JUNE 16, 2026
IT’S WELL TO HAVE NO
SWELL
With last Tuesday’s race being
cancelled because of a large south swell slamming up the harbor, I was itching
for a sail. This feeling was shared in
our group as I received several calls to
see if we were racing today. Predictions
were for another, more powerful swell to hit for this Tuesday also. I was anxious and went to the harbor around
10 in the morning to see how things were shaping up. With such wild predictions, I was surprised
to see the harbor mouth with very little surf, even after observing for over 45
minutes. I consulted with one of my “brain
trust” and he had the same impression from watching the harbor cam. I sent an email out to let the Tuesday
sailors know that we were racing.
As we left the harbor at 5, it looked like a powerful
Westerly wind was showing on the flags, but the sea state looked more like
13-15 knots. We determined the wind
direction to be about 235 and set a line close to square to this. We called for course W3: Start>Schuyler>Mile>Gov>finish
at S/F and blew the 15 minute horn. It was great to be on the water racing
again and we had just enough wind to finish the race. When I was an active
surfer, I could never have thought there would be a time I would say it’s well
to have no swell.
Spinny fleet track can be reviewed at:
Fleet A track:
Fleet B:
PHRF ADJUSTED RESULTS:
COURSE W3 DISTANCE 3.894NM
PLACE BOAT PHRF ET
CORRECTED
SPINNY FLEET:
1 FRISKY 72 38:06 32:50
2 PEGASUS 150 43:20 33:36
A FLEET:
1 ABORIGINAL 33 36:47 34:38
2 ZOOP 144 44:52 35:31
3 MAIN
SQUEEZE 72 41:23 36:42
4 PERFECT 36 144 47:31 38:10
5 TRUE LOVE 72 44:18 39:38
6 ROSIE 162 52:38 42:07
B FLEET:
1 GOLD RUSH 126 46:42 38:31
2 BIG MAC 222 53:09 38:44
3 MAKANI 147 49:54 40:22
4 NIDAROS II 114 48:33 41:09
5 SAILING
PAIR A DICE 180 53:02 41:21
6 TARA 243 57:55 42:09
7 SIMPATICO 165 53:12 42:29
8 AZOR 243 1:00:27 44:41
9 PACIFIC
SPIRIT 165 55:35 44:52
10 BLUE FIN 243 1:00:48 45:02
11 WIND
GODDESS 163 56:08 45:33
12 AVATAR 132 58:54 50:20
13 FORTUNA 114 1:03:17 55:53
14 MYSTIC 150 1:13:24 1:03:40
ZOOP SCOOP BY PAUL TARA
A PARENT WIND
In days of yore, in junior El Toros at Pinto Lake, one
Sunday a month was Regatta Day. And one race in that regatta was a multiple
choice quiz of around 20 questions. It was non-discardable, i.e., in
order to do well in the regatta, (and the series) you had to know some stuff. I
had fun making up those quizzes. Stand by:
Apparent wind is the wind you feel
a) When you are standing still
b) When your mom tells you to clean your room
c) When you are moving.
KLUMPITY, KLUMP, KLUMP
KLUMP = kelp + clump. In spite of the Beach Boys, not
all vibrations are good. The recent heavy south swell and high tides uprooted a
lot of kelp and the Express 37 True Love harvested some
Tuesday. Her skipper, Paul Yost, felt vibration through the tiller but
nothing was visible trailing astern. A large klump was jammed on the rudder’s
leading edge right up against the hull. It made a huge difference. Main
Squeeze, the other Express 37, just sailed away. It was great for us
on Zoop too, back a few lengths. We spent the whole race
critiquing their “poor” sail trim and thinking we were really kicking ass. (Oh
well.) We figured it out eventually, when we pulled in next to them and half
their crew was prostrate on the dock, like a bunch of sea lions, peering under
the boat. (I’m assuming they avoided the hot wire.) Moral of the story,
watch out for klumps anstick but, in our short races, basically you’re screwed.
All boats are compromises. Express 37’s, rate 72, partly due to their efficient
foils, with more vertical leading edges. Zoop rates 144, but she sheds it —
It’s a trade off — weed for speed.
THE NEED FOR SPEED
The big difference in the A Fleet was that while we,
aboard Zoop, spent the entire time thinking we
were really kicking ass, Aboriginal was actually doing it.
She made a good port tack start, called a perfect lay line, and made
Schuyler with only one tack. She sailed the shortest distance, a knot faster
than Zoop (four tacks). More and more, I’m inclined to think
when there’s breeze, Aboriginal’s advantage lies in her
superior VMG to weather. Her speed increases the efficiency of her very high
aspect keel, allowing her to make less leeway. The advantage fades in
light air as her restricted headsails and greater wetted surface become more
critical.
In the B Fleet, Gold Rush proved once
again that old is gold in moderate air. Big Mac nailed the
start and was able to tack away on port, but the nearly 60 year old C&C
design’s low wetted surface and generous sail plan enabled her to sail away
from the fleet. That was good as she only corrected out ahead of Big
Mac by 13 seconds. Back in the pack, PAD exhibited
the best lane discipline, steadily gaining on the reaches until the leg to the
finish. Then, she got antsy and tried to pass Simpatico to
weather, resulting in a luffing match. Meanwhile Big Mac ate
both their lunches by sailing the direct compass course. Yum.
Thank you Paul!
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
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