FEBRUARY 8, 2022
AWESOME SAIL WITH
CLOSE FINISHES
Sailing these races on a consistent basis, I have found it
best to not worry about conditions that are presented to us. I simply show up
and deal with what we have. Predict wind
predicted “light and variable” but when we left the harbor at about 3:25 there
was a good consistent 10 knot wind across the bay.
We approached the start mark area and set a line square to
the wind. We called for a course of start line to Schuyler, Mile and finish at
the start mark taking the start mark to port.
We blew a 5 minute horn at 3:55 and set up for our start. As it turned out, our line was a little short
for the 15 boats participating. The line was a little crowded with many boats
starting right on time at the line.
Everyone tacked their way to Schuyler. There were several crossing situations
without incident. At Schuyler, the first
around was Aboriginal (welcome to Tuesday afternoon sailing!) followed by Aquavit,
Jersey Girl, Avatar, Zoop, PAD, Patricia J, Perfect 36, Muffin, Pacific Spirit,
Nidaros, Simpatico, Aeolian, Kicks and Sea Quake. Aboriginal was so fast, they added another leg
and sailed around Schuyler and Mile for another turn (adding another 1.5NM to
their course)
On the reach to Mile, Patricia J
inched ahead of PAD. Other than this one
change, the order of the boats remained the same at Mile. All boats made their way to the finish mark
with various attempts to set whisker poles with limited success. Watching the Race QS track it was amazing how
close some of the finishes were between boats.
At the finish, the first across was Aquavit 38:01 followed by Jersey
Girl 39:35, Zoop 40:07, Avatar 40:12, Patricia J 40:14, Pair A Dice 41:54,
Perfect 36 42:39, Muffin 43:39, Nidaros 45:14, Pacific Spirit 45:34, Aeolian
47:00 with Simpatico at 47:01, Aboriginal 49:21 (after sailing a 1.5 mile
longer course) and Kicks at 52:00. All
times are elapsed and the course length was 3.12 NM (4.62 for Aboriginal). Note how Zoop, Avatar and Patricia J all
finished within a 7 second window and Aeolian and Simpatico finished within 1
second of each other! Finishes this
close are hard to call with Race QS but it is all part of the fun.
With such a beautiful evening for
a sail and boats finishing in such close proximity, it was an awesome sail with
some very close finishes.
PHRF adjusted positions:
PHRF APPLICATION:
We are approaching the start of another
Tuesday Evening sailing season. There has been
a lot of confusion around PHRF rate for each boat. It does not help that everyone can change
their rating in the Race QS app. Not
that anyone is fudging, but some have changed their number for “no spinnaker”
while others have not. My spreadsheet
has the rating reported on the application submitted last year. When we apply next month with the time
change, I believe it would be better to report your PHRF as you are sailing on
Tuesdays. If your PHRF cert is for flying
a spinnaker and you do not use one on Tuesdays, I believe it would be appropriate
to add 12 seconds to your PHRF number. I
am open for suggestions on this issue.
Race QS:
Wow, we got all boats on this app
now! The track can be observed at:
SAILING STRATEGY IN SANTA CRUZ:
When racing in Santa Cruz with a normal 240-degree wind
and the first mark being Schuyler (old Wharf mark), the common strategy is to
tack over to port tack as soon as possible to take advantage of the lift on the
inside. Is this path always the
best way to go? I have noticed times
when there is slightly less wind inside which can be a negative factor. There are times when just sailing a couple of
hundred yards out before tacking over can get you in a better path of more
wind. Another factor to consider: what is the sea state? I have found that sailing out further does
not work if the sea state is short choppy waves right on the bow. In these
conditions, the more time you spend sailing into waves slowing you down is not
advantageous. It is better to tack over
and take the waves and chop on the beam. Frequently sailing further in and
sailing out closer to the point offers a more benign sea state. On this Tuesday sail, the sea state was very
flat with no chop or waves to slow us down and we sailed further out before
tacking over.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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