JULY 4, 2023 STAR SPANGLED SAIL

JULY 4, 2023

STAR SPANGLED SAIL

Predictions were for 15 knot winds for the evening, but as the afternoon progressed, the flags indicated more than 15 knot winds.  The question on my boat is always which jib to use and watching the flags made me want to change to the smaller jib but I stayed with the 155.  As we left the harbor right after 5pm, the sea state had no white-caps and no wind swell indicating that we had chosen correctly.

We approached the start area and determined that the wind was coming from 240 degrees and set a line square to the wind.  The club had a special dinner to celebrate the holiday so we called for a short course to get people to the club earlier.  We chose course Whiskey 6 and blew the 10-minute horn for Fleet A and B.

As Fleet A came off the line for their 5:55 start,  it seems most of the boats followed the traditional move used in Santa Cruz: Start on starboard and tack over for the inside track as soon as possible.  Fleet B followed suit with a clean start and some boats following the inside track.  Pair A Dice and Pacific Spirit sailed further outside before tacking over.  At Schuyler, Fleet A was led by Sweetheart, followed by Geronimo, Flexi Flyer and Odonata.  Big Mac was first of B fleet to round followed closely by Pair A Dice, Avatar and Pacific Spirit.

On the long run back to the finish line, Sweetheart was first of A Fleet to finish 32:36 followed by Flexi Flyer 34:26, Geronimo 36:09 and Odonata 43:24.  B fleet finished with  Pair A Dice 39:09 slightly in front of Big Mac 39:19, Avatar 40:51 and Pacific Spirit 41:23.  All times elapsed and the course distance was 2.6NM.

It was an awesome evening for a sail with the wind not decreasing at all.  We had 10 boats out for a holiday “Star Spangled Sail”.  And the food at the club was awesome!

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE    BOAT                                     PHRF                     ADJUSTED TIME

FLEET A:

1             FLEXI FLYER                         96                           30:16

2             GERONIMO                            87                           32:22

3             SWEETHEART                       -6                            32:51

4             ODONATA                             243                           32:52

FLEET B:

1             BIG MAC                              222                           29:41

2             SAILING PAIR A DICE        180                           31:14

3             PACIFIC SPIRIT                   165                           34:14

4             AVATAR                                132                            35:07

Race QS:

The track for this evening can be found at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1009265&divisionId=91568&updatedAt=2023-07-06T00:28:27Z&dt=2023-07-04T17:45:09-07:00..2023-07-04T19:02:35-07:00&boat=PAD&model=Express27&time=1688521142637&focus=PAD&rival=Pacific%20Spirit&tab=match&view=follow&lat=36.950667&lon=-121.994174&tilt=7&range=123&heading=19

TRIED AND TRUE?

This evening was a lesson in paying attention to details.  On PAD, we noticed that the wind was slightly better toward the outside of the start line. We also noted that the sea was very flat, allowing us to achieve good speed as we sailed out.  These two minor details allowed us to establish a position close to the front of the pack.  The old tried and true “start on Starboard and tack over as soon as possible” works most of the time, but not always!

I hope to see you out next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice