AUGUST 24, 2021 WEEK TO WEEK SIMILAR EVENINGS

 

AUGUST 24, 2021

WEEK TO WEEK SIMILAR EVENINGS

Predict wind was calling for 16  knot winds from 5 to 9pm.  As we left the harbor at about 5:10 there was  a healthy wind line outside.  As we approached the start mark, we determined the wind was (once again) coming from 215 and about 12 knots.  Great conditions for a race!  We set a line square to the wind and optimistically called for course Whiskey 3.  We blew a 5 minute horn and set up for our start.

As it turns out, even though the line was skewed with the beach end of the line closer to the first mark, the outside end of the line had a little more wind.  On PAD, we were trying to set up to start at the beach end of the line, but were positioned further away than we wanted to be.  We were concentrating on improving boat speed to make the end of the line while the wind was getting lighter.  We were so focused on this objective, we did not notice a Moore 24 just leeward of us.  The Moore 24 pulled an excellent tactical move on PAD luffing us up over the line. Since we had to restart, the Moore 24 did not have to sail in our shadow right off the start.

FLOCK OF B-IRDBOATS 

We all had a sense of déjà vu dealing with areas of light wind and headers and lifts to be dealt with on the way to Schuyler.  This presents a challenge that, if played correctly, can yield an advantage.  A header on one tack is a lift on the opposite tack.  If you tack on every header, you are slowed by excessive tacks.  You could call it Tack-tics: minimizing the number of tacks to take advantage of the strongest headers.

At Schuyler the first around was Nobodys Girl (Moore 24), followed by Patricia J, New Wave, Perfect 36, PAD, Aquavit, Toad, Pacific Spirit, Makani, Nidaros, Kicks and Emeritus.  Once again on the long run to Blacks, the outside was favored with more wind and most boats took the outside route.  Like last Tuesday, as we were on the long run to Blacks, the wind seemed to be decreasing so I shortened course to finish at Blacks so more boats could finish the race.  The evenings are getting shorter!

At the finish line, Nobodies Girl was first 55:58, followed by New Wave 56:41, Patricia J 57:51, Perfect 36 1:02:27, Pair A Dice 1:02:44, Aquavit 1:05:12, Makani 1:06:53, Toad 1:06:55, Pacific Spirit 1:06:58, Nidaros 1:11:12, Kicks 1:20:41. All times are elapsed and the course distance was 2.92 miles.

With the low cloud cover, good wind with many headers and lifts and more wind outside and many areas with lighter wind, it was very similar to last Tuesday evening.

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

Here is the Spreadsheet for calculating PHRF adjusted results.  This is a display of the whole spreadsheet with recorded PHRFs for each boat.  These figures may need to be corrected, for instance if your PHRF is for flying a spinnaker and you do not use one, your PHRF should be adjusted.  Once all PHRFs are corrected, if the predominant desire is to display the corrected results, I will post just the boat and it’s rating for the race.

BOAT MAKE	PHRF	H	MIN	SEC	TOTAL SECONDS	ADJ SEC	BOAT NAME	PLACE
MOORE 24	150		55	58	3358	2920	NOBODYS GIRL	1
LIGHTHALL 30	111		56	41	3401	3076.88	NEW WAVE	2
EXPRESS 34 no spin	111		57	51	3471	3146.88	PATRICIA J	3
CATALINA 30	180	1	2	44	3764	3238.4	SAILING PAIR A DICE	4
CATALINA 36	144	1	2	27	3747	3326.52	THE PERFECT 36	5
CATALINA 320	162	1	6	58	4018	3544.96	PACIFIC SPIRIT	6
BENETEAU 323	150	1	6	55	4015	3577	TOAD	7
CATALINA 34	147	1	6	53	4013	3583.76	MAKANI	8
JEANNEAU41i P	71	1	5	12	3912	3704.68	AQUAVIT	9
SANTANA 30/30	114	1	11	12	4272	3939.12	NIDAROS II	10
CATALINA C30	180	1	20	41	4841	4315.4	KICKS	11

 

RACE QS:

For this evening we only had about half of the boats successfully record and upload their tracks.  Race QS acts like our race committee recording finish times!  The track for this evening can be found at:   https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2021-08-25T02:50:32Z&dt=2021-08-24T17:45:03-07:00..2021-08-24T19:50:31-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1629858041315&focus=Pairadice&rival=Nobodys%20Girl&tab=match&view=manual&lat=36.952418&lon=-121.985708&tilt=8&range=217&heading=192

If you need assistance with using race QS, send me an email at SAILINGPAIRADICE@GMAIL.COM.

RULES:

 

 

This scenario exemplifies a common misconception of many sailors while racing.  Boat A in position 1 is on a downwind run and is on port tack (boom on starboard side of boat).   Boat B in position 1 has rounded the leeward mark and is on starboard tack sailing toward the next mark.  Boat A jibes over to starboard thinking “starboard has right of way”.  Boat B hails “STARBOARD!” and boat A continues on requiring  both boats to crash tack to avoid collision. The misconception is that: any time I am on starboard tack, I have right of way.  Rule 10: on opposite tacks: When boats are on opposite tacks, a port-tack boat shall keep clear of a starboard-tack boat.  Since, in position 2 both boats are on the same tack, rule 10 does not come into play. Rule 11 is employed, on same tack, overlapped: When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat. 

As we get more and more boats out for Tuesday Night sailing, it is critical that we know and follow rules. I am seeing situations where boats are hailing other boats, without being heard or acknowledged. In our environment with wind and waves, frequently voices cannot be heard.  I know it is not in the rule book, but I encourage boats to have an airhorn in the cockpit to attract attention.  The signal for “I am not clear on your intention” is 5 short blasts on the horn.  A horn will be heard in any conditions.

JACK AND JILL REGATTA:

The Jack and Jill regatta will be on September 18.  This is a fun event where boats are sailed by 2 people (a man and a woman).  There is a Jib and Main division and you can register on SCYC.org under regattas.

THE WIND GURU:

I have  a crew member that I have known since I first owned my boat 20 years ago.  Years ago, he was able to see wind on the water ahead and forecast accurately “more wind in 20, it will be a lift” or “more wind in 30 it will be a header”.  I have been amazed by this ability and am still learning from the “wind guru”. On this sail, we were sailing downwind and I saw a patch of wind on the water ahead and declared “more pressure in 20”.  He remarked, “no, that wind is ahead of us, we are going downwind and that wind will not affect us, you need to look behind us for the wind that will affect us”.  I am still learning from this amazing guy!  Thank you wind guru.

NOTE: NEXT TUESDAY IS THE LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH. A BARBECUE POTLUCK WILL BE HELD AT THE CLUB AFTER RACING.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice