NOVEMBER 18, 2025 FINALLY, SAILING WITH WIND!

 

NOVEMBER 18, 1925

FINALLY,  SAILING WITH WIND!

As November has been living up to its reputation as the No-winder month, I was not surprised to see limp flags as the afternoon progressed.  Predictions were for better winds to arrive later in the afternoon.  As we left the harbor we saw some gusts up to 16 knots as the wind was filling in.   The direction was from 230 so we called for course W5: Start>Schuyler>S/F.  We blew the 10 minute horn and had two boats in Fleet A, but one boat had no RH track.  B Fleet got off to a clean start as all boats tacked their way to Schuyler as the wind continued to build up to 20 knots.   It was AWESOME to be sailing again with wind! 

JENNIFER KINSMAN PHOTO OF ZOOP ACTUALLY HEELING OVER WITH WIND

  

To  review the tracks for Fleet B:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=18.11.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

 

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE                                 BOAT                                   PHRF                   ET         CORRECTED RESULTS

FLEET A      COURSE W5  DISTANCE 2.4nm

1             WATTS MOORE                                             150                       31:56                  25:55

FLEET B:

1             PERFECT 36                                                    144                       30:56                  25:10

2             SAILING PAIR A DICE                                  180                       33:31                  26:18

3             ZOOP                                                               144                       32:10                  26:24

4             BIG MAC                                                         222                       35:32                  26:39

5             AVATAR                                                           132                       33:11                  27:54

6             AQUAVIT                                                        72                          31:09                  28:16

SPINNAKER FLEET:

1             WINDLUST                                                       66                          40:26                  37:47

THE ZOOP SCOOP  BY PAUL TARA

POST-FRONTAL BREEZE MEETS POST-YOUTHFUL FLEET

When I arrived at the Harbor, around 1300, there was a light southerly and the sky was filled with beautiful cumulus clouds left over from the previous day’s cold front.  By the time we exited the Harbor at 1430 the wind had veered to due west, was strengthening considerably (15-20 knots), and the temperature was plummeting. During the race, the wind continued to veer until, when I left the Harbor at 1700, the flag at the Crows Nest  was showing west-northwest, indicating a shift to the right of 130 to 140 degrees over 4 hours — a classic Santa Cruz post-frontal event.  

 

Aboard Zoop, we were late and went right immediately, basically because we didn’t want to get wet. Plus, there was plenty of breeze all the way to the beach and the swim buoys have been pulled. Okay, okay, the shift may have been a factor; it paid a big dividend even though we were unable to capitalize on it due to boat handling issues. Our struggles (judging by the track, we weren’t alone) got me thinking. On the whole, the demographics of the 1500 start insure that a fleet that races primarily in light air is now suddenly sailing in the winter, at the time of day when the most wind is likely, with the least fit crew.   Stamina and ability versus the prevailing conditions is now something to consider more seriously before making the decision to race.

 

BOTTOM UP SELF HELP

‘How to make your boat move faster’ was a recent suggested topic. It’s not like there aren’t thousands of books and videos. But after thinking hard about what, in terms of time invested, would absolutely return the greatest benefit, how about we start at the bottom, say around the seat-of-your-pants? 

 

“Lead is dead.” If your sailing experience involves sailing only on keelboats, you are at a competitive disadvantage. The biofeedback, or ‘feel’ necessary for good helmsmanship and crewing ability has, historically, always come from small boat experience. There are exceptions, but they prove the rule. There’s no substitute for the instant response dinghies offer. This is important because a lot of people today get started in sailing by taking lessons or riding along in keelboats. 

  

I’m a seat-of-the-pants small boat sailor. Most of my racing has been in 5o5’s and El Toros. Zoop has no instruments other than her depth sounder. But she does have telltales, a masthead windex, and a compass. I sail by the feel of the wind, the angle of heel, the telltales/windex, and the sound of the bow wave. If there’s a shift, I glance at the compass.  When we ran the El Toro program at Pinto Lake, I would tell the kids to “feel the wind” and “listen for the chuckle at the knuckle”.  Next time you’re out, close your eyes. Feel. Listen. Try to hold a course. Tack and repeat. You’ll be surprised.

