DECEMBER 16, 2025 AWESOME WINTER SAIL

 

DECEMBER 16, 2025

AWESOME WINTER SAIL

Check out the Zoop Scoop below for an excellent recap of this awesome winter sail.

To view the Regatta Hero track:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=16.12.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

 

Jennifer Kinsman photo

 PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:  course W5 course distance 2.4NM

PLACE                BOAT                      PHRF              ET          CORRECTED TIME

1            FLEXI FLYER                      96                     37:05                 33:14

2            ABORIGINAL                     33                      34:49                 33:30

3            ZOOP                                   144                   41:18                  35:32

4            WIND II                               213                   45:16                  36:44

5            ROSIE                                  162                   43:36                  37:07

6            NIDAROS                           118                    42:09                  37:25

7            SAILING PAIR A DICE     180                    45:56                  38:44

8            MAIN SQUEEZE               72                       42:39                  39:46

9            PERFECT 36                      144                    47:24                  41:38

10          OLD ENOUGH TKB         243                    51:37                  41:53

11          AQUAVIT                           72                       45:36                  42:43

 

ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

 

WOW, WHAT AN EVENING!

This Tuesday’s race was spectacular.  You could have fooled me — we almost didn’t sail.  When I was at the Harbor on Monday, there was thick fog and practically no wind, and Tuesday’s forecast was for more of the same. I had already made up my mind to pull the plug if I couldn’t see the Crows Nest flag from our slip.  But instead, Tuesday dawned clear, and by 1200 there was a nice southwesterly filling in. And it was warm. Which made me suspicious.

 

Inside or outside, which to choose?  Course was W-5. We figured go right.  We were wrong. There was slightly more breeze outside and the wind was starting to hint at backing or shifting left. Remember how I said I was suspicious?  Didn’t matter — we were about to get rolled after the start — we had to bail and go right anyway. But the duck was a big one, and it cost us.  Meanwhile the boats on the outside were launched.  If you look at the track, the whole fleet is gradually lifted on port, with Nidaros II smiling all the way to the starboard tack layline. 

 

On the run to the finish, the breeze held, but still continued backing.  We started  the run DDW on port tack, jibed onto starboard about half-way down the leg, and finished up barely being able to carry the pole on starboard. In fact, we probably should have dropped it, and jib reached the final portion.  That’s a big shift — and not the first time. 

 

After we finished, the conditions were so perfect that we took another lap, rendezvousing with Chardonnay at MB, where her skipper, Krista Swedberg, took this shot.

  

 ZAP! — MORE SHOCKING NEWS — D DOCK NOW LIVE

D Dock just became the first dock in the Harbor to install a sea lion deterrent system on every slip, including (attention SC-27 fleet) the entire end tie.  So far, it seems quite effective. But it’s non discriminatory — it can shock humans just as easily. As long as you don’t touch the thin yellow guard wire and the water at the same time, you’ll get just a tickle. But, if you do, watch out.  And, before we have an environmental hue-and-cry, it’s important to know that it’s NOAA approved, and MBARI just installed it on their docks in Moss Landing. So, say good bye to buckets and paintballs, and ….

 

1. Don’t step on the wire if you can avoid it, especially if barefoot.
2. Beware when folding sails, they don’t catch on it.
3. Don’t leave dock lines in the water and let them lay on the wire.
4. Report problems to either me (831) 251-3622 , or Neils Kisling (831) 332-7454  
5. Controller is at D-4 (Zoop). Off switch is on the bottom of the SW corner.

6. DON’T FALL IN

 

Thank you Paul Tara!

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

DECEMBER 9, 2025 SURPRISE WIND

                                                                   DECEMBER 9, 2025

SURPRISE WIND

Once again, predictions were for light 1-6 knot winds.  Initially it looked like the predictions were accurate and a windward mark was set halfway to Mile.  As the clock ticked down to the start, the wind seemed to increase so the course was changed to S5: start>mile>S/F.

Once again all boats were sailing in a single fleet of about 12 boats.  All boats got off to a clean start in the 8-10 knot winds. It was a beautiful sunny day to be sailing and, even though the wind seemed to die a little on the run back to S/F, all boats finished.  Such is life when you get a surprise wind.

 

Jennifer Kinsman photo

 

 

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

ALL BOATS IN ONE FLEET  COURSE S5   COURSE DISTANCE 1.929NM

PLACE          BOAT                             PHRF             ET             CORRECTED TIME

1         MAIN SQUEEZE                    72           35:58                 33:39

2         ABORIGINAL                         33           35:28                34:25               

3         RIO                                          141        42:21                 37:48

4          WIND II                                  213        44:41                37:50

5          SAILING PAIR A DICE        180         45:01               39:13

6          AQUAVIT                              72            41:38              39:19

7          PERFECT 36                         144         48:42               44:04

8          MAYBE                                 249          52:38             44:37

9          OLD ENOUGH TKB            243         56:16              48:27

10       SIMPATICO                           165          55:39             50:20 

 

THE ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

MORE SLOW HORSES (not a spy novel)

Here’s a present for the Holidays; a line-up of usual suspects.  The data was gleaned from sailboatdata.com (an addictive website if there ever was one). I started with the B fleet, but then just kept adding boats I remembered until I pooped out.

 

 

 

Speed increases from top down.  The year represents the design’s age, not when a specific boat was built. The “s” number is a theoretical estimate of a boat’s relative speed based on it’s design characteristics; it sort of tracks the PHRF rating, but inversely. “S” goes up with speed, whereas PHRF goes down — the difference being that PHRF is empirical, or based on actual race results.  SA/Displacement is the number to watch; it represents power to weight. Once it goes above 20, we’re talking about different animals. That’s the crossover point where  design focus shifts from cruising to racing. 

 

Chronologically, that point corresponds with the 1970s’ spread of the influence of Ultra Light Displacement Boats. A good comparative example of this is the C&C 35 with the Santana 35.  The C&C is the only boat in our fleet designed in the 1960’s to the Cruising Club of America (CCA) Rule.  While still relatively light, she’s narrower (10.58’), and carries a higher percentage of ballast lower.  The Santana went into production in 1978. Her ton (!) less displacement and greater beam (11.92’) reflect an increasing reliance on human ballast as a substitute for keel weight.  The problems inherent in this trend only became apparent a year later, when a fleet of similarly ballasted yachts encountered disaster in the 1979 Fastnet Race — out of 303 boats, 75 capsized, 5 sank, and 15 sailors died. 

 

If you’re interested, I heartily recommend John Rousmaniere’s  Fastnet, Force 10, and Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts by the Technical Committee of the Cruising Club of America.  The “capsize screening number” shown in the last column of the table came out of the work of that committee.  The higher the number, the greater the risk of capsize in extreme sea states. Over 2 is not considered ideal.    

 

In summary, the fleet represents quite a cross section of production yacht design over the past fifty years. Not only does this speak to durability, but also to the effectiveness of the PHRF rating system. It also shows that there’s no free lunch.  Every design is a compromise. The trick is to find the right match. Or, hey, you know how they say, “It’s all about money.”  New boats are really expensive — we might  just be a bunch of  Sailing Scrooges.  Happy Holidays.

 

Thank you Paul

SEASONS GREETINGS:

We are planning on sailing, conditions permitting, every Tuesday through the holiday season.  Unfortunately the club will not be serving food until the latter part of January and several Tuesdays will not even be open.  If we want to socialize after the races, we will need to meet at restaurants.  Johnnies on the East side of the harbor has an excellent “Taco Tuesdays” that is very reasonably priced.  On the West side of the harbor, there are several excellent restaurants at the Seabright/ Murray Street intersection.

                                             

DECEMBER 2, 2025 AN ULDB DAY

 

AN ULDB DAY

Predictions for the afternoon were for 1-10 knot winds.  The flags confirmed that there was at least some breeze.  As we left the harbor at 2 o’clock there was a consistent light breeze of about 7-10 knots.  The question, as always was “what does the future hold?”.  With the wind coming from roughly 230 degrees, we got ambitious and called for W5: S/F>Schuyler>S/F.  I had posted in the blog and announced on the radio that it was a single fleet race and that the horn would blow at 5 minutes to the 3:00 start.  I also instructed to register as Fleet B in Regatta Hero. All but one boat followed the instructions. 

All of “B fleet” got off to a clean start and tacked their way to Schuyler.  After rounding Schuyler, all boats sailed down-wind to the finish.  It was a challenging down wind run with all boats experiencing very light patches of wind.  Homer once told me that if you knew exactly what conditions there will be for a race, you can design a boat specifically for those conditions that will win.   This afternoon presented conditions that was definitely a ULDB  (Ultra Light Dispacement Boat) day.

 To review the track for Fleet B:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=2.12.2025%2015:00:00&language=en

 

 Photo by Jennifer Kinsman

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

FLEET B (ALL BOATS) COURSE W5  DISTANCE 2.4NM

PLACE                BOAT                                 PHRF                  ET             CORRECTED TIME

1            RIO                                                 141                      49:06                  43:28

2            PERFECT 36                                  144                      49:25                  43:39

3            ROSIE                                            162                      50:14                  43:45

4            YELLOW BELLY                          141                      49:33                  43:54

5            ZOOP                                              144                      50:46                  45:00

6            AVATAR                                          132                      50:40                  45:23                                               

7            SAILING PAIR A DICE                 180                      53:23                  46:10

8            SIMPATICO                                    165                      53:33                  46:56

9            AQUAVIT                                        72                         53:25                  50:32

10          WINDLUST                                     66                         1:00:25             57:46

NEXT TUESDAY WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER SINGLE FLEET RACE. PLEASE BE CERTAIN TO ENTER FLEET B IN REGATTA HERO AND BE CERTAIN YOUR PHRF IS CORRECT.  ALSO MONITOR THE VHF CHANNEL 69 FOR ANY PERTINENT ANNOUNCEMENTS.  A SINGLE HORN WILL BE SOUNDED AT 2:55 FOR A 3PM START.

THE ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

HORSES & COURSES

It has been hinted by some that one of the reasons Zoop sails in the B fleet is that we are “afraid of getting beat”. (Betcha I got your attention with that!) While we have enjoyed success in the B fleet, that’s not the reason.  There are actually two, Perfect 36 (a Catalina 36 Mk I), and Avatar (an Olson 911).  Zoop rates 144, P-36 the same, and Avatar rates 132 (she owes us 12 sec/mile).  Depending on conditions, and crew performance, it’s anybody’s game.  Two weeks ago and again this week P-36 sailed a very nice race and beat us quite handily, while this week we finished overlapped with Avatar.   

 

Let’s take a look.  P-36 displaces 13,500 lbs. (44.4% ballast), on a 30.25’ waterline, with a SA/Disp ratio of 15.71 and a Disp/L ratio of 217.73.  Zoop displaces 13,450 lbs. (40.5% ballast) on a 28.25’ waterline, with a SA/Disp ratio of 16.35 and a Disp/L ratio of 266.1.  Avatar displaces 7,500 lbs. on a 27’ waterline, with a SA/Disp ratio of 20.45 and a Disp/L ratio of 205.7.  P-36 is longer, lighter for her length, but has a little less power for her weight.  Zoop is shorter, heavier for her length and has a little more power for her weight, while Avatar is shorter, but only about half as heavy, and has a much more power for her weight.  

 

So, why doesn’t Avatar just speed away?  The answer is in the kind of races we’re sailing — predominantly moderate air windward leewards.  Upwind, if there’s breeze, the two bigger boats with their longer waterlines, have an advantage. Downwind, the advantage should shift to the much lighter Avatar.  But, as they say, the devil is in the details.  One of those is wetted surface, which is a key factor in light/moderate air. Unfortunately, it is also very difficult to calculate absent a set of lines or a CAD design program.  Suffice it to say, for a given displacement, the geometric shape with the least wetted surface is a sphere, ie round boats have less wetted surface.  Wide flat boats have more. Compared to the other two, Zoop is actually quite round.

 

 

Which brings up the next question. Why isn’t P-36 faster upwind? She’s longer, and has more ballast.  But Zoop carries hers lower. She draws about 6” more, has a significant bilge (stubby) above the lead, and her keel is a ‘camouflaged bulb’, having a much thicker section at the bottom. Many light displacement boats have no bilge, because their canoe bodies have been made as shallow as possible to shed displacement. But, hey, there’s no free lunch. This adds wetted surface, while at the same time placing the ballast higher, where it’s less effective. Unless, of course you have a true fin/bulb where all the ballast is at the bottom.    

 

But, every design is a compromise.  I’m sorry, I can't resist — “What kelp?”

 

Thank you Paul.

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice