MAY 6, 2025 GOOD BYE RACE QS

 

MAY 6, 2025

GOOD BYE RACE QS

Race QS has been a great app for our races but it has been degrading rapidly.   The last two Tuesdays only display a track for one boat at a time and tracks are frequently lost.  This makes it impossible to gather results, especially when we have many boats out.

Doug Mahone (Avatar) has spent hours searching for a replacement app.  As with any app, it takes a while to get accustomed to using it.   A  small group of us have been working and testing this new app and are excited about the prospects.

 Doug has put together a concise procedure for installing and activating the new  app: REGATTA HERO  on your phone.  We tested it on this last race and feel it will satisfy our needs.

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REGATTA HERO QUICK START

 

Tuesday Night Sailors:

 

Our longtime regatta tracking app, RaceQs, is dying.  We are adopting a new app called Regatta Hero.  To get started and running:

 

One-time setup:

 

1.      Regatta Hero (RH) runs on both iPhones and Android phones that have GPS capability, and a cellular data plan.

 

2.       Download the Regatta Hero app from the App Store for iPhones or from the Google Play Store for Android devices. 

After you install the app and start it, click on the "Trouble logging in?" button, and view the "Video: app Onboarding (iPhone or Android)". It will give you a brief introduction and help you to adjust a couple of settings on your device.

 

3.       Home screen, first click "Enter login data".  For Organization enter scyc, the Passcode is 517949.  You'll only need to do this the first time. Click "Ok".

 

4.       Go to "Edit Registration Data".

a.      For Sail Number, please enter your boat name . 

b.      Boat Class is the type of boat you are racing (e.g. SC 27). 

c.      Sail Club is "SCYC".

d.      Team is whatever you want to call yourselves.

e.      Handicap is your PHRF rating. 

f.Boat Name put in your sail number and boat name (e.g. 69710 Avatar).

g.       Click "Back" when done. 

h.      You won't need to do this again, unless you change boats or handicap.

 

Race Day Procedures:

 

5.      On the day of the race, wear your phone on your person, so you can see it and hear the announcements.  Be sure it is fully charged. Optional: waterproof bag to protect your phone; portable battery pack for more charge.

 

6.      Race courses are the same as those on the Course Card 2025 (e.g. W5). Course will be announced on VHF 69, as usual.

 

7.      Start & Log in to the Regatta Hero app: 

a.      "Choose Regatta" using the drop-down list at the top of the screen.  Pick either "Tues Fleet A" or "Tues Fleet B". 

b.      Click on "Announcement from Race Officer", then "Ok" after you've read it.

c.      Click on the orange "Participate in the Regatta" button.

 

8.      Racing screen:

a.      Header bar: shows the Regatta you chose (e.g. "Tues Fleet B").

b.      Don't click on "Leave the Regatta" unless you are withdrawing or going back select the other regatta

c.      Note the Course chosen by the Race Officer.

d.      Wait for the countdown to the start.  

 

9.      Signals on the racing screen (accompanied by a horn and a verbal announcement):

a.      Y flag is always up (yellow/red diagonal stripes): PFDs are required for all racers.

b.      Orange flag goes up: the starting line is ready and the start sequence begins soon (may show a countdown timer)

c.      Class flag goes up: 5 minute start sequence begins.  

d.      Preparatory flag goes up (blue with white square): 4 minutes to the start. 

e.      Preparatory flag goes down: 1 minute to the start.   

f.Class flag goes down: start the race.

 

10.  If Postponement flag goes up (red/white pennant): Standby for further instructions.

Flag goes down: 1 minute to restart start sequence   

 

11.  Finish: Note your finish time and the other boats immediately before and after your boat. Email to Barry if you think your race was not correctly recorded.

 

12.  After the race, you'll receive an Announcement listing boats by order of finish and corrected time. 

 

13.  Finally, click on "Leave the regatta" at the top of the racing screen when you are completely finished. Then "Log out".

 

NOTE: On the home page (where you Log In), the "Trouble Logging In?" button leads you to the on-boarding videos, and it also can take you to the Online Manual.  We recommend all sailors read chapters 1-3. 

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_)                                         _)                                 _)                                                               (_

We tested it in the last regatta on five boats  and got the following results.  Regatta Hero calculates PHRF corrected results the moment you have crossed the finish line. Here are the results for race '6.5.2025 18:00:00'

URL for Replay:
https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&raceid=Tues%20Fleet%20B&replayid=6.5.2025%2018:00:00&language=en

Thank you for using Regatta Hero!

Pos	Sail No	Team	Boat Class	Handicap	Club	Boat Name	Time (Sec.)	Sail Time	Calc Time	Start Delta	Points	Route (m)	Speed (kn)	Max Speed
1	Avatar	Mahone	Olson 911	132	SCYC	69710 Avatar	3104	3104	2809.787059	5	1	6203	3	88
2	USA 361	Zoop	Islander 36	144	SCYC	Zoop	3196	3196	2875.040428	102	2	6202	3	77
3	Sailing Pair a Dice	pairadice	Catalina 30	180	scyc	Sailing Pair A Dice	3354	3354	2952.800535	77	3	6045	3	50
4	Big Mac	mm	macgregor 26	222	scyc	Big Mac	3510	3510	3015.187326	27	4	5737	3	18
5	PAD	test	C30	144	scyc	Perfect	3362	3362	3041.040428	36	5	7095	4	10

 

Please  take the time to install Regatta Hero to your phone and learn how to set your phone up for the race. 

I hope to see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

APRIL 29, 2025 UPWIND BOTH WAYS

 

APRIL 29, 2024

UPWIND BOTH WAYS

While the wind was pumping through the afternoon, predictions were for decreasing wind as the evening progressed.  As we left the harbor at 5 PM there definitely was some good wind across the bay.  We determined the wind was coming from 240 degrees and set a start line square to this direction.  As we were seeing 12-18 knot winds we got a little aggressive calling for a longer course.  Someone pointed out the fog filling in around Capitola which  usually is a precursor for a developing Easterly.  As the clock ticked closer to the start, the wind was definitely dying, especially closer to shore.  We shortened the course calling for course Whiskey 5.  We blew the horn at 5:50 and saw Fleet A start with 10 boats charging off the line and Fleet B followed at 6pm as the wind was quickly dying.  Boats starting closer to S/F had much more wind than boats closer to shore.

All boats tacked their way toward Schuyler in the stronger wind further from the beach.  The rounding of Schuyler can be  very challenging and this evening was especially problematic with the developing Easterly battling with the Westerly creating a transition zone with Schuyler in the center.  Finally rounding Schuyler after a long upwind beat, we had another beat as the Easterly filled in with winds up to 15 knots.  Several boats chose to stay outside in the Westerly, while we sailed inside to be in the “new wind”.  It seems the boats that stayed outside did a little better.

At the finish, the first A Fleet boat was Aboriginal then Yellow Belly, Double Espresso and Rosie.  B Fleet was led by Zoop then Avatar, Pacific Spirit,  Pair a Dice, Big Mac, TOAD and Wind Goddess. 

With the sail to Schuyler in a good westerly breeze and the sail back to S/F being in an Easterly, we were sailing upwind both ways.

RACE QS:

There is a glitch in  the Race QS app.  Normally all boats are shown in the app on the computer, but for this week, only one boat is displayed at a time. I gathered as many boats as I could and also used the time conveyed to me for boat finish times.  If your boat is not counted in the results below and you have either your finish time or can get it from Race QS, please  let me know your finish time so I can add your results.

PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:

PLACE                 BOAT                    PHRF   ELAPSED TIME              CORRECTED TIME

FLEET A:

1             ABORIGINAL                    33          33:44                                  32:25

2             YELLOW BELLY               141       43:19                                  37:48

3             DOUBLE ESPRESSO        99          44:49                                  40:55

4             ROSIE                                  162       54:02                                  46:41

FLEET B:

1             ZOOP                                    144       50:34                                  44:55

2             AVATAR                                132       50:57                                  45:44

3             PACIFIC SPIRIT                  165       54:10                                  47:42

4             BIG MAC                              222       56:30                                  47:48

5             SAILING PAIR A DICE        180       55:49                                  48:45

6             TOAD                                    150       58:03                                  52:10

7             WIND GODDESS                 168       1:11:18                              1:04:43

_)       _)                                                           _)                                     (_                                  (_

SAIL TOWARD THE NEW WIND?  

There is an axiom in sailing that says to sail toward the new, developing wind.  On PAD we followed this axiom after rounding Schuyler.   While we did get some good wind, the better tactic was to use the outside westerly to get to an angle to use the new Easterly to get to the finish.   Lesson learned! Don’t always follow axioms.  Consider all factors when making tactical decisions.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

APRIL 22, 2025 NO FOG WITH LIGHT WIND

 

APRIL 22, 2025

NO FOG WITH LIGHT WIND

 > It was a cold but otherwise pleasant evening.  About 19 boats turned out for the race.  Fog looked like it might move in but fortunately held off.   We called for course W5:  S/F - Schuyler - S/F.  All boats got off to clean starts.  Wind held mostly steady, a little shifty, dropping a little at the end.

As was the case last week, both fleets split on their bets as to where the wind would be. Some went in to the beach, others stayed out hoping the westerly would be stronger and more consistent there. Last week, that latter strategy won out. This week, the boats that went in did better. The patchy breeze on the outside oscillated between 230 and 250 deg magnetic, and between 3 kts and 7.5 kts true, which made for frustrating sailing (at least for some of us) up to the Schuyler mark. The downwind leg delivered a similar but weakening wind down to the finish, with boat speeds in the 2-3 kts range.

_)                                        _)                                  _)                                 _)

Thanks Doug Mahone (Avatar) for the great recap and to Mark McCord for his excellent conducting of the race!

RACE QS:

The track for this evening can be reviewed at:

https://raceqs.com/tv-beta/tv.htm#userId=1017739&divisionId=106192&updatedAt=2025-04-23T02:17:17Z&dt=2025-04-22T17:50:02-07:00..2025-04-22T19:17:15-07:00&boat=Perf36&time=1745369601857&focus=Perf36&rival=Avatar&tab=fleet&view=manual&lat=36.951364&lon=-121.995113&tilt=85&range=37&heading=121

 

PHRF CONVERSION: COURSE DISTANCE  WAS 2.34NM

PLACE           BOAT                          PHRF             ELAPSED TIME       CORRECTED TIME

FLEET A:

1          ABORIGINAL                        33                    38:44                          37:25

2          WIND II                                  213                 49:27                          41:06

3          TRUE LOVE                         72                    44:14                          41:24

4          DOUBLE ESPRESSO        99                    48:50                          44:57

5          GOOD TIMIN’                       141                 53:20                          47:48

6          DUET                                     141                 53:39                          48:07

FLEET B:

1          ZOOP                                     144                 50:24                          44:45

2          SIMPATICO                           165                 53:00                          46:32

3          SAILING  PAIR A DICE       180                 57:32                          50:29

4          PACIFIC SPIRIT                   165                 57:20                          50:52

5          PERFECT 36                        144                 59:32                          53:54

6          AVATAR                                 132                 59:41                          54:30

7          NIDAROS                              118                  59:46                          55:09

 

NEXT TUESDAY IS THE  LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH WHICH IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE CLUB AFTER THE SAIL.  BRING YOUR BEST FOOD TO GRILL, BARBECUE AND SHARE!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

           

APRIL 15, 2025 THE WIND DIES ONCE AGAIN

 APRIL15, 2025

THE WIND DIES ONCE AGAIN

On Avatar, we learned an important pre-start lesson. With ten minutes to the B fleet start, we were busy making some last minute sail trim adjustments. At five minutes to our start, I looked up and realized that the A fleet had just started, and we were directly upwind from the start line. There were a lot of fast A fleet boats on (starboard track no less) racing directly at us. Not wanting to interfere, we executed a panic jibe and managed to get back to the pre-start side of the line before being run over, but just barely. Moral: do your pre-start preparations off to the side and well away from the start area.
:As Mark observed, during the upwind leg to Schuyler, different boats tried different strategies to find the best wind. On this Tuesday, the boats who stayed offshore seemed to find a bit more.

For the downwind leg back to S/F, the wind slowed down to 4 kts, but the direction remained fairly steady. About half of the fleet set up whisker poles and sailed close to the rhumb line directly toward the finish.  It was slow going, with most boats moving at around 2 kts. The usual strategy of sailing off the wind to heat up their boat speed didn’t seem to make much of a difference under the light air conditions. A few boats decided to head for a different finish at the club, and turned on their engines.

It was a lively scene at the club, between the bar and the tacos.

Doug.

Douglas Mahone
doug@dmahone.com
(916) 541-6607

Thanks to Doug for the great recap of tonight's race.

PHRF CORRECTED TIME COURSE DISTANCE WAS 1.17NM

PLACE           BOAT                          PHRF             ELAPSED     CORRECTED

FLEET A

1          ABORIGINAL                        33                  43:45              43:06

2          INTERLUDE                         141                 49:16              46:31

3          TRUE LOVE                         72                    48:10              46:45

4          ROSIE                                    162                 57:52              54:42

5          WIND II                                  213                 59:46              55:36

FLEET B

1          AVATAR                                 132                 53:02              50:26

2          SAILING PAIR A DICE        180                 57:46              54:14

3            PACIFIC SPIRIT                   165                1:03:45            60:32 

4          MAKANI                                 147                1:04:52           62:00

APRIL 8 2025 GREAT WIND UNTIL IT DIES

 

APRIL 8, 2025

GREAT WIND UNTIL IT DIES

This week started with ideal sailing conditions: warm and sunny, nice westerly blowing, relatively calm sea. We counted seventeen boats out, although some seemed not to be racing. There were more Moore 24 and SC 27’s than usual, probably due to the upcoming races this weekend.

Barry was out of town, so Doug Mahone is filling in to write this report.  Mark McCord, Fred Molnar and friends took out Pair-a-Dice and ran the race. They called for course W1 (Start, Schuyler, Mile, Blacks, Finish), with the usual 7:55p A Fleet and 6:00p B fleet starts.

 

 

The club marks were newly in the water after their winter of R&R (thank you!). The Start/Finish mark is in a new location about 500 yards west of its former position, and the Blacks mark has been moved farther south. The new locations basically puts Start/Finish on the line from Blacks to Schuyler, about halfway between them, which opens opportunities for better race courses. The coordinates of these two new mark locations are: BLACKS 225 N36.57.1132  W121.59.04.

S/F 25 N36.57.1087  W121.59.8297
The races started on time, with no problems that I am aware of. Because of the good breeze, there was some nice, competitive racing among both fleets. Fleet A was led by Aboriginal, the double Espresso, Avatar and Interlude.  Fleet B was led by Perfect 36 the PAD, Nidaros and Kicks. The second and third legs, to Mile and Blacks, were lovely broad reaches, with no whisker poles, and few adjustments in position. The biggest challenges arose because the wind was dying as the fleet approached Blacks. This started at the front of the fleet, compressing it as boats farther back quickly caught up. After the first boats rounded Blacks, the wind speed dropped below a knot. Some thought this was a transition to an easterly, and drifted toward the beach. Others thought there was still some westerly breeze farther offshore and headed out. The back end of the fleet were stuck in a big hole by Blacks, just bobbing around. Flags onshore briefly showed a southeasterly breeze, but it never arrived.

And that was pretty much the end of the racing.  Some boats turned on their “iron jennies” and headed for home. An ignominious end to a lively evening on the water. A few boats managed to finish: ** list **.  Congratulations to them and their stalwart crews (and the luck of getting to the finish before the wind died completely).

Let’s hope for better luck next week.
—————-

Those of you with a different perspective on the race, let me know if there’s anything else to report.

Doug.

Douglas Mahone
doug@dmahone.com
(916) 541-6607

Since the wind died and many boats did not finish, after reviewing the RACE QS track of the valiant boats that drifted in the dead wind, I believe it is best to retrospectively finish the race at Blacks where most boats finished.  Apologies to those that finished at S/F that had no finish time for Blacks  (no Race QS track).  The course distance finishing at blacks was 3.33 NM.

Thanks to Doug Mahone  and Mark McCord for your  work!

CORRECTIONS:I do my best to include all boats that participate in the results.  I knew Aboriginal was out on this night but with the unusual shortening of course after the fact, Aboriginal was excluded from the results. The closest boat to Aboriginal was True Love which did present times for both Black and Start/ Finish.  I used the difference in the S/F finish times between Aboriginal and True Love and applied this difference in time for the rounding of Blacks to come up with a Blacks finish time  for  Aboriginal.  I also had made an error in True Love's corrected time in the blog. 

1                            ABORIGINAL                               33            28:01

2                            TRUE LOVE                                72             36:05

 3                            AVATAR                                      132           37:04                                        

4                            DOUBLE ESPRESSO                  99            38:51

5                             INTERLUDE                               141          40:30

FLEET B:

1                           PERFECT 36                                    144       40:24

2                             PAIR  A DICE                                 180       43:24

3                             NIDAROS                                       118       48:43

4                             KICKS                                             180       51:27