 

Log some dinghy time this winter.  An El Toro, RS Tera, Laser, CFJ, or similar would be some choices. The smaller the better.  A UCSC dinghy class would be another.  Since the Club’s switch to Optis (Yuck!) there are a lot of unused El Toros scattered around the dry storage yard, and a rumor the Club might run some in-harbor winter racing. (Who knows? Anything is possible with enough Advil.) But, hey, it’s winter; personally I say go to Baja and rent a Laser for a week. By the end, you’ll either have decided that racing cruising sailboats is really stupid, you’ll have drowned, or you’ll be a lot better. And, you might even get a tan.

Thank You Paul!

I hope to see you sailing next  Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice 

NOVEMBER 11, 2025 WAVES OF WIND

 

NOVEMBER 11, 2025

WAVES OF WIND

I was encouraged to see predictions of 9 knot wind through the afternoon.  As we left the harbor, there was a steady 10 knot breeze across the bay.  Would we actually have wind for a race? We determined the wind was coming from 190 degrees and were considering a course: S/F>MILE>SF.  As the clock ticked down, the wind decreased also so we set a temp mark halfway to mile.   As we approached the start time, the wind was increasing  and decreasing creating challenging conditions.  At least there was some wind, though not steady wind.  We established  3 separate fleets (Fleet A, B and Spinn) even though there was only one boat in Fleet A and Spinn.  We had 4 boats in Fleet B and as it turned out, there was enough wind to finish the short course in 15 minutes so we set Regatta Hero to have another race with all three fleets sailing together.  There was enough wind to finish the course even though the wind was coming in surges and lulls like waves of wind.

To review the first B Fleet:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=11.11.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

To review the second race with all 3 fleets together:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=11.11.2025%2015:25:22&language=en

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS: S/F>temp  mark>S/F  course length=0.512nm

PLACE                 BOAT                                   PHRF                   ET                          CORRECTED

1             YELLOW BELLY                             141                       11:37                  10:24

2             ZOOP                                                  144                       12:26                  11:12

3             TRUE LOVE (SPINN)                   72                          14:47                  14:10

4             PERFECT 36                                    144                       15:34                  14:20

5             BIG MAC                                            222                       16:41                  14:47

6             SAILING PAIR A DICE                180                       20:29                  18:56

 

Paul Tara’s

ZOOP SCOOP

FOGGY FALSE TALES 

More fog this week. Not as thick as last week. Which reminds me, I forgot to mention another reason why, in dense fog, the magnetic compass is your friend. Skippers are notoriously myopic about jib telltales. If they’re streaming, they’ll blindly follow them anywhere; especially in fog, when there’s no other frame of reference. And, if the fog is thick enough, its droplets will slyly laminate the telltales to the jib, making it easy to believe you’re  always in the groove. Nobody’s that good a helmsman. Keep an eye on your compass. 

 

WINTER BREEZE (Barely)

The sun makes the wind.  Hot air rises, leaving a void, which sucks. Less sun, less suck. Like Tuesday — grey on grey — fog under high cirrus preceding Wednesday’s on-comlng front. In the morning there was no hope. But then, around 1300, a light southwesterly began to trickle in. At one point MB disappeared, but the breeze held.  Barry set a short weather mark and we were able to get two short races in.  Aboard Zoop, with the double layer of overcast, we felt there was little chance the breeze would build and veer, so we elected to go left, which worked. Except in the second race, when we had to duck Yellow Belly and ended up second.  There was a moment, when we had extended on her after the start, that we probably could have crossed (but one does not tack an Islander 36 lightly). The two races together amounted to just about the time it took us to rig the boat. But, they really demonstrated the value of Regatta Hero, which allowed Barry and Doug to organize the spontaneous second start in even less time. 

 

NORTH BY NORTHEAST (an actual REAL yotting scoop!)

Santa Cruz had a strong presence in last weekend’s RTC (Round The County) in the San Juan Islands (120 boats!). First in ORC A and Second Overall was the SC52 “Rosebud” with Mike Holt (skipper) Bruce Edwards, Jack Halterman, and Mackenzie Cook aboard. Rumor has it “Rosebud” will soon be making her way south to her new digs on E dock. 

 

First in ORC C and First Overall was “Setri” a centerboard (!??!) Swan 46 owned by Peter Dennis of Lopez Island, with Matt and Ben Lezin, Steve Burdow, and Patrick Tara aboard.  Setri won the race with a move that came just after the 0830 Saturday morning start. Industrial smoke near Bellingham indicated a predicted northeasterly was filling. While the fleet short-tacked against along Orcas, she broke away and sailed north, across to the new breeze, where she actually anchored for a short time near Lummi Island while it filled.  Then, under kite, she reached over the fleet, ending up abeam of Rosebud and ahead of most of the fleet. Rosebud gradually sailed away, but at the Roache Harbor half-way stop, Setri (which was the only ORC C boat to make the time limit) still had 39 minutes in the bank.

 

 

Thanks Paul

I hope to see you sailing  next Tuesday afternoon  around 3pm.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

NOVEMBER 4, 2025 NO-WINDER

 

NOVEMBER 4, 2025

NO-WINDER

Predictions were for 8-12 knots and as we left the harbor at 2:15, there was a  steady 10 knot breeze across the bay.  We were considering a long course, but history influenced my decision to implement course W5: S/F>Schuyler>S/F.  There were just a few boats out: one boat for each of Fleet A and Spinnaker and 4 boats in B Fleet.

The wind was coming from 220 degrees, and we set a short line square to this as the thick fog was engulfing us. All fleets got off to a clean start in 10 knots of breeze.  With the starts around 3 o’clock, the wind should not have died, but as B Fleet arrived at Schuyler we were adrift once again in very light breeze.  All boats rounded Schuyler but on the way back to S/F there was a transition zone as an Easterly was trying to fill in.  Ultimately all boats retired without finishing the course.

Though the dismal wind was discouraging, the lifting fog bank presented some awesome sights and the whales were out in force.  Homer informed me years ago that in Santa Cruz, sailors call November  “No-Winder”. Welcome to No-winder.

Kudos to the persistent Crews for coming out even though conditions seemed dismal.  Yellow Belly in Fleet A and True Love in Spinnaker fleet.  B Fleet had Big Mac, Zoop, Perfect 36 and Sailing Pair A Dice.

The track for B Fleet can be reviewed at:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=4.11.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

 

                                                                        

REGATTA HERO TIP:

Please remember to enter the correct data for your boat.  Sail number should have your sail number and Boat name should have your boat name. 

For those that sail on multiple boats, if you are using your phone to record the track, there is now a way to enter multiple boats in your phone.  You must choose the boat you are sailing out of the list of boats on your phone.  To enter multiple boats on your phone choose your regatta, then click on participate as.  When this is done, your boat names appear in an orange box. Select the boat you are sailing on for this race. You can click on “new” to enter multiple boats on your phone. You must “edit registration” to enter the information for the new boat.

 

“ZOOP SCOOP”  BY Paul Tara

FOG

“The sudden transition was startling. The moment before we had been leaping through the sunshine, the clear sky above us, the sea breaking and rolling wide to the horizon….And at once, as in an instant’s leap, the sun was blotted out, there was no sky, even our mastheads were lost to view, and our horizon was such as tear-blinded eyes may see.  The grey mist drove by us like rain. Every woolen filament of our garments, every hair of our hands and faces was bejeweled with a crystal globule.  The shrouds were wet with moisture; it dripped from our rigging overhead; and on the undersides of our booms drops of water took place in long swaying lines, which were detached and flung to the deck in mimic showers at each surge of the schooner.” 

Jack London, The Seawolf.

 

On Tuesdays, the wind dies at 1800.  Apparently, this year, it’s in its contract — no overtime. So, we were feeling pretty smug about the nice westerly blowing around 1400 as we cast off.  But, by the time we had reached the entrance we were experiencing a “Ghost” moment right out of London’s novel. Visibility dropped to under 100 yards, and the breeze dropped by half. And by half. And by half. Until, by the time we reached Schuyler, zip halves were left. 

 

In those conditions it’s extremely important for the helmsman to pay attention to the magnetic compass at all times. Designate crew as lookouts, turn on your running lights and keep checking the compass.  It only takes few seconds of distraction, once the horizon has vanished, to become completely disoriented and start wandering around like (dare I say it) a drunken sailor. Let someone else deal with the GPS. Electronics are nice but, for helming, there’s nothing like the visual of a nice big compass and a list of the critical local headings available for quick reference. 

 

One obvious aspect of Tuesday’s white-out was that humpback whales are not navigationally challenged by fog.  At one point, about half way to Schuyler, we were totally alone — no horizon,  no other boats. But more whales than we’d ever seen before. One or two appeared to be all of 60 feet. And, the pod  seemed to all be keeping pace with us. Port, starboard, as close as a boat length; even under the boat. In ULDB circles, most might consider Zoop to be somewhat of a whale herself — maybe that was it.

Thank You Paul.

I Hope to see you out sailing next Tuesday at 3pm.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice