MARCH 17, 2026
VOILA, WE HAVE WIND!
After a dismal opening for the
season last Tuesday with no wind, I was discouraged when I arrive at the harbor
around 2pm to see limp flags. You can
only deal with what nature delivers! As we left the harbor around 5pm, there
was a good breeze of about 10 knots filling the bay. We determined the wind direction was from 240
degrees and set a line square to this direction. We selected Whiskey 4 as the course,
allowing us the option to shorten course to finish at mile if the wind
decreased. We blew the “5:45 horn” and
set up to sight the line for Spinny and Fleet B starts both of which had no OCS
issues. All boats tacked their way to
Schuyler, then reached off to Mile, and finished at S/F as the wind was slowly
dissipating. It was awesome to be
sailing in a 10-15 knot breeze: VOILA, WE HAVE WIND!
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| Jennifer Kinsman photo |
The track for the Spinny fleet can be reviewed at:
The track for A Fleet can be
reviewed at:
Fleet B can be viewed at:
SPINNY FLEET:
PLACE BOAT PHRF ET CORRECTED
1 ROSIE 162 38:39 30:47
2 FLEXI
FLYER 96 36:43 32:03
FLEET A:
1 HEARTBEAT 12 29:39 29:04
2 WATTS
MOORE 150 37:14 29:57
3 PACIFIC
HIGH 96 35:06 30:26
4 WIND
II 213 42:41 32:21
5 TRUE
LOVE 72 35:55 32:25
6 DOUBLE
ESPRESSO 199 39:08 34:20
7 AQUAVIT 72 38:37 35:07
FLEET B:
1 ZOOP 144 38:43 31:44
2 BIG
MAC 222 43:41 32:55
3 ABSOLUTE
O5 117 39:06 33:25
4 MAKANI 147 41:02 33:54
5 AVATAR 132 40:36 34:12
6 SAILING
PAIR A DICE 180 43:15 34:31
7 PERFECT
36 144 41:41 34:42
8 MAIN
SQUEEZE 72 38:30 35:00
9 PACIFIC
SPIRIT 165 44:20 36:20
10 TARA 243 48:09
36:22
11 FORTUNA 114 41:55 36:23
12 AZOR 243 52:56 41:09
13 KICKS 180 51:30 42:46
14 YES DEAR 243 1:00:04 48:17
ZOOP SCOOP BY Paul Tara
PATRICK’S
PERFECT PRESENT
My
only conclusion is that there are enough Irish in our sailing community to
insure that the ZOOP
SCOOP conditions on Tuesday were as close to perfection as we’re
ever likely to experience locally. It was warm. The Club’s newly
set marks were spectacularly visiible. There was wind, but not too much. And,
it lasted until most of the fleet had finished. I had sailed my El Toro over
the weekend and was not optimistic. Sunday was the best, with a westerly
that made it all the way in to the beach, but it only stuck around until 1730.
On Tuesday, the presence of the Aptos inversion hinted at a similar outcome.
But Tuesday’s breeze had more staying power, with a remarkably uniform
distribution across the course. However, there was a gradient, with
slightly more wind outside, and a big area of calm in by the Wharf (the
Boardwalk flags were limp). Our plan was to head out for more breeze, but
it was foiled by a collision at the leeward end, and we ended up inside on port
after jibing around and crossing behind the fleet. Fortunately, we tacked out
about half way up the beat; boats that went too far in paid a price.
RISKY
BUSINESS
Starting
is an inherently risky business. Situational awareness is critical and should
always place a premium on boats to leeward. On Zoop we live in constant fear of
a leeward boats. One a few length’s to leeward, harmlessly luffing with a
minute to go, can easily become your worst nightmare by the start. Don’t become
so focused on the boats to windward that you forget about her. On
Tuesday, Zoop approached the port end from well to leeward and caught three
boats running down the line. In the ensuing melee, there was a fairly serious
collision as a boat attempting avoid being forced over early, bore off into a
boat to leeward. We bailed.
Here’s
the thing. Only one boat will get the best start. Better to play the odds.
Even our safe conservative approach didn’t pan out this time. If
you get up on the line early, and try to reach down it, you are a sitting duck.
You can’t luff up to slow down or you’ll be over. You can’t bear
off without speeding up, risking encountering leeward boats or running out of
runway. The safest approach is to figure out where you want to start,
then plot the starboard lay-line to get there. I like to use the compass and a
bearing from shore. At two minutes you should be setting up slightly above
the lay-line to your spot. Keep track of boats to leeward and adjust your speed
if necessary to avoid potential leeward overlaps. At 4 knots a boat travels 100
feet in 15 seconds. Last but not least, have a Plan B.
THE
“LEEWARD END”
On
Tuesday there was a question regarding the term “leeward end”. This
almost always refers to the port end of the line. Since 98 percent of starts
are made on starboard tack, the port end lies to leeward of the boat’s course.
The leeward end can be the favored end, like it was Tuesday — or it can be
unfavored — depends on the wind. If there is a large RC boat there, it
can also be referred to as “coffin corner”.
Thank you Paul
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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