DECEMBER 1, 2020: FIRST SAIL OF DECEMBER

 

DECEMBER 1, 2020         

FIRST SAIL OF DECEMBER

I love winter sailing in Santa Cruz!  Clear skies (if not raining) and steady winds.  I got to the harbor at  about 12:15 and there was definitely wind.  We got the boat ready to sail and as we left the harbor right after 1pm, there was consistent wind across the bay. As we made our way to the start mark, we determined the wind was from 240 degrees.  We set a line mark that was nearly square to the wind. We had six boats out for the fun. We called for course Whiskey 3 and blew a 5 minute horn at 1:55.

My strategy on Pair A Dice was to start last on the line so I would be windward of other boats.  We accomplished this with Aquavie and Tusitala being further up the line. We sailed out far enough to clear the end of the wharf and tacked over on to port.  Tusitala and Auquavie sailed further out before tacking over.

As we sailed further in towards the wharf, the wind decreased but we continued in to the layline for Schuyler mark, to avoid needing to tack twice. This was probably the wrong move because Tusitala and Aquavie had more wind outside. At Schuyler it was Tusitala followed by Aquavie, Avatar, Pair a Dice and Nidaros.

On the long run back to Blacks, the order of boats did not change and at the finish it was Tusitala 48:48, Aquavie 50:20,  Avatar 51:20, Pair A Dice 52:50 and  Nidaros 55:30. Guenter also finished on his Finn but no finish time available.  All times are elapsed and the course length was 3.55 nautical miles.

Race QS:

AWESOME! Everyone is uploading their race QS tracks.  The track for this sail can be seen at: https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=69036&updatedAt=2020-12-02T00:11:32Z&dt=2020-12-01T13:45:18-08:00..2020-12-01T16:11:28-08:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1606859198515&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Tusitala&tab=fleet&view=auto        

BLANKETTING:

This afternoon, Pair A Dice rounded Schuyler right behind Avatar giving us the opportunity to block their wind on the downwind leg to Blacks. How do you determine if you are effectively blocking the downwind boat’s wind?  Look at your windex!  If the tail of the windex is pointing at their boat, you are blocking their wind.  Alas in this situation, Avatar was able to escape our blocking of wind and sailed away ahead of us.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON SAILING:

I feel fortunate to be associated with such an enthusiastic group of sailors.  Last year the group wanted Tuesday evening seminars with enthusiastic participation through the winter.  This year everyone wants Tuesday AFTERNOON sailing and once again, participation is great for us retired sailors!

Next Tuesday, the club’s marks will be gone and we will have to start at Gov.  Rather than heading to the start mark, go to GOV for the start.  We will call a course from there.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice