CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING ON MONTEREY BAY ON TUESDAY NIGHTS AUGUST 26 BLUSTERY WARM EVENING

BLUSTERY WARM EVENING

TUESDAY AUGUST 26, 2014

On my way to the harbor, my first glimpse of the bay showed no apparent white caps, but the wind sure seemed to be blowing in the harbor. We saw at least one boat putting a reef in while in the harbor.  As we left the harbor,  I could not believe the number of boats already out.  Ultimately there were 15 boats out for the excitement and fun.

With the wind blowing between 15 and 20 knots roughly from the northwest, we selected course 2 with a start time of 6:10.  I tried a new technique on blowing the horn.  One single blast at 5 minutes to start, this way everyone can sync their watches. On Pair A Dice we decided to attempt a port tack start.  Normally you can find a break in the stream of starboard tackers to cut through, but not tonight as we had to dip every boat in the line before we were able to harden up and head for our first mark: wharf.  We were the furthest in of all the port tackers, with Homer coming up behind us and just to windward.  We were able to pinch up until we could finally tack out for better wind.  Meanwhile, all of the starboard tackers tacked over toward the wharf.  Since the wind was lighter in there, we thought they were sailing toward a disadvantage.  We thought wrong though, because as we rounded wharf, Diver Down had a healthy lead on us and then the other boats followed us around wharf.  We were still quite a ways behind at Mile.  On the way to Gov, Pacific Spirit and Blue Ribbon got a little mixed up with each other in a luffing battle.  We love seeing boats in these conflicts, because it usually slows both of them down!

We rounded Gov with Diver Down way out in front.  We did our best to catch them, but they ultimately crossed the line a good 4 minutes ahead of us.  Well done Diver Down!  After Diver Down, Pair A Dice was second, followed by Pacific Spirit, Blue ribbon, Emeritus, Makani, Iris and Aeolian.

We had a wonderful barbecue at the yacht club with everyone recapping the fun they had on the water. Cheers to Stuart Pearce on Makani whose crew did not show up and he came out by himself, coming in sixth in the fleet.  Great job!  Stuart racing and sailing by himself!

Catch a wave:

I was talking to a top sailor at the yacht club one night when I opined “you know, what you do with waves in Monterey Bay is EVERYTHING!”.  He agreed wholeheartedly.  So what do YOU do with waves as a helmsperson?

Years ago we were competing on a Tuesday night and found ourselves in a transition zone (what’s new?).  We had the boat pointed straight toward our next mark as the waves swept under our boat from the side.  The boat was tipping side to side as each wave passed under us, sails flapping in the lack of wind.  I instructed the helmsperson to steer the boat so the waves took us from the stern making the boat rock fore to aft.  It seemed that every time a wave hit us and the mast whipped forward, we made forward momentum.  Before long we were out of the transition and sailing toward the mark.  I jokingly called it the “Keeler effect”! 

This is only one example.  I witnessed the same sailor I talked to at the yacht club sailing to windward with waves coming from behind.  He never lost speed as he caught waves and fell off on the wind to keep speed up.

Sailing downwind is another challenge with the waves coming behind.  In the recent BBBS regatta, by catching wave after wave, I was able to keep the boat speed between 6.5 and 7+ knots on our way to SC3.  It is difficult to explain this technique. With sails perfectly trimmed for maximum speed, wait for a wave which you can feel as the stern rises.  When I “feel” a wave coming from behind, I will turn the wheel quickly so the wave pushes the rudder, then straighten out for the ride down the face of the wave. At the trough I like to head up to maintain speed in anticipation of the next wave.  Experiment and find you own way to steer through waves, keeping an eye on your GPS speed since speed through the water is not relavent at this point.

One great barbecue! You can almost smell it now.

See you next Tuesday!

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINA SAIL BOATS RACING MONTEREY BAY AUGUST 19, 2014

A MISTY SHEARWATERS EVENING

 

TUESDAY AUGUST19,2014

As I left work in anticipation of another Catalina night of sailing, I was impressed at what a gloomy evening it was.  If I was in any other state than California in such conditions I would expect a cloudburst at any moment.  The mist was so thick in the air, I could swear I felt a few drops on my face.  Despite these conditions, I was looking forward to sailing, but doubted there would be much of a turnout.

Getting to the boat and out of the harbor, I was pleasantly surprised to see eight boats already out and  another 3 boats following us out of the harbor. We decided on Course 4 with a 6:10 start time.  Course 4 is start to wharf, gov then finish.  We had 11 boats out for the evening.  It was great to have Brian Kieft join us on his Catalina 27 “Intrepid” for his first time this season.

On Pair a dice, we decided to try a port tack start.  This is quite a gamble with 10 other boat in the mix and we paid dearly having to duck almost every boat.   We sailed inside until we felt the wind die a little and we tacked out, going clear out until we saw a wind line to tack on.  This worked out well for us, as on this tack we were able to clear wharf just ahead of Homers “Blue Ribbon” and Pacific Spirit with Makani and Diver Down in hot pursuit. 

Next stop was GOV which was obscured by literally thousands of Sooty Shearwater Birds.   As we ghosted through the birds they were taking off by the thousands.  The sound was incredible,  sounding like we were at the foot of a 500 foot waterfall.  Behind us, Blue Ribbon and Makani were trying to close the gap on us as Diver Down and Pacific Spirit tangled with each other.

After rounding GOV, there was a long reach to the Start finish.  We paid close attention to sail trim to maintain our lead as Diver Down waterlined Blue Ribbon and started closing the gap on.  Ultimately the course was not long enough for them to overtake use.  The order around the finish mark was Pair a Dice, Diver Down, Blue Ribbon, Makani the Pacific Spirit.  Even though the conditions were damp and dreary, the sailing was red hot with great competition all around.  Dinner at Crows Nest rounded the evening out perfectly with good food and good discussions about sailing.

Tactics:

On Pair a Dice, we went for a port tack start, knowing how risky it was, but felt it was worth it.  The wind at the time seemed to be the same inside and outside and we felt it would be better to go on port tack until we saw the wind decrease.  I think what gave us the lead was going out until we saw the wind line and tacking on this windline.  More wind=faster boat speed.  As Vance said once “wherever you go, it’s a crap shoot”.  Sometimes you choose right and sometime you choose wrong.  This night we lucked out.

_/)                                     _/)                        _/)                                       (\_                               (\_

 

NEXT TUESDAY NIGHT (8/26) IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT SCYC AFTER THE RACE.  BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING STUFF AND BEVERAGE.

See you next Tuesday,

Barry

 

 

 

CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING MONTEREY BAY CALIFORNIA: ONE CLOSE RACE

ONE CLOSE RACE

Tuesday August 12,2014

Another great night for sailing with plenty of wind coming from the northwest.  It was good to see Iris back out after a couple of weeks off.  Diver Down, Aeolian, Pacific Spirit and Katrina were also out for the fun.  Since we had used Course 1 the last two weeks, we decided to mix it up a bit and used course 2: Start, Wharf, Mile, Gov, finish.  On Pair A Dice we saw more wind on the inside and decided to start off on port tack.  We were a little late to the start and had to duck Diver Down who started on starboard tack with Pacific Spirit.  Aeolian and Iris went inside with us.  When the outside boats and inside boats merged at wharf, it was a pretty even draw.  Pair a Dice rounded just ahead of Pacific Spirit and Diver Down followed closely by Aeolian.  The same order was followed around Mile, though Pacific spirit had closed the gap on us and was right on our stern.  The reach to Gov was very exciting with Pacific Spirit first trying to pass us to windward, then to leeward.  The boats were so close we could have exchanged drinks with each other!   Sailing Pair A Dice was barely able to break the overlap at the 3 boat zone and Pacific Spirit swung down to take our stern.  Right after rounding Gov, Pacific Spirit pulled a brilliant tactical move and swung very high to pass us to windward effectively stealing or wind.  We attempted a similar move, but were unable to effectively steal their wind.  It was a drag race to the finish mark with Aeolian closing the gap and establishing overlap at the start/finish mark.  The order at the finish was Pacific Spirit, Aeolian, Pair A Dice, Diver Down, Iris and Katrina.  I guess it was even exciting to the spectators on Chardonnay as they shadowed us at the finish.

Tactics:

When approaching a mark, the three boat zone is a critical time.  If planned and played correctly, you can break the overlap and have a huge advantage when rounding the mark.  Pair a Dice pulled this off when we rounded Gov, but we were slow defending our position.  We thought we could set a pole for an advantage, but it was not effective.  While we were “playing with our toy” (whisker pole) Pacific Spirit sailed right over us, a great move on their part.  We love these tight races!

Another perspective:

Diana of Pacific Spirit sent me their recap of the race as follows:

Since Jeff was at the helm I had my hands free to take some video. For
those not present, it was a great race. We started very well, and
immediately split tacks with Barry (Pair-A-Dice). When we crossed again we
were extremely close to them and Aeolian. Both of them were on starboard
and we were on port so we tacked, not sure if we were on a lay line to the
first mark yet. Fortunately we made it without tacking again but not by
much, rounding in 2nd place. We were still 2nd after Mile mark, and almost
caught Barry on the way to Government (where the video starts). We passed
them just past Government and held them off until the finish.

The video continues past the finish, with the 4 top finishers heading back
to the harbor with great wind.

Chardonnay was hanging around the whole time, giving us bad air but a great
show for the crowd on board.

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po_ti07K_Gk&feature=youtu.be

- Tom

 

It was a very fun, close race!  Congratulations to Pacific Spirit and Aeolian for superior sailing.

Looking forward to next Tuesday.

 

Barry L.Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING MONTEREY BAY ON TUESDAY NIGHTS

                                                               BACK IN THE GAME   

Tuesday August 5, 2014

And yet another Tuesday night with perfect sailing conditions.   This night, we had between 15 to 20 knots of wind out of the northwest.  When Pair A Dice came out of the harbor, there were already 5 boats out and chatter from other boats in the harbor on their way out.  We decided on Course one: Start to Wharf, Mile, Blacks and Finish with a start time of 6:20.

We timed the start with Pacific Spirit just ahead of us just leeward of us and Diver Down coming up hot on our heels.  As we all headed out on starboard tack, Diver Down passed us to leeward and Pacific Spirit was leading the pack.  As we were sailing out into more wind and we had our 155 jib on, we decided to tack back over to the inside.  We sailed all the way in to the layline for Wharf, as the other boats stayed outside in more wind.  This was our error as we sailed further inside with less wind trying to make the layline.  One thing we learned a long time ago, but obviously have not learned well enough, always sail to where the wind is!  Pacific Spirit rounded wharf just ahead of Diver Down and we followed with Perfect 36 following close behind us.

The same order was followed around Mile with Perfect 36 closing the gap and rounding immediately after we did.  It was a long slog to Blacks, with Diver Down sailing more downwind to heat up at the end of the run and Pacific Spirit running the rhumb line to Blacks.  Pair A Dice was being waterlined by Perfect 36 as they tried to steal our wind and slowly overtook us.  At the mark, Pacific Spririt maintained their lead over Diver Down.  Perfect 36 had inside overlap on us so we had to give them room at the mark.  We swung down to make more of a “tactical rounding” to come up tight and squeak to windward of “P36”.  Our plan failed and we were stuck leeward of Perfect 36.  Perfect 36 tacked out for more wind outside, but miraculously the wind filled inside for us instead.  Pacific Spirit finished ahead of Diver Down with Pair a Dice coming in third and Perfect 36 fourth and Sea Quake (C&C 29) fifth.  Close races like this are always fun and keep us on our toes!

Last Tuesday (7/29)

I was not able to sail last Tuesday, so was not able to give a proper report.  I heard that there was great wind and the winner was Diver Down followed by Perfect 36 then Sailing Pair a Dice, Blue Ribbon and Makani.   It’s great to have Perfect 36 join the party!  They appear to be a very well run boat from what we can tell viewing their sternL.   Sounds like a fun night on the bay.

Other racing venues:

It seems we have all had a blast sailing our Catalina Tuesdays.  There are many other racing venues we can all race in.  Personally I missed the Santa Cruz to Monterey race a few weeks ago, but I heard it was a blast.  There are score races and the midwinters during the winter.  We could even have a contingency go up to the bay for the windjammer, an overnight race from St Francis to Santa Cruz.  Most eminent is this Sunday’s Big Brother Big Sister.  Having sailed in this race multiple times I can attest that it is one of my favorites. Let’s have a great turnout for this benefit regatta and have some fun this Sunday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

TUESDAY JULY 22, 2014: CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING IN MONTEREY BAY: RACING WITH THE WHALES

Tuesday July 22,2014

RACING WITH THE WHALES

Cloudy, foggy, low marine cover, blowing stink, no wind at all, cold, damp, wet and wild, white knuckle ride: all typical descriptions for sailing in Santa Cruz but not tonight!  We had a very clear, warm evening with 12 to 15 knots of wind blowing out of the northwest with abundant LARGE sealife apparent everywhere.  With about 10 boats out for the fun and steady wind, we decided on course four: Start, wharf, Gov, Finish.  We decided on a shorter course so the wind wouldn’t die on us again before we all finished the course.

For our start on Pair A Dice, we wanted to be on the line at the pin, but found we were a little early.  We went through stalling maneuvers early so we could speed up at the last and hit the line at speed. We were happy with our position at the start, but were surprised to see Makani upwind of us and slightly ahead of us.  We slowly crept up until we were lee bowing him and tacked over for wharf.  Homer had tacked over earlier and was way inside. Makani sailed out a little further then followed us over.  Ultimately we were able to point a little higher and Makani ducked below our stern.

Pair a Dice rounded wharf comfortably ahead of Makani and the fleet. We romped on into Gov, keeping an eye on Makani as they attempted to pass us to windward.  We rounded Gov and set the pole on our way to the finish, keeping our eyes on the wind.  Any dying of the wind could mean the whole fleet compressing down on us.  The wind held for us and we rounded start/finish just ahead of Makani followed by Pacific Spirit. We were sailing the line between start and the lighthouse to witness one of the closest finishes to date as Aeolian squeaked by Blue Ribbon at the finish.

This night was very special: clear, flat water, warm and whales all over the place.  It is very difficult to concentrate on sailing and racing with so many whales splashing all over the place.

Equipment and winning races:

I  have owned my boat for 13 years and have made modifications and added equipment that make sailing and racing much easier.  Some of the modifications I have made that have helped are: installation of inside jib tracks with adjustable fairleads (better pointing),installation of solid vang and garhauer traveler. I also installed enough blocks so the mainsheet can be easily and quickly tuned and adjusted without the normal leading of the mainsheet through deck fixtures to the cabin-top winch. This normal arrangement makes it difficult to quickly adjust the main sheet.

I have also experimented with different whisker poles, settling on a forespar telescoping pole which I modified by installing a jam cleat to hold the extending line in the correct position.  Also having a proper inventory of sails for different conditions helps.  My biggest jib is a 155.

Though all of these modifications help, they certainly don’t win races every time.  One tactical blunder or even a strand of kelp can leave you staring at the sterns of boats sailing ahead of you.

 

THIS COMING TUESDAY THE 29^TH WILL BE BARBECUE NIGHT AT SCYC.  BE SURE TO BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD.

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

 

 

 

CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING MONTEREY BAY TUESDAY NIGHT: WHEN THE WIND GODS SMILE

JULY 15, 2014

WHEN THE WIND GODS SMILE

It did not look like a good night for sailing, overcast and gloomy. Hot, humid and muggy to boot!  I cheered up a bit when we exited the harbor and saw 8-9 boats milling around the start mark and more boats coming out of the harbor. The wind seemed like it was not going to die off, coming from the South at 8-12 knots.  I could not find an appropriate course on the chart so decided to improvise with: Start-Mile-gov-start/finish with a 6:10 start time.

 On Pair a dice we decided to run the line and harden up right at the start on starboard tack.  We had a good start but Makani was to windward and ahead as we started.  We tweaked our sails for maximum trim and slowly sailed ahead of them and were able to climb up enough to lee-bow them.  As we approached Mile, we were trying to decide when to tack over to close the gap between us and Mile when we sailed into a huge lift that nearly took us right to the mark.  The wind was not holding up as well as predicted and we saw many boats behind us sailing in less wind.  We made certain to overstand the mark so we would not have to tack more than once since a tack in light winds is very costly.  As we rounded mile, it looked like no wind at all at Gov and we thought we would see compression of all of the boats around that mark.  We checked for all signs to see what the wind was doing toward shore: Flags on the pier and Casino, which way were the anchored boats facing?  As we approached it looked like the wind was filling from the north so we took the mark more to the north to compensate.  As we approached Gov the wind actually increased as we looked back on the other boats on a glassy, mirror of an ocean.

This race was not over yet! All we needed was for the wind to stay with us until we got to Start/Finish.  We were very fortunate to ride this puff all the way to the mark.  We were followed by Blue Ribbon, Diver Down, Sea Quake (C&C29), Makani then Pacific Spirit in a hard fought battle in slow motion.

I wish I could say that we predicted all of the variant wind conditions.  I felt sorry for the boats that got caught in very little wind and quit to motor in.  Lord knows I have been in enough of these slow motion, get-your-calendar-out-for-the-finish-time races.  All I can say is sometimes it seems like the wind gods are smiling on you! Thinking back, I should have bought a lottery ticket that night!

HOW GOOD IS YOUR GAME?

It has really been fun seeing everyone pull their game up this season.   Last week after 4 miles of racing we had 5 boats round Blacks at the same time!  I have been an avid racer for several years, even competing in 2 national regattas.  I must say national regattas are the ultimate high!  How do you prepare for these regattas? You race in every venue possible: Tuesday nights, Big Brother Big Sister, the Score series (SCYC), Midwinters.  The list goes on and on.

There are several basic steps you must complete to compete in many of these regatta’s.  In order to register you must have an affiliation (yacht club membership).  Of course in our venue, you can’t go wrong joining the SCYC.  An alternative is to join US Sailing for less than $50 a year.  After you have your affiliation set, you will need a PHRF certificate.  This is a form asking about your boat type and sail inventory and costs $20 a year.  After these two steps, it is good to have a regular committed crew that works well together.

It is great fun getting together for our Tuesday nights, but when you start racing in official races and do well, you actually get hardware (trophies) to show to your friends. 

Looking forward to next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

TUESDAY JULY 8: CATALINA SAILBOATS RACING IN MONTEREY BAY. PROPER TACTICS WINS RACES

Tuesday July 8, 2014

PROPER TACTICS WINS RACE 

As we were exiting the harbor, there was plenty of wind coming from the northwest, but a cold damp fog bank hanging off shore.  With 10 to 15 knots of wind and no hint of it backing off, we decided on the same course as last week: course number 1, with a 6:10 start time. We had twelve boats out for the fun.

Once again, it was an exciting start, with all major contenders right on the line on time.  On Pair A Dice, we were happy with our start being to windward of Makani and another boat just ahead of us and to leeward.  We were happy with our position until we noticed Diver Down creeping up behind us just windward of us.  We tacked over and ducked Diver Down trying to use the inside advantage, but found we were in the wind shadow of Pacific  Spirit which was trying to close the gap Iris had opened with their head start.  We attempted to sail lower to pass Pacific Spirit but were not able to pass them.  We finally tacked over for clear air and passed in front of Makani.  We thought there was more wind outside where the fog line was, and  continued on outside separating from the rest of the fleet.  When we finally tacked over and approached the layline for the wharf mark rounding, we realized our error in separating so much from the fleet as Iris, Diver Down, Pacific Spirit, Blue Ribbon and Makani had all opened a sizeable lead on us.  We finally rounded Wharf and started toward Mile trying to close the gap.

We rounded Mile and extended our pole. As we witnessed Iris, Diver Down, Pacific Spirit and Makani all in a pack aiming low to Blacks, we attempted  to sail higher like Blue Ribbon thinking we could heat it up to round the mark.  It was amazing after over 4 miles of racing to have 5 boats rounding Blacks all at once with Pair A Dice in close pursuit.  We all tried to judge the best layline to make the 5 boatlength finish area by the start/finish mark, but we all got headed and had to tack over to make the line. Blue Ribbon was the first over the line followed by Diver Down, Iris, Pacific Spirit and Makani with Pair a Dice coming in sixth.

Tactical errors:

The thing that is so great about our Catalina Tuesdays is the ability to analyze your performance after each race. I encourage all crews to go through this exercise, even if you win!  Get opinions from the whole crew:  What did we do right?  What did we do wrong?  How could we improve in the future?  It can also be a learning experience for the skipper by getting opinions and self analysis.  Questions such as: Was I using too much helm? Was I pinching too much?  Were my tacks smooth and efficient?   Once again, it is all about learning and improving your sailing.

Our analysis on Pair a Dice came up with several major tactical errors for this night.

- We should have analyzed the direction of the wind to determine to preferred end of the line.  This night, the pin end was not favored and Diver Down correctly chose the right end of the line.

-We sailed too long in Pacific Spirit’s bad wind and attempting to roll them to leeward got us even further from the mark.  We should have tacked over for clear air much sooner than we did.

-We separated ourselves too much from the fleet sailing way outside and when sailing further in got headed horribly.  We should have tacked over to take advantage of the header rather than sailing even further from the fleet.

Here’s looking forward to next Tuesday for some more fun!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice