SEPTEMBER 15, 2020
SMOKY EVENING SAIL
It is crazy how conditions can change in such a short time. I got to my boat around 3 o’clock and there was very little wind. All you can do is get the boat ready and pray
for wind! By the time we left the harbor
just after 5, there was an Easterly wind just beginning. We set the line and
waited a little before calling the course.
As the wind was very light, I was considering a short course around Blacks,
but as 6 pm approached, the wind (and texture on the water to the East)
indicated enough wind for our Easterly course B4. We blew the 5 minute horn and set up for our
start.
On PAD we wanted to start on starboard tack to get inside
for the building Easterly which normally fills first near shore. It seems this is no longer a secret because
nearly all boats headed the same way. At Blacks Avatar was first around
followed by Sagittarius, New Wave, Cannonball, Geronimo, Aquavie, Nidaros, Mercury 565, Perfect 36,
Toad, Pair A Dice, Pacific Spirit and Sweet Pea.
On the way to Gov, we sailed toward the beach. We thought we saw more wind inside and we had
also noted that there was a current inside to use to our advantage. As usual the group split between inside and
outside, with most boats taking the inside route. We set our pole and as we made our way to
Gov, I was trying to aim toward patches of texture (wind?) I saw on the water
in front of us. At Gov, It was Avatar,
followed by Sagittarius. Then New Wave, Mercury 565, Nidaros all rounded at the
same time. Then Aquavit, Geronimo, Pair A Dice, Pacific Spirit, Perfect 36,
Toad and Sweet Pea. It is amazing how
sailing downwind makes the wind seem very light then heading back up wind the
apparent wind doubles and you actually realize you have wind!
On the way back toward the start mark, we watched intently as boats got headed and lifted as they sailed through the nuances of the wind. At the finish it was Avatar 47:21, Sagittarius 47:39, Cannonball 50:43, New Wave 50:45, Geronimo 50:52, Aquavit 51:16, Mercury565- 52:48, Guenter’s Finn 52:57, Nidaros 53:44, Pairadice 54:07, Perfect 36 54:26, Pacific Spirt 55:32, Sweet Pea 58:34 and Toad 59:08. All times are elapsed and the course length was 2.8 NM.
It was a great smoky evening sail!
EARLY START!?
The evenings are getting shorter yielding two options: Start racing earlier or call for shorter courses. Next Tuesday we will attempt to start earlier at 5:45 with a five minute horn blown at 5:40. I realize that we are not all retired. Keep me apprised on channel 69 if you are running a little late and we can postpone a few minutes.
Almost everyone is on
board with this app. The track for tonight
can be found at: https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=67439&updatedAt=2020-09-16T02:20:31Z&dt=2020-09-15T17:45:02-07:00..2020-09-15T19:18:28-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1600222279085&focus=Pairadice&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.966703&lon=-122.002160&tilt=16&range=2907&heading=35
USING RACE QS TO IMPROVE:
Race QS is an amazing tool, that if used
appropriately, reveals a lot about your boat handling. When you open Race QS on your computer, there
is an arrow on the left margin. Click on
this arrow to open the menu. Click on the boat VS boat icon on the bottom of
the page, select your boat and your closest competitor.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and there are
7 icons for you to either select or leave dormant.
The first icon on the left is the GPS track:
clicking on this activates this function and color codes your track showing
when you are sailing a straight line and “in the groove”.
Choosing the next icon to the right shows the
distance between your boat and the boat you chose in the boat VS boat icon.
The 3rd icon to the right, when
highlighted shows the true wind direction (calculated from the way boats are
sailing).
Highlighting
the 4th Icon shows your track vs a straight line indicating how
straight you are steering.
The
fifth icon to the right is a T in a small circle. Activating this function
places a T in a small circle on your track when you tack. While watching your
track, click on these T circles. This
opens a window showing 8 parameters about your tack. I like to check out the amount of oversteering
and the time lost. Most of the winning boats consistently have 0 for each of
these two parameters.
The 6th
icon to the right looks like a speedometer.
When this is activated, it puts an arc in front of your boat and the
boat you picked to compare. The app places a dot every second showing where
your boat is heading, these dots fade after 20 seconds so there are always a cluster
of dots in front of your boat. Most of
the winning boats show a very tight cluster of dots indicating a straighter
course steered. When setting up this
function, clicking on the speedometer icon opens a window that allows you to select
4 different functions: SOG, VMG, HEEL and DRIFT.
The last
icon to the right when highlighted shows boat wind shadows and lee-bow effect.
Obviously when starting out, if you select every
function, it can get a little confusing.
The amount of information available for you to learn about your sailing
is phenomenal.
See you next Tuesday for a 5:45 start, if
possible.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
No comments:
Post a Comment