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