MAY 28, 2024
JUST ANOTHER DRIFTER
I was at the boat early in the afternoon and was impressed
to see an Easterly developing early in the afternoon. As crew arrived and we left the harbor there
was a light Easterly across the
bay. It was much less of an Easterly than
what I had seen earlier. We watched as
it looked like the Easterly would possibly stay and set a line for an Easterly
breeze. Indeed, as the clock ticked
down to the start time, someone pointed out that it was going to be a downwind
start as the Westerly was trying to come back. We called for Course Echo 6 with
the possibility of shortening course and blew the ten-minute horn
An axiom used in the sailing community is that you should
have 5 knots of wind to start a race. As a developmental series, we do not follow
the usual customs and let the start proceed though the wind was definitely
lower than 5 knots. It was just enough wind to allow boats to slowly drift and
sail toward the first mark Blacks. The
first of A fleet to round the mark was Watts Moore then Sweetheart, Perfect 36,
Double Espresso and Sagittarius. The
first of B fleet to round the mark was Nidaros followed by Avatar, Toad,
Simpatico, Blond Ambition, Sweet Pea, Pacific Spirit, Big Mac, Makani and Pair
a Dice.
All boats progressed to round the temporary mark and
finished at S/F since the course had been shortened to once around. The first A
fleet boat to finish was Watts Moore 41:16, then Sweetheart 41:42, Perfect 36 50:00,
Double Espresso 53:31 and Sagittarius 1:03:59.
B fleet was led by Nidaros 48:50 then Avatar 56:15, Toad 1:01:50,
Simpatico 1:04:39, Blond Ambition 1:05:16, Sweet Pea 1:06:03, Pacific Spirit
1:09:07, Big Mac 1:10:04, Makani 1:11:35 and Pair A Dice 1:13:04. All times elapsed, and the course distance
was 0.87NM.
It was a frustratingly slow sailing evening but it was at
least a beautiful, sunny day on the
water. It was just another drifter.
PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS
PLACE BOAT PHRF CORRECTED TIME
FLEET A:
1 WATTS
MOORE 150 39:05
2 SWEETHEART -6 41:47
3 PERFECT
36 144 47:54
4 DOUBLE
ESPRESSO 99 52:04
5 SAGITTARIUS 120 1:02:14
FLEET B:
1 NIDAROS 118 47:07
2 AVATAR 130 54:21
3 TOAD 150 59:39
4 SIMPATICO 165 1:02:15
5 BLOND
AMBITION 165 1:02:52
6 SWEET PEA 165 1:03:39
7 PACIFIC
SPIRIT 165 1:06:43
8 BIG MAC 222 1:06:50
9 MAKANI 147 1:09:27
10 PAIR A DICE 180 1:10:27
 |
| ANOTHER DRIFTER |
The track for this evening can be found at:
PARTY SAILING
OR RACING?
We all love
sailing and the various aspects of the sport. You can go out for a pleasure sail with
various people taking turns steering the boat with food and drinks served. Conversations
covering topics of work, family, jokes and whatever comes to mind. It can be a great social and fun sailing
event: party sailing.
I have raced
on winning and losing boats and racing is a completely different aspect of
sailing than a social sailing event. On
a winning race boat, the only conversations taking place are analyzing and
processing conditions while tuning and adjusting things on the boat in a
constant pursuit of more speed. Check for wind conditions, backstay tension,
halyard tension (jib and main), outhaul, fairleads, vang, sheet tension are
just a few of the things that need constant attention as conditions change.
There is a
whole spectrum of learning in sailing.
Everything from the rank novice to those with years of experience. Racing is the perfect time to share
information you may know or to learn from more experienced crew. You don’t share or learn how to sail a boat
better by engaging in constant banter about non-sailing issues. Tuesdays are a perfect venue to practice and
learn how to improve boat speed.
LIGHT WIND
AND RULES:
There is a reason
races are not started in very light wind.
Slow close quarter sailing and rounding of marks that are close together
gets interesting to say the least.
Sometimes rules get broken or interpreted to one’s advantage, since
making progress in such light breeze can be burdensome. I conduct these races and write the blog but reporting
to me, after the fact, that someone broke a rule is not the correct
procedure. The correct procedure is to
announce “PROTEST” and display a red flag.
This must be done very quickly. The boat that fouled can exonerate by
doing a 360 which can be painful in light wind conditions. The other option is
to continue to sail and go to a protest hearing. The instructions for filing a protest are in
the SI’s on the back of the course card.
The last
thing I want is for the attitude to develop that “it’s only Tuesday Night
Sailing we don’t really need to follow rules”. With this attitude, nobody
learns anything about the rules.
For a light wind start, the start line should be at least doubled if not tripled. In general, the start line should be 50% longer because this is a developmental league. Also splitting the fleet has created an obstacle course for the A fleet trying to get thru the B fleet at the start. It creates a lot of chaos at the start. The B fleet to should yield to an A fleet boat making a run to the start, but no one knows who is in the A or B fleet. And the 5 minute delay is starts is not enough time to force the B fleet to keep clear of the start line, especially on a light wind day.
ReplyDeleteBy only using the PHRF, there are some boats that have a zero chance of winning, and you expect these people to take it seriously -- get a clue. You should make a scoring system that rewards improved performance. For example, a corp bowling league uses a 80% of 200 handicap, where a bowler that averaged 100 over the last 3 games gets an +80 handicap, 150 gets +40, and 250 get -40.
I find many boat don't understand the port/starboard/windward/leeward/overtaking rules of right of way. However, when the only education opportunity is a formal protest, there is a disincentive to go that route. Instead, of protesting people just stay away from the "Small Boat Killer".
Moreover, when the penalty is only taking points away, there is no incentive for boats with zero chance of winning to participate formal protests.
You also need to make the rules easy to follow. For example, when shortening the course, the finish line should always be on the same side as the rounding was. Also use more obvious landmarks like the lighthouse. Yes, the finish line will be less than perfect, but everyone will understand it.
You should add a light wind round rule, to prohibit tacking within 5 boat length of the windward mark. All too often, boats are stalling out next to the mark creating a dangerous situation.