OCTOBER 20, 2020: SKUNKED IN FOG

 

OCTOBER 20, 2020

SKUNKED IN FOG

FOG seemed to be the order of the day for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  I was encouraged when the newspaper weather forecast called for 12 knot winds for Tuesday.  When I got to the harbor at about 3:30, there was some wind showing on the flags, which encouraged me. As we left the harbor at 5 PM, there was very little wind on the beach, but seemed like a little more outside.  The fog was still present, but you could still easily see over 200 yards.  As we approached the start mark we determined the wind was light but coming from 80 degrees (Easterly).  We called for the shortest course possible B6 and we had 9 boats out for the fun.  We blew the 5 minute horn and set up for the race.

After our poor start a couple of weeks ago, we made certain we were not far from the line and accomplished a good start with fairly clean air.  Suddenly the confused wind set in.  It was interesting seeing all boats sailing at different angles.  We found it did no good to look at the masthead windex since the wind closer to the water was frequently 30 degrees different.  It seemed like the bigger boats with taller masts did better than boats with shorter masts.  We needed a “mast extender”!

By the time boats were approaching Blacks the wind seemed to completely die and the and boats were having trouble rounding the mark.  At Blacks, the first around was Patricia J 19:08, Tusitala 21:08, Perfect 36 21:15, Nidaros 25:00 and Pair A Dice 29:46.  Times are elapsed and the course length was .45 NM.  After rounding Blacks, one by one boats got discouraged and headed for the harbor without completing the course.  We were all skunked with no wind in the fog.

 

Race QS:

The track for tonight’s “race” can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2020-10-21T02:15:45Z&dt=2020-10-20T17:30:05-07:00..2020-10-20T19:15:28-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1603243052346&focus=Pairadice&rival=Nidaros%20II&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.953520&lon=-121.985282&tilt=19&range=438&heading=241

DEALING WITH FOG:

Fog comes in a wide variety of intensity. Someone once told me they were stuck in very thick fog (with no GPS) here in Santa Cruz.  He followed the sound to Mile Buoy, then steered a steady course of 360 degrees.  He followed this course and the first thing he saw was after he had entered the harbor.  Fortunately, most of us have a GPS these days and fog is seldom as thick as in this case.

On my GPS, I have a waypoint for 100 yard off the entrance to the harbor and another waypoint for the center of the harbor.  If necessary, I could use these waypoint to enter the harbor in the thickest of fog.

As far as other boats in very thick fog, some boats have AIS but this is a rarity.  When travelling up or down the coast, I have a speaker that I can connect to my radio that will blast a sound every 2 minutes to let other boats know of my presence.  The rules regarding sound systems used in fog vary from boat to boat (size of boat and power or sail).  If you are interested in these regulations, check this website:  https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/33/83.35
 Of course, the top of the line for dealing with any fog is the radar if you have it.

On this night, we approached the harbor in the fog and the dark.  If you have never done this, it is quite an experience.  We followed the sound of the foghorn and were confused for a bit with  the lights on shore.  We realized that the lights were the cars on the road and the only light we needed to concentrate on was the flashing green light on the lighthouse which was also sounding a horn. The other lights that were flashing in the harbor were the red light on the red buoy and the green light on the green buoy.

See you next Tuesday for our last Tuesday Night sail of the season, with another start at 5:45.

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice