JUNE 2, 2026
GREAT WIND WITH A TRANSITION
As usual, predictions for the evening were mixed, calling
for 15 knot winds decreasing through the evening. Reports from sailors who had been out
indicated an increasing wind through the afternoon. As we left the harbor at 5, there was a
consistent breeze coming from 250 degrees, BUT also a fog bank drifting in to
Capitola which can indicate a sudden shift to an Easterly Breeze. We set a start line that, though not perfect,
would work for the Westerly if it maintained but also would work for an
Easterly.
With the Westerly maintaining,
all 3 fleets got off to clean starts sailing course W1. On the run from Mile to Blacks, we saw boats
flying spinnakers on a building Easterly.
It was an evening of great wind with a transition.
SPINNY FLEET TRACK CAN BE
REVIEWED AT:
FLEET A CAN BE REVIEWED AT:
FLEET B:
PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS: COURSE W1
DISTANCE 3.884NM
PLACE BOAT PHRF ET CORRECTED TIME
SPINNY FLEET:
1 INTERLUDE 141 59:538 50:45
FLEET A:
1 ABORIGINAL 33 48:32 46:24
2 WATTS
MOORE 150 57:57 48:14
3 ZOOP 144 57:40 48:21
4 TRUE
LOVE 72 54:52 50:12
5 PAC
HIGH 96 57:06 50:53
6 SAGITTARIUS 120 58:52 51:06
7 SOPHIE 141 1:00:29 51:21
8 DOUBLE
ESRESSO 99 58:05 51:40
9 PERFECT
36 144 1:01:23 52:04
10 ROSIE 162 1:03:40 53:11
11 MAIN SQUEEZE 72 58:09 53:29
12 KEMOSABE 81 1:01:19 56:04
FLEET B:
1 SIMPATICO 165 58:24 47:43
2 TARA 243 1:04:14 48:30
3 BIG
MAC 222 1:02:56 48:34
4 MAKANI 147 58:32 49:01
5 SAILING
PAIR A DICE 180 1:00:50 49:11
6 AZOR 243 1:05:12 49:28
7 PACIFIC
SPIRIT 165 1:02:19 51:38
8 WIND
GODDESS 163 1:03:04 52:31
9 NIDAROS 114 1:01:20 53:57
10 BLOND AMBITION 100 1:05:07 58:39
_)
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(_ (_
ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA
SMORGASBORD!
Tuesday’s race had something for everyone. If you
like varying conditions, it was a banquet. Recently I referred to the “Santa
Cruz Eddy” as an atmospheric whirlpool. It certainly stirred the pot this week,
starting with a fake — fog in Capitola — hinting at an impending easterly. But
Barry didn’t bite, and his choice of W-1 offered some great racing. If
you remembered that hint.
The first leg was a standard westerly with significant
pressure offshore, nearer the fog. In the A Fleet, the port end of the
line was favored, allowing Watts Moore and Pacific
High to make port tack starts and appear to leave the fleet in the
dust. But their early advantage dissipated as their initial tack carried them
into less wind inshore (another hint). That was the choice of entrees for the
evening — the shift inshore, or more breeze offshore. A predictable menu, we
thought, given the time of day.
The westerly held for the next leg, serving up the usual
broad reach parade to MB. But it also provided more hints. The breeze did not
veer or increase dramatically, as it often does on the approach to MB.
The gusts lacked the hard, cold edge one associates with a determined
westerly, and our jibe at the mark was almost anticlimactic. As we approached
it, I told the crew, “This race is going to get weird.”
Which brings us to the next leg. Sometimes the
shortest distance isn’t the fastest. As far as we could tell, the first person
to sense the impending weirdness was Paul Yost on True Love. I’m
not sure (I haven’t spoken with him) but I bet he was feeling some faint vibe
from his junior days in Lasers, when he would go low, and then reach in
hot to Black Point. I’ve done the same thing countless times in 5o5’s,
dropping the kite at the last minute, and reaching in with the crew on the wire
beneath the fleet. “Reaching in hot” in an Islander 36 is an oxymoron if
there ever was one. Nevertheless it didn’t take us long to get the jib poled
out to port — the minute it filled we began to gain on the boats around us. We
stayed low and outside, until we saw the boats ahead stall out in the
transition, dropped the pole, coasted — sometimes displacement pays — through a
tack onto starboard, and close reached to BP. (Transitioning into the new wind
dead to leeward of the next mark is not a good plan.)
We rounded close astern of Pacific High and Main
Squeeze as the last leg went from an entree to a potluck. Recalling
the fog in Capitola earlier, we bet the easterly was going to fill hard, and
immediately set the pole to starboard as they jib reached inshore. When
they jibed onto port, we jibed also and I was surprised to find we could not
carry the pole — the wind had shifted to the south — a phenomenon that
often precedes a transition. Which, of course, is exactly what happened, right
at the finish line, allowing several boats astern to close in. In
transitions, Zoop often asserts her true personality, turns
sulky and quickly looses steerage. Fortunately, this time she was
pointing inshore, allowing us to save our bacon at the last minute by catching
the next easterly fill, and nipping across just seconds ahead of Watts
Moore.
In the B Fleet, the pot luck was served up slightly sooner,
about halfway to BP, but the racing was just as close. Simpatico won,
by staying low and outside, while Tara corrected out
over Big Mac by just 4 seconds, and Makani over PAD by
10 seconds.
THANK YOU PAUL
I am looking forward to next Tuesday!
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
