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:
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
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