JUNE 30, 2026
COOL BREEZE, HOT BBQ
There was a chill in the air
through the afternoon at the harbor, but thankfully the breeze was building as
the afternoon progressed. When we left
the harbor at 5pm, there was a steady 12-15 knot breeze showing across the bay. We determined the wind was from 240 degrees
and set a line square to this. We called for the popular course W3 and tried to
blow a 15 minute horn with a defective device. Thank goodness we had regatta
hero to back us up with the start countdowns for each fleet. As we ticked down close to the start, the
wind seemed to die a little instilling fear of a building Easterly, which never
developed (see the Zoop Scoop below).
It was a beautiful evening with sailing
under a cool, steady breeze followed by a hot BBQ at the club. Another thanks
to Mike Gross and his helpers for organizing this popular event.
SPINNY FLEET track can be reviewed
at:
Fleet A track:
Fleet B track:
PHRF adjusted results:
PLACE BOAT PHRF ET CORRECTED
SPINNY FLEET:
1 PEGASUS 150 45:31 35:47
2 GONZO 150 45:55 36:11
3 SOPHIE 141 51:16 42:07
A FLEET
1 ABORIGINAL 33 37:12 35:03
2 TRUE LOVE 72 40:45 36:05
3 ZOOP 144 45:37 36:16
4 ICHIBAN 150 46:31 36:46
5 WATTS
MOORE 150 47:06 37:22
6 WIND II 213 51:20 37:31
7 MAIN
SQUEEZE 72 43:11 38:31
8 INTERLUDE 141 48:11 39:02
9 DOUBLE ESPRESSO 99 45:49 39:23
10 KEMOSABE 81 48:01 42:46
11 ROSIE 162 56:10 45:39
FLEET B:
1 PERFECT 36 144 47:04 37:43
2 BIG MAC 222 52:15 37:50
3 SIMPATICO 165 50:59 40:16
4 SAILING
PAIR A DICE 180 52:01 40:20
5 AVATAR 132 49:01 40:27
6 TARA 243 57:50 42:04
7 KICKS 185 56:19 44:19
8 ABSOLUTE
O5 117 54:36 47:00
9 WIND
GODDESS 163 58:03 47:28
10 TOAD 150 58:27 48:43
11 MYSTIC 150 1:05:38 55:54
ZOOP SCOOP
BY Paul Tara
QUIZ
Going
forward, one question per week. It’s been suggested that answers be
provided (they will get harder). Here are the answers to the first
two:
Apparent Wind is
the wind you feel, c) when you are moving.
True Wind is
the wind you feel, c) when you are not moving.
True Wind is
caused by:
a)
Social Media
b)
Differences in barometric pressure
c)
Isobars
LIFE AT THE EDGE
To quote from last week’s Scoop, “….the marine layer is a
big factor. If it’s shallow, the flow is blocked and an easterly transition
likely. If it’s deep, then it flows inland, Santa Cruz stays cool, and there’s
no suck — the westerly holds.” Tuesday, the layer was deep. The fog barely
cleared to the beach late so, even though there was fog in Capitola, no
easterly suck. The deeper the layer, the further inland it penetrates — no blue
— transition unlikely.
But, there’s almost always wind at the edge of the
fog. How much depends on its location. As the land heats, air above it rises,
resulting in lower surface pressure (suck) and cool marine air flows in to
replace it. The greater the distance inland to the fog edge, the less the
breeze afloat. I tend to think in terms of “Summit” (barely discernible,
with a westerly whisper), “Scotts Valley”, “Soquel Ave.”, “Murray St.”,
“Beach”. Tuesday, the edge was on the beach, with solid breeze all the
way in.
THE RACE
In
A Fleet, neither Aboriginal nor Zoop recorded
a track, and Pac High’s phone was on a Moore 24.
The lure of the favored port end was enough to tempt us to start there.
Mistake — pinned on starboard — the smart money tacked and headed to the right.
We rounded Schuyler just ahead of Double Expresso and managed to finish in that
position. The steady moderate breeze finally allowed Guenter to sail Wind
II, who found the three reaching legs to his liking and scored an
esteemable 3rd on Regatta Hero. As of this writing there are no corrected times
for Aboriginal or Zoop. Regatta Hero has
worked so well for us in the past I'm inclined to operator error (we made sure
to record our time).
B
Fleet was a dogfight, all the way around. Avatar and Big Mac nailed
the start and led to the left. Halfway up the beat, Big Mac was still
even boat for boat. But P36 had snuck away on port for more breeze on the
beach. She came back on starboard with a big lead and rounded first, followed
by Avatar and Simpatico. PAD and Big Mac came next and spent the rest of
the course glued together. At the finish, P36 corrected out first, but
only by 7 seconds over Big Mac, which sailed the shortest distance in the
fleet. P36 apparently never knew Big Mac was within striking distance, possibly
due to her new black disguise. Just eleven seconds covered the spread between
Simpatico, PAD, and Avatar.
Thank you Paul!
I hope to see you all sailing next Tuesday.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A Dice
