JUNE 23, 2020: LIGHT WIND TUESDAY

JUNE 23, 2020

LIGHT WIND TUESDAY

After the heavy wind last Tuesday necessitating boat repairs, it was nice to see lighter wind tonight. A perfect example of the yin and yang of sailing on the Monterey Bay. With the lighter wind coming from the normal 240 to 250 degrees, we called for course Whiskey 5: Start to Wharf (Schuyler) and back to finish.  We blew the five minute horn for the start.

In our sailing before the start, we noticed that there was much more wind inside  and wanted to start at the inside end of the line.  As it turns out, there were many boats crowding that end of the line so we sailed for the clearer wind out by the start mark.  Guenther on his Finn was the only boat that risked a port tack start.  As usual, the strategic question was whether to sail outside or inside.  The custom in Santa Cruz is to sail inside to take advantage of the lift created by the point.  Since we had noticed a lot more wind inside before the race, we wanted to sail inside and tacked as soon as we saw a clear path through the maze of boats coming out.  Looking at the Race QS track, there was obviously more wind outside since the boats that went outside slowly increased their leads on the inside boats.  At Schuyler, the first boat around was Avatar followed by Patricia J, Nidaros II, Auquavit and Pair a Dice.

In the  run back to finish, it was as if the wind gods were inhaling and exhaling as the wind would increase slightly and back off multiple times.  At the finish line, it was Avatar 45:14, Patricia J 50:59, Nidaros II 51:34, Auquavie 51:47, Pair A Dice 53:04, Tusitala 59:45, Higher Power 1:03:48.  All times are elapsed and distance of the course was 2.68NM.

Race QS:

Tonight we had about 12 boats out for the fun but only 7 ran the Race QS app.  The only way to be counted in these races is to run this app.  You will be surprised how much you learn about your boat handling by studying your tracks on Race QS.  You can watch the tracks for this night by clicking on this web site: https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=65007&updatedAt=2020-06-24T02:26:08Z&dt=2020-06-23T17:45:00-07:00..2020-06-23T19:25:58-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1592964503566&focus=Pairadice&rival=Avatar&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.954355&lon=-121.996811&tilt=43&range=870&heading=357

JIBING IN HEAVY WIND:

I talked to several people about heavy wind jibing as we all experienced last Tuesday.  I learned a few things and want to pass it on.  Two things that can be very damaging and punishing to the boat are a tight main sheet and a tight boom vang.  I also learned that it is better to jibe the jib first, then jibe the main.  As the boat is passing it’s stern through the eye of the wind, the main should be centered  and then released as the new point of sail is achieved.

TO REACH OR TO RUN:

There has been discussion about the best approach to going down wind: to reach down at an angle or run directly downwind.  I think it boils down to what type of boat you are sailing.  Indeed many top sailors on lighter sailboats will reach off sailing faster, but sailing further. Many of the boats on Tuesday night sailing are heavier cruising boats and more often than not will sail at or close to DDW  straight for the mark.  I do not have the answer to this question.  Is it possible that different strategies work for different boats?  We saw both strategies in play on this night and I believe Avatar, finished 5 minutes ahead of the closest boat and it looks like he sailed directly to the finish mark.  This could have been a factor.

DRONE VIDEO:  

BEFORE START

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GCjZib6LvHl1hbRPGFsOY40b-xkAXx97/view?usp=sharing

THE START

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VSSrodhznHZ6SzZQqkPiQDs4dV_gHk-h/view?usp=sharing

AFTER THE START

Todd Johnson, who normally sails on Kicks was flying a drone tonight and got some great shots of our sailing. ENJOY!  If unable to view video by clicking on video, click on site below image.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JUNE 16, 2020: WINDY TUESDAY

WINDY TUESDAY

JUNE 16, 2020

From my house in Aptos, I could see white caps to the horizon.  I knew it was going to be a windy night.  I got to the harbor and it was downright weird, the wind was blowing from the north in the harbor.  As we left the harbor around 5:20, there was a strong northwesterly just off the beach and a strong northerly meeting it.  The start buoy was caught in the transition zone.  We waited until 5:45 before setting the buoy in the northerly breeze in effect at the start buoy.  We called course G2: Start, Gov, Blacks, finish and gave a five minute horn.

Pair A Dice wanted to start on starboard tack at the end of the line toward the beach.  As it turned out we were early and kept stalling and cleared the start mark end of the line just in time.  The wind was very strong, from the North clear to Gov with many headers and lifts along the way.  As it turns out Pair A Dice rounded Gov first with Tusitala right behind us.

On the reach back to Blacks, we stayed closer to shore to take advantage of the stronger north wind.  The further out you sailed, the closer you were to the transition zone and lighter wind.  As we approached Blacks, we had to run DDW wing on wing to round the mark to port.  This also allowed us to keep clear of Tusitala that was rounding the mark ahead of us.

At the finish, it was  Tusitala 32:17   , followed by Pair a Dice 32:23, Avatar 32:57, Sweet Pea (Dusk till Dawn) 41:24, and Sophia 43:53.  All times are elapsed and the distance of the course was 2.45NM.

STRATEGY AND BOAT HANDLING:

This night was similar to a drag race. How fast can you get your boat to go.  As always, a clean bottom helps but strategy and boat handling help also. For strategy, Pair A Dice stayed closer to shore to stay in the stronger north breeze.  Staying closer to shore required pointing higher without losing speed. This was difficult with all of the headers we were going through.  One little trick to point higher is to trim the sails so the rudder is 3 to 5 degrees off center so the trailing edge of the rudder is slightly toward the leeward side of the boat. This creates lift off of the rudder and allows higher pointing.

Another critical party of boat handling is performing an efficient tack.  This requires coordination between skipper and crew, and when done well, can increase your lead.  Race QS is a perfect tool to gauge how efficient your tacks are.  On this night Tusitala was executing tack after tack with zero time loss!  You can see this by looking at the Race QS track, choosing to compare two boats including Tusitala. When a tack is performed a white dot appears with a T in it. Clicking on this dot opens a box with 8 parameters judging how efficient your tack was.

The track for this night can be seen at:  https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011635&divisionId=64847&updatedAt=2020-06-17T02:22:52Z&dt=2020-06-16T17:08:16-07:00..2020-06-16T19:22:41-07:00&boat=Dice&model=J24&time=1592352573786&focus=Dice&rival=Tusitala&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.959245&lon=-122.007605&tilt=70&range=5603&heading=326

THINGS THAT GO KLUNK ON THE BOAT:

Windy nights like this can put any boat through its paces.  On Pair A Dice, right after we entered the stronger wind, we heard a klunk somewhere around the boom.  It happened a few more times emphasizing the need for further inspection at the dock.  When we proceeded to unfurl our headsail, it would only deploy halfway.  We checked everything and finally got it to deploy on the opposite tack.  After the race, we were unable to furl the jib which created a problem for us to retrieve the start line buoy.  Tusitala volunteered to retrieve the buoy (thank you Tusitala), while we dropped our jib and tied it to the deck.

We were not the only boat experiencing problems.  Pacific Spirit had to retire with a broken boom.  Jibes in strong winds are very tricky.  The forces at play are HUGE and if not finessed perfectly can lead to damage. I was not on Pacific Spirit, so I don’t know what happened, but in stronger wind it is critical to have something (mainsheet or traveler) not cleated to bleed off the energy of the jibe.  The energy should be bled off by hand.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JUNE 9, 2020

POST COVID WITH MIXED WIND

When I showed up to the harbor, I went through my normal procedure: check the flags for wind.  There was virtually no wind on any of the flags.  I was in the process of swapping from the 135 to the 155 jib when crew started showing up with reports of white caps clear to the beach.  We kept the 135 on which turned out to be a wise decision with the 19-20 knot winds. It was a northwest breeze.

We set the start line mark and notified the choice of course: Whiskey 1.  We were ready to blow the 5 minute horn at 5:55, but a few boats were still in the harbor so blew the horn at 6:00 for a 6:05 start.  We had about 15 boats out participating.  Pair A Dice set up for starboard tack start and  timed the line for a clean start right at the start buoy.

The wind was such that there was a lot more wind outside but more waves.  The water was smoother inside, but the wind decreased the further you went in.  This created a situation where all boat were tacking multiple times trying to thread the line up the middle.  This was exciting because it created as lot of crossing situations.  At wharf (Schuyler) mark, Tusitala was first around with  Patricia J, Avatar and Pair A Dice following.  

The downwind leg to Mile was uneventful but after rounding Mile, most of the boats sailed straight to Blacks, while Jason on Patricia J tried to capitalize on more wind outside.  The wind was still a strong northwest, but as we all approached Blacks, conditions got confused to say the least as we all entered the Blacks Point “parking lot”.  We thought we saw an Easterly start to build toward the beach, and Jason who was 60 yards ahead of us started showing that he was sailing on a faint Easterly.  Shortly we were all in a good Easterly and rounded Blacks, It was great to be sailing again but we weren’t there yet.  Right after rounding Blacks, we entered the same “parking lot” we had just been through which was a lot more challenging with waves on our bow.  I believe the race QS track shows us all moving backwards in the water!  It was an excruciating ten minutes of lack of control resulting in PAD conducting a rotating 360 degree turn.

When my worst fears of having to abandon the race were setting in, suddenly we were hit with an 11-15 knot NORTH wind which carried us all through the finish mark.  At the finish, it was Avatar 1:09.20, Patricia J 1:09.23, Pair A Dice 1:11.00, Sweet Pea 1:11.57, Pacific Spirit 1:12.08, Tusitala 1:12.14.  All times are elapsed and the course length was 4.04 Nautical miles.  Perfect 36 sailes also and finished just ahead of Pair A Dice but had no Race QS track uploaded.

RACE QS:

I encourage everyone to use the free Race QS app.  It is a free app that you download on your phone and it provides a wealth of information about your boat handling so you can improve.  It is also the only way to be included with your time in the blog and be recognized for you effort.

OBSERVATION:

This evening was a classic case of using observation to your advantage. At Blacks we observed that Jason sailing 60 yards ahead of us was sailing in a very faint Easterly and set our sails up for that point of sail.  Other observations that can be used are texture of wind on the water, flags and even birds sitting in the water (they usually float with their beaks toward the wind!). 

CROSSING SITUATIONS:

There were many crossing situations on this night.  I am out of practice on this point.  My crew knows that they can always point out boats close to us, but the responsibility falls on the skipper’s shoulders to be aware and yield when you should yield.  Before the 5 minute horn, we were sailing on port tack with all of the other boats and had about 3 boats visible off the port bow.  Suddenly we were hailed as a boat (unknown to us) was approaching on starboard but concealed by our jib.   This is embarrassing to me, but I point it out to emphasize the importance of keeping an eye out.  Usually, when sailing in crowded conditions before starts I will take quick little alters in course  that let me keep an eye out for all boats.  This tactic, while it lets you see the whole horizon, can be confusing to other boats.  If in tight quarters, it is best to steer a straight line so other boats can anticipate where you are going.

Kudos to Doug on Avatar.  He tacked onto port in front of us close to wharf (Schuyler).  I hailed starboard, but his boat accelerated and he cleared us easily.  Talk about knowing your boat!

THE POST RACE DANCE:

After we finish the race, Pair A Dice cannot “head for the barn” until we retrieve our start buoy.  This can be a challenge if other boats are sailing close to the area.  I appreciate comradery, but retrieving the buoy is more important to me than congeniality at this point.  Please give room for PAD to retrieve the buoy.  Thank you!

See you next week.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice