SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 WHERE'S THE WIND NOW?

 

                                                                         September 28, 2021

                                                                 WHERE'S THE WIND NOW?

 

This was the night of “Where’s the Wind Now?”  The wind predictions were a bit spicy: 10-12 kts, gusting to 17 kts out of the northwest, possibly fading by 7:00p.  When we got out to the start area around 5:30, the wind was around 12 kts from the north under sunny, warm skies; the wind was also warm, coming out from the land. We counted more than 18 boats ready to race, and 17 recorded tracks on RaceQs.

 

The crew of Tusitala set the start line, with the red ball offshore of the permanent Start mark.  Apparently there was some trouble with the anchor not holding in the deeper water, as the mark seemed to move before the start.  The result was a line that heavily favored the right end.  They called the course: Start, Government, Blacks, Finish.

 

It was an “interesting” start, with quite a crowd of boats maneuvering for position.  We didn’t observe any obvious fouls or collisions, although there was some shouting for room on the sail up toward the start.  Given the north wind blowing, it seemed possible to lay the Gov mark on one starboard tack, which everybody was trying to do at the same time.

 

THE START

ROUNDING GOV

On the upwind leg, the fleet spread out a bit.  The first starters were over 300 m ahead of the last starters, and the faster boats were extending their leads.  As we went, the wind slowed a bit to perhaps 7 or 8 kts, and it also became rather shifty.  Most of the fleet were actually unable to lay the Gov mark on one tack, so there was a bunch of short tacking to get there.  We were pleased to see that boats were respecting the starboard tack right-of-way rule.  The course to Blacks brought the boats that had rounded Gov back through the fleet of boats still heading for Gov, but again without incident.  Rounding order was: New Wave, Watts Moore, P36, Aquavit, Makani, Sanctuaire, Zoop, Good Timin’, Tusitala, Toad, Nidaro, Emeritus, Kicks, Avatar, Simpatico, Natorius, Sophia.

 

As the boats headed out on the long leg down to Blacks, which was a beam reach, the fleet began to sort itself out.  The winds were lightening considerable, and becoming spotty.  Some of the boats headed for the beach, some steered farther offshore, some stayed close to the rhumb line. It became apparent that there was very little wind down near Blacks, as the leading boats looked to be slatting while the back of the fleet started to catch up. By this time, the northerly had died and we were in a spotty transition to what eventually became a weak easterly. It was interesting that the easterly was noticeably cooler than the warm northerly; we could literally feel the wind changing by the temperature before we could see it in the sails.

 

Some of the boats that went toward the beach picked it up first and started moving again toward Blacks.  The boats on the outside were largely dead in the water. In the shifty easterly, rounding Blacks became a game of patience and luck, as it was costly to tack if you didn’t lay the mark.  The rounding order at Blacks was: Watts, New Wave, Sanctuaire, Tusitala, Avatar, Nidaro, Zoop, P36.  After those boats rounded, the rest of the fleet got stuck in the “parking lot” around Blacks, with no wind, bobbing around trying to round the mark.  Eventually, , they got around in this order: Toad, Makani, Aquavit, Simpatico, Good Timin’, Emeritus, Natorius.  A few boats dropped out and headed for the harbor during this drifting contest.

 

But for the boats that rounded in the first group, they found themselves with a renewed northerly wind that made for a nice upwind leg to the Finish.  Eventually, that breeze made it to the parking lot at Blacks so that the rest of the fleet could also sail home to the Finish.  The finishing order (with elapsed times) was: New Wave 55:04, Tusitala 55:56, Avatar 57:20, Sanctuaire 1:05:05, Nidaros 1:05:07, Zoop 1:05:12, Aquavit 1:05:15, P36 1:06:32, Kicks 1:07:05, Toad 1:07:44, Makani 1:07:49, Natorius 1:09:04  (all times approximate). Despite the fluky winds, it was a pretty close race, with several boats separated only by seconds, and only a 14 minute difference between the first and last boats.

 

On corrected time, RaceQs reports the following nine finishers: New Wave 50:52, Avatar 51:39, Tusitala 51:51, Kicks 59:20, Nidaros 1:00:03, Sanctuaire 1:00:16, P36 1:00:39, Toad 1:01:24, Makani 1:01:29. 

 

Whatever the outcome, it was a lovely evening of sailing. The race took essentially one hour, and the sun was below the horizon before most of the fleet finished.  This will become increasingly common in the final weeks of the racing season, and races will need to get shorter as available daylight goes away.  Be sure that your running lights are in good working order.

 

Rumor has it that Tusitala had some difficulty finding the red start mark after the race; apparently it had drifted some distance from its original location.  Those guys had to work to carry out their race setup duties, but we thank them for their good service!

 

Because it was the last Tuesday of the month, it was BYO BBQ night at the club.  There was a lively scene around the grill, and a lot of fun conversation around the decks and in the clubhouse.

 

Barry’s on vacation this week and next, so Doug Mahone is filling in with the blog writing until he returns.  He missed a good evening on the water, but we don’t feel too sorry for him (he’s in Hawaii).

THANK YOU DOUG FOR AN EXCELLENT RECAP AND TUSITALA CREW FOR SETTING THE COURSE!

BARRY

SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 FOG RACING

 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

FOG RACING

Predict Wind’s call for the evening was dismal with the dreaded “light and variable” forecast.  As we left the harbor at around 5:15, the wind seemed to be in a state of flux.  The easterly looked like it was possibly building and though we were in the clear, we could see a heavy fog bank offshore toward the South. We waited a few minutes to see what would develop as the fog bank came in and engulfed all of us along with a mild southerly breeze.  We set a line square to the wind and called for course Mike 2: start, Mile, finish. We blew the five minute horn and set up for our start.

As usual, we wanted to start at the starboard end of the line on starboard tack.  This was consistent with every other boat and we had a clean start.  The visibility was deteriorating quickly as the fog settled in resulting in visibility of 300 to 400 feet.  It is understandable that many boats retired and headed for the Taco Bar.  Sailing in fog is not for everyone! We had 9 boats that continued on to the wet, soggy finish.

At the finish, Patricia J 40:22 was first across the line followed by Zoop 40:39, New Wave 40:58, Perfect 36 44:14, Aquavit 49:36, Pair A Dice 52:08, Sweet Pea 55:31, Simpatico 59:31 and Sanctuaire 1:02:51.  Times are elapsed and the course distance was 2.07NM.  Congratulations to the stalwart boats that continued to finish in the fog race!  PHRF adjusted times are as follows:

2140.92	1	ZOOP
2192.23	2	PATRICIA J
2228.23	3	NEW WAVE
2355.92	4	THE PERFECT 36
2755.4	5	SAILING PAIR A DICE
2976	6	AQUAVIT
2983.24	7	SWEET PEA
3571	8	SIMPATICO
3535.02	9	SANCTUAIRE

  As a reminder, almost all finishes on the course card finish on the OUTSIDE of the start mark.  The finish line is an extension of the line from the lighthouse through the start mark.  The reason for this is that I often pick up the start line ball before all boats are finished.  

Race QS:

The track for this night can be found at:  https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=75860&updatedAt=2021-09-22T03:13:27Z&dt=2021-09-21T17:45:01-07:00..2021-09-21T20:12:27-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1632271507016&focus=Pairadice&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=37.218971&lon=-121.935026&tilt=51&range=150237&heading=0

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS:

After we completed the race on PAD, we attempted to find the start line mark to retrieve it.  This turned into quite an adventure with the fog limiting our vision we could not find the mark.  It is amazing how disorienting fog can be!  We were motoring around literally in circles to no avail when the motor sputtered and died.  The adventure (and education) begins.  I radioed to the boat that was last out with us and Aquavit responded that they were on their way to assist.  We ultimately made it back to the harbor with Aquavit and crew’s invaluable assistance.

Through the course of events, I learned a lot. 

1)     I had just finished a new engine install during which I changed my fuel gauge.  I had a Catalina Direct fuel gauge and thought the gauge was accurate.  It showed a quarter tank of fuel, but I was sucking air. DO NOT TRUST THE ACCURACY OF A NEW FUEL GAUGE.

2)     One of the hardcore sailors onboard resisted calling for help.  “We are a sailboat and can sail into the harbor”.  He later admitted that this was a bad idea: dying wind, weird currents, swell in the harbor entrance. WHEN IN WEIRD CONDITIONS, ACCEPT ASSISTANCE.

3)     When dealing with fog, as in business three things are critical: location, location and location!  It is incredible how disorienting fog can be. We saw a yellow ball and thought it was the start mark, but it was probably Blacks.  Directing Aquavit to the start mark when we were probably at Blacks was stupid on my part.  Ultimately, I relayed our GPS coordinates to Aquavit so they could steer directly toward us. KNOW YOUR LOCATION (CHECK YOUR GPS).

4)     In line with above, is to have your portable GPS available in the cockpit. My chart plotter was in the cabin below.  With all that was happening, I was not able to keep an eye on the chart plotter.  I should have stationed one of the crew below to KEEP A CONSTANT EYE ON THE GPS below.

5)     We started seeing lights and thought it was Aquavit approaching but it happened to be lights on land.  No wind, no engine and the sound of crashing waves added to the urgency to deploy the bow anchor.  The  anchor and rode were ready for rapid deployment and we set the anchor while waiting for assistance.  KEEP YOUR ANCHOR READY TO DEPLOY.

6)     In discussions after the event. Some thoughts were proposed.  One was to issue a pan pan  notice.  Pan Pan (pronounce Pahn-Pahn) is a notice to mariners of non life-threatening conditions or hazards to navigation.  Since we had assistance on their way to us, I feel a Pan Pan notice was not necessary. If assistance was not on the way, it would have been in order.

7)     Attracting attention and being able to announce your present location in fog is critical.  Using air horns in fog just adds to the confusion as sounds get reflected.  Flares, which are seldom used and often expired when needed are an option that work effectively.  Having a strong spotlight on board would be useful, especially if it is a certain color (red, green or blue).  You could direct the assisting boat to approach the large red, green or blue light. In addition to Aquavit coming to our assistance, Kicks came out of the harbor to assist.  Kicks had bright red lights on the spreader.  These lights were easily visible and were a great assistance in directing us to the harbor.  Red also does not destroy night vision like white light does.  Though flares are useful, it is easier to keep a working high power spotlight on board.

A hearty thanks to the crew of Aquavit and Kicks for their assistance in keeping this whole ordeal a non-event!

NEXT TUESDAY IS THE LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH: BARBECUE POTLUCK AT THE CLUB AFTER THE RACE.  BRING YOUR OWN FOOD TO GRILL!

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 TYPICAL CONFUSED, LIGHT WIND

 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

TYPICAL CONFUSED, LIGHT WIND

The forecast from Predict Wind was not good for the evening calling for the wind to dwindle to nothing.  I brought two marks to set, thinking that I could set a close weather mark if there was very light wind. As we left the harbor, it was nice to see a consistent, though light wind across the bay.  There was one problem, the start mark had disappeared, so we set the red ball at the start mark position and a white fender as the other end of the line.  We called for a rather ambitious course, Whiskey 4 knowing we could shorten course according to the conditions. We blew the five minute horn at 5:55 and set up for our start.

On PAD, we thought we saw more wind outside and set up on the line on starboard tack, stalling to not pass the end of the line.  Starting this far up the line traps and prevents you from tacking over onto port tack without ducking boats.  Some boats pulled off port tack starts at the inside end of the line and, though they were a little late over the line, they found better wind inside.  It was a frustrating evening for a sail with many shifts. Before the first boat rounded Schuyler, I shortened course to finish with a finish line between Gov and end of  Wharf.   At Schuyler, the first around was Nobody’s Girl, followed by Patricia J, New Wave, Sweetheart, Perfect 36, Zoop, Good Timin, Nidaros, Aquavit, Pacific Spirit, Makani, Toad and Pair A Dice.

On the run to the finish line, some boats sailed the rhumb line to the closest part of the line toward the wharf end.  Others thought there was more wind closer to Gov and sailed a hotter angle toward the Gov end of the line.  At the finish, Nobody’s Girl finished first 44:21, followed by Patricia J 45:57, New Wave 48:27, Sweetheart 56:05,  Zoop 57:29, Perfect 36  57:48, Good Timin’ 59:00, Nidaros 59:03, Aquavit 59:10, Pacific Spirit 1:00:05, Makani 1:01:47, Toad 1:02:59 and PAD 1:03:29. All times are elapsed and the course length was 2.05 miles. PHRF adjusted standings are as follows:

2353.5	NOBODYS GIRL	1
2529.45	PATRICIA J	2
2679.45	NEW WAVE	3
3153.8	ZOOP	4
3172.8	THE PERFECT 36	5
3250.95	GOOD TIMIN'	6
3272.9	PACIFIC SPIRIT	7
3309.3	NIDAROS II	8
3377.3	SWEETHEART	9
3404.45	AQUAVIT	10
3405.65	MAKANI	11
3440	SAILING PAIR A DICE	12
3471.5	TOAD	13

It was a frustrating n 
It was a frustrating night for a sail with conditions that are becoming typical for Santa Cruz: confused, light wind.  One good final note for the evening was that we saw the yellow start mark in its proper place but about 2 feet below the surface.  The anchor chain may have gotten tangled in the rocks on the bottom in that location.   The Tacos at the yacht club for Taco Tuesday were excellent!

Race QS:

We had 21 boats out for the “fun” and according to Race QS, 12 boats finished.  Some tracks stopped for unknown reasons.  I encourage people to plug in their phones so power is not lost.  The tracks for tonight can be found at:    https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2021-09-15T02:55:30Z&dt=2021-09-14T17:45:00-07:00..2021-09-14T19:53:28-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1631670965797&focus=Pairadice&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=match&view=manual&lat=36.957857&lon=-122.013601&tilt=0&range=459&heading=176

DEALING WITH CONFUSED WIND:

Every boat is different in these conditions.  A small boat, being more responsive, may be able to chase the varying angles of wind and keep the boat going.  On larger boats, I have found it better to steer the boat straight (without pinching) and let the sail trimmers adjust the sails for each variation in the wind direction.  This prevents excessive use of helm which works like a brake to slow the boat down.  Another consideration is that it is nearly impossible to keep up with constantly changing wind with a heavy  unresponsive boat.

FOLLOWING RULES:

Tuesday Night Sailing is becoming very popular.  By registering, you have signed a document that you will abide by the racing rules of sailing.  I believe one of the biggest possible deterrents to the growth of our group is boats that do not follow the rules.  We all love our boats and having to crash tack to save your boat is not a desirable situation.  Personally I have seen boats drop out and not participate for years because of “situations” that occur on the water during even a casual race.  Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the skipper to follow rules, but the crew can take an active role by keeping the skipper apprised of impending situations.

It is an interesting situation, boats from 13 feet to over 50 feet trying to compete. Some people are suggesting multiple starts so there is less interaction between vastly different size boats.  This may be necessary in the future if we do not honor our pledge to follow the rules.

PORT STARBOARD CROSSINGS:

This is where there is a lot of danger if right of way is not honored.  It is critical to be able to judge these situations, especially if you are the port tack boat. Most of us know how to gauge whether you are on a collision course.  If the crossing boat is stationary against the background, collision will occur unless something (course or speed) changes.  If a boat is moving backward against the background with no change in course or speed, you will pass in front.  If a boat is moving forward against the background with no change, you will pass behind.

 It is possible for a person to stand on your bow and, using these techniques, sense that your boat will be clear ahead, while someone at the stern will see that your boat will not clear.  In this situation (without change) you are set up for a T-bone.  Always gauge whether you will cross another boat from the stern of your boat. The stern is the part of the boat that must clear the starboard boat. If your judgement is off and the starboard tack boat must steer to avoid collision, you should do a turn to exhonerate.

From my experience, it seems better sailor, when confronted with crossing situations will duck if there is any question, knowing that you normally do not lose a lot in ducking because you get a momentary lift from the ducked boat.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler       

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021 FRUSTRATING LIGHT WIND SAILING

                                                                            SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

                                                             FRUSTRATING LIGHT WIND SAILING 

Barry’s out of town, helping deliver Merlin from LA to SF, so this week’s blog is written by Doug Mahone.  Stefan and the crew on Pair-a-Dice filled in setting this week’s start line and calling the race course. Not surprisingly, nobody has stepped up to take responsibility for the wind (you’ll see why shortly).

 

This was the night of the encroaching fog bank and the dying winds.  The wind forecasts were all over the map, some predicting strong westerlies, some moderate northerlies, some dying southerlies. So they were no help at all.  When we left the harbor at 5:30p, we encountered a variable wind of about 8 kts, from the SW generally.  Skies were sunny, but the fog bank from the east was fast approaching the start area.  There were over 25 boats out for the fun (more than I’ve counted on recent Wednesday evenings), ranging from 52’ to 27’ and everything in between.

 

Stefan called for a short 1.1 nm course: Start to Mile, finishing there.  From the start area, Mile was almost directly upwind, at least part of the time. The start line was set in anticipation of a more southerly breeze developing.  As the start time approached, the wind stayed more southwesterly, so the right end of the line was heavily favored.  The fog closed in, and we found the wind dying during the last ten minutes before the 1800 start time, so the boats that weren’t close by weren’t able to get to the line by start time. This also prevented a massive pile-up at the right end, with many in the fleet starting late. The common strategy was to try to cross the line on starboard, to have right-of-way, but to quickly tack over to a port tack that allowed one to nearly lay the Mile mark. 

 

There was one near collision between a port tack boat and a starboard tack boat right at the start line.  Apparently, a port tack boat didn’t (or couldn’t) tack out of the way, and the starboard tack boat had to do a crash tack to avoid the collision.  “Crash tack” is somewhat of a misnomer, because it all developed in very slow motion in the very light air.  Apparently there was no actual contact, and certainly no damage, but there almost certainly was a foul by the port tack boat. With all the boats racing on Tuesdays, the possibilities for collisions increase, no matter how spicy the breeze or how slowly the boats are moving.

 

The moral of the story is that the racing rules still apply in light airs. Everybody needs to anticipate that maneuvering will be difficult or impossible due to very slow boat speeds, and to proactively take evasive action early.

 

Many of the boats, perhaps 2/3 of the fleet, were positioned toward the left end of the line, well behind the leaders, and slow to start.  As the fleet headed up to the Mile buoy finish line, we spread out over a pretty wide area.  The winds were shifty and spotty. Some boats were dead in the water while other boats, not 50 yds away, were moving along nicely in their own private puffs. It was slow going, with wind speeds in the 3 kt range, gusting to 5 kts (!!). Boat speeds ranged from 0 kts to perhaps 5 kts by the fast boats in one of the rare puffs.  It was a real challenging light wind race.

 

As the fleet got closer to the Mile buoy, the wind died to nearly zero.  Boats were drifting in circles, with no steerage. It was difficult to read wind direction, perhaps because there wasn’t one to read.  Boats were trying everything they could think of to gain some speed.  One boat even put up their whisker pole, feeling the beginnings of an easterly; it never arrived to any significant degree.  At about this point, boats came on the radio to report that they were heading home for some beer.  Other boats just turned on their engines and steered for the lighthouse. These defections began at around 40 minutes after the start, and boats hadn’t made the 1.1 nm course distance yet, so average boat speeds were less than 1 kt.

 

In the end, only four boats actually finished, with approximate elapsed times as shown: Nobody’s Girl 53:04, Sweetheart 55:54, Makani 1:09:11, and Nidaros 1:15:33. Course was 1.1 nm. Given that Nobody’s Girl sailed almost 15 minutes after boats started dropping out, and Nidaros sailed over 35 minutes longer to finish, those were four determined sets of sailors! Or maybe the thought of beers didn’t appeal.

 

It was a lively evening for Taco Tuesday at the clubhouse.  At one point, the Busy Bees almost ran out of fixings. Despite the light airs, everybody had a lovely evening on the water, and all survived to tell the tale. See you all next week.

 

Doug

_)                  _)                             _)                              _)                  _)

Thank you Doug Mahone for an excellent report and the enthusiastic sailors that stuck with it till the finish!   PHRF corrected results are as follows.

1	NOBODYS G
2	SWEETHEART
3	MAKANI
4	NIDAROS

The delivery of Merlin was successful and uneventful thanks to the expertise of Don Radcliffe and his regular crew.  It was an honor to sail with these guys.  From LA to St Francis  was a 48hr and 10 minute trip!

See you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

AUGUST 31, 2021 RIDING THE FOG BANK

 

AUGUST 31, 2021

RIDING THE FOG BANK

Predict wind was calling for 18 knot winds at 6pm, but when I got to the harbor at around 4 o’clock the flag on the Crows Nest didn’t look like that much wind with a fog bank just offshore.  I got the boat ready while waiting for crew to arrive.

As we left the harbor at about 5:15, there was about 12 to 14 knot winds clear  to the beach.  As we approached the start mark, we determined the wind direction was from about 220 and set a mark for the end of the start line.  Two weeks in a row, with similar conditions, I have had to shorten course as the wind died.  Also, there is not as much light as the sun is setting earlier, so I called for a shorter course Whiskey 5 which is Start, Schuyler and back to start for the finish. We had 25 boats out for the fun and we blew the 5 minute horn and set up for our start.

We thought it would be best to start at the beach end of the line, but were early and had to run the line.  We ended up starting with the whole fleet off our starboard hip and looking for a break that we could tack through.  To add to our problem, we were shadowed by the larger boats just ahead of us. It was a good exercise trying to find a gap to sneak through while sailing in disturbed wind.  We finally were able to tack over to port but had to duck about 3 boats in the process.

It was a beautiful sight to see all of the boats out as we all tacked our way to Schuyler.  At Schuyler, the first around was Sweetheart (rounded to SB rather than port), then Geronimo, Aquavit, Nobodys Girl, Zoop, Patricia J, Avatar, Pacific Spirit, Tusitala, Nidaros, Toad, Pair A Dice, Sweet Pea, Kicks, and Emeritus.

On the run back to finish, many boats sailed further outside looking for the stronger wind that was there on the beat to Schuyler, some of us rhumb lined it to the start mark.  As all boats converged on the finish line, the first to finish was Sweetheart 36:52, Then Nobody’s Girl 37:41, Zoop 38:58, Geronimo 40:02, Aquavit 40:25, Avatar 40:47, Pacific Spirit 40:49, Patricia J 41:29, Nidaros 42:12, Toad 42:45, Pair a Dice 42:59, Tusitala 43:35, Sweet Pea 47:57, Emeritus 50:24 and Kicks 51:40.  All times are elapsed and the course length was 2.65 miles.  PHRF adjusted ratings are as follows:

ADJ SEC ADJ PLACE 1863.5 1 NOBODYS GIRL 1956.4 2 ZOOP 2019.7 3 PACIFIC SPIRIT 2097.2 4 AVATAR 2102 5 SAILING PAIR A DICE 2167.5 6 TOAD 2171.45 7 GERONIMO 2194.85 8 PATRICIA J 2227.9 9 SWEETHEART 2229.9 10 NIDAROS II 2236.85 11 AQUAVIT 2266.55 12 FINN 2376.5 13 TUSITALA 2431.8 14 SWEET PEA 2623 15 KICKS 2626.5 16 EMERITUS
Pair A Dice was one of the boats that sailed the rhumb line as we made time on the boats outside.   I couldn’t figure out why there was more wind inside until someone pointed out that the edge of the fog  bank had moved in closer to shore and all we were doing was riding the edge of the fog bank.  Being the last Tuesday of the month, we had an awesome barbecue at the club with many people showing  up for the festivities.  It is always fun to socialize with fellow sailors and discuss events that happened  during the race. RACE QS: For the 25 boats out, we had 15 tracks uploaded to Race QS. It is necessary to use this app and upload  your track to be counted in our races.  The track for this night can be found at: https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=75162&updatedAt=2021-09-01T02:17:38Z&dt=2021-08-31T17:45:02-07:00..2021-08-31T19:16:52-07:00&boat=Pairadice&time=1630461100931&focus=Pairadice&rival=Tusitala&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.951925&lon=-121.995581&tilt=11&range=470&heading=239 WHY USE RACE QS: Race Qs is a valuable tool to help you improve your sailing and boat handling, but you must upload your  track to use these tools.  Are you steering a straight course (to maximize effect of foils)? Use the cone  function in front of your boat and the “groove analysis” to gauge how well you are doing in this area.  Are your tacks efficient? Turn on the tack function to see how efficient your tacks are measured by 8  different parameters.  You can watch the training videos on the website to learn how to use these functions.   I suggest, each boat have two phones running the app and once track is confirmed only one phone is  uploaded.  I leave my phone running until I am in my slip, then check the track which should show your  boat in your slip.  Once this is confirmed, click “save and upload”. RULES: WINDWARD / LEEWARD The rules involved with windward leeward situations are: RULE 11 ON SAME TACK OVERLAPPED When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat.   Rule 17 ON THE SAME TACK; PROPER COURSE: If a boat clear astern becomes overlapped within two of her hull lengths to leeward of a boat on the same tack, she shall not sail above her proper course while they remain on the same tack and overlapped within that distance, unless in doing so she promptly sails astern of the other boat.  This rule does not apply if the overlap begins while the windward boat is required by rule 13 to keep clear. Rule 16.1: When a right of way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear. Rule 14: AVOIDING CONTACT: A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible. However, a right of way boat or one entitled to room or mark room a) need not act to avoid contact until it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear or giving room or mark room and b) shall be exonerated if she breaks this rule and the contact does not cause damage or injury.               Situation A:  the leeward overlap occurred with blue sailing faster and establishing an overlap with yellow from behind (position 4). The clause in rule 17 “she shall not sail above her proper course” is critical because before the start horn is blown, there is no proper course and she can luff yellow up and over the line.  When the start horn blows (position 5), the race is starting and Blue can sail no higher than proper course. In this case at position 5, Yellow is over the line and needs to sail back to cross the line for a proper start. A leeward overlap established from behind is referred to as a limited or restricted overlap.  The restriction is because after the horn, Blue cannot sail any higher than her proper course.   Situation B is between Yellow and Blue and considerations in Rule 17 are not in play since the leeward overlap in this case was not established from behind. Blue sailed down the line on port and quickly tacked around to “hook” yellow (position 4). Rule 11 is the rule that is to be regarded.  The difference is that this overlap is not limited or restricted and Blue can luff Yellow clear up to head to wind even after the start (position 6).  By doing this for the right period of time, she could slow yellow to a stop and squirt off in clear wind ahead of yellow. The same consideration occurs any time an overlap is established any way OTHER THAN Leeward overlap established from behind. If a windward boat sailed faster and established a windward overlap (a novice play for sure) leeward boat could luff the windward boat all the way to head to wind. Defending against these moves during starting maneuvers can be challenging.  My first defense is to not sail right on the start line.  I like to have a little distance between me and the line.  The key is to be aware of these situations as they are forming.  Often, you can get unhooked by sailing slower to break the overlap. Also, it is good to see how the overlap is occurring to determine if leeward boat is required to sail proper course after the start. Rule 17 on a beat if you are the overtaking boat (within 2 boat lengths) and sail to leeward, which tactically would not be wise, you could not luff the windward boat above proper course.  As an overtaking boat, if you choose to sail to windward, the leeward boat can luff you up clear to head to wind once an overlap is established.  Keep in mind, this is a discussion of application of rules.  You always want to sail in clear air.  When you see two boats “playing with each other”, sail clear of the mess and leave them behind. Rule 17 on a run, is another scenario to consider. If an overlap is established from behind to leeward of overtaken boat, the leeward boat cannot sail any higher than proper course. On the other hand, if overlap is established to windward, the leeward boat could luff you up clear to head to wind. These moves are commonly used in team racing, but normally would be unwise in fleet racing. When considering all of these situations, rule 16.1 and rule 14 MUST BE followed.  Rule 16.1 says that when luffing a boat up, you must give time for the windward boat to luff up to keep clear and rule 14, in essence says to always avoid collision. See you next Tuesday! Barry Keeler Sailing Pair A Dice