) 24:52 and Aeolian 27:12.  All times are elapsed and the length of the course was .55 miles.

It was a beautiful night to be on the water even if we had to wait for the wind to come up.  Everywhere I looked on the race course I saw people snapping photos.  It was truly a photo-op evening.

Race QS:

With 15 boats out, we had 10 running Race QS.  You must run Race QS to be counted!  The track for this night can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=62764&updatedAt=2019-10-23T01:54:25Z&dt=2019-10-22T17:45:03-07:00..2019-10-22T18:48:29-07:00&boat=Pair%20a%20dice&time=1571793732155&focus=Pair%20a%20dice&rival=Nidaros%20II&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.951271&lon=-121.993310&tilt=1&range=267&heading=1

PICK YOUR LINE:

As we were approaching Blacks buoy, the area was crowded with boats.  Many had rounded the mark and were going back to finish, others were rounding with us.  It really helps if you can pick a line that does not require you to duck boats and have a clear shot at the mark.  Ducking multiple boats would have set us even further back in the fleet.

TUESDAY NIGHT SEMINARS:

I am excited about this series that will allow us to keep getting together on Tuesday nights.  These meetings will be held downstairs at the yacht club starting at 6 pm.  The first one will be on November 5 and will put on by Fred Molnar and Chris Hofmann. The discussion will be talking about how to get the most out of Race QS.  You do not need to be a SCYC club member to come. We will run this series every Tuesday night until we run out of presenters or interest wains.

NEXT TUESDAY WILL BE OUR LAST SAIL FOR THE SEASON AND WILL ALSO BE A BARBECUE NIGHT.  THE BAR WILL BE OPEN, BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD FOR AN AWESOME TIME!

Have a great winter sailing whenever you can and we will see you on Tuesday nights for the seminars.  Thanks to all of you for your participation this year.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice