MAY 24, 2022 STEADY EASTERLY

 

MAY 24, 2022

STEADY EASTERLY

Wind predictions for this evening were dismal predicting 8 knot winds decreasing to 2 knots through the evening.   When I got to the harbor, a mild Easterly wind was showing on the flags.  Would the wind decrease at 6pm like normal or would it hold?  As we left the harbor at about 5:25, there seemed to be a consistent wind across the bay.  The direction was from 90 degrees and we set a line square to this.  We delayed calling a course for a bit, waiting to see if the wind would die as usual.  With the wind not dying, we called for course E4 and blew a 5 minute horn.  For boats that wanted to sail a longer course I added a leg to round Gov again.

Once again, we had a long line and about 22 boats out for the fun with a clean start as everyone tacked their way to the first mark: Blacks.  With this many boats, the challenge is to find clear, unobstructed air and several boats tacked to port right after the start in this endeavor.  Good Timin’ did a port tack start from the beach end and made their way through the whole fleet and did well with this tactic.  At Blacks, the first around was Aboriginal followed by Sweetheart, Watts Moore, Jersey Girl, Good Timin, New Wave, Avatar, Sanctuaire, Big Mac, Perfect 36, Zoop, Geronimo, Toad, Patricia J, Pacific Spirit, Pair A Dice, Kicks, Sweet Pea and Sea Quake.

On the long slow run to Gov, boats spread out across the bay inching their way toward the mark. There was a current sweeping all boats toward Gov and some boats sailed further inside to take advantage of this current.  Though the run to Gov was very slow, we had more wind than last week.  At Gov the first around was Aboriginal followed by Watts Moore, Sweetheart, Jersey Girl, New Wave, Avatar, Good Timin’, Zoop, Big Mac, Perfect 36, Sanctuaire, Patricia J, Pair A Dice, Pacific Spirit, Toad, Kicks, Sweet Pea, Sea Quake and Geronimo.

After rounding the leeward mark and turning up into the wind, the apparent wind increased and it felt like we were sailing again. Boats spread out across the bay  employing different strategies. At the finish Aboriginal was first 46:55, followed by New Wave 54:19, Avatar 55:50, Good Timin’ 58:16, Jersey Girl 58:43, Zoop 1:01:53, Perfect 36 1:02:13, Patricia J 1:02:13, Sanctuaire 1:03:46, Wind II 1:04:17, Big Mac 1:05:54, Pacific Spirit 1:07:52, Pair A Dice 1:08:09, Toad 1:09:10, Kicks 1:13:24, Sweet Pea 1:14:25 and Sea Quake 1:16:03.  All times are elapsed and the course distance was 2.72 miles. 

It was a beautiful evening for a sail.  It was great to finally have a steady Easterly wind.

PHRF CORRECTED RESULTS:

PLACE                   BOAT                         CORRECTED SECONDS                   HIGH SCORE                  

1              ABORIGINAL                      2725                                                                       17

2              NEW WAVE                        2989                                                                       16

3              AVATAR                               2990                                                                       15

4              GOOD TIMIN’                    3112                                                                       14

5              JERSEY GIRL                     3139                                                                       13

6              WIND II                               3277                                                                       12

7              ZOOP                                   3321                                                                       11

8              PERFECT 36                       3341                                                                       10

9              BIG MAC                            3350                                                                       9

10           PATRICIA J                          3470                                                                       8

11           SANCTUAIRE                     3515                                                                       7

12           SAILING PAIR A DICE       3599                                                                       6

13           PACIFIC SPIRIT                   3631                                                                       5

14           TOAD                                    3742                                                                       4

15           KICKS                                   3914                                                                       3                                                               

16           SWEET PEA                         4016                                                                       2

17           SEA QUAKE                        4076                                                                       1

 

Though Watts Moore, Sweetheart and Geronimo sailed  great races,  they did not cross the finish line, so finishing time could not be determined.

PHOTO CREDITS: IRIS SHIELDS ON SEA QUAKE

 RACE QS:

It is critical to use this app!  It is the only way to be counted in our Tuesday evening sails.  I like to preset the start for 5:45 (17:45) and I plug the phone in so it does not lose its charge. It is also critical to upload your track after the race is completed.  The track for this evening can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=80182&updatedAt=2022-05-25T02:43:23Z&dt=2022-05-24T17:45:00-07:00..2022-05-24T19:41:33-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1653444885167&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.954346&lon=-121.993773&tilt=11&range=91&heading=61

LONG COURSE / SHORT COURSE:

We have been exploring options on splitting the fleet, but problems come up when offering different courses.  Different courses result in boats rounding marks in opposite directions which is a recipe for disaster.  The best resolution for this problem is to add a leg to the regular course for the boats that want to sail a longer course.  Depending on conditions, the extra leg could be: Blacks and back, Mile buoy and back or finish at Mile, Schuylers and back or finish at Schuyler or Gov and back or finish at Gov. If finishing at Mile, Schuyler or Gov, the finish line would be an extension of jetty lighthouse through Mile or an extension of the end of wharf through Schuyler or the line from the wharf end to Gov.  It is impossible to predict conditions for the end of the regular race ahead of time so I think it is appropriate to have the first boat that finishes the regular race announce on channel 69 what the extended leg will be: Blacks, Mile, Schuyler or Gov and whether the extension is one way or there and back to finish.

On this Tuesday I had called for another loop around Gov for the long course, but Aboriginal extended the course and sailed around Blacks and back rather than to Gov and back. This made perfect sense with the current conditions at the end of the regular race.

WHAT FINISH LINE?

An unusual thing about Tuesday sailing is the finish line.  To lend order to the start, I set the red ball to establish a start line.  Normally a start line is used as a finish line, but this is not the case for Tuesday sails.  Since I remove the red ball when I have completed the race and a few boats finish behind me, we DO NOT use the start line as the finish line.  The finish line is an extension of the line from the jetty lighthouse through the yellow start buoy.  This makes it easy to sight the line and know that you have finished correctly.  Unfortunately, we had several boats on this evening that finished on the start line and did not round the start mark.  It is not possible to estimate a proper finish time unless the finish line is crossed.  The correct rounding for each course for the finish is designated on the course card.

USING RACE QS AS A LEARNING TOOL:

I am a big proponent of using Race QS to learn how to improve sailing.  A sail like this evening’s can reveal a lot of information.  Aside from the usual Race QS information, such as VMG, SOG, angle of heel and how efficient your tacks are, you can analyze how well different strategies work. While we have a diverse group of boats participating in our races, choosing two similar boats to analyze strategy can be revealing.  On this evening, two Santa Cruz 27’s were battling it out.  Jersey Girl rounded Blacks ahead of Good Timin’ and was even further ahead at Gov.  On the return to the finish, Good Timin’ crossed the finish line 27 seconds ahead of Jersey Girl.  What were the strategies and tactics used to accomplish this?   Looking at the track, the two boats were very close until they rounded Gov. Right after rounding Gov, Good Timin’ tacked over into clear wind while Jersey Girl continued for about 30 seconds blanketed by some other boats.  This is where Good Timin’ got their lead.  These are two excellent sailors, and it doesn’t take a major error to give up a lead with sailors such as these.

We will see you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

MAY 17, 2022 WHISPERING BREEZE

 

MAY 17, 2022

WHISPERING BREEZE

Just before I left home for the harbor, I checked Predict wind to see what the forecast for wind was.  It showed present conditions of 17 knot winds from 319 degrees.  I was anticipating a North wind course, but as I arrived at the harbor, the flags showed an Easterly was developing.  We swapped out to my 155 jib in preparation for a light wind evening.

As we left the harbor and made our way to the start mark area, the wind was from about 110 degrees and about 12 knots.  It was going to be a great evening for a sail and a great evening to follow through with the plan for two courses, long course and short course.  We set a line square to the wind and  announced the long course as Echo 1 and a short course of Echo 4.  As the clocked ticked away toward six o’clock the wind seemed to be dying (AGAIN!).  I was considering postponing, but looking around, I saw that most boats were moving but ever so slowly.  We blew the 5 minute horn for the long course at 5:50 and another horn at 5:55.  The 5:55 horn is the start horn for the long course and the 5 minute horn for the short course.

At 5:55 there were about 4 boats that opted for the long course but only 2 boats ran their Race QS track. We had about 20 boats starting the short course but only 18 boats ran Race QS.  In order to be counted in these races you must 1) register and 2) run Race QS!  The long course boats rounded Blacks and made their way toward the next mark which was Mile.  Avatar was first around Blacks followed by Tusitala.  The short course crowd of boats made their way to Blacks with the first boat rounding being Watts Moore then Water Dragon, New Wave, Perfect 36, Good TImin’, Toad, Patricia J, Sanctuaire, Sagittarius, Zoop, Sea Quake, Sweet Pea, Pacific Spirit, Geronimo, Big Mac, PAD, Gold Rush and Kicks.

While the Easterly was filling in along shore, there was also a band of Easterly that seemed to be building about 300 yards offshore.  Unfortunately, the boats that opted for the long course got stuck in such light wind on the way to Mile, that they had to abandon the race.  Most of the short course boats opted to try for the outside “stronger looking wind line”. A handful of boats took the inside rhumb line to Gov.  As I scanned the many boats moving very slowly and seeing my boat speed consistently around 2 knots, I called to shorten both long and short course to finish at the line between the end of the wharf and Gov.

The first short course boat across this line was Watts Moore 42:09 followed by Good Timin’ 44:45, Water Dragon 45:19, New Wave 49:59, Big Mac 53:16, Zoop 55:13, Perfect 36, Toad 57:26, Patricia J 57:51, Geronimo 58:09, Sanctuaire 58:21, Sagittarius 58:29, Sailing Pair A Dice 58:46, Gold Rush 59:25, Pacific Spirit 1:00:17, Kicks 1:03:52, Sea Quake 1:04:23, Sweet Pea 1:06:47. Times are elapsed and the  short course distance was 1.72 NM.

As we finished the race, the wind seemed to build nicely from the East but for most of the race, we had a very light whispering breeze.

 

BOATS FINISHING AS THE WIND INCREASES

 

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE             BOAT                                          ADJUSTED SECONDS              HIGH SCORE

1              WATTS MOORE                                 2271                                                       18

2              GOOD TIMIN’                                    2442                                                       17

3              WATER DRAGON                              2476                                                       16

4              BIG MAC                                              2814                                                       15

5              NEW WAVE                                        2828                                                       14

6              ZOOP                                                    3065                                                       13

7              PERFECT 36                                         3133                                                       12

8              TOAD                                                    3188                                                       11

9              SAILING PAIR A DICE                       3216                                                       10

10           PATRICIA J                                           3300                                                       9

11           SAGITTARIUS                                     3302                                                       8

12           SANCTUAIRE                                      3304                                                       7

13           PACIFIC SPIRIT                                   3338                                                       6

14           GERONIMO                                        3339                                                       5             

15           GOLD RUSH                                        3348                                                       4

16           KICKS                                                    3522                                                       3

17           SEA QUAKE                                         3555                                                       2

18           SWEET PEA                                         3723                                                       1             

RACE QS:

Remember to run this app. It is necessary to use this app to be counted in our races. Another reminder is to preset the start for 5:45 (17:45) so you can see how you started.  The track for this night can be found at:   https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2022-05-18T03:02:48Z&dt=2022-05-17T17:45:00-07:00..2022-05-17T20:02:31-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1652839607490&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=match&view=manual&lat=36.957785&lon=-122.011965&tilt=0&range=167&heading=175

OUTSIDE VERSUS INSIDE COURSE:

On this evening the temptation was to go outside for the greater wind.  There are several conditions to consider in this decision.  Which way is the current flowing?  Any current present will be stronger toward shore.  The way to ascertain which way the current is flowing is to look at the kelp which will be streaming in one direction.  Another consideration is the wave action.  To get outside, will you need to sail directly into the speed killing waves? While sailing into the waves will kill your speed, you will make a lot of this speed up surfing the waves coming back in. One other thing is that the rhumb line is the shortest course.   On this evening some boats did well going outside, and some boats did well sailing inside.

USING A LARGER JIB IN VERY LIGHT WIND:

I have experienced this problem before, but it is still worth noting.  With a very large (155) jib and very light wind, it can be difficult to tack or have control of the boat.  The pressure on the oversized jib requires a Jibe to change direction or to furl in a little of the jib to decrease sail area. 

As we sailed toward Gov, we noticed that the jib was shaped like a big hook with a flap of sail hooking in front of the forestay.  There just was not enough wind to fill the sail.  There can be a lot of energy wasted as a sail fills in the puffs and sags in the lulls.  We furled the sail in a little to take the hook out of it.  With the whisker pole holding the sail stiff, any energy from the wind was propelling the boat rather than moving the sail in and out.

We will see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

MAY 10, 2022 HEAVY WINDS FROM VARIOUS DIRECTIONS

 

MAY 10, 2022

HEAVY WINDS FROM VARIOUS DIRECTIONS

For the last several days, the bay had been rocked with steady strong winds.  When I got to the harbor at about 5pm, the flag on the Crow’s Nest was showing very strong winds.  As we prepped the boat, the wind seemed to be decreasing just a little.  As we left the harbor there was a steady 18-20 knot wind blowing across the bay with wind lines showing areas of greater wind.  We approached the start area and determined the wind was coming from an unusual direction for as strong as it was: 200 degrees.  We set a line square to this direction.  Even though many boats opted to not come out due to the wind, we had 13 boats out to participate.

This night was to be the first night of splitting the fleet into long course and short course classes, but with this much wind, I called for the longest Northwest wind course and only ran one race.  We blew a 5 minute horn for a 6:00 start for course Whiskey 1.

As is starting to become the norm, the wind changed directions a little making one end of the line more favored as all boats blasted across the line.  Everyone charged toward the first mark (Schuyler) and the first boat around was Aboriginal followed by Sagittarius, New Wave, Water Dragon, Zoop, Pacific Spirit, Tusitala, Good Timin’, Big Mac, Makani and PAD.  The order remained the same at the Mile rounding.

After rounding mile, all boats reached their way to Gov which was a little difficult to see with all the anchored fishing boats around it.  It was interesting as we observed the boats in the lead needing to tack to round Gov.  There was a huge wind shift with a northerly blasting off the beach.  Boats that had sailed the rhumb line to Gov couldn’t clear the mark without tacking.  The only change in order of boats at Gov was that Makani squeaked ahead of Big Mac.

As we all made our way to the finish line, we sailed through the transition zone between the outside wind and the inside Northerly.   At the finish it was Aboriginal 38:10, Sagittarius 45:40, New Wave 46:49, Water Dragon 49:51, Zoop 50:35, Pacific Spirit 53:40, Tusitala 54:30, Good Timin’ 54:43, Makani 55:32, Big Mac 58:28 and PAD 1:07:18. Times are elapsed and the distance was 4.2 NM.

PHRF ADJUSTED RATING:

PLACE         BOAT                           ADJUSTED SECONDS                   HIGH SCORE

1              ABORIGINAL                      2151                                                       11          

2              SAGITTARIUS                     2236                                                       10

3              NEW WAVE                        2393                                                       9

4              WATER DRAGON              2398                                                       8

5              ZOOP                                    2430                                                       7                             

6              PACIFIC SPIRIT                   2539                                                       6

7              BIG MAC                              2575                                                       5

8              GOOD TIMIN’                    2690                                                       4

9              MAKANI                              2714                                                       3             

10           TUSITALA                            2892                                                       2

11           PAIR A DICE                        3282                                                       1

It was a challenging evening to be sailing with heavy winds from various directions.

Race QS:

Everyone uploaded their track for this evening.  Something to keep in mind when presetting the start on Race QS.  Be sure to start the track before 6pm. I like to preset the start for 5:45 (17:45) to see the prestart action.  If you set the start for after 6pm, your avatar sits stationary over the line and starts moving when your track starts.  This gives the impression that you were OCS to those not familiar with the app.

The track for this evening can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=79749&updatedAt=2022-05-11T02:51:29Z&dt=2022-05-10T17:45:01-07:00..2022-05-10T19:47:17-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1652234838459&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.950407&lon=-121.993029&tilt=4&range=275&heading=238

TO SAIL OR NOT TO SAIL:

Several boats decided to not sail this evening.  This is the skipper’s decision and the skippers decision should be respected.  Sailing in heavier winds can result in injuries or boat damage requiring repairs.  Indeed, I was not pressing my boat as hard as it could be for safety reasons.  Despite this, it is always great to see the larger boats reveling in these more robust elements.   Skippers: remember the adage: “Discretion is the better part of valor”.

TRANSITION ZONES:

On this evening with the northwest wind blowing outside and a northerly blowing off the beach, there was a wide transitions zone between the two winds.  Most of the time, even in the transition zone, there was plenty of wind.  I found it interesting because I could see the wind line where 20-24knot winds were blowing 50 feet in front of the boat but the wind line was moving away from us as fast as we were sailing toward it.  In order to get to the stronger wind, we needed to tack back out to the northwesterly.  This reminded me of the old rule about wind lines: when sailing to weather, look ahead for the puffs you will experience.  When sailing downwind, look behind the boat for the puffs you will get.  Sailing downwind, any puff seen ahead will usually not affect the boat.

AMERICA’S CUP DOCUMENTARY:

There will be another presentation of the documentary about the America’s Cup history produced by club member PJ Panzica.  “The America’s Cup Story” narrated by Walter Cronkite will be shown at the club on Saturday May 28 at 7:30.  Hors D’oeurves and cocktails will be available at 7pm.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

MAY 3, 2022 JUST ENOUGH WIND

 

MAY 3, 2022

JUST ENOUGH WIND

As usual the Predict Wind  forecast was just not realistic.  Gusts up to 25 knots(!) were nonexistent.  As we left the harbor, the wind seemed to be building into an Easterly with a Southerly twist to it, with a  direction from 140 degrees.  We set a line roughly square to this direction.  Since Easterly winds usually gets stronger the further you sail East, I called for course Echo 2 taking us all the way to SC3.  As the clock ticked closer to our 6pm start, the wind seemed to be dying so I changed the course to Echo 5 which was twice around blacks.  We blew the five-minute horn at 5:55 for a 6pm start.

With 23 boats out for the fun and a challenging very light whisper of wind, it was amazing to see many of the boats accomplish great clear starts.  All boats made their way to Blacks, doing their best to attain clear air which was a challenge with this many boats out.  The first around Blacks was Sweetheart followed by Watts Moore, New Wave, Big Mac, Sagittarius, Tusitala, Geronimo, Good Timin’, Avatar, Goldrush, Makani, Sea Quake, Meia Duzia, Zoop, Pair A Dice, Toad, Nidaros, Perfect 36, Pacific Spirit, Aeolian, Sweet Pea and Kicks.

After rounding Blacks, it seemed the wind was dying even more and I called to shorten the course so we only went once around Blacks.  We all slowly made our way to the finish line with Sweetheart finishing first 20:03 followed by Watts Moore 21:40, Big Mac 22:28, Wind II 23:18,  Good Timin’ 24:02, Tusitala 24:28, Sagittarius 24:32, New Wave 25:24, Avatar 26:47, Zoop 29:08, Geronimo 29:28, Toad 30:57, Goldrush 31:04, Makani 31:17, Perfect 36 32:19, Pair A Dice 32:38, Sea Quake 33:04, Meia Duzia 33:09, Pacific Spirit 33:47, Nidaros 33:57, Aeolian 38:26, Sweet Pea 40:09 and Kicks 44:02.  All times are elapsed and the course length was 0.84NM.

It was a beautiful evening on the water with just enough wind to finish a short race.

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE            BOAT                       ADJUSTED SECONDS           HIGH SCORE

1              BIG MAC                            1161                                       23

2              WATTS MOORE                 1174                                       22

3              SWEETHEART                   1208                                       21

4              WIND II                               1219                                       20

5              GOOD TIMIN’                    1323                                       19

6              SAGITTARIUS                   1371                                       18

7              TUSITALA                          1392                                       17

8              NEW WAVE                        1440                                       16

9              AVATAR                               1496                                       15          

10           ZOOP                                    1627                                       14

11           GERONIMO                         1695                                       13

12           TOAD                                    1731                                       12          

13           MAKANI                              1753                                       11

14           GOLD RUSH                        1758                                       10

15           PAIR A DICE                        1807                                       9

16           MEIA DUZIA                       1812                                       8

17           PERFECT 36                        1818                                       7

18           SEA QUAKE                         1833                                       6

19           NIDAROS                             1939                                       5

20           PACIFIC SPIRIT                   2027                                       4

21           AEOLIAN                              2164                                       3             

22           SWEET PEA                         2270                                       2

23           KICKS                                   2491                                       1

 

 

 

               

RACE QS:

The track for this evening can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=79604&updatedAt=2022-05-04T02:14:24Z&dt=2022-05-03T17:45:01-07:00..2022-05-03T19:12:51-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1651628078723&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Rollercoaster%2050&tab=fleet&view=match

 

NOTE MAJOR CHANGE:  SHORT COURSE / LONG COURSE

As we attract more boats to our Tuesday Night sailing, there have been requests to split the fleet. This is difficult since there are some low PHRF boats that compete with slower boats.

 I like to call for courses that take 45 minutes to one hour to complete.  A one hour course for the slower cruising boats is only 20-25 minutes for the faster boat.  To make it more interesting (and fun) for the faster boats, we will start two races each Tuesday evening.  Each boat will choose which course they will sail for each Tuesday.  You can sail short course or long course, which ever course you want to sail that evening.

Starting next Tuesday, we will call for two courses.  The long course will be started first, followed by a short course 5 minutes later.  Listen for the course selections between 5:30 and 5:45.      There will be a five-minute horn blown at 5:50 for the long course and another horn blown at 5:55.  This 5:55 horn will be the 5 minute horn for the short course and the start horn for the long course.  We will see how this works. 

If you are sailing the short course, please be mindful of the boats starting at 5:55 and try to keep the line clear for the boats in their starting sequence.

 

THE FINISH LINE:

One unusual aspect of our Tuesday night racing is the finish line we use.  Most sailboat races use the same line for the start and finish.   I set the start line with the red ball and retrieve this ball after my boat finishes the race. Boats that finish after me may not have the red ball to form the finish line. This is why the finish line is an extension of a line from the jetty lighthouse through the yellow start mark.  This makes it easy to tell when you have finished as you sail by the yellow start ball and see the range of the ball & lighthouse is passed.  The finish line is about 5 boat-lengths beyond the start mark.

I will see you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice