MARCH 30, 2021 AVATAR RULES!

 

TUESDAY MARCH 30, 2021

AVATAR RULES!

The predictions were for light wind so I went to the boat early to install the 155 jib.  I was really wondering about the swap because it was around 3pm and  there was enough wind to make the change difficult.  Sure enough, as we left the harbor the wind seemed to be getting lighter.  We set the marks for the start line, called for a simple course: Start to Schuyler and back to start.  We blew the 5 minute horn. 

On Pair A Dice, we noticed that there was more wind outside.  There was also another consideration.  Since the inland temperatures were so high, we were expecting the Easterly wind to fill in.  We tried to keep an eye toward the East to see if this was happening.  After the start, many boats went inside and some boats went outside.  Pair A Dice saw more wind outside and kept sailing out toward the wind line which seemed to be moving out as we were sailing toward it.  We were still sailing while we watched the boats that went inside bobbing around barely moving.  We were feeling smug in our decision to go outside on starboard tack, when suddenly our jib got backwinded by the Easterly.  There we were stuck in a transition zone, while the inside boats sailed briskly on the Easterly that always builds in first toward the beach.  It was understandable when boats called in to retire one after the other.

The first boat to round Schuyler was Avatar, followed by Kicks, Pacific Spirit, Muffin and Tusitala. About this time, the sun was setting and the wind seemed to be receding even more.  Avatar was the only boat to finish the complete course.  Congratulations to Doug and his crew.  AVATAR RULES!

SAIL TO THE NEW WIND!

Years ago, we had 3 boats sailing on Tuesday nights.  There was a proficient sailor on Pacific Spirit who always steered courses that did not make sense to us on PAD.  It seemed he was always steering away from the next mark.  We were stymied by these moves but almost always would be following Pacific Spirit around the mark.  They won many races using this tactic: sailing to the new wind!

On this night, PAD thought we were sailing to the new wind OUTSIDE, even though we anticipated an Easterly would be building.  When the Easterly finally materialized we were too far away to take advantage of it.  Lessons like this are best learned by sailing on Tuesday night in our informal race format. 

RACE QS:

We have some new boats out for Tuesday nights.  Remember to download the Race QS app to your smart phone and preset it to run at 5:45 (17:45) so you can replay your pre-race tactics.  The track for tonight can be replayed, but it does not record as a race.  Possibly because only one boat finished?   The track for tonight can be seen at:   https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=70694&updatedAt=2021-03-31T03:05:35Z&dt=2021-03-30T15:45:00-07:00..2021-03-30T20:05:32-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1617156981787&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Avatar&tab=match&view=manual&lat=36.952442&lon=-121.996434&tilt=3&range=3710&heading=266

Looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice (PAD)