MAY 9, 2023 BEST WIND THIS SEASON!

 

MAY 9, 2023

BEST WIND THIS SEASON!

I arrived at the boat early in the afternoon and passed time socializing with dock mates.  I monitored the flags, and they seemed to confirm the forecast for the evening: 15-17 knots with gusts of 20.  I did not even consider swapping out my 155 for the 135.  The crew arrived and we left the dock at 5pm.   As we left the harbor, I was surprised that conditions called for a reefed main.  It was quite windy with stronger gusts. 

As we approached the start mark area, we determined the wind was coming from 255 and set a line square to the wind.  Since we had time, we sailed further out and saw that the wind was stronger outside.  I saw 27 knots (apparent) on my wind instrument.  It was going to be an interesting night sailing with a partially furled, 155 headsail. We called for course Whiskey 2 for Fleet A and Whiskey 3 for Fleet B.  We blew the 10-minute horn, which apparently did not go over the radio so this left questions for both fleets on the accurate start time.  On PAD we were inside sighting the line for the Fleet A start and were surprised that all boats seemed to start a little late, due to the no horn confusion.

All boats in each fleet had clean starts and the first of A Fleet to round Schuyler was Coyote and Sagittarius followed by Double Espresso, Aquavit, Tusitala, Watts Moore and Rosie.   The first of B Fleet to round was Zoop, followed by Gold Rush, Avatar, Perfect 36, Pair A Dice, Makani, Pacific Spirit, Kicks, Nidaros and Big Mac.

It was an interesting run from Schuyler to Blacks with most boats sailing wing on wing.  Finally, the 155 was working for us! It was frustrating to see Aboriginal sail an awesome race, but because of a Race QS error or malfunction, their track only showed a 7 second track.  I know they are fast, but it takes longer than 7 seconds to sail Whiskey 2, even for them!

At the finish for A fleet, first over the line (with a recorded track) was Sagittarius 43:11, followed by Coyote 43:28, Aquavit 44:23, Tusitala 46:33, Watts Moore 47:06 and Rosie 51:44.  Fleet B finished their shorter course with Zoop leading 44:19, followed by Gold Rush 45:39, Avatar 49:17, Makani 49:56, Pacific Spirit 50:21, Perfect 36 50:28, Pair A Dice 51:10, Kicks 57:52, Nidaros 58:00 and Big Mac 1:00:17.  All times are elapsed and the course distance for Fleet A was 4.76NM and Fleet B course was 3.7NM.

It was a beautiful evening on the water with over 20 boats out.  With the hit or miss characteristics of sailing in Santa Cruz, it was great to have an evening with the best wind of the season.

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS

FLEET A

PLACE                   BOAT                     ADJUSTED TIME

1             SAGITTARIUS                     33:59

2             WATTS MOORE                  35:12

3             COYOTE                              36:38

4             AQUAVIT                             38:40

5             ROSIE                                   38:52

6             TUSITALA                            39:24

FLEET B

1             ZOOP                                    35:26

2             GOLD RUSH                        37:52

3             PAIR A DICE                        40:04

4             PACIFIC SPIRIT                   40:10

5             MAKANI                              40:52

6             AVATAR                                41:08

7             PERFECT 36                         41:35

8             BIG MAC                              46:35

9             KICKS                                   46:42

10           NIDAROS                             51:20

 

Race QS:

The track for this evening can be found at:

 https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&updatedAt=2023-05-10T02:25:56Z&divisionId=89385&dt=2023-05-09T17:50:03-07:00..2023-05-09T19:23:54-07:00&model=&iframe=true&time=1683684115000&focus=Watts%20Moore%E2%80%A6&rival=Tusitala&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.958866&lon=-121.993825&tilt=1&range=6668&heading=2

When it works, Race QS is an awesome app.  It is always discouraging for me to see boats out and doing very well, but having no Race QS track prevents them from being counted.  The following tips may optimize your use and hopefully guarantee that the app will work for you. 

                1)preset your start before you go to the boat.  You could even do it while drinking your morning coffee.  I preset the start to 5:45 (17:45) to capture pre-race action. Confirm the start time before clicking “ON” to set it.

                2)Plug your phone in so it does not lose its charge.

                3) Mount the phone as close to boat center line face up with top of phone pointed toward the bow, I have a cradle in my chart table to mount my phone.

                4) I upload my track after returning to the harbor.  A note will come up on the screen in about 2 seconds “track successfully uploaded”.

FINISH LINE:

What constitutes the finish line?  There is confusion because of changes I made this year.   Before this year, we used the extension of the line from the lighthouse through the start mark.  Last year we divided into two fleets which resulted in situations where some boats could be rounding a mark to one side while other boats could be finishing on the opposite side of the mark.  I saw potential danger with this scenario so I have tried to change the finish line to use the line from Lighthouse to start mark. We cannot follow the tradition of using the start line as a finish line because I need to retrieve the temporary mark we use for the line.  Another issue is that the start mark is not always in the same location, so it may be difficult to ascertain which side of the boat the mark is passed using Race QS.

For Tuesday night sailing, I do everything I can to count all boats.  This is a “developmental series” and is supposed to be fun.  The course card indicates, for each finish, the side of the boat the mark should be on.  If you don’t use an improper rounding to your advantage, you will be counted. I will use a line that every boat passes through as a finish line.  If the line remains the same for everyone, the results will be accurate.  Please attempt to round the mark on the side indicated on the course card, as close as possible (within 200 feet).

I hope to see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice