APRIL 9, 2019: DOUGLAS MAHONE BLOG

Thanks to Doug Mahone from the boat Avatar for writing the blog for this week.  We will see you out there this coming Tuesday.

Tuesday April 9th blog (draft)

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Douglas Mahone	Apr 9, 2019, 10:08 PM (4 days ago)
to me

This week was a heavy weather race, with five boats going out. Winds were from the NW averaging around 12 kts, with shifty gusts over 18 kts (true). Skies were clear and beautiful.

Pair-Dice set up a start line based at the newly set club start mark, and called a course up to Government, down to Blacks (also newly set), and back to the Finish.

At the start, three boats were basically on time, and two were late. Tusitala took an early lead and kept it throughout. Perfect Thirty-Six and Avatar fought it out for the next two places (Perfect prevailed). Kicks was chased by Pair-Dice, but not caught.

A lot of the strategy turned on not getting overpowered in the big gusts. Some boats started with both main and jib reefed, some didn't reef, some shook out reefs for the downwind leg. It appeared that the overpowered boats that did not fare as well as those that were able to sail on a more even keel with less weather helm. Most boats were sailing at or near to hull speed anyway, so extra sail area didn't add much. The heavier boats with longer waterlines were favored under the wind conditions.

The race was exciting, challenging, and, if anything, could have been longer (had there been more course options for a NW wind).

There were nearly fifteen cheerful and animated sailors for dinner at the Crow's Nest, which showed that the summer sailing season is getting into full swing. We're hoping for more boats next week.

Doug.

Douglas Mahone
doug@dmahone.com

APRIL 2, 2019: RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING, BUT NOT TONIGHT!

APRIL 2, 2019

RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING, BUT NOT TONIGHT!

As dicey as this season has been, this night did not look like any improvement.  Indeed, as I left work at 5pm I walked to my car in a steady rain.  I was thinking there was little chance for a sail in these conditions.  I had committed to at least show up at the boat, so dutifully made the short drive to the harbor.  I was surprised to see a “hole in the clouds” as I approached the harbor and set up for a sail!  We had 5 brave boats tempting their luck with impending rain all over the place.

We set the buoy as fairly close to the jetty lighthouse attempting to set a perpendicular line to the wind.  With none of the racing buoys deployed we called for a course: start mark to starboard (start line an extension of line from lighthouse and start mark), first mark GOV to port, Mile to port, finish at line between Gov and end of wharf.  We blew a 5 minute horn and set up for our start.

As usual, we wanted to start on starboard tack, which required us to sail close to the harbor entrance and approach on starboard INTO the waves.  Amazingly the boats starting on port tack (sailing with the waves), all had great starts.  On Pair A Dice, we were late to the line being slowed by the waves and had a lot of distance to make up between Avatar and Makani which were enjoying a great lead over us, though it felt like we were starting to close some of the distance on our way to Gov.  We had a steady 9 knot wind as we rounded Gov and started to sail toward Mile.  We were steadily closing the gap on Makani, though Avatar was the first to round Mile.  Somehow we rounded Mile ahead of Makani and started sailing back to Gov for the finish.  The disturbing sound of the bow wake of Makani seemed to get louder and louder as he approached us from behind us and ultimately passed us.

 At the finish, it was Avatar with a healthy lead, Makani and Pair a Dice.   Amazingly, with dark clouds all around we did not get rained on until we were back in the harbor with sail covers on!

TOWING ANOTHER BOAT:

On this  night, we had a boat with an Impaired motor so we towed them into the harbor.  As always it was an education.  You should use a line long enough so the towed boat is not right on your stern.  You need enough distance to allow you to react if the towed boat catches a wave.  It is good to have fenders out as you approach the other boat because you need to be in close proximity to the boat to toss a line to them.  Once the line is tied to both boats increase speed slowly to get both boats up to speed.  Determine who is going to release the line when you are approaching the towee and increase speed at the last minute to give the boat enough speed to make it to their slip.  To the experienced, this is all second nature, but unless you do it frequently it can get to be very interesting.

To make it interesting consider if you are being towed by a big power boat.  They toss you a line and slowly increase their speed.  They have power to spare so start going FASTER than YOUR hull speed.  This is where things can go seriously wrong because they are trying to pull you “up-hill” and can apply incredible stress on your boat.  Always be aware of your hull speed and do not let a powerful boat tow you faster than your hull speed.

 Recently there was a trimaran being towed to Moss landing from Santa Cruz.  The trimaran washed ashore close to the Cement Boat in Aptos.  I wonder if they were trying to tow at an excessive speed?

Hopefully this coming Tuesday will be clear with some wind!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A DIce

OCTOBER 30, 2108; THE LAST HURRAH FOR THE YEAR

OCTOBER 30, 2018

THE LAST HURRAH – FOR THIS SEASON

I was not able to be present for the last sail of the season.  Sometimes vacations get in the way!  I watched the race QS track and it looks like the wind did not allow many boats to finish.  With time so short, this can almost be expected.  Thanks to Todd and his crew on Kicks for setting this race up.  I understand there was a good crowd at the club for the barbecue also!

I love the educational opportunity of our Tuesday night sailing.  I find that if you keep alert and observe what happens during a race you can almost learn something new.  This does not seem possible but consider that ocean conditions are always changing.  In essence each day on the ocean can be as varied as snow-flakes.  No two are the same!  I enjoy learning and sharing my observations.  I do not claim to have all of the answers but I will share my thoughts for what they are worth.

With the help of Chris Hoffman, Fred Molnar and Don Radcliffe I feel we have finally achieved the perfect course chart for our Tuesday evening sails. With all of their suggestions, I finally started setting a mark for the other end of the line which has been a huge improvement.   Please keep your course chart for next summer.

I would like to recap some of the things I have learned this year and in previous years:

     Clean boat bottoms are crucial for boat speed.

·             Making your boat as light as possible will increase your speed.

·             Learn the racing rules and use them to your advantage

·             Do not get tangled with other boats (sail in clear air)

·             Learn how to deal with waves.

·             Sail to the area with the most wind (we are on SAIL boats)

·             In light wind, watch for wind higher off the water rather than just wind on the water.

These are just some of the basics.  Be observant and see what you can learn to improve your sailing.

OTHER REGATTAS

The midwinters will be starting on December 17.  It would be good to have a good showing of Jib and Main (jammers) participate in this series.  We can all apply what we have learned on our Tuesday nights. In order to participate you will need a PHRF certificate which only costs $20 for the season.  You can get a PHRF application at the yacht club.

THANKS TO DIANA ON PACIFIC SPIRIT FOR THIS PHOTO

Thanks to all of you for participating and making Tuesday nights something to look forward to.  I am already looking forward to next summer and Tuesday night sailing.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

OCTOBER 23, 2018: HIGH WIND ALERT

OCTOBER 23,2018

HIGH WIND ALERT

As I approached the harbor, it appeared a light Easterly breeze was blowing.  As we left the harbor, there were already about a dozen boats out for the fun.  With the wind coming from about 80 degrees, we set the buoy and called for a short course B5: start to blacks twice around.  We gave a five minute horn for a 5:50 start and set up for our start.

On Pair a Dice, we thought the buoy closer to land was the favored end and since we had pretty good speed running the line, this is how we started.  As usual in very light wind conditions we started looking around for signs of wind on the water.  We saw a huge patch of rippled water closer to land and headed for this area of apparent more wind.  We watched as all of the other boats tacked over to get outside. We observed the tacking angles and saw that we were being lifted and the boats on port tack were getting headed.  We thought we had it nailed! Then we watched as Tusitala rounded first followed by most of the fleet, while we were fighting in a breeze that was very light and shifty. Given the deteriorating wind, I called for a shortened course to finish at the finish mark (once around).  To complicate things even more on Pair a Dice we noted that there was a westerly current fighting our attempt to get around the mark.  At a point when we had no steerage, along comes Aeolian screaming in from outside on startboard tack (where was he finding  wind for all that speed?).  Aeolian graciously ducked us (thank you Mark!).  It did not even occur to me that we should have done a turn.  As slow as we were going, doing a turn would have taken a very long time (is the Crow’s Nest open for breakfast?)

At the finish, it was Tusitala 30:22, Nidaros 31:19, Kicks 32:38, Perfect 36- 32:45, Avatar 33:15, Aeolian 36:52, Sandpiper 43:17 ( all times elapsed and course length was 0.55miles.  Pair a Dice could not find enough wind to finish: DNF.

SANDPIPER SAILING INTO THE SUNSET

VIEW FROM AEOLIAN

VIEW FROM PAD: SUNSET IN THE WEST

MOON RISE IN THE EAST!

HIGH WIND ALERT:

On Pair a Dice, we were so focused on the usually reliable indicator of ripples on the water, we did not think that the wind was higher off the water and not contacting the water.  These are unusual conditions, but are magical when they happen.  My lesson learned for this night was to be more observant in light wind and realize that not all wind contacts the water. Maybe observing how fast boats are moving in apparently smoother water could be an indicator to watch for. Kudos to the boats that saw this on this night and took advantage of it.  We just never got the HIGH WIND ALERT memo!

SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY WHAT WE HAVE!

Another lesson I learned tonight.  In our mad scramble to grab the buoy and being “late to the party” we were motoring as fast as possible and noticed Tessa sitting in the waning light with no motor on.  We checked to make sure they were OK and they affirmed that they were fine.  At the dock, the crew of Tessa informed me that it was such a magical evening with the sunset in the west and the moon rising in the East that they were just enjoying the ambiance.  Sometimes we need to stop and smell the roses AND enjoy what we have.  What a gorgeous night!

NEXT TUESDAY IS THE LAST TUESDAY SAIL OF THE YEAR AND WILL ALSO BE A BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE CLUB. BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD FOR A GREAT PARTY.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION THIS YEAR.  IT HAS BEEN A FANTASTIC YEAR!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

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