AUGUST 23, 2022 MIST-ICAL EVENING WITH BEFUDDLED WIND

 

AUGUST 23, 2022

MIST-ICAL EVENING WITH BEFUDDLED WIND

I was not encouraged when I saw the flags as I arrived at the harbor around 3:30.  A very faint Easterly was showing on the flags.  Was it going to be another evening of drifting in light winds?  As we left the harbor, I was surprised to see a good wind as the fog was moving closer to land.  I had planned to set a temporary mark a couple of hundred yards south-east of Blacks, anticipating a light wind evening.  As we sailed out to set this mark, the wind was increasing, and I decided to just use SC3 (course Echo 2) and did not set the mark.  As I returned to the start area, the wind seemed to be decreasing so I abandoned the idea of using SC3 and called for Echo 5 (twice around Blacks).

We blew a horn at 5:50 for our two-fleet start, Fleet A starting at 5:55. Fleet A started with a bunch of boats at the outer end of the line and Avatar and Pair A Dice setting up for clear air further down the line.  Starting further down the line gave good speed but required tacking over and ducking multiple boats to get to the lay-line.  The first around blacks was Aboriginal followed by Tusitala, Pacific High and New Wave together, Frisky, Aquavit, Geronimo, Jersey Girl, Avatar, Sanctuaire, Gold Rush and Pair A Dice.  For Fleet B the first around was Zoop followed by Pacific Spirit, Kicks, Nidaros and Toad.

Right after rounding the start mark many boats headed in closer to shore, while some boats sailed further out.  The inside track paid off as most of these boats rounded ahead of boats that led them around Blacks on the first rounding.  Was there a fog line (with more wind) inside that lured these boats in?  It certainly was proving to be an exciting evening with a dozen boats rounding marks in close proximity!

At the finish, Aboriginal was first in Fleet A 17:40 followed by New Wave 20:24, Geronimo 20:42, Frisky 21:52, Avatar 22:40, Jersey Girl 22:42, Aquavit 22:57, Double Expresso 22:58, Gold Rush 23:11, Pacific High 23:12, Tusitala 23:31, Sanctuaire 24:03 and Pair a Dice 24:30.  In Fleet B Zoop was first 21:14, Nidaros 24:25, Pacific Spirit 24:51, Toad  24:52 and Kicks 25:42.  All times are elapsed and the course was 1.68 nautical miles.

With the fog line moving in and out creating wind wherever it went, it was a mist-ical evening with befuddled wind.

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE                   BOAT                                     ADJUSTED SECONDS       HIGH SCORE

FLEET A:

1              ABORIGINAL                                      1004                                       12

2              NEW WAVE                                        1057                                       11

3              GERONIMO                                        1095                                       10

4              JERSEY GIRL                                        1125                                       9

5              AVATAR                                               1138                                       8

6              SAILING PAIR A DICE                       1167                                       7

7              FRISKY                                                  1175                                       6

8              GOLD RUSH                                        1179                                       5

9              DOUBLE EXPRESSO                          1211                                       4

10           SANCTUAIRE                                      1251                                       3

11           AQUAVIT                                             1256                                       2

12           TUSITALA                                            1259                                       1

FLEET B:

1              ZOOP                                                    1032                                       5

2              PACIFIC SPIRIT                                   1213                                       4

3              KICKS                                                    1239                                       3

4              TOAD                                                    1240                                       2

5              NIDAROS                                             1283                                       1

 

RACE QS:

The track for this evening can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=83541&updatedAt=2022-08-24T01:57:11Z&dt=2022-08-23T17:40:03-07:00..2022-08-23T18:55:51-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1661303862411&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Avatar&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.949873&lon=-121.988545&tilt=1&range=13317&heading=0

CHASING THE FOG:

We all know that wind is generated as a fog line moves through.  This evening presented a lot of challenges with about 20 boats crowded together in a short course.  Few of us were paying attention to where the fog was or where it was going attempting to avoid other boats.

NEXT TUESDAY IS THE LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH WHICH MEANS IT IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE CLUB AFTER THE RACE.  BRING YOUR BEST BARBECUE ITEMS TO GRILL!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

AUGUST 16, 2022 FOGGY SAIL

 

AUGUST 16, 2022

FOGGY SAIL

By now, you would think I should know better than to even look at Predict Wind for forecasting the wind. They were calling for 9 knots decreasing through the evening.   When I got to the harbor the flags were showing plenty of wind but there was a fog line right on the beach that could have been reason for the wind.  We prepped the boat and left the harbor hoping that the fog would not be too bad on the water. There was a beautiful 10-12 knot wind as we approached the start area.  We checked the wind direction and it was coming from about 220 degrees so we set a line square to this direction.  Once again, as we got closer to 6pm, the wind seemed to decrease a bit so we called for course Whiskey 5: Start to Schuyler and back to start (finish). We had 23 boats that uploaded Race QS tracks.  We blew the horn at 5:50 for the fleet A boats to start at 5:55. B Fleet started at 6pm.   There were a few boats that uploaded tracks, but did not start on the line or finish appropriately so were not included in the results.

All boats tacked their way to Schuyler which was difficult to find in the fog.  Thank God for GPS! The first of A fleet to round Schuyler was Aboriginal followed by Pinata, Sweetheart, Good Timin', Sanctuaire, Jersey Girl, Amor Fati, New Wave,  Aquavit, Tusitala, Perfect 36, Avatar, Big Mac and Pair A Dice.  The B fleet rounded with Gold Rush first followed by Makani, Toad, Kicks, Nidaros, Pacific Spirit and Simpatico.

On the run back to the finish mark, Aboriginal was first 36:47 followed by Pinata 39:05,  Sweetheart 44:04, Good Timin' 45:17, Tusitala 48:19, Jersey Girl 50:16, Sanctuaire 50:46, New Wave 51:05, Aquavit 52:03, Amor Fati 52:14, Avatar 54:49, Perfect 36 55:00, Pair A Dice 58:50 and Big Mac 1:02:52.  The B fleet was led by Gold Rush 54:30 followed by Makani 54:45, Toad 59:41, Kicks 1:02:05, Nidaros 1:05:44, Pacific Spirit 1:09:49 and Simpatico 1:10:00. All times are elapsed and the course length was 2.6 NM.

Despite the fog on the water, the wind kept up for the race.  Perfect conditions for an foggy sail!

PHRF adjusted results:

PLACE                   BOAT                                     ADJUSTED SECONDS                       HIGH SCORE

FLEET A

1              PINATA                                                2095                                                       14

2              ABORIGINAL                                     2121                                                       13

3              GOOD TIMIN'                                     2350                                                       12

4              JERSEY GIRL                                     2649                                                       11

5              SWEETHEART                                   2660                                                       10

6              TUSITALA                                           2665                                                       9

7              SANCTUAIRE                                     2749                                                       8             

8              NEW WAVE                                         2807                                                       7

9              PERFECT 36                                        2925                                                       6

10           AMOR FATI                                          2931                                                       5

11           AQUAVIT                                             2935                                                       4                             

12           AVATAR                                               2945                                                       3

13           PAIR A DICE                                       3062                                                       2

14           BIG MAC                                            3194                                                       1

FLEET B:

1              MAKANI                                              22902                                                    7

2              GOLDRUSH                                        2942                                                       6

3              TOAD                                                   3191                                                       5

4              KICKS                                                  3257                                                       4

5              NIDAROS                                            3663                                                       3

6              PACIFIC SPIRIT                                  3760                                                       2

7              SIMPATICO                                         3771                                                       1

RACE QS:

The track for this evening can be viewed at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=83210&updatedAt=2022-08-17T02:25:17Z&dt=2022-08-16T17:45:34-07:00..2022-08-16T19:25:09-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1660701284186&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Amor%20Fati&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.951072&lon=-121.994229&tilt=10&range=240&heading=2

  

SCORE:

In Santa Cruz sailing we have SCORE races.  SCORE stands for: Santa Cruz Ocean Racing Extravaganza.  This series of races takes place every year.  Why not apply the skills you have learned while racing on Tuesdays?  The first of the series will be this coming Sunday August 21.  You can apply for the series at SCYC.ORG > Regattas > click on SCORE and fill out the registration.  You will need a current PHRF certificate to enter.

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

AUGUST 9, 2022 AWESOME WIND WITH A SAD NOTE

 

AUGUST 9, 2022

AWESOME WIND WITH A SAD NOTE

When I showed up at the harbor at about 3:30, there was quite a stiff breeze showing on the flags.  Would it sustain or die like it usually does right at 6 o'clock?  There was a discussion with crew whether to keep the 155 jib on or swap to the 135.  I decided to keep the 155. In retrospect we should have opted for the 135.  This was apparent as we left the harbor and saw the wind increase further out in the bay.

As we approached the start area, we determine the wind was from the normal 240 degrees and set a line square to the wind.  We announced the course to be Whiskey 3: start, Schuyler, Blacks and finish. We announced the two-fleet start and blew a horn at 5:50 which was the 5 minute horn for A fleet and the 10 minute horn for B fleet.

We had 11 boats that uploaded their track for the fleet A start (5:55) and 9 boats in fleet B starting at 6:00.  On PAD we achieved a clear start, but with up to 20knots of apparent wind, we had the main reefed and the 155 jib partially unfurled.   With this setup, we were able to achieve good boat speed.

In fleet A the first around Schuyler  was Aboriginal followed by Frisky, Pinata, Sanctuaire, Jersey Girl, Avatar, Aquavit, Pacific High, Tusitala, Pair a Dice and Amor Fati.   In B fleet, first around Schuyler was Makani followed by Simpatico, Pacific Spirit, Nidaros, Big Mac, Toad, Kicks and Nola II.

On the long run to Blacks there were few changes in the order of rounding.  As A fleet was finishing, we noticed that the wind was dissipating a bit, making the B fleet finish a little challenging.  In A fleet, the first over the finish line was Aboriginal 33:17, Frisky 37:02, Pinata 38:44, Sanctuaire 41:02, Jersey Girl 42:42, Pacific High 44:14, Avatar 45:17, Aquavit 46:15, Tusitala 47:45, Pair a Dice 48:03 and Amor FIti 51:31. All times are elapsed and the course distance was 3.48 NM.

With the decreasing wind B fleet times were a little longer.  The first over the finish line was Makani 45:17 followed by Simpatico 49:32, Pacific Spirit 49:39, Nidaros 54:16, Toad 54:17, Big Mac 55:33, Kicks 1:03:53 and Nola II 1:12:24.  Times are elapsed and course distance was 3.48NM.

It was a great evening for a sail with awesome wind but with a sad note with the loss one of our stalwarts, Vernon Wallace who passed away on Sunday.

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE    BOAT                                    ADJUSTED SECONDS                       HIGH SCORE

FLEET A:

1              ABORIGINAL                      1882                                                       11

2              FRISKY                                1940                                                       10

3              PINATA                                1989                                                       9

4              SANCTUAIRE                     2065                                                       8

5              JERSEY GIRL                      2071                                                       7

6              PAIR A DICE                        2256                                                       6

7              AVATAR                                2257                                                       5

8              PACIFIC HIGH                    2330                                                       4

9              AQUAVIT                             2524                                                       3

10           TUSITALA                            2551                                                       2

11           AMOR FATI                          2819                                                       1

FLEET B:

1              MAKANI                              2205                                                       8

2              SIMPATICO                          2397                                                       7

3              PACIFIC SPIRIT                   2404                                                       6

4              BIG MAC                              2560                                                       5

5              TOAD                                    2735                                                       4

6              NIDAROS                             2880                                                       3

7              KICKS                                   3206                                                       2

8             NOLA II                                 3822                                                       1             

Race QS:

We are still attracting new participants in our Tuesday Night races.  To be counted, you must run Race QS.  It takes awhile to learn how to use this app.  One thing to remember: preset your start so it starts tracking before the start of the race.  If you do not do this, or start your track after the start of the race, your avatar appears stationary wherever your boat was when your track starts.  This makes it look like you are OCS.  Now that we have two fleets, I need to be able to determine where your boat was at start time.

The track for A fleet can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=82949&updatedAt=2022-08-10T02:28:42Z&dt=2022-08-09T17:40:02-07:00..2022-08-09T19:27:40-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1660094084548&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Avatar&tab=setup&view=match

The track for Fleet B can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&updatedAt=2022-08-10T02:28:42Z&dt=2022-08-09T17:40:02-07:00..2022-08-09T19:27:40-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1660097544841&focus=Pacific%20Spirit&rival=Makani&tab=match&view=manual&lat=36.950924&lon=-121.994946&tilt=5&range=808&heading=239

Vernon Wallace RIP;

As noted above, we lost Vern this last Tuesday.  For members of SCYC, this loss is like a kick in the gut.  Vern was a regular participant in Tuesday Night Sails crewing on Aeolian.  He was an inspiration setting an incredible example of being mild-mannered,  thoughtful, and intelligence.  Some of the boats spread flowers across the start line on this evening to honor him.  He will be missed!

DEVELOPMENTAL SERIES:

Tuesday night sailing is a developmental series and a great way to learn and improve your racing performance.  For the newer participants, the setup may seem a little unusual:  No race committee (race QS is our race committee), only one horn blown for the start sequence and the finish line being an EXTENTION of the line from the jetty lighthouse through the start mark. Over the sailing seasons I have seen many boats, timidly start and improve their performance over the season.  Keep participating and keep improving!

BOAT CONTROL:

Our harbor can present challenging situations with its wind and currents.  Lord knows, I have experienced problems controlling my boat in these situations.  One critical thing to keep in mind: The most dangerous situation is when your boat is stationary in the water.  Water flowing past rudder and keel offers control!  Always keep in mind the effects of prop walk (usually to port when backing up). When backing out of a slip the way to avoid this prop walk is to shift to reverse, rev the engine to get the boat MOVING, then lower the RPM and shift to neutral.  In neutral, you can steer the boat with no prop wash.  Keeping the boat moving is critical. While your boat is backing up in neutral, shift to forward, rev the engine to stop the backward movement and get the boat moving forward, minimizing the time your boat is stationary in the water.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

august 2, 2022 WHERE IS THE WIND?

 

Question for the night: where’s the wind?  As we left the harbor, there was a lovely 6 kt easterly blowing. Seas were moderate, skies were sunny and warm. I didn’t get a count of the fleet, but 16 boats recorded tracks on RaceQs. The start line was set nicely perpendicular to the wind, so neither end was strongly favored.

As boats were preparing to start the countdown sequence, we were not surprised to find the wind dying to nearly zero. As we bobbed around, looking for a breeze, Stefan declared ten minutes of Start delay. He also called for course B5, which caused some confusion as there is no such course. When someone asked if he meant course E5, he admitted that B5 is found on an outdated course card, and that he did, indeed, mean E5: Start, Blacks, round Start, Blacks again, and Finish. With the course straightened out, we all got back to planning our strategies. 

This was a two division start, with the A fleet starting 5 minutes after the warning, and the B fleet starting 5 minutes later (10 minutes after the warning). 10 boats choose to join the A fleet, and 6 boats joined the B fleet. This arrangement seemed to work well, with a bunch of big, fast boats in A, and most of the cruising type boats choosing B. By 6:00p, the easterly had returned, so the warning horn was sounded, and the races began in earnest. Fortunately, this returning easterly held throughout the race, and at one point it piped up to 12 kts.

The A division start saw 5 boats close together at the right end of the line, with the other 5 spread out along the rest of the line. They all headed toward the beach on starboard tacks, and as we approached the kelp, boats tacked over one by one to port as the opportunity to find gaps between the starboard boats opened up.

The first boats arrived at Blacks soon after the start, because it’s less than a half mile upwind, and there were some close and exciting roundings, but I didn’t observe any collisions. The rounding order for the A fleet was: Pacific High, Avatar, Watts Moore, Sweetheart, Sanctuaire, Tusitala, New Wave, Pair-a-Dice, Sagittarius, and Big Mac. For the B fleet, it was Toad, Makani, Kicks, Natorius and Pacific Spirit. Zoop was racing, but didn't show up on the RaceQs tracks or results.

The short downwind back to the Start was mostly a race between whisker poles vs. downwind jibing. There were few changes in position, largely because there wasn’t a lot of time. By this point, the breeze was a nice 10-12 kts, still from the east. The fleet has spread out some by the second rounding of Blacks.
The run back to the Finish was a quick rerun of the first downwind leg, with close finishes throughout the fleet. The A fleet finish order and elapsed times:  Pacific High 27:33, Sweetheart 27:42, Avatar 27:46, Watts Moore 27:56, Tusitala 28:28, Sanctuaire 28:44, New Wave 29:33, Pair-a-Dice 30:42, Sagittarius 30:52, and Big Mac 32:42. The B fleet was a bit more spread out.  Finish order and elapsed times were: Makani 31:20, Toad 31:27, Pacific Spirit 34:38, Kicks 34:46, and Natorious 37:24.

Corrected times, per RaceQs:

A fleet:  Pacific High N/A, Watts Moore 23:50, Avatar 24:11, Sanctuaire 25:36, Tusitala 25:47, Pair-a-Dice 25:48, Big Mac 26:36, New Wave 26:48, Sagittarius 27:39, and Sweetheart 28:06.  RaceQs track for A Fleet: https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1066813&divisionId=82646&updatedAt=2022-08-03T01:55:47Z&dt=2022-08-02T17:31:43-07:00..2022-08-02T18:55:34-07:00&boat=Avatar&model=Express27&time=1659488631593&focus=Avatar&rival=Nueva%20Ola&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.951202&lon=-121.994407&tilt=1&range=604&heading=90

B fleet:: Makani 27:20, Toad 27:27, Kicks 29:52, Pacific Spirit 30:12, and Natorious 32:29. RaceQs track for B Fleet: https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1010599&divisionId=82651&updatedAt=2022-08-03T02:13:31Z&dt=2022-08-02T17:30:16-07:00..2022-08-02T19:10:27-07:00&boat=Makani&time=1659488777372&focus=Makani&rival=TOAD&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.950816&lon=-121.995773&tilt=1&range=1242&heading=171

The entire race was less than 30 minutes for the leaders. But those were fun minutes for all the sailors.

The Tuesday races in the summer present a lot of evenings of variable winds, as we had this week. Some of the key strategies I have found useful in these conditions are based on the fact that the courses are usually very short, in case the wind disappears completely:

 -  Stay close to the start line, so you don’t get becalmed with no way to start

 -  Starting on time and in clear air is especially important, because there’s little time to make up for a bad start

 -  Knowing where the breeze is likely to show up depends on local knowledge. It can be smart to watch what the old hands do (and don’t do), and to ask other sailors what they did that worked well in any particular evening. But keeping a sharp lookout for changing breezes can trump the conventional wisdom on any given night.

 -  Keep it light and fun, even if you’re super competitive. For example:

Joke of the week:
Skipper 1:  I’m going to protest you for this race.
Skipper 2: Oh no! What did I do??!
Skipper 1: You didn’t wait for me.

Hope to see you all out next week.

Doug.

Douglas Mahone
doug@dmahone.com
(916) 541-6607

Thanks Doug for an excellent recap while I was out of town.  Below are my adjusted results.

Barry

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE   BOAT                     ELAPSED TIME          ADJUSTED SECONDS                 HIGH SCORE

FLEET A:

1              WATTS MOORE                 27:53                     1421                                                       10

2              AVATAR                               27:44                     1442                                                      9            

3              PACIFIC HIGH                    27:27                     1490                                                       8                                            

4              SANCTUAIRE                     28:41                     1529                                                       7

5              PAIR A DICE                        30:41                     1538                                                       6

6              TUSITALA                            28:23                     1551                                                       5

7              BIG MAC                              32:34                     1581                                                       4

8              NEW WAVE                          29:29                     1602                                                       3

9              SAGITTARIUS                     30:49                     1647                                                       2

10           SWEETHEART                     27:40                     1670                                                       1

FLEET B:

1              MAKANI                              31:18                     1631                                                       6

2              TOAD                                    31:25                     1633                                                       5

3              KICKS                                   34:43                     1780                                                       4

4              PACIFIC SPIRIT                   34:32                     1799                                                       3

5              WINN II                                35:58                     1800                                                       2

6              SEA QUAKE                         37:21                     1940                                                       1