AUGUST 4, 2020: FIRST TUESDAY NIGHT SAIL OF AUGUST

AUGUST 4, 2020

FIRST TUESDAY NIGHT SAIL OF AUGUST

My first glimpse of the Crow’s Nest flag showed a light Easterly blowing as early as 3 o’clock.  As the afternoon progressed, there seemed to be no change. As we left the harbor around 5:15, the wind seemed to be consistent toward shore: a very light easterly.  Way outside, you could see boats sailing on a northwesterly breeze.

Assessing the wind, the direction was 150 so we set a line square to this direction, called for course B4 and blew a 5 minute horn for a 6pm start.  On Pair A Dice, I wanted to start on starboard tack with a clear start.  My thoughts were that starboard tack would allow us better boat speed going down the waves rather than into them.  As it turned out we were close to the line but behind many boats giving us bad air.  We were trapped.  Without a strong breeze, it is not possible to point higher to sail above boats ahead and boats coming behind us to windward prevented us from tacking out for clear air.  We finally were able to tack for clear air.  At Blacks Nidaros was first around followed by Patricia J, Odonata, Pacific Spirit, Avatar and Pair A Dice.  By the time we rounded Blacks, I was wondering why I called such a long course in such light wind.  I even considered the option to shorten course and finish at Gov.

On Pair a Dice, our goal was to get as close to the beach as possible to take advantage of the usual condition: Developing Easterlies usually build closer to the beach.  We got our pole set and were sailing wing on wing and I was encouraged to see better wind on the water ahead of us once we cleared the harbor entrance.  At Gov, Patricia J was first to round followed by Avatar, Pair A Dice, Nidaros, Pacific Spirit and Odonata, Toad and Sophia.

After rounding GOV, we sailed out until the wind started to decrease then tacked back in toward the beach.  We wanted to take advantage of the greater wind inside and we did not detect a strong current that we would have to fight on the way back to start.  We sailed all the way to the kelp line by Twin Lakes beach and tacked back out toward the finish line.  Because of the Easterly wind wrapping around pleasure point we experienced a consistent lift as we approached the finish line area.  At the finish line, it was Patricia J 1:05:00 Sagittarius (no track/no time), Pair A Dice 1:08:48, Nidaros 1:09:25, Avatar 1:11:34, Pacific Spirit1:12:55 and Odonata 1:13:37. All times are elapsed and the course was 2.8 NM long.

RACE QS:

I keep pushing this app.  Using Race QS is the only way we can get your finish time.  It is also a great tool to improve your sailing and boat handling.  We have some very competitive boats that are not using this app.  The track for tonight is at:   https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=65945&updatedAt=2020-08-05T02:15:50Z&dt=2020-08-04T17:45:03-07:00..2020-08-04T19:15:47-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1596593747000&focus=Pairadice&rival=Odonata&tab=setup&view=follow&lat=36.953064&lon=-121.994102&tilt=1&range=5581&heading=131

This is not a perfect app, but it is worth every penny it costs (its FREE)!  And if you do not use this app to record a track, we cannot recognize you.

REGISTRATION:

Tuesday night sailing is now sanctioned by the Santa Cruz Yacht Club.  This means there is a complete set of documents for registration: Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions, Course Cards and a waiver for boat owners to sign with complete information about your boat (PHRF, sail # etc).  The fee for entry is very minimal for this year: $20 for club members, $35 for non-members.  You can fill out the entry form, drop it off at the yacht club, mail it to the club (attention BARRY on outside of the envelope) or give it to me on Tuesday afternoon at my boat (slip Q16).  When the application is completed, I will get a laminated course card to you that has the new distances with the new placement of Blacks buoy.  I am entering all entrants into a spreadsheet that I will post on the blog when completed. Documents for registration can be found in the blog dated March 3.

WAVES AND RACE QS TRACKS:

I am intrigued with the concept of using waves for bursts of boat speed.  I described my technique in last weeks blog, angling down the face of the wave to stay in the wave longer while sailing a hotter point of sail. Studying my Race QS track confuses me because I am steering all over the place BUT I am getting bursts of speed.  I was comparing my track to Chris’s track on Odonata on the beat back to the finish line.  I have total respect for Chris as a sailor: his tacks are always perfect and he steers a line that is perfectly straight with a very tight cluster of dots on the cone in front of his boat on Race QS.  Studying his track, his SOG is very steady and varies within a .1 knot range. Most sailors would call this a perfect track. While my dots are going all over the place, I am getting surges of speed with my  SOG varying within a .5 knot range.  My object is to maximize the effect and time on each wave.  Which is better?  The traditional thought is straighter course is always the best, but I wonder.  Could it be that most sailors sail on flat water and don’t deal with waves?

IMPROVING BOAT SPEED:

We have had seminars on the ways to improve boat speed.  In a nutshell, clean bottoms, lighter boats, and folding props are the quickest and easiest ways to improve boat speed.  By lighter boats, consider the following: Is your boat a storage unit for things that would be better stored in your garage at home?  Are your holding tanks full?  Being able to have your boat sit higher in the water, means pushing through that much less water.  Moveable ballast is a different kind of weight.  Crew weight, properly placed, can help you attain the proper heel for better speed.

We will see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice