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