SAILING: SANTA CRUZ TUESDAY NIGHT SAILING: March 2020

Monday, March 30, 2020

MARCH 30, 2020: SAFETY AT SEA: MOB CONTINUED

MARCH 30, 2020
SAFETY AT SEA: MOB CONTINUED

Jason Lauer, our commodore has contributed the following in a continuation of the topic of MOB
situations. Unfortunately the photos did not transfer but Jason has a well organized pouch of
MOB equipment tucked in his stern lazaret and he practices MOB retrieval every year with an actual
person in the water. I encourage everyone to click on the link below for a complete discussion about
MOB situations.

In 2005 I sailed from Cabo to Newport on the Alaska Eagle which was a class offered by Orange County
Community College. When the discussion of MOB was discussed, the instructor mad the point that
there is a lot of information in many books about retrieving MOB. He emphasized the most important
point was being ignored: 'DO NOT GO OVERBOARD'. In 2010 I sailed my boat to San Diego and back
and while under way our rule was strictly enforced: "if not below in the cabin, we all tethered ourselves to
the boat".

Thanks for discussing this important and often overlooked topic. My thoughts are that when I have a man overboard situation, I need to solve 3 different problems. 1. Finding the MOB 2. Getting the MOB to the side of the boat 3. Getting the MOB on board. For each problem that is being solved there are different safety gear to use and crew processes to follow. I am not going to review crew processes, like someone's only job is to point to the MOB etc. There is a really good article for that here: https://www.ussailing.org/news/man-overboard-recovery- procedure/?gclid=CjwKCAjw3-bzBRBhEiwAgnnLCkfHqHftoUVS9AXvMCNNdAsZ- rgSZqEIF109CfZiJ4Zde6cIUyIl2hoC0lAQAvD_BwE Finding the MOB: The key safety gear to deploy is a Man overboard marker like the old style fiberglass poles with a horseshoe ring. I personally have a SOS Dan Buoy that you throw in the water and will inflate after hitting the water with a flashing strobe. Getting the MOB to the side of the boat. The Life Sling or a throw rope is right safety gear for this. With the life sling, as you know, you can throw the life sling out, circle the MOB and then pull them to the side of the boat. Just like getting a tow rope to a water skier. Getting the MOB on board: This is the hardest part, in my opinion, of Man over board. I use a 3 to 1 block and tackle system that I attach to a halyard raised 8 feet above the deck. Then I run the other end to a winch to hoist up the MOB. This is way easier than using a winch on a halyard. Here are a few picture of My MOB locker and my 3 to 1 block and tackle system. MOB Locker – Located in the aft of the boat by the tiller post. Figure 1 - My MOB Locker In my MOB locker, I have a float knife for emergency cutting of halyards, a normal flashlight, a floating HH VHF radio always charged, A Pelican high power spot light, a throw rope, my SOS Dan Buoy and in the very bottom of the picture is my 3 to 1 block and tackle for getting the MOB on board. Figure 2- My 3 to 1 Block and Tackle to get MOB back on board Here is my 3 to 1 block and tackle. It has clips to attach to the life lines so while deploying it, there is no chance of it falling overboard. There are 3 blocks, on goes to the Halyard, one to the MOB and one to the toe rail. I have laminated instructions so anyone can figure out how to deploy. The “To Halyard” block goes to the halyard and is then hoisted about 8 feet above the deck so there is
plenty of clearance above the life lines etc. When we do our MOB, we always hoist the person on board
with the life sling which is very comfy and iseasy to attach the “To MOB” block to. The “To Toe Rail” block is needed to get a better angle to the winch so you can focus on hoisting and not worry about overrides.
In short, most people think a successful MOB drill is throwing a float overboard and sailing to it and picking it up with a boat hook. Which is strange because in that drill you don’t use any safety equipment at all! Every year, on Patricia J, we do a real MOB drill where someone jumps in the water while under sail and we use our safety gear to get them. I find that being the person who jumps in really helps because it give me a sense confidence as a skipper.
Thanks,
Jason
Thank you Jason for this valuable piece.

We are still on lock down, so it looks like we won't be sailing until the end of April.

Stay well, stay safe!

Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice

Sunday, March 22, 2020

MARCH 21, 2020: SAFETY AT SEA: MOB

MARCH 21, 2020

SAFETY AT SEA: MOB

We may not be able to sail because of the virus threat, but we can still learn! In the last blog, I mentioned how Peter on Sea Quake was very close to falling overboard. As with any miss-hap, I like to analyze and learn. By considering situations like this, you can have a plan rather than improvising on the spot.

As you will remember, all predictions for the evening were for very light winds. Indeed, when we left the harbor, there was no wind at all and a little “texture” on the water out by the point. Suddenly we had 15 to 18 knot winds. It has been awhile since we had sailed in this much wind. When predictions are for light winds, we all will frequently throw caution to the wind, why not just sail with 2 people on the boat?

As it occurred, Sea Quake was one of the last boats to leave the harbor with 2 people on board. Peter gave up the helm so he could do the heavy lifting. As they entered the greater wind, he was forward adjusting the jib fairlead as the boat was heeling to starboard. His foot slipped and did not catch on the raised gunwale rail as he found himself halfway in the water, he was able to grab something and pull himself back on board thanks to his rigorous exercise routine and his strength. As he fell overboard, he actually broke his lower lifeline. His VHF radio was below in the cabin.

What can we learn from this situation? What would have been the best strategy if he had gone overboard with one other person left on board? First of all, I am a firm believer in having all lines lead to the cockpit. Not having to leave the cockpit to raise the main or reef is a huge step towards safety. I believe it is best to have a VHF radio in the cockpit on Tuesday nights for communication. If Peter had gone overboard, a call out on 69 would have had many boats ready to assist. Having a harness attached to someone going forward would have been a nice touch, but who harnesses up when the prediction is for 8 knot winds? Another concept people use for safety is to always have one hand on the boat for stability. Peter said he was using both hands to adjust the car. When I go forward and the boat is heeling, I always place my feet behind something on the rail (stanchion, block or other fixture).

The big question is: what can you do if there are only 2 people on board and one person is MOB. Having a radio to hail for help would be good for a Tuesday night, but lets take it a step further. You are on your way to Monterey and one person goes overboard, what then?

In Chris Hofmann’s presentation on boating safety, he presented the dynamics of MOB situations. Different boats, wind conditions, waves and currents create an incredible number of variables and challenges to deal with. Chris also presented the concept of 1:10:1. One minute of shock, 10 minutes of lucid MOB activity and 1 hour to death. It would be much easier to rescue a lucid MOB than one suffering from hypothermia so time is of the essence!

Being short crew is one more variable to consider. If you are short crew and there are no other boats around, the first action would be to immediately pull the boat head to wind . This would flatten the boat possibly making it easier to get the MOB back on board. If the person actually separates from the boat, hit the MOB button on your GPS and note the time. Having the boat head to wind will also stop the boat so you are not increasing the distance between the boat and the MOB. In my opinion it would not be prudent to do the figure 8 move sailing away from the MOB (you do not have crew to maneuver the boat and nobody to assign as the MOB spotter). In my opinion it would be better to stop the boat quickly and throw a line to the MOB to retrieve him. If you have increased the distance too much to toss a line or life ring, I would think the next step would be to sail directly up wind of the MOB and heave to so the boat will drift back down to the MOB to retrieve them. One advantage to this tactic would be that once the boat is heaved to and does not need any attention for maneuvering, you would be able to give your undivided attention to getting the MOB back on board. If these quick solutions do not work, at some point you should send out a MAYDAY on channel 16 posting the coordinates of the MOB from your GPS. If heaving to does not work, I would drop and furl sails and start the motor and sit on the leeward rail as approaching the MOB, this way you can see the MOB and slowly pull the boat close enough to retrieve them.

Getting a MOB back on board when acting alone is another problem that needs to be considered. It is generally considered better to pick up the MOB on the leeward side of the boat, but how to accomplish this alone? My thought is, if you can get a loop around the upper body under the arms you could lead the line over a rail of the stern pulpit to the winch on the same side of the boat. You can winch the MOB out of the water, reach down and pull one leg onto the boat then the other leg. The line going from the stern pulpit to the winch offers the MOB something to grab onto to help pull himself aboard.

I crewed once on a Hobie 16 on a sail to Moss Landing. Halfway across the bay, the wind piped up enough to trap out so I trapped out and immediately found myself in the water as the hiking tackle on the boat failed. The helmsman immediately turned the boat into the wind and said “I’ll came back for you”. I said “stay right there” as I swam to the boat which was probably 100 feet away. Fortunately I was an avid surfer at the time and it was a short swim for me. I did have one memory that gave me extra energy. In about the same area of the bay on the previous year, we had a pod of killer whales swim right under us.

I want to emphasize that all of these ideas are just my ruminations on the subject and are not to be considered gospel. I encourage feedback with ideas other sailors might have about short handed MOB situations.

Stay healthy and safe and hopefully we will be sailing again soon.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

Fred Molnar has commented on this subject and his point is excellent and appreciated.

A man overboard in these waters is a MAYDAY event, especially if there were only two people aboard. If I was in that situation I would give a MAYDAY call on my DSC radio as soon as I got the boat under control. Everyone should have a DSC radio, and have it programmed and know how to use it. See: https://www.boatus.org/dsc/

Thursday, March 12, 2020

MARCH 10, 2020: AWESOME FIRST SAIL

MARCH 10, 2020

AWESOME FIRST SAIL!

The predictions for the evening were diverse, but the consensus was that the wind was going to be light. Through the day there were widespread sprinkles of rain in the area. I was not surprised when I got to the harbor and saw no wind at all showing on the Crow’s Nest flag. Oh well, got to get out there to see what we have. As we left the harbor at 5:35 conditions were perfectly glassy with no wind except a small texture appearing on the water out toward the point at Steamer Lane. Since GOV is one of the few marks available for us to use at this time of year and the wind was appearing in that area, I guided everyone over to GOV for the start. It was amazing as we set the mark for the start line, the wind seemed to go from 0 to 15 in less than 5 minutes.

We set the line and called for the course: Start line at GOV, Schuyler/Wharf, Mile and finish at the start finish line (at Gov). With the limited light, I wanted to start at 5:45 and we had 8 boats out ready to go. We gave a 5 minute horn at 5:45 for a 5:50 start. Everyone got off on a good start, except PAD as we pasted the buoy we had set for the start line and had to do a 360 to exonerate.

After a long winter of light breeze, we all seemed to acclimate to the incredible wind as we all made our way to Schuyler/Wharf. We get spoiled with the big yellow marks that SCYC puts out which are very visible in nearly all conditions. Currently the mark at Schuyer/Wharf is a small red buoy that seems to be barely above water. Though we all had the mark on our GPS, it was still a struggle actually locating it. There is something about the waves and the unusual lighting that made it nearly impossible to find. We finally saw it as we rounded it to go to Mile Buoy with Pacific Spirit leading the way, followed by Patricia J (sailed SOLO by our fearless commodore Jason Lauer) and Pair a Dice.

As we sailed to the finish line the wind seemed to be getting weaker. At the finish, Pacific Spirit was first (31:57), Patricia J (32:37), Pair a Dice (34:02), Avatar (34:48), Kicks (39:32), Dusk to Dawn (41:02),Nidaros (41:23) all times are elapsed and the distance of the course was 2.61 miles, Sea Quake was out but did not run a Race QS track.

The Race QS track can be seen at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011635&divisionId=64054&updatedAt=2020-03-11T02:01:00Z&dt=2020-03-10T17:18:28-07:00..2020-03-10T18:54:25-07:00&boat=Dice&model=J24&time=1583885908000&focus=Dice&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=fleet&view=auto

NEW FORMAT STATUS:

I attended the regatta committee and I have good news. The regatta committee gave an enthusiastic thumbs up for our event. They agreed it was not necessary to use regatta network to register for this event. The consensus of the committee was that a reasonable fee for participants would be for SYCY members to pay $35 for the year to register their boat. For non-members of SCYC, their registration will be $50 for the season for their boat. Even as a non-member, this works out to less than $1 per race. If someone, (like a visitor to the area) wants to register for a single race, the fee would be $1. Please print and sign the registration form at the end of this blog and give it to me with your check (made out to SYCY) or cash for registration whenever we see each other. New course cards with SI’s will be coming soon.

STAY TUNED ON VHS 69:

We should all turn our radios on and monitor channel 69 when we get to our boats and as we set up our boats. This way we can communicate an early start if we can. We could also communicate with each other if crew is needed.

A FAST 360:

Fred taught us tonight the fastest way to conduct a 360. I was amazed how well it worked. With 15 knots of wind we started the tack and did not release the jib sheet. The jib was violently back-winded forcing the bow of the boat around. As we finished the 360, the jib sheet was already tight and we were still in the race.

STAYING FIT!

There was talk of conducting a MOB drill tonight, but as the race finished the wind died and we did not do our exercise on PAD. When I got to the dock, Peter on Sea Quake was wet all the way to his knees. As they got into the greater wind at the start of our race, they had only 2 people on board. The boat lurched, Peter slipped and actually dipped into the water nearly to his waist. Peter is no slouch and is proud of the exercises he does on a regular basis, one of which is doing 9 (NINE) pull-ups! He said if he was not doing these pullups, he would not have had the strength to pull himself back aboard. Congratulations on keeping up with your exercises Peter.

2020 Tuesday Night Developmental Race Series

Each Tuesday Night of 2020 during Daylight Savings Time

Santa Cruz Yacht Club, Santa Cruz, CA

Notice of Race

Invitation: The Santa Cruz Yacht Club invites interested boats and their crews to participate in

a developmental racing skills series.

Rules

The Regatta will be governed by the rules as defined in the Racing Rules of Sailing.

The Sailing Instructions will change RRS 40 so that flotation devices are worn regardless

of the display of Flag Y. Full text of this and other changes to the racing rules will appear in the SI’s.

Eligibility and Entry:

The regatta is open to boats berthed in, and visiting, Santa Cruz Harbor.

Eligible boats may enter by completing the attached entry form and returning it with the entry fee to SCYC before participating in the race series. The yearly fee is $35 for SCYC members, $50 for nonmembers and $1 for a single race.

Schedule:

Each Tuesday Night of 2020 during Daylight Savings Time Racing will be held

1755 hrs First warning signal Race 1

Following the racing on the last Tuesday of each month a post race debriefing and potluck barbecue will be held at the SCYC Clubhouse

Scoring: The racing will be boat-for-boat. Boats may be scored via uploading of their recorded .gpx tracks to RaceQs ( https://raceqs.com/ ). However, being a developmental regatta, the races may also not be scored.

2020 Series Entry and Waiver Form

Each Tuesday Night during Daylight Savings Time

Santa Cruz Yacht Club, Santa Cruz, CA

Entry Form

Name: _____________________________ Sail Number: _______________

Address: ___________________________ Boat Name: ________________

City/St/Zip: _________________________ ________________

E-mail: ______________________ Cell Number:_____________________

(E-mail and Cell number will be available to other participants)

Waiver and Release of Liability

In consideration of my entry in the Regatta on behalf of myself, my heirs, successors and

assigns, I hereby waive any and all claims, actions, suits and demands against Santa Cruz

Yacht Club, the respective officers, directors, employees, and agents (all the forgoing

hereby referred to as “the Hosts”) for any personal injury (including death) or property

damage resulting from the negligence or other acts of omission by the Hosts or any of

them as a result of my participation in the Event and do hereby release and discharge the

Hosts there from. I acknowledge that participation in the sport of sailboat racing involves

substantial risk of personal injury or even death and I hereby assume the risk of any such

injury that may occur while participating in the Event.

I agree to be bound by The Racing Rules of Sailing and any other rules that govern this

event.

Owner/Skipper __________________________ Date ________________

Entry Fee - $35 for SCYC members and $50 for non-members for the series and $1 for a single race.

Payment options:

Cash

Charge to SCYC account (Member # ___________)

Check (Check Number ____________) payable: Santa Cruz Yacht Club

Payment received by _______________ Date ________________

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

MARCH 3, 2020 SEASON IMPROVEMENTS / BARRY KEELER

MARCH 3, 2020

SEASON IMPROVEMENTS

BARRY KEELER

We had an active discussion about changes that are happening with our Tuesday night series. We have a very enthusiastic group of sailors that are interested in improving their sailing and racing. I have approached the SCYC board to have our event sanctioned by the yacht club. While I got a positive response from the board, the next step is for me to present the proposal to the regatta committee on March 12.

Chris Hofmann has been very helpful in developing the normal paperwork for a sanctioned race: NOR, SI’s and entry form. These proposed documents are listed below. Note, these are the proposed documents and are awaiting approval from the regatta committee. They will be finalized when the committee and board approve them.

I anticipate a few changes coming from the regatta committee and the board. A larger entry fee (than $1) may be required and they may want registration through regatta network. We will see what happens.

The new course cards will be yellow and will have courses on one side and Sailing Instructions on the back.

2020 Tuesday Night Developmental Race Series

Each Tuesday Night of 2020 during Daylight Savings Time

Santa Cruz Yacht Club, Santa Cruz, CA

Notice of Race

Invitation: The Santa Cruz Yacht Club invites interested boats and their crews to participate in

a developmental racing skills series.

Rules

The Regatta will be governed by the rules as defined in the Racing Rules of Sailing.

The Sailing Instructions will change RRS 40 so that flotation devices are worn regardless

of the display of Flag Y. Full text of this and other changes to the racing rules will appear in the SI’s.

Eligibility and Entry:

The regatta is open to boats berthed in, and visiting, Santa Cruz Harbor.

Eligible boats may enter by completing the attached entry form and returning it with the

$1 season entry fee to SCYC before participating in the race series.

Schedule:

1755 Tuesday March 3, 2020 a Briefing and Registration Event will be held at the SCYC Clubhouse

Each Tuesday Night of 2020 during Daylight Savings Time Racing will be held

1755 hrs First warning signal Race 1

Following the racing on the last Tuesday of each month a post race debriefing and potluck barbecue will be held at the SCYC Clubhouse

2020 Tuesday Night Developmental Race Series

Each Tuesday Night during Daylight Savings Time 2020

Santa Cruz Yacht Club

Sailing Instructions

Rules: The Regatta will be governed by the rules as defined in the Racing Rules of

Sailing unless otherwise indicated in these sailing instructions. The first sentence of RRS 40 is changed to: Competitors shall wear personal floatation devices, except briefly while changing or adjusting clothing or personal equipment.

Notices to Competitors: Notices to competitors will be posted on the official notice board located in the window of the northeast corner of the clubhouse. General race information and recaps may also be posted online at http://sailingpairadice.blogspot.com/

Schedule:

Racing is held each Tuesday Night of 2020 during Daylight Savings Time

First warning signal will be sounded at 1755.

An after racing on the last Tuesday of each month a debriefing and barbecue will follow at the SCYC Clubhouse.

Racing Area:

The racing area will be within 3 miles of Walton Lighthouse.

Communications:

Boats should Monitor VHF channel 69 before start time for course location, start time, and designated course.

Marks: Marks are described in the attached Tuesday Night Course Card (reverse of this card). All marks are rounded to port unless designate STB on course card.

The Start: The start line shall be a line containing Start mark and designated landmark or temporary mark placed for other end of line if conditions permit. Starting area may be moved to other locations as announced prior to racing on VHF Channel 69.

RSS 26, and 27 shall be replaced with the following simplified starting procedure. A single warning signal horn shall be sounded 5 minutes prior to the start.

Recalls: RSS 29 will be changed to the following: A designated boat may sight the line to call “over early boats”. Boats over early will be announced on VHF Channel 69. If called over early, vessels are obligated to restart properly to be given a finish. Postponement of the starting sequence or cancelation of racing will also be announce on Channel 69.

Courses: Attached Tuesday Night Course Card indicates courses to be used. Courses will be communicated from the organizing race boat to the racing fleet over VHF channel 69 prior to the first warning signal.

The Finish:

The finish line will be on a line between the buoy indicated in the course chart and extension of the indicated landmark within 200 feet of the buoy.

PENALTY SYSTEM

RRS 44.1 is changed so that the Two-Turns Penalty is replaced by the One-Turn Penalty

PROTESTS AND REQUESTS FOR REDRESS

Protest forms are available at the SCYC regatta shed and at the SCYC Clubhouse office. Protests and requests for redress shall be delivered to the race committee at the at the SCYC Club house bar within the time limit.

The protest filing time limit will be 60 minutes after the arrival of the race committee at the SCYC bar on the last Tuesday of the Month, and will be posted on the SCYC Official Noticeboard.

Notices will be posted no later than 30 minutes after the protest time limit to inform competitors of hearings in which they are parties or named as witnesses.

2020 TUESDAY NIGHT SAILING COURSES

LANDMARKS MARK DESCRIPTIONS

BP=BLACKS POINT _) BLACKS /YELLOW BALL 36 57.22’N 121 59.29’W

S=WHITE HOUSE AT SCHWAN LAGOON (_GOV/WHITE BALL 36 57.47’N 122 00.72’W

JLH=JETTY LIGHTHOUSE _)MILE/WHISTLING BUOY36 56.35’N122 00.565’W

WHARF END=END OF SC PIER (_SC3/YELLOW CAN36 56.49’N 121 58.00’W

START/FINISH YELLOW 36 57.09’N 121 59.62’W

SCHUYLER/YELLOW 36 56.87’N 122 01.24’W

Whiskey, NW WIND (start line SM & S 330M) Miles

W 1 Start, Schuyler, Mile, Blacks, Finish (stb) 4.04

W 2 Start, Schuyler, Mile , Gov(stb), finish 3.93

W 3 Start, Schuyler, Blacks, Finish(stb) 3.23

W 4 Start, Schuyler(stb), Gov(stb), Finish 3.07

W 5 Start, Schuyler, Finish 2.68

W 6 Start, Finish at Gov (stb) (line = Gov & Wharf end) 1.31

Mike, S wind (Start line SM & JLH 310M)

M 1 Start, Mile(stb), Gov(stb) (line= Gov & Wharf end) 2.24

M 2 Start, Mile, Finish 2.17

M 3 Start, Finish at Mile(stb) (Finish line= Mile & JLH) 1.06

Bravo, E wind (Start line SM& BP 352M)

B 1 Start(stb), Blacks(stb), Mile(stb), Gov(stb), Finish 4.03

B 2 Start(stb), SC3, Blacks, Finish(stb) 3.04

B 3 Start(stb), Blacks(stb), Mile(stb), Finish 2.72

B 4 Start(stb), Blacks, Gov, Finish 2.43

B 5 Start(stb), Blacks, Start, Blacks, Finish(stb) 1.12

B 6 Start(stb), Blacks, Finish(stb) 0.55

GOLF, North wind (start line SM & BM 079M)

G 1 Start, Gov, Mile, Blacks, Finish(stb) 4.03

G 2 Start, Gov, Blacks, Finish(stb) 2.45

G 3 Start, Gov, Finish 1.98

G 4 Start, Finish mark= Gov (line = Gov & Wharf end) 1.31

Oscar, Other

F 1 Start at mile(stb) (start line =Mile & JLH extension), Schuyler(stb), 1.48

Finish mark=Gov(stb) (finish line = Gov & end of Wharf)

F 2 Start at Mile (start line=mile & JLH extenstion), 1.50

Schuyler, Mile (Finish line= Mile and end of wharf)

F3 To be determined.

The Basic Racing Rules at: https://www.latitude38.com/YRASchedule/rules.html

Follow: Sailingpairadice.blogspot.com for results and commentary