CATALINA SAILBOATS SAILING SANTA CRUZ CALIFORNIA TUESDAY NIGHTS

October 15,20113

We are so lucky to live in such a blessed place, and this particular evening was a night that emphasized this point! At first, it seemed a little disappointing as we exited the harbor and saw all of the boats floating around with limp sails! Another night with NO WIND, Bummer! As we approached the start buoy we were impressed with all of the boats in the vacinity. Many more boats than normal and many more non Catalina boats. Then we saw it, A whale blowing in the midst of the boats. It was a time for whale watching. I announced to the Catalina fleet, the racing was on hold until the wind filled in. Somehow, I could just "FEEL" that the wind would fill in. There was a slight easterly blowing as we exited the harbor and we saw the normal northwester blowing outside. Which of the winds would prevail in the end? As we enjoyed the many humpback whales feeding at close quarters, we noticed the wind filling in on the water with a northerly (of all directions) filling in! We quickly called a course for a north wind, not a normal course, but the nights are getting short and the courses are getting shorter! We decided on a start line between Start and Blacks, with start to port. FIrst mark was GOV (to port) and return to start mark taking it to port.

Boats taking part in the fun this night were Sailing Pair A Dice, Aeolian, Emeritus, Iris, Free Spirit, Katrina "Blue Ribbon" (Homers C&C 25), Tres Santos and Bellisima (Chappie's Erickson 35).

Iris did well with her one minute head start and all of the other boats filed in for the normal start. Aeolian seemed to be first at the line with Emeritus edging Sailing Pair a Dice at the start line. We were all marching off to GOV which called for a hard on the wind course. This night was all about boat speed, not tactics since there were no tacks involved. Who could get the best boat speed and sail trim? It seemed like the start predicated everyones position with little change. Aeolian and Iris were neck in neck with Aeolian rounding just ahead of Iris and Blue Ribbon right after them. Emeritus rounded just in front of Sailing Pair A DIce and Bellisima and we were off back to start mark on a reach. Just as the sun was setting, Aelian rounded the finish mark first with Iris hot on their heels. Emeritus, and BLue ribbon were next with Sailing Pair a DIce close behind followed by Tres Santos and Katrina after us. A beautiful evening! The wind ultimately was 14 knots. Not bad for starting out with no wind!

RACING! VS STARBOARD!

I once witnessed a situation where there were several boats sailing toward a mark on port tack in a race with a single starboard tack cruising boat in their way. All of the racing boats were screaming "we are in a race!" while the cruising boat called "Starboard!". Who has right of way and what is the best way to handle this situation?

We have been in many races and faced with this situation. We have been known to hail the other boat "we are racing, do you mind?". This action indicates to the starboard tack boat "we KNOW you have right of way, would you mind altering course so we can continue on?" Often this is just a minor course alteration for the starboard tacker, which they are glad to accomodate with. If you attempt to claim right of way when you don't have right of way, you are butting heads in a loosing situation. Starboard tack always has right of way over port tack! Also keep in mind if one of your competitors sees you not yielding to a Starboard tacker, they can protest YOU!

If you are sailing in a tight pack of boats, you can use the starboard tacker to your advantage. If you are paying attention, these situations don't catch you by surprise. By heading up or falling off a little, you can use the starboard tacker as an "obstruction". You can cause one of your competitors to clear room for you just as if it was a pier or jetty in your way.

I was once in a race and saw a boat sailing parallel to the finish line just ahead of us on starboard. I altered my course so I was set to pass just ahead of the starboard tacker, but not leaving room for my competitor. It slowed my competitor just enough to allow me to cross the line just ahead of them.

The point is to analyze every situation. Sometimes you can POLITELY ask for right of way to your advantage. Other times you can use a starboard tacker to your advantage. Always be aware and think ahead. As stated earlier, these situations don't come out of the blue and may be used to your advantage with proper planning.

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Keep in mind, the next two Tuesday nightsw will be our last for the season. Both the 22nd and the 29th will be barbecue nights at the Yacht club. Plan on bringing your grilling stuff for a friendly finale.

See you all next Tuesday,

Barry

　

　

　

　

　

October 8, 2013 Catalina Sailboats racing in Santa Cruz, California

October 8, 2013

Another great evening sailing in the Monterey Bay. Great wind around 20 knots blowing out of the East with a little Northerly direction. With so much wind , we decided to use course 9, a rather long course considering the shortness of the daylight. The course was start to blacks, SC3 and back to start. We actually had two Catalina 27's which had a 2 minute head start on the rest of us. Other Catalina's out this night were Emeritus, Pacific Spirit, Tres Santos and Sailing Pair a Dice.

Iris and the other 27 had good starts and were off and running to blacks. We (PAD) had a good start right at the pin and Emeritus started right on time a little further down the line. Pacific SPirit was breathing down our necks right at the start. We were able to fend Pacific Spirit off until we all rounded Blacks. In the long run to SC3, Pacific Spirit was able to roll us to windward and Emeritus was right with them. We had the hardest time trying to pass Iris, which was sailing nicely, considering the weird chop that was in the water. The smaller the boat, the harder it is to overcome the disadvantage of chop, but they were doing a great job of it. As we got closer to SC3, we decided to tack off to clear our air from Pacific Spirit and Emeritus. Pacific Spirit rounded SC3 easily with a commanding lead, while PAD and Emeritus were having trouble getting around SC3, having to tack several times. Alas PAD even grazed the buoey as we tried to round. Fortunately, with as much wind as there was, the one turn penalty was not too painful. Right after rounding, PAD headed inside while Emeritus stayed outside, while Pacific Spirit was romping on ahead. When we finally got closer to shore, we turned more toward the mark and were able to set our pole. It seemed like we were closing on Pacific Spirit, but their lead was too much and the crossed easily (about 2 minutes) in front of us. We crossed ahead of Emeritus, which was sailing without a pole, a distinct disadvantage on such a long down wind run. Good job Pacific Spirit!

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Steering in challenging conditions:

I was at the helm of my boat for this night and I found it very challenging. Normally, when steering, you want minimal handling of the wheel and you want to maintain an even angle of heel. On this night, we had many gusts of wind and the waves and chop seemed to be coming from every direction. Normally, you can use the waves to "surf" a little closer to the wind. This night, it seemed every time I attempted to surf, there was chop fighting my attempt. I felt like I was using way too much helm with all of the gusts and definitely lost my cool when attempting to round a mark in close quarters. I am open for suggestions from people more in the know.

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The end of the season is quickly approaching and what a season it has been. Participation has grown almost exponentially this season. Thank you all for making Tuesday nights part of you routine. Keep in mind and plan for the fact that the last two Tuesday night of the season will be Barbecue nights! Both October 22 and 28 will be followed by a barbecue at the yacht club. Lets have a grand finale on the 28th.

Looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday.

Catalina Sailboats racing on Tuesday nights Santa Cruz, California

October 1, 2013

As we left the harbor, it looked like a major float-fest going on. It was certainly a beautiful evening: clear and sunny but verly little wind filling in from the East. We set the course to the shortest Easterly wind course, cut in half. Start to Blacks and back.

Catalinas out this night were: Pair A Dice, Aeolian, Free Spirit, Emeritus, Iris and Pacific Spirit. Joining along were Homer in his C&C 25 and Chappy in his Erickson 35. We gave the Catalina 27's a 2 minute headstart. Somehow, Homer absolutely nailed the start right on time followed closely by Iris. For the 30's and larger boats, Pacific Spirit beat us to the line and we were left with dirty air. Emeritus started further down the line in clear air and was clipping along nicely. Light air sailing is always and challenge, especially when you are being blanketed by your competition. Pacific Spirit sure is a pretty boat, but I enjoy looking at her from her bow rather than her stern! I had Fred Molnar on the helm and he did an excellent job of climbing above Pacific Spirit to get clearer air. Despite his efforts, we still rounded behind Pacific Spirit. As we were fighting it out, apparently Homer rounded Black on the wrong side, and had to go back to round again. Maybe, Homer has determined that the blue course card is too much weight for his boat? He was still sailing very fast.

After rounding Blacks, we were off for the start mark, following Homer, Iris and Pacific SPirit. Homer took start to the wrong side and Iris won, with Pacific Spirit second and Pair A Dice maybe 3 seconds behind Pacific Spirit. Way to go IRIS.

After the race was over, there was still some light, so we sailed out about 2 miles and ran into a pod of whales. Beautiful sunset and whales blowing all over the place. It just doesn't get much better than this.

　

　

　

"It doesn't get much better than this"???. Steve Nieman shared photos from the Wednesday night sail. Where we saw whales spouting and some backs coming out of the water, check Steve's photos out.

CATALINA SAILBOATS SAILING SANTA CRUZ MONTEREY BAY CALIFORNIA ON TUESDAY NIGHTS

September 24, 2013

Talk about a carbon copy of last week: Winds from the north in excess of 20 knots with no signs of backing off, clear and sunny. The choice of coarse was simple: course 13 again. We had Andiamo, Free Spirits, Diver Down and Katrina in the mix. After delaying the start by 5 minutes to get everyone to the line, Andiamo and Diver Down were in battle at very close proximity to each other and the start line. PAD and Free Spirit sailed out of the fray and crossed the line on port tack. It appeared that Diver Down and Andiamo had the lead and went inside where Diver Down was successfull in blanketing Andiamo. Diver Down finally tacked outside as we tacked inside. After crossing us, Diver Down rounded GOV just ahead of Andiamo, and PAD followed and we were off to Mile. PAD was able to get the pole out and we were able to close the gap on Andiamo and round just ahead of Andiamo, but still behind Diver Down who was waterlining all of us. As it ended Diver Down was ahead, Pair a DIce was second, Andiamo was third and Aeolian was fourth with the sun setting just as the race was ending. There was an awesome barbecue at the yacht club after the race with many people participating.

RULES_/)

WHEN BOATS MEET:

Section A, section 10 of the racing rules of sailing is straightforward with little room for misinterpretation.

section 10: opposite tacks: Starboard tack has right of way over Port tack.

Probably the most common rule employed in sailing is starboard, vs Port tack boats. In heavy winds it is also the most dangerous if not followed since the boats are moving in opposite directions and serious consequences can occur if miss-haps occur. For this reason I want to share what I have learned about these situations.

The setup: You are on port tack and you see a potential starboard tacker on a possible collision course. The obvious question is: will I be clear ahead, behind or collide? Everyone knows to watch the ranging of the other boat. Few people know that you can have someone on your bow screaming "go for it, we've gottem cleared" and someone on your stern screaming "dip them, we will not clear!" Both observers are RIGHT!, you are set up for a classic "T-Bone". Another factor is waves. I have seen perfectly makeable crossings messed up by a boat wake slowing you down, so MIND THE WAVES when considering crossing situations.

The Dip: If the observer on the stern indicates you must dip, you must plan your dip. At least 4 boatlengths away, you should bear off aiming for the midship of the boat you are dipping. Preferrably, your crew should adjust sails for the new point of sail IN UNISON! If the Jib is eased WITHOUT adjusting the main, you will round up right into the boat you intend to dip, despite your best intentions. When I know I will be dipping another boat, I like to wave them on with my hand (the other helmsperson WILL have their eyes on you). This clears up any confusion indicating "you cross, I will dip!". I will also do this if I am on starboard IF I want the port tacker to cross, I will indicate and go ahead and dip. Done correctly a dip yields very little, since if you come very close to the stern of the other boat, you get a momentary lift from the wind coming off the dipped boat. You harden your sails up and continue on. If the dip is not set up properly with the proper "bearing off" ahead of time, there is no indication that the port tack boat is actually going to dip. In greater wind, this is extremely dangerous. An aggressive Starboard tacker adamantly exerting his rights could be "dead right" if the port tack boat doesn't yield. Waiting for the last moment to make your move can also be disasterous if both boats move unexpectedly attempting to dodge each other at the last moment.

Even the Americas Cup racers had their problems with crossings. The Kiwis almost capsized their boat Saturday a week ago when they were coming in on port and the skipper "crash tacked" without communicating to his crew. His crew probably thought he was going to dip, and he crash tacked instead, screaming "HYDRO" as the boat nearly went over, proving once again the importance of communication, even at the top levels of racing.

Tuesday nights are intended to be fun and educational, bringing all of our skills up to speed. We have many participants that range from rank novices that know little about sailing (let alone racing rules) to some of our finest sailors in the area. It behooves everyone to know who we are sailing against and with. Mistakes do happen as in my own "Mea Culpa" earlier this year. Lets sail and learn together and always keep in mind that when the wind gets up like this last week, consequences of errors can be much more severe than in light wind.

See you all out there this next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A DIce

CATALINA SAILBOATS SAILING MONTEREY BAY SANTA CRUZ, CA. September 17, 2013

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

What a difference one week makes. Last Tuesday: overcast looking like rain and no wind at all, with only 3 boats participating in a floatfest. This Tuesday:A clear evening with plenty of wind coming out of the North by the beach and slightly Northwest further out in the ocean.

Since the wind was coming from the North, we chose course 13: Start line between start and Blacks, Gov, Mile, Blacks and finish to port. It sure was great sailing again and we had 6 boats out. It was a pleasure to see Aeolian out again and it was really neat to see Paul Niebank back out. Oh, did I say there was WIND? at least 20 knots.

I attempted to implement the horn system, but since we had limited crew on Pair A dice, I missed several of the signals and we had to postpone the start time to get everyone on the line. Pair a dice had a pretty good start, with Pacific Spirit being the second boat over the line. Since the wind seemed to be the same all over, but there seemed to be less wave action closer to the beach, we headed further in toward the beach, with Pacific Spirit taking the outside course. Mark and I were on the rail studying the wind coming off the beach. A perfect indicator of headers and lifts coming off the beach was how the 2 or 3 boats that were anchored close to the beach were swinging on their anchor. Using the direction these boats were facing allowed us to anticipate headers and lifts as we closed in on GOV. At the same time the wind was decreasing to 16 knots, so we shook out our reef and continued on to Mile and Blacks and Finish. PAD rounded finish first, followed by Pacific SPirit then Aeolian.

It was a gorgeous evening: lots of wind, beautiful sunset on one horizon and a nearly full moon rising on the other horizon.

We had a good turnout at the Crows Nest celebrating an awesome night of sailing and, as it turns out Mark Barshay's birthday. Happy Birthday Mark.

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Keep in mind that next Tuesday is our BBQ night at the yacht club. So bring your grilling stuff.

See you next Tuesday.

Barry

CATALINA SAILBOATS SAILING IN SANTA CRUZ ON TUESDAY NIGHTS

September 3, 2013

Conditions: Clear and sunny with steady breeze (10 knots) out of the south west

Course 4: start, wharf, gov and finish with a 6:10 start. Ten boats participating.

The breeze was consistent at 6 oclock with 10 minutes to go to the start. But as the clock ticked down, the wind was dissipating considerably and by the 6:10 start we were all drifting with no wind at all.

How to deal with this one? Suddenly the course chosen seemed way too long! Walter Cronkite, the newscaster was an avid sailor. He once admonished that if the wind is very light, to close your eyes and feel the wind direction on your face. Smokers can watch the direction of their smoke wafting through the air (the only advantage I have ever seen for the habit). Some people like to blow bubbles. THough this technique requires some preparation,it works very well because you can see what the wind is doing on all levels up the mast. On Pair a dice, we were stuck with the old "feel" technique, the problem was, we were all coming up with different directions for the wind. I was on the foredeck and felt like I was performing a pole dance that was a nightmare rather than a dream. Pole on port, then change to starboard, back to port, extended, retracted partially, pole between the shrouds and finally hold the pole in my hand pushing back. I was doing anything I could do to "catch the wind" with proper sail shape. Meanwhile the crew was scanning to see where the wind was going to form first. We noticed Chappy was moving Bellisima inside closer to the beach and we saw the wind forming in there, he quickly took the lead. The boats that made the most obvious move, going outside for the wind got caught with less wind. PAD was straddling between inside and outside and was the second boat to catch the wind forming by the beach. We finally had wind and were moving toward Wharf following Bellisima around and heading toward GOV. We slowly rolled Bellisima to windward and rounded GOV just ahead and we were off toward the finish mark, with Bellisima in hot pursuit. Chappy, who was single handing Bellisima, an Erickson 35, was doing an admirable job controlling his boat and trying to roll us, but we were able to round the finish buoy just ahead of him.

