APRIL 11, 2023
CONFUSED, WINDY
EVENING
Once again the predictions for the evening were for winds in
excess of 20 knots, but when I got to the harbor around 3 o’clock, there was a
light Easterly apparent on the flags. Looking at the weather map, the stronger winds
that were predicted were further out in
the bay. Predictions for closer
to land were for a lighter breeze. When
we left the harbor shortly after 5, we noticed a healthy Northerly breeze near
the harbor entrance but as we approached the start area, there was a healthy
breeze from 265. We set a line roughly
square to the outside breeze, called for course Whiskey 2 and blew a horn at
5:50 for a 2 fleet start.
Both fleets got off to a clean start, charging into the
unusually squirrelly conditions. Winds were constantly changing direction with
headers and lifts rapidly exerting a quagmire of conditions. This made it very difficult to steer and just
to make it more challenging, there were “transition zones” where the wind was
nearly nonexistent. Some boats sailed straight outside for the stronger, more
predictable wind and though they sailed further, this tactic worked well. We
finally rounded Schuyler and started our reach to Mile buoy then off toward
Blacks.
While sailing toward Mile, we were taking waves on our
starboard rear quarter which was a difficult angle to catch waves. From Mile to Blacks, the angle was much
better and we gathered our crew on the bow to enhance our wave-catching
experience. We still had to deal with
the transition zones with little wind. Distances between boats were constantly changing
as boats would enter and exit these transitional dead zones. As we approached Blacks, we could see the
Northerly wind blowing off the beach and set up to use this northerly for a
proper rounding of Blacks, which was interesting as gusts would cause the boat
to head up making it difficult to not paste the mark. This is where the main-sheet trimmer comes
into play.
It was great to be sailing in some healthy wind and clear
skies even though it was a CONFUSED WINDY EVENING.
 |
| THANKS TO HOLLY HARRISON FOR THIS PHOTO TAKEN ON ZOOP |
WHAT! NO RACE QS?
I was surprised this morning when I got on Race QS and saw that I could not
pull up the track from last night. It’s
like our race committee unknowingly went on strike, so there is no way for me
to count the results from last night. I
am in communication with Race QS trying to find out what happened. I am hopeful that we can resolve this issue.
If that track is available later, I will post results.
In anticipation of Race QS “sailing over the horizon”, I am
exploring other apps to take it’s
place. I have looked at
Proregatta (too expensive), Kwindoo (can
only be used on apple phone and requires “sponsors” to pay for it). TracTrac (does not use phone apps and must
purchase their equipment), Tacktracker (only uses I-phones). I was encouraged with I-Sail which said they
use I phone and Android phones but when I tried to load it on my Android phone, it said it was designed for an older version
of Android. I am still looking, but if
anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way.
THE SANTA CRUZ EDDY:
So what causes the unusual wind that we had on this evening? It is because of our bay, its relationship to
the strong outside wind and the topography of our coastline. My understanding is that the Santa Cruz Eddy,
in its milder form, causes our Easterly breezes we enjoy through the
summer. When the wind gets much stronger
outside the bay, it forces wind up over
the mountains north of the bay and when this wind flows down the San Lorenzo
river, it causes our Northerly blowing off the beach.
DEALING WITH SQUIRRELLY CONDITIONS:
Heavy gusts in constantly changing direction! What could go wrong? These are challenging conditions that require
constant attention from both the helmsperson and the crew. You always want to keep the boat as flat as
possible or at least the same angle of heel in order to maximize the effect of
the foils that drive the boat forward. This
requires an active mainsheet trimmer travelling down on the heavy gusts and the
helmsperson using the telltales to take advantage of lifts and keep the boat
moving with the headers.
We will see you next Tuesday.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
RESULTS:
The first of fleet A to finish was Aboriginal 24:34,
followed by Sagittarius 41:53, Aquavit
42:30, Perigon 42:43, Avatar 46:50, Good Timin’
47:39, Perfect 36 48:22 and Rosie 58:11.
Fleet B had Gold Rush first over at 43:05, followed by Zoop 43:22, Nidaros
46:17, Pacific Spirit 47:06, Makani 48:12, Pair A Dice 51:01 and Big Mac 51:55. All times are elapsed and the course distance
was 4.35 NM.
PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:
FLEET A
PLACE BOAT ADJUSTED TIME
1 ABORIGINAL 32:10
2 SAGITTARIUS 33:11
3 PERIGON 36:50
4 AVATAR 37:15
5 AQUAVIT 37:16
6 GOOD
TIMIN’ 37:25
7 PERFECT
36 37:55
8 ROSIE 46:28
FLEET B:
1 ZOOP 32:55
2 GOLD RUSH 33:57
3 PACIFIC
SPIRIT 35:08
4 BIG MAC 35:49
5 MAKANI 37:32
6 SAILING
PAIR A DICE 37:58
7 NIDAROS 38:27
To see the Race QS track,
click on this link:
To open the
track, you may need to open the menu by clicking on the wheel in upper right corner and selecting “play”.
See you next Tuesday.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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