APRIL 5, 2022 SLOW MOTION RACING

 

APRIL 5, 2022

S-L-O-W   M-O-T-I-O-N   RACING

Forget all wind predictions, We are cursed with no wind Tuesdays!  It looked encouraging as we left the harbor at about 5:15 with a healthy looking Easterly building.  We took the wind direction and it was about 110 degrees and we set a line fairly square to this direction.  As the clock ticked down, the wind seemed to be dying.  Some people announced that there was 12 knot wind out by the yellow ball end of the line, which attracted a lot of boats to that end of the line.  We called for course Echo 5, with the option to shorten course. We postponed 5 minutes twice waiting for the wind to build from any direction and finally started the race at 6:10.

It was amazing, with such light wind that many boats had excellent starts with most boats crossing the start line within 5 minutes of the start.  It was amazing to watch Watts Moore (Moore 24) execute an excellent start and horizon the fleet like it was the only boat built for these conditions.  Of course the skill of the Watts Moore skipper cannot be minimized.  The conditions were very challenging with light wind that was very shifty.  With normal wind speeds, you can tack on the shifts, but when you are creeping along at less than 1 knot speed, this is not an option.  The first boat around Blacks was Watts Moore followed by Good Timin’, New Wave, Tusitala, Sweetheart, Water Dragon, Perfect 36, Sagittarius, Zoop/Makani/Simpatico together, Toad, Nidaros, Avatar, Sea Quake and Pair A Dice.  As everyone was drifting and the wind never building as anticipated, we shortened the course to once around.

On the way back to the finish line, some boats went inside looking for the building Easterly and some of us sailed the rhumb line straight to the finish line.  With the unpredictable wind never filling in, the boats sailing closer to shore surrendered any lead they had.   At the finish Watts Moore was first 22:34, followed by Wind II 34:07,  New Wave 34:59, Water Dragon 35:47, Sweetheart 37:30, Good Timin’ 38:40, Nidaros 40:35, Sagittarius 48:22, Pair A Dice 49:09, Simpatico 51:35, Sea Quake 51:43, Toad 52:01,  Zoop 52:08, Avatar 52:10, Makani 52:11 and Tusitala 54:22.  All times are elapsed and the course distance was 0.84NM.

With the unpredictable very light wind, the tracks on Race QS were very erratic.  The highest speed I noticed for the whole race was 1.5 knots with many moments of zero speed.  It was a classic set up for slow motion racing. In situations like this, we are seeing more boats start their motors to retire, often trying to prevent collisions in out of control situations.  Perfect 36 was closing in on the finish line and, rather than fight the crowd of boats in dicey conditions,  started their motor to retire and get out of the way. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. 

MULTIPLE BOATS CLOSING IN FOR THE FINISH

  PHRF ADJUSTED POSITIONS:

PLACE               BOAT NAME                          ADJUSTED SECONDS                      HIGH SCORE

1              WATTS MOORE                                 1228                                              16

2              WIND II (FINN)                                1868                                                15

3             NEW WAVE                                        2015                                                14

4              WATER DRAGON                             2028                                                13

5              GOOD TIMIN’                                   2201                                                 12

6              SWEETHEART                                  2255                                                 11

7              NIDAROS                                           2435                                                 10

8              SAILING PAIR A DICE                     2797                                                   9

9              SAGITTARIUS                                   2801                                                   8

10           SEA QUAKE                                       2951                                                    7

11           SIMPATICO                                        2956                                                     6

12           TOAD                                                 2995                                                      5

13           MAKANI                                           3007                                                       4

14           ZOOP                                                 3128                                                       3

15          AVATAR                                              3130                                                      2

16          TUSITALA                                         3186                                                       1                                                                                                                                                          

RACE QS:

The track for this evening can be viewed at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=79068&updatedAt=2022-04-06T02:32:26Z&dt=2022-04-05T17:45:01-07:00..2022-04-05T19:24:05-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1649210753830&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Sagittarius&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.951422&lon=-121.989127&tilt=1&range=1053&heading=94

SAILS AND POINTS OF SAIL:

Normally, in light wind situations, I like to use my larger (155) jib.  In the unusually light, shifting wind experienced on this night the 155 was actually a detriment while sailing to weather.  Everyone knows that sailing to weather has a narrow optimal track. Any header will backwind the larger sail and impede your speed.  This resulted in PAD being the last boat to round Blacks.  On the way back to the finish line, we used our whisker pole and set it so the jib and main were perpendicular to the wind direction as indicated by telltales on the shrouds. It became obvious to me that the “narrow track” to be steered in sailing to weather, is not as critical going down wind.  I also tried to keep the wind direction “in the box” with the windex pointing within the indicator arms on the masthead.  Doing this, we passed a few boats.  It also helped us that the anticipated inside wind did not happen and the shortest path to the finish paid off for us.

FENDING OFF-THE SAFE WAY:

In conditions like we had this night, there are times when boats are out of control in close quarters and light winds. As noted, it is at the discretion of the skipper to attempt to not enter these danger zones.  If need be, it is better to start the engine to escape rather than expose the boat and crew to dangerous situations.  The natural reaction for crew is to fend off to prevent damage to boats.  Nobody likes the sound of crunching fiberglass.  If best efforts to avoid these situations fails, a safer way to fend off when boats are in close quarters is to dangle fenders between the boats.  Fenders are made to absorb energy, your fingers are not!

We will see you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice