JULY 5, 2022 FIRECRACKER TUESDAY

 

JULY 5, 2022

FIRECRACKER TUESDAY

With Predict wind calling for 11 knots decreasing to 7 knots through the evening, I was anticipating another no-wind Tuesday on the water.  I was surprised to see a fairly strong Northwesterly blowing when I got to the harbor. I have seen this before as the wind dies at 6pm.  We prepped the boat and left the harbor right after five pm, the conditions on the water looked like 15 knots even as we saw 18 knots apparent even inside the harbor.

We arrived at the start mark area and determined the wind direction to be from 240 and set a mark square to this wind. We called for course Whiskey 2: Start, Schuyler, Mile, Blacks and finish at the yellow start mark.  We attempted to blow a 5 minute horn and actually blew it but my radio died just in time for the horn not be heard over the radio. I apologize for this snafu, my radio battery suddenly died.   We had a clean start with one boat port-tacking the whole fleet.

All boats tacked their way toward Shuyler with the first around being Sweetheart followed by Aboriginal then Friskey, Yellow Belly, New Wave, Perfect 36, Geronimo, Makani, Avatar, Watts Moore, Pacific Spirit, Tusitala, Pair A Dice, Big Mac, Toad, Kicks Nidaros and Sweet Pea.

On the reach to Mile, there were some changes. Sweetheart was first around, followed by Aboriginal, Friskey, Perfect 36, Yellow Belly and New Wave together, then Geronimo, Makani, Avatar, Watts Moore, Pacific Spirit, Tusitala, Pair A Dice, Big Mac, Toad, Nidaros, Kicks and Sweet Pea.

  On the long down-wind leg to Blacks, Geronimo pulled ahead of New Wave and Yellow Belly, while Avatar pulled ahead of Makani and Toad pulled ahead of Big Mac.  There was some exciting close racing occurring.

At the finish Aboriginal was first 40:34 followed by Sweetheart 40:40 then Friskey 45:34, Perfect 36 48:52, Geronimo 49:01, New Wave 49:19, Yellow Belly 49:57, Avatar 50:24, Makani 51:20, Watts Moore 51:30, Pacific Spirit 52:19, Tusitala 53:14, Pair A Dice  54:17, Toad 55:11, Big Mac 56:36, Nidaros 58:02, Kicks 1:01:11 and Sweet Pea 1:02:00 and WINN II 1:03:06.  Times are elapsed and the course distance was 3.92 NM.

It was a beautiful evening for a sail with enough wind for everyone to finish the rather ambitious course. After a fantastic Fourth of July celebration, it was only appropriate to have a Firecracker Tuesday sail.

PHRF CORRECTED RESULTS:

PLACE   BOAT                                     PHRF     SA/D                                      ADJUSTED SECONDS

1              ABORIGINAL                      33           25.43                                     2304

2              PERFECT 36                        144         15.44                                     2367

3              FRISKEY                              81           23.65                                     2416

4              YELLOW BELLY                 141         23.21                                     2444

5              SWEETHEART                     -6            26.33                                     2463

6              WATTS MOORE                   150         24.58                                     2502

7              MAKANI                               147         16.07                                     2503.76

8              PACIFIC SPIRIT                   162         16.58                                     2503.96

9              AVATAR                                132         20.45                                     2506

10           BIG MAC                               222         18.78                                     2525

11           PAIR A DICE                         180         15.22                                     2551

12           NEW WAVE                          99           ?                                             2570

13           GERONIMO                         87           22.15                                      2599

14           TOAD                                   150         17.65                                      2723

15           TUSITALA                            90           18.05                                     2841

16           WINN II                                213         ?                                             2951

17           KICKS                                  180         15.22                                      2965

18           NIDAROS                             117         16.53                                     3058

19           SWEET PEA                         165         16.58                                     3073      

SPLITTING!  HOW?          

Above are results for this Tuesday along with the PHRF rating and the SA/D for each boat.  SA/D stands for Sail Area/Displacement which has been proposed as a way to split the fleet. Cruising boats usually have SA/Ds under 20 and the lighter race boats have SA/ds over 20.

Looking at PHRF, seven of the top ten boats had a PHRF over 100.  Considering SA/D six of the top ten boats had a SA/D over 20.  This analysis indicates to me that many of our cruising boats are competing effectively with the race boats.

On the other hand, the point can be made that some of the race boats are intentionally not sailing to their potential.  Some of the people with race boats may feel  like they are bringing a gun to a knife fight when racing against cruisers.  Splitting the fleet would allow these boats to compete with other race boats.  

Any method used to split the fleet will only remove 6-7 of the 20 boats on the start line.

The ballots are coming in for a close decision.  If you have not sent your ballot in and you have a preference, send your ballot privately to sailingpairadice@gmail.com.

 

Race QS:

The track for this evening can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=81642&updatedAt=2022-07-06T02:26:41Z&dt=2022-07-05T17:45:01-07:00..2022-07-05T19:26:07-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1657072920936&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Tusitala&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.951308&lon=-121.994985&tilt=2&range=605&heading=191FIRECRACKER TUESDAY

 

ROUNDING SCHUYLER:

I learned a few things about this challenging situation this evening. We sailed very close to the kelp bed barely clearing the wharf before tacking out for Schuyler (first mistake). From a distance, it often looks like you will clear Schuyler, but as you approach Schuyler you get headed as the wind starts its bend around the point.  You sail most of the way toward Schuyler thinking "we got this made".  As this scenario plays out, you are approaching Schuyler into a header.  You are pinching to make the mark, and can be blanketed by another boat.

The lessons I learned about this challenge:

1) "Do not sail to the corner".  The further you are from Schuyler, the harder it is to judge the lay line. Sailing clear to the corner also has you sailing into lighter wind.

2) Approaching from further out, gets you closer to  Schuyler and allows you to sail further before tacking for the mark.  When assessing this lay line, count on the header at the mark and be conservative in your estimate of the lay line.

3) Watch for boats that will be rounding outside of you.  Dealing with the header and dirty wind at this mark is a recipe for disaster.

See you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice