OCTOBER 16, 2018: SHORT BUT SWEET

OCTOBER 16, 2018

SHORT BUT SWEET

Checking Predict wind in the morning, it sure looked dismal with very light breezes predicted for the evening.  I forgot, Predict wind does not account for our famous Santa Cruz eddy which produces our wonderful easterly breezes in the evening.  We had a wonderful easterly blowing as we left the harbor.  We set the mark and called an impromptu (not on the course card) course: Start, Blacks and finish at Gov. With last week’s race only having 4 boats finish, I wanted to make sure everyone finished tonight. We gave a 5 minute horn for a 5:45 start.

On Pair A Dice, I wanted to start at the red ball end of the line.  My thought was to avoid the congestion that was certain to form at the start mark.  As it was many boats started on starboard at the start mark.  We started on starboard about a third of the way up the line from the red ball.  It was not long before we saw a hole and tacked over onto port tack, only having to duck 2 boats in the process.  Pacific Spirit and Pair a Dice sailed side by side to the lay line for rounding Blacks and we followed Pacific Spirit around Blacks with Tusitala sailing off ahead of us.

Normally on an Easterly breeze, it would be dead down wind to GOV, but the wind was blowing from a strange angle (25-30 degrees) setting all of us on a beautiful beam reach.  We were just ahead of Avatar and prevented them from sailing to windward of us. 

At the finish, Tusitala was first(17:54), Pacific Spirit second(19:06), Pair a Dice(19:30) and Gunter (on his Fin) rounded shortly after. Avatar (19:43), Perfect 36 (19:44), Kicks (20:31), Nidaros (21:38), Aeolian (22:15) and Rosie (26:55).  All times are elapsed and the course was 1.46 miles.

Many people were not satisfied with the short course and only a 20minute race, but I was happy because everyone was able to at least finish. We had close to 15 boats out for the fun.  It was truly a Short but Sweet race, and it gave us plenty of time to go back and get the mark.

TACTICS:

It is often said in tactics that if you are in the lead that you should do everything to stay between an overtaking boat and the next mark.  On the run to Gov, Avatar was trying to pass us to windward which would have slowed us down so we steered more toward the beach they opted to pass us to leeward.  This is not unethical and “dirty sailing”, it is just using tactics to improve your results.  As I have often pointed out, it is always best to not “mix it up” with other boats, but when the opportunity presents itself, why not.  This is racing after all.

THANKS TO JEFF HOTCHKISS OF AVITAR FOR THIS PHOTO

The season is getting short. I am looking forward to sailing with you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

OCTOBER 9, 2018: LURKING IN THE SHADOW

OCTOBER 9, 2018

LURKING IN THE SHADOW

I was encouraged to see a good northwest breeze blowing when I approached the harbor.  As we left the harbor at around 5:30 there were already some boats out and several more following us out.  With such limited time before sunset, we called a rather modest course Whiskey 5: Start, Wharf, finish. And set up for the start.  We came off the line on starboard tack and with the wind blowing from 240 degrees we made our way toward wharf mark with several close crosses with other boats.  On Pair A Dice we were trying to take advantage of the shifting winds. When we sailed into headers, we would continue into the header for a bit, then tack to take advantage of the lifts.

Once again Avatar was first around wharf mark followed by Pair A Dice, Nidaros II and Pacific Spirit.  On the long run back to finish line, we were all struggling with the waning breeze which was shifting all over the place. My favorite indicator, the windex, seemed to be spinning like a slowly spinning top.  To make matters worse, we seemed to be trapped just leeward of Nidaros lurking in the shadow of their breeze.  It seemed like the windex on Nidaros was honing in on us like a magnet attracted to steel. The only thing that saved us was the variability of the wind direction and we finally broke free from their shadow.

 

At the finish, it was Pair a Dice (1:06:43), Pacific Spirit (1:06:45), Avatar (1:07:04) and Nidaros (1:10:48). This was one of the closest finishes we have had all season! All times are elapsed and the length of the course was 2.68 miles.

     

                                                 A VERY CLOSE FINISH!

SAILING IN THE SHADOW:

When caught in this situation, you must do everything you can to keep the back of the windex on the other boat from pointing at you.  Make certain you are trimming sails a well as you can in the disturbed air.  It often helps to take a course further away to lessen the effects of the shadow.

PAIR A DICE LURKING IN THE SHADOW OF NIDAROSII

EARLIER START?

There has been a lot of talk about starting earlier for the last two Tuesdays.  I am cognizant of many people that work and some that travel from over the hill, so I resist this.  I do not want to exclude those that have other obligations.  This being said, let us try next week for a 5:45 start and a little shorter course so more boats can finish!  We will see how it turns out.

I will see you next Tuesday.

Barry L Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

OCTOBER 2, 2018: WAVES TRUMP A LIFT

OCTOBER 2, 2018

WAVES TRUMP A LIFT

With predictions of rain and a heavy fog hanging over the harbor until after 4pm, it was no surprise that it seemed like turnout for the night seemed to be light.  We had a good 10-15 knot breeze coming from about 250 degrees and a south swell mixing the ocean up for us.  With the sun setting so soon, we decided on a rather short course Whiskey 3. We set the line and gave a 5 minute horn for the start.

On Pair A Dice, we were lucky to be about half way up the line at the start on starboard tack.  Pacific Spirit and Avatar started behind us on the line and I could feel the angst as Pacific Spirit was getting some bad air from Mistress Quickly (SC27).  Finally Pacific Spirit tacked over for clear air.  Pair A Dice and Avatar continued further out on starboard.  On Pair A Dice, we saw that the further out we went we were getting lifted more and more toward the first mark (Wharf).  At the start, the waves seemed to be right on our bow slowing us down, but as we got lifted more and more, we were taking waves more on the Beam than on our bow.  About halfway out, Avatar tacked over to avoid the waves slowing them down.  When they tacked over to go inside, I thought it was certainly a mistake since we were getting lifted so much.  This meant we were taking advantage of a lift, while they were getting headed on the opposite tack.

To prove how wrong I was in my theory, Avatar rounded wharf with a substantial lead followed by Pacific Spirit and Pair a Dice right behind.  On the long run to Blacks, we thought we saw more wind outside so we set a pole to stay outside, then heat it up with a beam reach on the way to Blacks.  This tactic worked pretty well because we rounded Blacks right behind Pacific Spirit who had sailed inside toward Blacks

At the finish, Avatar had a healthy lead (50:17), Pacific Spirit (53:48), Pair A Dice (54:04), Nidaros (59:50), Sandpiper (1:02:34) and Kicks (1:06:35).  All times are elapsed and the course was 3.23 miles.

WAVES VS LIFTS:

All racing sailors know it is “always” best to sail in a lift rather than a header.  The very experienced sailors play this game efficiently to their advantage.   The thought is that a 5 degree header, if tacked on appropriately can yield a 10 degree lift.  This is normally a huge advantage if played correctly.  This is why I thought Avatar was not going to fair well going inside sailing into a header.  In our discussion later, Doug said he was very frustrated with the waves slowing him down, so tacked inside riding and surfing the waves toward the pier. When he finally tacked back out there were less waves because of the shield of the point and beat all of us to wharf and ultimately the finish!  On this particular evening, Waves trumped a lift.

I will see you next Tuesday.

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018: WHAT INDIAN SUMMER?

SEPTEMBER 25, 2108

WHAT INDIAN SUMMER?

There was a chill in the air and a heavy fog bank hanging offshore.  And this is supposed to be our Indian summer?  At least we had a 10 knot northwest wind to sail in.  We set the mark and called for course Whiskey 5: Start, Wharf, Finish.  After all we had a barbecue to go to tonight!  We blew a 5 minute horn and set up for our start.

On Pair a Dice, we wanted to start on starboard at the red ball end of the line. We achieved this objective and may have been 10 seconds late to the line. We went out a short distance and were one of the first boats to tack over to port.   Nidaros pulled a great move starting at the red ball on port tack and had zero boats to deal with in a crossing situation.  This paid off for them because on our first crossing with them, they crossed in front of us.  We continued all the way to the end of the wharf before tacking toward the wharf mark.  Time to pray for a lift!  Prayers were unanswered and we had to throw a tack in just outside of the zone. The first to round wharf was Yellow Belly followed by Tusitala (nice to be sailing with them again!).  We rounded with several boats behind us. 

On the long slog back to start mark, we thought we saw more wind outside but I observed as Pacific Spirit was steadily moving ahead on us until we jibed over sailing directly for the mark.  At the finish Yellow Belly was about 3 minutes(? No RaceQS L) ahead of us followed by Tusitala (Race QS malfunction).  Pacific Spirit was quickly closing the gap on us at the finish.  We thought we sited the finish line with PAD ½ boatlength ahead, but Race QS showed Pacifica Spirit ½ boatlength ahead of us.  Times were Pacific Spirit (47:49), PAD (47:54), Nidaros (48:43) Aeolian (52:52) Kicks (54:04). All times are elapsed and the course length was 2.68 miles.

RACE QS:

This is a great program, but has it’s glitches.  We have all had our tracks stop halfway through a race.  It is not user error!  Rest assured though, when it works right, there is valuable information you can learn AND it is the only way we can recognize you on the course. Please download this FREE app to your smart phone and remember to use it.  Despite it’s glitches, it is the only thing we have to document results.  As Fred says “It is not a perfect system, but you can’t beat the price!”

THE WONDERFUL WINDEX:

This little device, at the tip of the mast, is probably one of the least expensive tools on the boat.  If you know how to use it, it can be one of the most valuable.  It is obviously the best indicator to look at to determine your point of sail.  I like to use it while tacking to gauge how far off the wind I am steering to get speed up after tacking.  When determining the layline for making a mark, crew will ask “are we hard on the wind”?  We check the windex to confirm.

These are the most elementary uses of the windex, but there are many more uses.  When sailing downwind, most boat do best “keeping it in the box”.  Again looking at the windex, we try to keep the point if the arrow within the angles created by the two arms of the windex (keeping it in the box).

Once again, going downwind, the arrow will be pointing toward the back of the boat.  If you need to jibe to the same (efficient) point of sail on the opposite side, use the windex to determine where you will be going.  The tail of the windex will be indicating what your new point of sail will be once you have jibed.

One more way to use the windex is to determine where your wind shadow is cast while going down wind.  If you are trying to pass a boat going down wind and trying to steal their wind, look at your windex: the tail of your windex is indicating where your shadow is.  You can also use the windex on an overtaking boat to see if they are affecting your wind.  If the tail of the other boat’s windex is pointing at your boat, you are being shadowed and can expect to slow down.

Looking forward to next Tuesday.  Hopefully our Indian Summer will materialize.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018: COULD IT GET ANY BETTER?

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

COULD IT GET ANY BETTER?

Predict wind was calling for a light wind for the evening.  Predict wind obviously does not know about the Santa Cruz Eddy which gives us our evening Easterly Breeze.  Sure enough, when I got to the harbor the Easterly breeze was showing on the Crow’s Nest flag.  As we left the harbor there were over 12 boats out for the fun.

We set the mark for the end of the line, called for course B4 and gave a five minute horn.  The start line presented an unusual dilemma.  You could start at the start buoy end of the line and nearly fetch the mark, or start at the red buoy and be much closer to the first mark.  On Pair A Dice, we decided to start at the yellow start mark end.  We had an excellent start, but still had to tack to make Blacks.  Zoop was right in front of us at the rounding and we all set our whisker poles for the long downwind run to Gov. 

We picked our way through the kelp field thinking it best to rhumb line it to Gov.  Our thought was that staying a little ways out from the beach kept us in the favorable current.  We rounded Gov behind Homer on Yellow Belly and just ahead of Zoop.  On the long beat back to start mark Zoop passed us and finished just ahead of us.  Yellow Belly was a couple of minutes ahead of us. Pair A Dice crossed the line at 41:30, Avatar (43:18), Perfect 36 (45:50), Pacific Spirit (46:20) and Nidaros (49:13) Higher Power (1:01:00).  All times elapsed and course length is 2.43 miles.  I know we had 15 boats out tonight, but only a few were running Race QS. Remember: to be counted you must download and use this app.

With the wind we had, the beautiful weather and sunset we all experienced, it really emphasized the feelings we all had: Could it get any better?

WHEN APPROACHING THE KETCHUP BOTTLE:

As usual, we had a great time at the Crows Nest after the race.  We got into a big discussion on tactics and rules.  For lack of better props, we use utensil napkins as boats and a ketchup bottle representing the mark.  Though  future rule books will not state “when approaching the ketchup bottle”, it was very interesting and educational.  I encourage everyone to come to the Crow’s nest, the food is good and the company is fantastic. You might even learn a little more about sailing and racing.

PROPER ATTITUDE:

Who among us has never fouled another boat on the race course?  As careful as we try to be, mistakes and fouls will happens.  When a rule has been broken and you have been fouled the proper thing to do is to point out the infraction and state ‘PROTEST!’.  It is not the time to impugn the other sailor or denigrate their skill as a sailor or racer. Most of us know the rules well enough to know what we have done and will take our turn to exonerate.  Remember ‘PROTEST!’ is all that is necessary to say.

OTHER REGATTAS:

Tis Saturday is the annual Jack and Jill regatta.  If you have a boat and a willing partner of the opposite sex, this is a very fun regatta.

This Sunday (9/23) is the second day of the score series.  At this point, Sailing Pair A Dice is the only jib and main boat registered.  It would be great to see some of our Tuesday night boats in this regatta.  You only need a PHRF certificate and pay the registration

 NEXT TUESDAY IS THE LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH AND IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE CLUB.

BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD AND GET TO KNOW YOUR COMPETITORS.

Barry L. Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018; WORTH WAITING FOR

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

WORTH WAITING FOR

 My first glimpse of the flag on the Crows Nest was sobering.  The flag hung limp with no hint of wind.  We got the boat ready and left the harbor with an easterly wind seeming to build out on the water and about a dozen boats out for the fun.  We called for course B4 and set the line, gave a 5 minute horn and set up for the start.

 

All boats converged on Blacks and rounded without incident and set up for the long slow sail to Gov.  It is difficult to keep boats moving downwind in 5-6 knot winds. Almost all boats stayed on the inside sailing straight for Gov.  On Pair A Dice, I thought I saw more wind outside and took the chance sailing away from the fleet trying to get to the elusive wind outside.  It seemed that as I approached the wind line, it was receding away from me.  As I watched from a distance, it appeared everyone was struggling in the light breeze and radioed the idea to shorten course and finish at Gov.  Many boats agreed and headed to the harbor after rounding Gov.  At Gov, Avatar was the first around (54:04), Pacific Spirit (54:49), Kicks (55:48), Nidaros (1:00:38). All times are elapsed.

It must have been 10 minutes after all of the boats had rounded before Pair A Dice rounded Gov. It was hard to tell since my Race QS track froze.  As we rounded Gov, I noticed a substantial current flowing to the west along shore with the kelp streaming westward.  All of the boats that stayed close to shore enjoyed this current, making my “flyer” searching for wind outside doubly wrong: less wind and less favorable current.

As we rounded Gov, it was great to be back hard on the wind which was building as the sun dipped over the horizon.  As it turned out there were about 5 boats that had not had enough sailing and wanted to continue to finish the whole course.  In the last bits of twilight, we were able to finish and collect our Mark.  The delightful sail back to start mark in the building Easterly was worth all of the light wind sailing we had endured. Some things are worth waiting for! At the Start mark It was Avatar first, Kicks, Nidaris and Sailing Pair A Dice.

TAKING A FLYER:

It is usually not wise to take a flyer.  Pair A Dice’s performance on this night exemplified this. The wind did not materialize like I thought it would and we did not fare well. Taking a Flyer can work well or fail miserably.  It is always a gamble, sometimes you just have to roll the dice!

COORDINATING CREW:

Some of us are having difficulty getting crew for our Tuesday night sails.  If we can all turn on our radios to 69 when we get to the boats in the harbor, boats that need crew can communicate their needs. It is always fun and educating to sail on other boats.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018: SKUNKED!

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

SKUNKED!

My first sight of the harbor looked rather ominous.  The flag on the Crows Nest was showing a strong wind and the marine layer hanging over the water looked less than inviting.  We sorted out crew issues and exited the harbor with close to a dozen boats out already. With the wind blowing from 250 degrees (when we checked it), we set a buoy for the other end of the line and called for course W3.  We gave a 5-minute horn for a 6pm start and set up for our start.

On Pair a Dice we wanted to start on starboard tack start a little up the line from the pin end in pretty clear air.  Right after the start, as soon as we had clear air, we tacked over for the inside.  Many of the boats thought there was more wind outside and sailed outside and got stuck in very little wind.  On our inside tack, we noticed many headers and lifts and played them as well as we could.  Many of the boats sailed outside while we kept sailing further inside.  Finally we tacked over just below the lay line for wharf mark. As we approached the mark, the wind got very light and variable with headers and lifts making it difficult to round the mark.  Zoof (Islander 36) with PauL Tara was the first to make it around the mark with Pair A Dice hot on their heels.  Avatar rounded Wharf after us and was trying to close the gap with us.

As we got about halfway to Blacks, the wind started dying and one by one boats started retiring.  Usually wind will develop to get us out of this predicament, but with the heavy marine layer it did not happen tonight!  Finally we could see the hopelessness of completing the course and retired along with the other boats.  We got skunked with no wind!

WHERE IS THE WIND?

Right at the start, someone on Pair A Dice said there was more wind inside.  It sure looked that way from the appearance of the water.  The prediction was that there would be more westerly current inside.  We did not properly anticipate the shiftiness of the wind.  We were getting 20-30 degree shifts inside, but continued on inside as far as we could.  Gauging by the angle the outside boats were sailing versus our angle inside, we were generally getting lifted  in comparison.

  Why was there more wind inside?  We all know that fog and marine layers have more wind at the edges.  As it turns out on this night, the marine layer ended just offshore and was creating the wind that we enjoyed.

PLAYING HEADERS AND LIFTS:

We certainly had our share of headers and lifts on this night.  If the wind is oscillating back and forth and you are getting ready for a tack, wait for the next header.  Sail into it a little, then tack. A header on one tack is a lift on the other tack.  If you are even lifted 5 degrees, you can create a tremendous lead over someone that sails on in the header.

 

By observing  other boats courses and how it relates to YOUR course, you can tell who is getting headed and who is getting lifted.  If your angles are at right angles to each other, you are equal.  Watch for angles that are not right angles to each other to see who is being lifted and who is being headed.

Hopefully, next Tuesday will have enough wind to finish the course.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice