JULY 13, 2021 PRAYERS FOR WIND ANSWERED

 

JULY 13, 2021

PRAYERS FOR WIND ANSWERED

As usual, I was looking at Predict Wind through the day trying to anticipate our conditions for the evening.  The predictions indicated that we would have 15 knots at 6pm and decreasing to 9 knots through the evening.  This evening was the first night I was able to sail Pair A Dice in about two and half months and with the predictions, I was considering using my 155 jib, but the flags and conditions on the water were indicating that Predict Wind was not correct again. 

As we left the harbor at about 5:15, the wind was consistent across the bay with gusts over 20 knots.  We determined the wind was from about 240 and set the line.  We called for the most ambitious course: Whiskey 1.  The start line was crowded but all boats seemed to have a clear start.  On PAD we started closer to the yellow start mark end of the line.   Almost all boats had reefed sails as they made their way to the first mark, Schuyler.  First around Schuyler was Sagittarius followed by Perfect 36 and Geronimo, Pacific Spirit, Makani, Avatar, Good Timin’, Pair A Dice, Sanctuaire, Toad, Sophia, Simpatico, Nidaros and Kicks.

After rounding Schuyler all boats cracked off for the run to Mile, where the order of rounding remained the same except Makani had squeaked ahead of Pacific Spirit.  After everyone rounded Mile all boats surfed their way to Blacks, then beat their way back to the finish.

At the finish, Sagittarius was first 43:06, followed by Geronimo and Perfect 36 (tied at 46:58), Makani 48:46, Pacific Spirit 49:04, Avatar 49:08, Good Timin’ 50:04, Sanctuaire 50:10, Pair A Dice 51:04, Toad 53:28, Sophia 55:58, Simpatico 56:44, Nidaros 57:21 and Kicks 1:00:04.  All times are elapsed and the course was 3.95 nautical miles.

It was awesome sailing in some good breeze again.  We always have the option to reef to keep the boat under control.  In my last blog, I finished with an admonishment to “Pray for wind”.  It seems like our prayers for wind were answered. 

Race QS:

We have almost everyone using this app now, but some tracks are not uploading.  I encourage everyone to prestart the app to start at 5:45 so you can see and learn from your prestart tactics.  Once you have finished the race tap the flashing red light in the upper right corner of the screen, then tap the “save and upload”.  Somehow, the technical genius at Race QS has all of the tracks run in the same area at the same time all joined together for the race.  The track for tonight can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=73514&updatedAt=2021-07-14T04:31:25Z&dt=2021-07-13T17:45:00-07:00..2021-07-13T21:31:23-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1626225064136&focus=Pairadice&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.955842&lon=-122.013821&tilt=2&range=2373&heading=238

STRATEGY AND TACTICS:

Strategy is assessing conditions on the course and sailing the course the most efficiently if there were no other boats.  Tactics is how boats deal with each other on the course implementing the racing rules of sailing.  Frequently strategy is more important than tactics and in Santa Cruz, the way you deal with waves can make a difference. Studying the Race QS track, I was comparing PAD’s track with Pacific Spirit.  On PAD, we came charging off the line trapped with several boats to windward and behind preventing our tacking over to port.  It felt good!  We had good speed and were sailing into more wind, but we had waves on our bow.  In light wind we all know to not sail directly into waves but even in stronger breeze, waves will slow the boat down.  It seems better to sail as much as possible with the waves on the beam rather than the bow.  Looking at Pacific Spirit’s track, they started at the beach end of the line allowing them to immediately tack over and sail with the waves on their beam.  They continued to stay inside, not taking waves on the bow.  Tacking on the lay-line for Schuyler further inside uses the protection of the point which decreases wave action slowing your boat.  Kudos to Pacific Spirit for using a great strategy!

WHEN THINGS GO POP ON THE DECK:

On our downwind leg to Blacks, PAD had our whisker pole deployed.  I have a collapsing whisker pole and while sailing toward Blacks, two of our crew were sitting on the windward rail when suddenly there was a loud POP!  We looked forward and saw that the whisker pole had snapped into two pieces!  When failures like this happen, injuries to crew and boat are not uncommon.  I am thankful that there were no injuries!  Whisker poles can be repaired or replaced.

Looking forward to next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice