SEPTEMBER 15, 2026 PERSISTENT WESTERLY

 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2026

    The Night of the Steady Westerly

The flags were whipping with a steady westerly, and no sign of an threatening easterly.  It was holding steady in the 10+ kts range under clear and sunny skies over a moderately smooth sea.  Some boats were a bit overpowered in the gusts, but no serious problems. There was a good turnout for the race, with the Spinny Fleet finishing 2 boats, A Fleet finishing  6 boats, B Fleet finishing 11 boats.  The start line was set up facing a 230 deg breeze.  Course W4 was chosen.  All three fleets got off to clean starts.  The usual question with this sort of wind is whether to stay inshore until the wharf and than to tack out into the lift around Lighthouse Point, or whether to stay offshore looking for a stronger wind.  There was no clear consensus among the tacticians, and no obvious advantages either way.  The fleets were remarkably compact rounding Schuyler, the upwind leg.  From there, it was a drag race on a broad reach to Mile, followed by a continuing drag race to the Finish, with only minor changes in position.  Nobody pulled out their whisker poles for the reaches.  Apparently most boats were traveling near hull speed, so the finish times favored the slower boats on corrected time.  There were some moments of drama as boats were crossing port/starboard on the upwind leg and when rounding the marks, but no collisions that we're aware of. It was a lovely evening of sailing!

The days are getting noticeably shorter, and we seem to be past the warmest days, as the autumnal solstice approaches (Wednesday, Sept 23^rd this year). Be sure your boat has functioning running lights as we may be returning to the harbor after sunset if the wind goes too light in the coming weeks.  If you don't have a strong motor, have a tow line ready and don't be shy about asking other boats for a tow back to port. See you out on the water next Tuesday!

Doug.

 

Douglas Mahone

305 Harbor Drive

Santa Cruz  CA  95062

 

doug@dmahone.com

(916) 541-6607

 

Thanks Doug!   

Spinny fleet can be seen here:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Spinny%20Fleet&race=15.9.2026%2017:50:00&language=en

 

A Fleet tracks can be seen here:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20A&race=15.9.2026%2017:55:00&language=en

B Fleet:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=15.9.2026%2018:00:00&language=en

 

PHRF CORRECTED RESULTS:  COURSE DISTANCE 2.93NM

PLACE                BOAT                                 PHRF                  ET                         CORRECTED TIME

SPINNY FLEET

1            ROSIE                                              162                      35:28                  27:33

2            INTERLUDE                                   141                      34:31                  27:38

FLEET A:

1            ABORIGINAL                                 33                         26:14                  24:37

2            ZOOP                                               144                      32:34                  25:32

3            SAGITTARIUS                               120                      32:38                  26:46

4            PERFECT 36                                   144                      33:52                  26:50

5            RIO                                                  141                      34:50                  27:57

6            AQUAVIT                                       72                         33:10                  29:29

FLEET B:

1                         PACIFIC SPIRIT                    165                      35:05                  27:01                 

2                         TARA                                      243                      39:16                  27:24

3                         WIND GODDESS                  163                      35:42                  27:44

4                         AZOR                                      243                      40:10                  28:18

5                         SIMPATICO                            165                      36:44                  28:40

6                         MAKANI                                147                      36:04                  28:53

7                         SAILING PAIR A DICE         180                      37:53                  29:06                         

8                         KICKS                                     180                      39:16                  30:29

9                         AVATAR                                  132                      37:28                  31:01

10                    NIDAROS                                120                      37:11                  31:19

11                    TOAD                                       150                      41:59                  34:39

 

ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

 

QUIZ

Last Week:

Battens are:

a) hatches

b) flocks of bats (usually 10)

c) sail stiffeners

Answer: c) sail stiffeners

Battens originated in China and southeast Asia in the 12th century.  The lug rigs of Chinese  junks featured full length battens a thousand years before the first modern multi-hulls.  (It helped to have a plentiful supply of bamboo.)

 

This week:

On a sailing vessel, a “spanker” is:

a) a sail

b) the master-at-arms

c) support for the taffrail

 

END OF AN ERA

2026 marks our last season with Zoop (the Sloop). Through racing and cruising on the Bay, Stockton Sail-Camps in the delta, to Tuesdays here in Santa Cruz, she’s been a member of our family for 27 years.  Our son Patrick grew up on her. But, the time has come to downsize. Another boat that I have a lot of history with (see “Moore Memories” in this month’s Spinnaker Sheet) is Poltergeist, the first true Moore 24 sailing, and the one that probably did more than any other to establish the boats’ reputation for speed and seaworthiness. She also won the class’s 1977 Nationals. Recently, through a combination of good fortune (Niels Kisling) and good sleuthing (Patrick), we became aware the boat was available and she’s now in our driveway. No — she’s not racing in this month’s Nationals — it’s early days. Meanwhile, if you know of anybody who might be interested in a “good ol’ boat,” our Islander 36 is available.  She’s not flashy but, as many of you can testify, she’s sound, and she gets the job done.

 

THE RACE

YAY, No Transition! In order for an easterly to develop, Santa Cruz needs to be hot.  Tuesday afternoon, the fog was only about a mile or so beyond MB, and the southwesterly was ripping across the City, indicating a well established marine layer and a good chance the breeze would hold through the evening. (As we docked, around 1900, the breeze was still SW and the fog had closed to just beyond the Harbor entrance.)

 

Spinnaker Fleet had a sort of a race. 4 boats started (plus a couple not on RH).  But only Interlude and Rosie sailed the course.  The rest of the fleet, all Moore 24’s, unable to endure the delayed gratification, skipped the reach to MB, set their kites and hared off for Soquel Point. Rosie won (better watch out, those guys are getting better and better).

 

A Fleet had 7 boats and was, to some extent, a testament to the IOR Rule. Aboriginal was patient and made the strategically best start at the starboard end, tacked immediately on to port, and sped off to the favored right side. She corrected out about a minute ahead of both Zoop and Sagittarius, which were designed as One-tonners in the very early days of the IOR.   The rule says they should be the same speed — Tuesday it was right — Zoop rounded Schuyler 5 seconds ahead, and finished 4 seconds ahead of Sagittarius.  But she had some help from Double Expresso, which got in the mix enough to up by Schuyler to allow Zoop to reach the starboard layline first. Unfortunately Double Expresso’s track is not visible.

 

B Fleet was the usual dogfight.  It serves as evidence for my favorite starting axiom, “It’s what happens 2 minutes later that counts.”  Toad and PAD made the best starts, but were pinned on starboard and forced to the left.  Pacific Spirit and Nidaros were first onto port, with the former winning the drag race to the right. (“Foot to the header,” Peter Barrett) This gave her an advantage she never relinquished.  The conditions were also windy enough to demonstrate Fred Molnar’s favorite observation about Santana 22’s, “They come reefed from the factory.” Tara consistently sailed upwind boat-for-boat with several larger boats; she corrected out second, with Azor, the other Tuna, 4th.

 

Thank you Paul!

 

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 VACCILATING WIND

 

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:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Spinny%20Fleet&race=8.9.2026%2017:50:00&language=en

A FLEET:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20A&race=8.9.2026%2017:55:00&language=en

Fleet B can be seen at:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=8.9.2026%2018:00:00&language=en

 

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.

 

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

 

SEPTEMBER 1, 2026 BLUSTERY DAY ON THE BAY

 

SEPTEMBER 1, 2026

BLUSTERY DAY ON THE BAY

Predictions were for light winds for the afternoon and reports from sailors was only 15 knot winds.  These conditions often are frequently overpowered by the Santa Cruz eddy resulting in an Easterly.  As we left the harbor at 5pm there was a healthy 20 knot breeze flowing across the bay.    Enough for predictions, time to deal with reality and put a reef in.  We had over twenty boats out for the fun.  The wind was coming from 240 degrees and we set a line square to this and called for course W1.  All three fleets had clean starts and the wind continued clear to the finish.  Such is life when you have a blustery day on the bay.

Spinny Fleet track can be seen at:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Spinny%20Fleet&race=1.9.2026%2017:50:00&language=en

A Fleet track can be reviewed at:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20A&race=1.9.2026%2017:55:00&language=en

B Fleet can be viewed at:

https://www.regattahero.com/mapviewer/?organisation=scyc&passcode=233793&regatta=Tues%20Fleet%20B&race=1.9.2026%2018:00:00&language=en

 

PHRF CORRECTED RESULTS:  COURSE W1  DISTANCE 3.886NM

PLACE                BOAT                                 PHRF                  ET                         CORRECTED TIME

FLEET SPINNY

1            INTERLUDE                                   141                      43:27                  34:19

2            PEGASUS                                       150                      44:04                  34:21

3            WATTS MOORE                             150                      44:47                  35:04

4            ICHIBAN                                         150                      45:35                  35:52

5            KEMOSABE                                    81                         44:21                  3906

FLEET A:

1            ABORIGINAL                                 33                         36:48                  34:40

2            ZOOP                                               144                      45:16                  35:56

3            PERFECT 36                                   144                      46:28                  37:08

4            RIO                                                  141                      49:06                  39:58

5            AMOR FATI                                    81                         49:24                  44:09

FLEET B:

1            AZOR                                              243                      53:25                  37:31

2            GOLD RUSH                                  126                      46:43                  38:33

3            TARA                                               243                      54:52                  39:08

4            SIMPATICO                                    165                      50:05                  39:23

5            BIG MAC                                        222                      54:19                  39:56

6            AVATAR                                          132                      49:55                  41:22

7            PACIFIC SPIRIT                            165                      54:31                  43:50

8            SAILING PAIR A DICE                 180                      55:45                  44:05

9            AQUAVIT                                        73                         48:57                  44:13

10          NIDAROS                                       118                      53:36                  45:57

11          TOAD                                              150                      59:48                  50:05

12          SWEET PEA                                   163                      1:01:07             50:34

13          KICKS                                             180                      1:02:26             50:46

14          MYSTIC                                          150                      1:02:01             52:18

THE ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA

QUIZ

Last Week:

The minimum sailing weight of a Santana 22 is:

b) 2,600 lbs

 

Once again, it’s worth remembering that “minimum sailing weight” is different from “displacement”.  The latter is always greater due to the addition of crew and gear. 

 

This Week:

The ballast to displacement ratio compares fixed ballast to displacement. Which of these boats has the lowest ratio?

a) Moore 24

b) Islander 36

b) Santana 22

d) Santa Cruz 27

 

THE RACE

Tuesday, the morning overcast had a splotchy look, with mares’ tails visible above.  This pattern indicates the presence of stronger weather-system winds aloft shredding the overcast as they start to mix down to the surface. It often results in “sporty” conditions. “Mares’ tails and mackerel scales make lofty ships carry low sails.” These winds are almost always veered relative to the surface flow; on Zoop we noted a direction of 255° just prior to our start.

 

Spinnaker Fleet had 6 boats. The favored port end lured several offshore, including the SC-27 Interlude and Moore 24 Pegasus. Ichiban started at the unfavored starboard end and was first to head right on port tack. This seemed to pay off at first, but not  enough when she came back on starboard to make up for the difference at the start. Interlude rounded first but Pegasus took the lead on the reach to MB. However, Pegasus made a very wide rounding, (jibe issues?) allowing Interlude to regain the lead, which she held to the finish, correcting out over Pegasus by 3 seconds.

 

A Fleet had 5 boats. Aboriginal started at the starboard end and immediately flopped onto port, followed by P36 a little further out. The former held port until the Wharf, tacked and rounded Schuyler in the lead.  Zoop was pinned on starboard by Amor Fati until well out in left field. After tacking onto port we barely crossed P36 as she came off the beach on starboard.  We then under-stood Schuyler by a boat length, requiring two extra tacks while Aboriginal steamed off into the distance at 8 knots — game over. Under-standing always engenders a  lot of ‘discussion’ aboard. “We’re gonna make it, wait for the lift, don’t tack,” are all familiar phrases. To which I offer a one word response, “leeway.” Hard on the wind, no boat actually goes where she’s pointed. And, attempting to shoot a mark in that much wind is a good way to end up doing a penalty spin.

 

B Fleet had 12 boats, augmented by the addition of Aquavit, freshly returned from her Pac Cup adventures. (They intended to race in A, but were late and reregistered in B at the last minute — must be some turbo fingers aboard. Meanwhile another boat forgot to hit “Participate in Regatta”.) The star of the show was the Santana 22 Azor. The C&C 35 Gold Rush (the oldest boat in the fleet) blitzed everybody boat for boat, but was unable to save her time and ended up second on corrected by just over a minute.  Azor won the race on the beat to Schuyler. She matched speed with Simpatico and then, instead of being carried beyond the layline, tacked and ducked astern of the larger boat to round second. Anytime you can round ahead of boats that are 10 feet longer is a ‘Glory Moment’. 

Thank you Paul!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice