JUNE 27, 2023 SUDDEN SHIFT IN WIND

 

JUNE 27, 2023

SUDDEN SHIFT IN WIND

Predictions were all over the place for the evening.  Predictions of 10 knot winds decreasing through the evening seemed spot on as we left the harbor at 5:15.   There was a very faint Easterly starting to build and we delayed setting the start line mark as long as possible to let conditions settle in.  Finally at about 5:40, we set the line for an Easterly breeze and almost like a signal, as soon as we set the mark, the wind immediately filled in from the Northwest.  We had to delay the start for five minutes to reset the start line for the new wind.  We blew the ten minute horn at 5:55 and called for course Whiskey 6.

Fleet A got off the line for their 6 pm start and made their way to Schuyler as Fleet B started five minutes later.  The wind had filled in nicely as all boats made their way to windward.  The first A fleet boat to round Schuyler was Sweetheart followed by  Aboriginal, Perigon, Frisky, Aquavit, Yellow Belly, Sagittarius and Tusitala.  The first B fleet boat to round Schuyler was Avatar followed by Perfect 36, Pacific Spirit, Pair a Dice, Big Mac, Toad, Sweet Pea, Nidaros and Rosie. 

All boats made their way downwind to the finish line and the first A fleet boat over the line was Aboriginal 29:04, followed by Sweetheart 29:14, Perigon 35:56, Aquavit 36:25, Double Espresso 36:43, Frisky 36:45,  Yellow Belly 37:04, Sagittarius 37:58 and Tusitala 43:13 and Wind II 46:24.  B Fleet was led by Zoop 38:15 followed by Perfect 36 40:25, Avatar  40:48, Big Mac 42:07, Pair A Dice 42:14,  Toad 42:29, Nidaros 42:53, Pacific Spirit 43:00, Sweet Pea 43:17 and Rosie 43:59.   All times are elapsed and the course distance was 2.6NM.

After seeing such light wind when we first went out and anticipating a “Bob-Fest”, it was awesome to have the Northwest fill in with a sudden shift in wind.

RACE QS:

Race QS is almost back to normal.  There are still tracks that are not recording or being uploaded. I still recommend recording your finish time as a backup. The track for this evening can be seen at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1147771&updatedAt=2023-06-28T02:08:28Z&dt=2023-06-27T17:49:26-07:00..2023-06-27T19:08:26-07:00&boat=Aquavit&time=1687916939482&focus=Aquavit&rival=Unknown&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.950582&lon=-121.993695&tilt=9&range=292&heading=54

THANKS TO LIBBY MCCORD ON BIG MAC FOR THE PHOTO

PHRF adjusted results:

PLACE                   BOAT                     ADJUSTED TIME

FLEET A:

1             ABORIGINAL                      27:38

2             SWEETHEART                    29:29

3             YELLOW BELLY                30:57

4\            PERIGON                             32:25\   TIE

4 /           DOUBLE ESPRESSO          32:25/   TIE

6             SAGITTARIUS                     32:46

7             FRISKY                                33:14

8             AQUAVIT                             33:18

9             WIND II                                37:10

10           TUSITALA                            39:19   

FLEET B:

1             ZOOP                                    32:00

2             BIG MAC                              32:29

3             PERFECT 36                        34:10

4             SAILING PAIR A DICE        34:26

5             AVATAR                                35:04

6             PACIFIC SPIRIT                   35:51

7             TOAD                                    35:59

8             SWEET PEA                         36:08

9             ROSIE                                    36:57

10           NIDAROS                             38:12

 

UNUSUAL WIND CHANGE:

What caused the unusual wind shift? I consulted with Paul Tara on this and apparently the fog banks and overhead clouds were exerting their effect.  The Easterly wind that was initially apparent was a very warm wind, but the fog chilled westerly wind overpowered the warmer Easterly. “We sail in the surface wind. Cold air sinks to the surface. The easterly was not well established and wasn’t cold.  The Westerly was very cold when it first filled, indicating the fog face (the energy source) was much closer to the west.” Paul Tara               

I think the takeaway for me is to be sensitive to temperature changes in the different directions of wind.

NEXT WEEK JULY 4:

Next Tuesday is the July 4 holiday. The firecracker regatta going to Monterey is happening on Sunday July 2. This means that you can participate in the Firecracker on Sunday, return to Santa Cruz on Monday and sail on Tuesday night.  I am planning on setting up our Tuesday Night race at the regular time (6pm) on July 4. I completely understand other commitments  for the Holiday, but I will plan on racing on July 4.

The club will have a special dinner offered for $20.  This includes: salads, baked beans, corn on the cob, tri-tip, BBQ chicken and apple pie ala mode.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

JUNE 20, 2023 BRISK SOLSTICE WINDS

 

JUNE 20, 2023

BRISK SOLSTICE WINDS

Returning from my vacation, it was good to see that we had brisk winds to work with. No bobbing tonight!  We left the harbor with enough wind to indicate that a reef was necessary.   We determined the wind was coming from 235 degrees and set a mark square to this.  We called for course Whiskey 1 and blew the “10-minute horn”.  Fleet A had a clean start with most boats at the red ball end of the line, indicating that maybe the line was not as square as we thought. Fleet B had a few boats OCS but most returned to cross the line appropriately.

Though there was plenty of wind to work with, there were lulls and gusts that had to be considered.  There was also a lot of wave action that slowed boats when they were on starboard tack.  The first Fleet A boat to round Schuyler was Aboriginal followed by Yellow Belly, Geronimo, Sagittarius, Perigon and Rosie.  Fleet B had Perfect 36 first around Schuyler followed by Nidaros, Makani, Zoop, Schock  Therapy,  Pacific Spirit,  Toad, Pair a Dice, Big Mac and Simpatico.

As boats rounded Mile Buoy and made their way to Gov, the Northerly started filling in which necessitated tacking to be able to round Gov.  At the finish Aboriginal was the first  A fleet boat to cross, 38:44 followed by Geronimo 47:14, Perigon 47:54, Yellow Belly 48:58, Sagittarius 50:27 and Rosie 54:39. B fleet was led at the finish  by Perfect 36 49:42, followed by Zoop 50:30, Makani 52:10, Nidaros 53:57, Pacific Spirit 56:34,  Schock  Therapy 57:01, Pair A Dice 58:28, Big Mac 1:00:51, Toad 1:01:59 and Simpatico 1:03:46.  All times are elapsed and the course distance was 4.2 NM.

With the summer solstice happening the next day, it was great to have some brisk solstice winds.

THANKS TO NGUYET FOR THE PHOTO

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE    BOAT                                     ADJUSTED TIME

FLEET A

1             ABORIGINAL                      36:25

2             YELLOW BELLY                 39:05

3             GERONIMO                         41:08

4             SAGITTARIUS                     42:03

5             PERIGON                             42:13

6             ROSIE                                   43:18

FLEET B

1             PERFECT 36                        39:37

2             SCHOCK THERAPY           40:00

3             ZOOP                                    40:25

4             MAKANI                              41:52

5             PACIFIC SPIRIT                   45:01

6             BIG MAC                              45:18

7             PAIR A DICE                         45:52

8             NIDAROS                             46:23

9             TOAD                                    51:29

10           SIMPATICO                         52:13                                                                                   

 

Race Qs:

The track for this evening can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011017&divisionId=91022&updatedAt=2023-06-21T02:40:00Z&dt=2023-06-20T17:45:11-07:00..2023-06-20T19:37:20-07:00&boat=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&time=1687312179891&focus=SAILING%20PAIR%20A%20DICE&rival=Schock%20Therapy&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.956230&lon=-121.994829&tilt=1&range=1942&heading=232

Race QS has been having problems, though most tracks worked for this race.  I like Chris’s approach to this problem.  Each boat should record the time they finish and the boats that finished just ahead and behind.  With this information, if your track does not upload and you report this information to me,  we can  still include you in the blog.

STARTING STRATEGIES:

Accomplishing a good start is a critical part of racing.  Port tack starts can be exciting but also risky if you need to duck multiple SB tack boats.  This is why most boats start on starboard tack.  On this night, I was egregiously OCS at the start and had to come back to start appropriately.  I guess I was “still on vacation”, but it impressed me about the importance of monitoring your position in relation to the line.

See you next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

 

JUNE 13, 2023 SUNSHINE, GOOD WIND AND RACE QS WORKS

 

June 13 Sunshine, Good Wind, and Raceqs Work For Me

When I checked on some boat stuff at the harbor around noon it was looking like still another June Doom and Gloom Tuesday with light wind and overcast skies. When I returned at 1700 it was surprising and refreshing to see glorious sunny skies and reports of 16-18 mph westerly wind at the crows nest. We reefed in the harbor as a precautionary measure. As we proceeded out to the start area the wind began its usual tapering to about 9-11, and then settled in at about 8 mph at 240 degrees for the first start. We called for course W3, with possible shortening to W6 should the wind continue to die as it did the previous week. About 17 boats were out for the fun with a couple of new guests including a J70 and a Santa Cruz 27 (interlude) tagging along.

I missed blowing the first warning horn at our usual 17:50:00 as we were shaking out the reef in the mainsail but was able to pick up the count with a 4 minute preparatory horn 17:51:00 and both starts came off smoothly at 1755 and 1800.

With  a long start line and the port end of the line slightly favored, a few boats were able to successfully find openings to execute clean port tack starts. From the raceqs track it appeared that Yellowbelly and a few boats in B fleet were just a bit early to the pin end of the line and did a quick recovery around the pin and restarted on port tack.

With the wind back to its usual 240-260 degrees it returned to the classical Santa Cruz horse race on port tack to the right corner in the area near the wharf, and then try to call the layline just right and anticipate the lift on starboard tack out to Schuyler.

The wind held nicely for both fleets and we all easily completed the full W3 course in a nice breeze. Some boats sailed back up to the wharf to catch the new Tuesday Night Concerts on the wharf series.

Raceq appears to be back and functioning correctly with the exception of Yellowbelly, which stalled out on recording near the finish. Don recorded and reported Yellowbelly's finish time.

Raceq's tracks are at

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1185450&updatedAt=2023-06-14T01:32:33Z&dt=2023-06-13T17:37:46-07:00..2023-06-13T18:32:31-07:00&boat=Aboriginal&time=1686703754985&focus=Aboriginal&tab=fleet&view=manual&lat=36.950697&lon=-122.002804&tilt=1&range=3734&heading=360&rival=PERIGON

Results including finish time, adjustment, and corrected time for A a d B fleets were:

ABORIGINAL	18:31:09	0:01:53	18:29:16	A
SWEETHEART	18:34:24	-0:00:21	18:34:45	A
SAGITTARIUS	18:37:02	0:06:50	18:30:12	A
FLEXI FLYER	18:38:34	0:05:28	18:33:06	A
PERIGON	18:39:06	0:04:37	18:34:29	A
INTERLUDE	18:40:42	0:08:02	18:32:40	A
YELLOW BELLY	18:43:05	0:08:02	18:35:03	A
ZOOP	18:44:25	0:08:12	18:36:13	B 1st
ROSIE	18:44:44	0:09:14	18:35:30	A
TUSITALA	18:45:42	0:05:08	18:40:34	A
THE PERFECT 36	18:46:07	0:08:12	18:37:55	B 2cd
TOAD	18:50:32	0:08:23	18:42:09	B 3rd
BIG MAC	18:51:24	0:12:39	18:38:45	B 4th
NIDAROS II	18:52:22	0:06:09	18:46:13	B 5th
KICKS	18:52:59	0:10:16	18:42:43	B 6th
SIMPATICO	18:53:13	0:09:24	18:43:49	B 7th
WIND II	18:54:31	0:12:08	18:42:23	A

The Tuesday night courses are always a work in progress and we usually make at least a few smaller adjustments at the beginning of each year. This year we made some larger overhauls and many of those changes seem to be working ok after working out a few kinks. We also had some interesting new plans for some starts at SC2 but now those plans have been foiled due to the powers at be removing that mark.

These last 3 weeks have brought on a few more ideas for some improvements. It might be interesting to have some Tuesday night finishes in Cowell Cove and catch a bit of the live music that is playing on the wharf. Also, the idea of making a gate out at S/F on the downwind leg of W3 to allow for a possible shortened course there might also be beneficial.  That would allow us to call the regular W3 long course down to Black Pt. Mark, but also shorten finish as boats pass by within 200 feet of S/F if the wind dies. Inserting  gates in a few of the courses could make the course calling much easier and allow us to stay out for more good sailing on those nights when the wind does not die.  If you have additional ideas about course changes or improvements be sure to mention them to Barry or myself and we will put them in the hopper for consideration next year.

************

Thanks Chris for an awesome job.  I will see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JUNE 6, 2023 WILL SUMMER EVER ARRIVE? WILL RACE QS EVER WORK?

 June 6. Will Summer Ever Arrive? Will Raceqs Ever Work?

After a drizzly day it started to clear a bit around the bay and there was a pleasant 8-11mph breeze out of the west and south west as we arrived at the starting area. There was some chop leftover from storms that had been passing through the area earlier in the day making steering a bit tricky going up wind.

I was hoping the wind would hold out for a slightly longer course than last week and called for W3. Boats got off to good starts at 17:55 and 18:00 and the beat to Schuyler mark started well for most boats with many boats crossing tacks and fewer going to the right corner of the course with the wind around to the south a bit from our normal 240-260.

As the middle of the fleet approached the weather mark the wind started to taper. At least one boat was pinching hard to lay the mark but got stuck in irons trying to round. On the run down to Black's the search was on for the best breeze as the wind died and became more shifty.

Seeing that the wind was continuing to die, I called for a shorten course at the S/F to avoid having the fleets sail further into the hole that was developing closer to Black's Mark.

The fleet split with some boats going outside with wing on wing sail trim, others going inside on a tighter port tack reach closer to shore looking for puffs off the beach. Still others tried to sail the rhumb line on a bit broader reach towards Blacks. The boats jockeyed back and forth with each of the strategies working at times.

We had some problems with Raceqs loading any track this week and requested that all the skippers report finish times to scyc.race.results@gmail.com with Boat Name, finish time, Start Fleet/Time, and recollection of any other boats nearby at the finish. This process worked fairly well with 7 boats having good finish times and others pitched in with relative finishes to other boats. But just as all the results were compiled on Friday morning Raceqs decided it was time to rise from the dead and report results.

We will continue to gather times in this fashion until Raceqs seems to get more stable so be sure to record your finish and send it in. This also helps to verify Raceqs results when it is reporting.

Raceqs recordings should now be available at

PHRF A

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1011074&divisionId=90522&updatedAt=2023-06-09T15:47:49Z&dt=2023-06-06T17:49:52-07:00..2023-06-06T19:14:24-07:00&boat=Tusitala&model=Bavaria40&time=1686099215001&focus=Tusitala&rival=PERIGON&tab=fleet&view=follow&lat=36.951837&lon=-121.993883&tilt=1&range=1080&heading=360

PHRF B

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1169353&divisionId=90523&updatedAt=2023-06-07T02:18:29Z&dt=2023-06-06T17:40:02-07:00..2023-06-06T19:18:03-07:00&boat=Zoop&time=1686099642798&focus=Zoop&rival=P36%20(alt)&tab=fleet&view=auto

Here are the results for the evening with combination

of reported times and times pulled from Raceqs

now that it is back up.  Hopefully this will go smoother

next week

Boat	Finish	Elapsed	Corrected	Time to Lead
Aboriginal	18:36:13	0:41:13	39:47:00
Aboriginal 2	18:36:14	0:41:14	39:47:00	0:00:00
Yellowbelly	18:48:21	0:53:21	47:13:00	0:07:26
Flexi Flyer	18:49:40	54:40:00	50:30:00
Double Exp	No Report
Sagittarius	18:53:03	0:58:03	52:50:00	0:13:03
PERIGON	18:53:59	0:58:59	55:28:00	0:15:41
Tusitala	18:54:40	0:59:40	55:45:00	0:15:58
Zoop	18:54:39	0:54:39	48:24:00
Nidaros II	18:54:54	0:54:54	50:12:00	0:01:48
Perf36	18:59:43	0:59:43	53:28:00	0:05:04
P36 (alt)	18:59:46	0:59:46	53:31:00	0:05:07
Sweet Pea	19:00:51	1:00:51	53:49:00	0:05:25
TOAD	19:03:32	1:03:32	57:09:00	0:08:45
Big Mac	19:07:05	1:07:05	57:26:00	0:09:02
Pacific Spirit	19:07:53	1:07:53	1:00:51	0:12:27
Makani	19:08:02	1:08:02	1:01:39	0:13:15
Wind II	No Report

Thank you Chris for all of your work on the Race QS issue and for your alternative approach.  I have not had access to WIFI for a few days but am hooked up now.  Seems like the remote corners of Bora Bora do not have WIFI.  Keep up the good work. 

Barry Keeler

Sailing in Paradise

                                             BORA BORA ANCHORAGE