SEPTEMBER 8, 2026
VACCILATING WIND
As we exited the harbor at 5:00, there was a healthy westerly
with whitecaps everywhere, yet the first breath of an easterly was felt at the
harbor entrance. By 5:30 the transition had almost reached the start line
but seemed stuck just inshore. We called for course W5 but advised
sailors to watch their phones. At 5:45 the startline was still (barely)
in the westerly. What would happen next? We could call for an
easterly course to Blacks, or postpone. But the sea looked glassy up
towards Blacks, and limited daylight made a postponement potentially
problematic for boats without running lights. We crossed our fingers that
the westerly would hold and blew the gun. The spinny fleet mostly got off
OK into the westerly, then the wind shut down. A and B fleet were bobbing
around unable to start, and we shortened their course to the windward
mark. Around 6:05, the fickle and long delayed easterly finally moved in,
and except for a brief lull (which unfortunately led us to shorten course for
the spinnys as well) continued to build throughout the evening. Many
boats continued on to sail the full course. Once the easterly finally
filled in, it was a beautiful evening for a sail.
Spinny fleet track can be
reviewed at:
A FLEET:
Fleet B can be seen at:
PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:
COURSE W5 SHORTENED. LENGTH 1.199NM
PLACE BOAT PHRF ET CT
SPINNY FLEET:
1 WATTS MOORE 150 21:19 15:19
2 ROSIE 162 31:29 25:29
3 GONZO 150 33:33 30:33
A FLEET:
1 ABORIGINAL 33 23:02 22:22
2 INTERLUDE 141 33:21 30:32
3 WIND II 213 34:58 30:43
4 RIO 141 34:42 31:53
5 AQUAVIT 72 33:23 31:57
6 AMOR FATI 81 33:35 31:58
7 ZOOP 144 35:07 32:14
8 KEMOSABE 81 41:47 40:10
B FLEET:
1 AVATAR 132 30:17 27:39
2 SIMPATICO 165 31:53 28:35
3 PACIFIC SPIRIT 165 33:05 29:47
4 SAILING PAIR A DICE 180 35:10 31:34
5 MAKANI 147 35:01 32:05
6 NIDAROS 118 34:46 32:25
7 AZOR 243 37:38 32:47
8 WIND GODDESS 163 36:19 33:04
9 TOAD 150 37:34 34:34
The ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA
QUIZ
Last
Week:
The
ballast to displacement ratio compares fixed ballast to displacement. Which of
these boats has the lowest ratio?
a)
Moore 24 — 48.8%
b)
Islander 36 — 40.5%
b)
Santana 22 — 46.3
d)
Santa Cruz 27 — 50%
The
Islander 36 has the lowest ratio. She is also the beamiest. There’s a direct
correlation; as a percentage of total displacement, fat boats require less
ballast, skinny boats require more.
This
Week:
These
quizzes are getting way too serious. Battens are:
a)
hatches
b)
flocks of bats (usually 10)
c)
sail stiffeners
THE
RACE
No
matter what we do, the Law of Averages often catches up with the combo of our
start time and S/F’s location. This was one of those weeks. At 1700, the fog
was beginning its counterclockwise swirl, but hadn’t made it much past Marina,
with a lot of haze (humidity) obscuring its edge. Just outside the Harbor an
easterly was developing, but only right along the beach, with a narrow
transition and westerly beyond. On Monday evening there had been a vigorous
easterly, so that looked promising to us. But then, the two breezes began
playing footsy and the transition quickly expanded to include most of the start
line — except right at S/F. I don’t know why this happened, but it might be due
to the increased humidity from the remnants of tropical storm Marie.
Spinnaker
fleet only had 5 boats. Some boats that were intending to race with spinnakers
may have switched to A fleet when the transition caught them too far from the
line. In any event, Watts Moore made another perfect
start, reaching in on port and immediately tacking around S/F to head back out
into the westerly, closely followed by the Olson 25 Rosie.
Both stayed in the westerly all the way to Schuyler by tacking back out on
starboard whenever they approached the transition. Even so, they barely
beat it to the mark, and sailed upwind to the finish in the building easterly.
As of this writing, RH is not showing any spinnaker results, but Watts
Moore clearly won. (I’m not sure, but I don’t think RH likes it when the course
is shortened after boats are already on a leg.)
A
Fleet had 8 boats. Aboriginal copied Watts Moore,
reaching in on port and tacking around S/F, back out into the breeze. But, that
5 minutes made a difference; she spent several minutes slatting on starboard
before finally getting going. Didn’t matter, as the transition swallowed the
entire line. Aboard Zoop, we were 50’ from Aboriginal, but never
made it onto starboard, and ended up crossing the line three times. The
easterly was making an effort, but as B fleet joined the fray, the pin-cushion
effect began to set in. (Stick enough pins into an airflow, and
the air molecules start to perceive of it as a solid barrier, and just say
nope, we’re goin’ up and over.) As the easterly filled, the race turned into a
run. We were first to pole out, and gained steadily on boats inshore, until we
started to outrun the breeze near Schuyler. But, we couldn’t overcome the
huge lead they had established at the start, while we were suffocating under
the cushion.
B
Fleet had 9 boats. Avatar had a plan and made it pay. Twenty
minutes prior to the start Doug was on the VHF, “There’s a really nice easterly
filling in along the beach.” She started at the inshore end, reached up into a
little more pressure, set her pole, and drag raced Guenter in his Finn to
Schuyler. She corrected out 1st by a little under a minute over Simpatico (while
both breathed a sigh of relief that the McCords were doing stand-in PRO
duty aboard PAD, instead of racing Big Mac). Thank
you, Mark and Libby.
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A huge thanks to Mark McCord for his
expertise in dealing with challenging situations and to Paul for another expert
analysis.
Aloha
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