Light wind tactics:

I would say to use all means at your disposal, to determine the direction of the wind at all levels, clear to the tip of the mast. Sometimes, you can use the waves to help to propel you, going downwind make certain the mast is moving fore and aft rather than side to side if possible. This little concept keeps the foils working for forward momentum. Keep trying new things to see what will get the boat moving. In a race, you don't need to be going fast, you only need to go faster than the other boats! Smaller, lighter boats have a distinct advantage in these conditions.

The other crucial question is: Where will the wind form next? Look for wind on the water, what are the flags doing in every location? What are other boats doing in their location? Which way are the anchored boats pointing (assuming no current)? What are the birds doing? Stay away from circling birds, there is no wind under them! Birds sitting in the water normally sit facing the wind. Usually the boat that gets to the new wind first, is the one to take the lead.

See you out there next Tuesday!

                                                     BELLISIMA SAILED BY CHAPPY

CATALINA SAILBOATS SAILING MONTEREY BAY AUGUST 27, 2013

Tuesday August 27, 2013

CONDITIONS: Wind East at approximately 13 knots, with clear, sunny skies

Course selected: Course 8 (Start to Blacks, Mile, Gov finishing at Start taking it to port), Start time was 6:15 with the Catalina 27 and smaller boats start at 6:13.

Diver Down and Aeolian were right on time at the line. Pair a Dice and Pacific Spirit did not fair as well and ended up late at the start. We were all playing catch up with Iris which was romping on ahead. For some reason, Pair a dice was able to roll Aeolian to leeward and followed Iris, Tessa and Diver Down around blacks. In the run to Mile, most of the boats ran a little hotter steering above the rhum line to Mile. Pair a dice tried to run straight to the mark. Iris was doing a great job of maintaining her lead and rounded mile pretty much right with Diver Down. In the run to Gov, pair a dice was able to roll Iris to windward. We love our long whisker pole which was a distinct advantage on this particular leg. The further we all moved toward GOV, the wind seemed to die more and more. Diver Down rounded Gov comfortably in front of us and continued further inside, after Pair A Dice rounded Gov, we got caught in a hole of no wind and the current swept us backward around the mark just as the other boats were coming down to round. We finally got some wind and headed further outside where we thought we saw more wind. The boats that took the inside track closer to the beach seemed to be moving in very light wind and were moving into some building wind. Alas the course was too long for most of the boats, as one by one they retired. Diver Down and Pair A Dice were slogging it out toward the outside in very light wind. Alas Bellisima (Erickson 35) joined us outside as the wind started to build again getting up to 15 knots again. Diver Down prevailed once again (by over 6 minutes) and Bellisima was second with Pair a Dice finally rounding third, having to tack again at the last minute to avoid the mark.

After the regatta, we all went to the yacht club for a Barbecue. We had the largest group yet with over 30 people. It was really great chatting and getting to know the participants s a little better. It was good to see almost the whole crew of Pacific Spirit show up for the Barbecue. We also got the lowdown on things that happened during the race, such as Aeolian snagging another strand of kelp which explains why we rolled them so easily. So much for my dream that it was our superior sailing. Those @#$%^ kelp monsters!

INREGATTADAVIDA:

This seems to be the regatta season! In addition to our very fun Tuesday nights, there seems to be a lot of Regatta activity this time of year. The Double Ender was this last Saturday and the first of the Score Series was Sunday. Windjammer starts from San Francisco Saturday morning and ends in Santa Cruz and of course we have Big Brothers BIg Sisters on Sunday. September 22 is the Jack and Jill when husband and wife teams (or any Male-Female pair) can sail their boats against others. Both BBBS and Jack and Jill are a reverse PHRF start, which makes the starts much easier than fighting your way through a forest of boats of various sizes and speeds. Reverse PHRF start means that the slowest boats start first, sailors often refer to these races as pursuit races since the faster boat pursue the slower boats.

My wife chides me with "when will you ever get enough regattas?" One thing that keeps me coming back for more regattas is the chance to learn even more about sailing. Sure, you can learn while just out on a sail, but until you are comparing your progress against other boats (in a race) you have nothing to compare your progress and force yourself to learn even faster. Oh and the social gathering before and after regattas is nothing to scoff at either. I encourage everyone with a boat to participate in as many regattas as possible, just for the fun of it!