July 25, 2017 HEADERS, LIFTS AND WHALES

JULY 25, 2017

HEADERS, LIFTS AND WHALES

It was shaping up to be a stellar evening on the Monterey Bay.  We had a low cloud cover hovering over the beach which meant there would be no Easterly wind tonight.  Under the cloud cover the air was so clear, it seemed you could reach out and touch Monterey.   To add to the excitement, there was talk of whales breeching practically right on the beach.  The wind was less than stellar at about 8 knots from the northwest, but if they can fly Americas cup boats in 8 knots, we can at least race in it! 

As we left the harbor, there were about 15 boats out once again and the boats outside were chattering about whales being out there.  On Pair A Dice, we could see some of their backs coming out of the water in the distance. 

  With the wind blowing from 240, we decided on course W5: Start, Wharf, Finish.  We gave a five minute horn.  On Pair A Dice, we thought we saw more wind inside and wanted to start on Port tack, which we did without having to duck too many boats. Most of the boats headed outside for the customary  wind outside.   Pair A Dice was sailing more directly to the mark and with the waves on our beam rather than our bow, we thought we were making progress on the boats sailing outside.  Our goal was to make it inside the point so when we tacked out there would be less wave action on our bow to slow us down.  As the wind started to decrease and with 30 degree shifts in wind direction, we finally tacked out into the bucking seas.  As we crossed the outside boats, Guenther on his Finn,The Perfect 36, Pacific Spirit and Kicks crossed in front of us so our lead was not what we thought it was.

At the rounding of Wharf mark, it was Guenther, Perfect 36, Pacific Spirit and Pair a Dice.  There was talk of shortening course, but I thought we had enough wind to finish the race.  Alas, the lure of the barbecue enticed all of us to retire before finishing.  All except Guenther who was the only boat to finish the whole race.

 

COURSE ALTERNATIVES:

We have come a long way in our Catalina fleet.  Years ago, we had 3 or 4 boats coming out every Tuesday night for an impromptu race.  We would agree on a course and sail it.  It was easy to communicate between 4 boats.  Now we customarily have 15 boats out with varying degrees of skill in sailing and racing.  In order to be consistent, considering the crowd we have, I feel it is important to stick with the course cards. Communicating a mark rounding or delineating finer elements of an extemporaneous course gets very tedious with 15 boats out.  Using a course on the course cards has all of the information right there (or on the back). The start line, how to round the mark and all other elements are right there on the course card.  I admit, in retrospect, the course on this night should have been shortened to just rounding wharf mark, especially with it being a barbecue night.

Despite this consideration, I do not want to be dogmatic.  I have offered it before and the offer still stands if someone wants to call a race you can call it and run the whole race (give the 5 minute horn, answer all questions about the race during the race etc).

COURSE CARDS:

We have some new boats out for our friendly sails.  I want to make sure everyone has the course cards I keep referring to.  These course cards give all of the courses we use on the front of the card and the general sailing instructions on the back of the card.  Also on the back of the card are the location and description of all of the start lines and marks used.  I am on Q dock every Tueday evening.  Stop by and get one if you need it.

Looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

July 18, 2017 VACATION CORRESPONDING AND START LINE PHOTOS

July 18, 2017

VACATION CORRESPONDING

 I was in Vegas this Tuesday night pondering another pair a dice while celebrating our 26^th wedding anniversary. Stefan and my crew were kind enough to provide a report from which I will attempt to write a blog. I apologize for the tardiness of this blog.

   

The wind was a light Easterly about 7 knots so the course B5 was chosen.  It looks like there were 13 boats out again for the fun.  In light conditions like this, how you deal with waves becomes a critical factor in performance.  Perfect sail trim and clean bottoms also become essential when sailing in light winds.  At the leeward mark six boats converged at the same time in orderly fashion. Pair A Dice  sailed wide of the mass of boats at the leeward mark and was able to get clear air.  At the finish  Perfect 36 was first, followed by Guenther on his Finn, Pair A Dice, Nidaros 2, Rosa Nautica, Kicks, Toad, Dreamer, Tara, Freya, Aeolian, Odonata and Rosie. It is good to have so many new participants!

STARTING LINES:

I know that with the new start lines we are using this year, there may be some confusion.  Vern Wallace was kind enough to take some pictures of each of the start lines to help clear up this perplexity.  The first picture is the start line for Blacks point.  From this picture, you can see that if you set a range using the left end of blacks point and the tip of the gable (marked with orange line) on the house directly behind, you can tell whether you are over the line too soon.  In any case the compass bearing is about 352 degrees magnetic from the mark to the left end of Blacks Point (which is white from bird droppings).

The second picture shows the “S” or the white house at the end of Schwan lagoon.  Using the 

 left of that white house, you can set a range with the slight v (orange arrow) in the large mushroom-shaped tree tops behind the corner of the house. The range should be close to 330 degrees magnetic.

The last line is our old standby we have always used and should be about 310 degrees magnetic from the mark.

Please try to observe these start lines so we can all have a fair start, and thanks to Vern and Judy for providing these pictures.

HANDICAPPING:

I know the normal way of handicapping in sailing is to use PHRF.  I firmly believe nobody wants to try to incorporate PHRF in our events on Tuesday and I have no intention of doing this.  I do believe that the smaller displacement hulled boats have a distinct disadvantage and believe we should give them a head start so they at least have a chance.  It gets complicated because our courses all have different lengths and the head start should be greater for longer races.  Each course card has the length of each race. For any heavier displacement hull boat 27 feet and under, lets give a 2 minute head start for any course up to 2 miles in length and a 3 minute head start for any course between 2 and 3 miles and a 4 minute head start for any course over 3 miles.  The “heavier displacement” means any SC27 that care to participate will not get a head start. For your head start, follow the chart below.  This is simplistic, but I know in the heat of the race, nobody wants to do even simple math.

5 Minute horn blows: Two minute head start means you start 3 minutes after the horn.

                                        Three minute head start means you start 2 minutes after the horn.

                                         Four minute heads tart means you start 1 minute after the horn.

I will call over channel 69 the head start indicated and will attempt to give adequate warning of when the 5 minute horn will blow.

PLEASE NOTE: NEXT TUESDAY IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE CLUB AFTER THE RACE.

I am looking forward to Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice 

JULY 11, 2017 DEJA VU, NOT AGAIN

July 11, 2017

DÉJÀ VU, NOT AGAIN!

Last week we did not sail because of the fourth of July being a family holiday, there was no interest.  Two weeks ago we sailed a marginal race with no wind on the inside and plenty of wind further out beyond Mile buoy.  Pair a Dice had attempted a track inside and fought our way through the transition zone between a northwest and an east wind painstakingly inching along until the call of the barbecue seemed more enticing than sailing and most of the boats retired early with us.

On this night it seemed like plenty of wind even in to the start mark until it came time to call the race.  We called for course W5 and gave a 5 minute horn.  As the clocked ticked to the start, the wind seemed to be dying even more and we finally canceled the race.  It seemed none of the boats were in position.  In exasperation Homer announced over the radio “let’s just go for a sail!”  With plenty of wind outside and nothing inside, it sounded pretty good to me.  We all motored out into the wind and had a wonderful sail.  The last thing I wanted to do was to limp along inside in no wind like two weeks ago.  My thoughts were “déjà vu, NOT AGAIN”

.

Kudos to Mark on Kicks for organizing a race starting at mile buoy and it seems about 6 boats took part.  All I know is the northwesterly was blowing nicely and the transition to the Easterly was not bad at all.  We had up to 16 knots of easterly breeze and it felt delicious to be sailing again.

OTHER REGATTAS:

It is not too late to register for the Monterey and back regatta this weekend.  Race down to Monterey on Saturday.  Party at the club down there and race back on Sunday.  I have done this race several times and it is very fun.  It can be done with minimal crew since it is a 24 mile drag race.  There are virtually no tactics and buoy roundings.

Also keep in mind the Fall SCORE series put on by the yacht club.  It would be great to have more Jib and Main boats join in this series of races.  Get the details on line SCYC.org under regattas.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JUNE 27, 2017: ZERO TO TWENTY IN THREE

JUNE 27, 2017

ZERO TO TWENTY IN THREE

There was a definite hint of a new Easterly building as I approached the harbor.  The flag on the Crows Nest confirmed this.  I could also see plenty of white caps outside.  Since we always seem to gravitate to the inside easterly I changed out to my 155 Jib.  We left the harbor for the new (later) 6:15 start.  In the start area we had about 14 boats milling around in the northwesterly that was still blowing pretty well  clear in to the start mark.  After much discussion, we decided on the course W5: Start, Wharf, finish at the start mark. We gave a five minute horn for the 6:15 start.

As could almost be predicted, as the countdown proceeded, the wind continued to die and by the time of the start, the only wind left was a very light northwest breeze that barely made it to the start mark.  Anyone down the line from the buoy was enviously watching the boats up the line take the wind and sail straight out into the more wind outside.  Pair A Dice tried to play the northwest puffs and the easterly puffs to rhumb line it to wharf mark, along with another score of boats trying the same.  Alas the thoughts of a barbecue got the better of most of us and we retired from the race one by one.

But wait!  The boats that sailed clear outside were romping along and really sailing.  We thought they had disappeared over the horizon in search of more wind, but now they were sailing back in and actually making wharf mark!  Later they said they actually saw twenty knots of wind outside. Kind of like zero wind closer to shore, twenty knots three miles out.  ZERO TO TWENTY IN THREE!

Congratulations to Kicks for persevering and actually finishing the race!

LIGHT WIND STARTS:

I find it useful to never venture far from the start line when there is light wind or a dying breeze. Also, it is best to use whatever legal means you can to propel the boat.  Usually this means approaching the start using the power of the waves, rather than bucking into the waves.  This seemed to work well for the boats that stayed outside of the start mark for the start.

OTHER EVENTS TO NOT MISS:

It was unanimously decided to NOT have a Catalina Tuesday event this next Tuesday since it is the fourth of July and there are many family and other event going on.

We have several events coming up on the calendar.  First is the O’Neill paddle-out on July 9.  This will be over on East Cliff in front of Jacks house right on 38^th avenue.  The Ernie Rideout and O’Neill catamarans will be anchored outside of the circle of surfers paddling out in Jacks honor.  Jack was a long time member of the Santa Cruz Yacht Club and many members will be sailing their boats in a procession outside of the three anchored boats. Feel free to join this procession.  The time of the paddle-out will be 11am.

On July 14 and 15, there is a Santa Cruz to Monterey and back regatta.  I have participated in this regatta several times and it is a very fun event.  It would be awesome to see some more of the Catalina crew take part in this regatta.  The Monterey Yacht club opens its doors for us and the social aspects are awesome.  Monterey also has many great restaurants and bars to socialize in.  check out the NOR and SI’s on the SCYC.org website.

Last but not least, we had a great turnout for the spring score series.  There were some very fun days of sailing and we had 4 Catalinas entered in the series.  Now the fall score series is coming up.  It is always good to implement what you have learned on Tuesday nights in a real race.  Check out the NOR and SI’s on the SCYC.ORG  web site. Rock on Jib and Mainers!

Looking forward to the next Catalina Tuesday on JULY 11.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JUNE 20, 2017: CLEARLY EASTERLY

JUNE 20, 2017

CLEARLY EASTERLY

I happened to be out for a sail on Monday night and it was cold, foggy and very little wind.  I only hoped that these conditions were not an omen for our Tuesday sail.  Showing up to the harbor, the wind was clearly from the East and there was not a cloud in the sky.  In short, a beautiful night for a sail!  We got out of the harbor and made our way to the start mark.  We called course B4: Start, Blacks Gov, Finish. We blew our 5 minute horn and set up for our start. 

It was miraculous that there were no boats at the pin end and we had a clean start right at the pin end.  The mad rush was on to Blacks with Pacific Spirit to our port and ahead and Guenther on his fin just off our starboard rail.  We were slowly gaining on Pacific Spirit and when we got just ahead of them, we tightened our main to give them disturbed air and they quickly fell back and tacked over for clear air.

 We rounded blacks and everyone was on the long slog to Gov, with everyone using their whisker poles to their best advantage.  We started with pole on port, but when Homer was gaining on us with pole on starboard, we switched.   Eiquinimity (Homer) was the first to round Gov with Guenther and us following.   Right after rounding the mark Pair a Dice got a little crowded with other boats and ended up with a backwinded jib and drifted into a mild kiss with Gov.  We proceeded to round the mark again completing our penalty 360 turn and continued back toward the start mark.

 

All boats were taking different courses to the start mark.  We headed inside after clearing the downwind boats and sailed clear to the lighthouse jetty. At the finish, it was Homer, Pair A Dice, Guenther on his Fin, Pacific Spirit, Perfect 36, Kicks, Nidaris, Odonata, a Catalina 27 (name?), Sea Quake, Aeolian and Scotty C sailing his Catalina 40 by himself.

SAILING DOWN WIND WITH A WHISKER POLE:

It was not until Homer started passing us that I noticed that our pole was on the wrong side.  Set properly the whisker pole and the boom should approximate a straight line. With the pole on the port side and the angle we were sailing, they were not nearly in line.  Once we changed the pole to starboard, we gained speed with both in line.

STARBOARD VS PORT AND RULE 14:

Everyone knows starboard tack boat has right of way over a port tack  boat and leeward boat has right of way over a windward boat.  Yes and overtaking boats yield to boats ahead.  Over riding all of these well know rules is rule 14.  Rule 14 says to always avoid collision.  I know the heat of the race can cast caution to the wind but we all need to remember: race hard, keep an eye open for your competitors, follow the rules and avoid Collisions! Sailing is a team sport and it is every crew member’s duty to apprise the skipper what other boats are doing.

STARTING TIME:

Over dinner, Homer brought up a concept that nobody has broached before with me.  Why start at 6PM when the evenings are so long now?  It is true that many people work till late and we all must fight traffic getting to the harbor.  Lets make it a little easier for people and, instead of a 6PM start, lets start at 6:15 until it starts getting shorter nights.

NEXT TUESDAY IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT THE CLUB.  BRING YOUR FAVORITE GRILLING FOOD.  THE BAR WILL BE OPEN!

Looking forward to next Tuesday!

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Di

ce  

JUNE 13, 2017: JUST WAIT 15 MINUTES

JUNE 13, 2017

JUST WAIT 15 MINUTES

The wind had been blowing like crazy for the last week, so I was wondering what conditions we would have for this night.  Sure enough, the wind had blown itself out and by the time we got to the start area about 6pm, all of the boats were milling around with virtually no wind.  We postponed the start to see whether the easterly or the  westerly would fill in.  Alas about 15 minutes of waiting delivered a fair easterly wind.  We called for course B6 with the potential to extend to B5 if the wind held and gave a 5 minute horn.

 

Once again, Pair a Dice decided not to fight the crowd at the mark and started further down the line in clear air.  We all had to tack over to make the mark and Pair a Dice was the first around Blacks followed quickly by Makani.  Sailing back down wind toward the start mark was rather challenging with pockets of no wind and the waves on our bow.  Somehow Makani was able to pass us and rounded the mark with a healthy lead over us.  In the interim it was determined to lengthen the course to B5, lengthening the course to twice around the marks. Makani sailed off on port tack to the presumed lay line for blacks.  Pair a Dice tacked over earlier and lucked out with much more wind on the inside to allow us to round blacks just ahead of Makani again.  We sailed out on port tack to the layline and tacked over to finish first with Makani coming in second followed by Kicks,  Nidaris II (Santana 30), Wind Goddess and Toad.

We had a great time eating at the crow’s nest after the race.

WIND AND WAVES:

When sailing in Santa Cruz, it is critical to assess the state of the wind versus the waves.  If there is a light wind and you are sailing dead down wind and you have the waves directly on your bow, you can get very frustrated with your lack of progress.  What can you do to get the boat moving?  Why not harden up on the wind so both sails are propelling the boat?  At the same time, you are not taking the waves on the bow, you are taking the waves at an angle and gliding up and over them.  This is counterintuitive to many people because frequently you will be sailing further away from the mark.  As long as you are moving faster and waves are not stopping you, the time will be made up when you tack the other way and are, again, not taking waves on the bow.  I have seen this work out many time to my advantage.  Always pay attention to wind and waves and their effect on your boat!

OTHER REGATTAS:

Sunday, June 25 will be the last day of the SCORE series.  Be sure to come out for the fun!

JACK ONEILL PADDLE OUT:

On July 9 at 11am there will be a paddleout Honoring Jack Oneill off East Cliff drive in front of Jack Oneill’s house at 38^th avenue.  There will be several boats anchoring at that location as surfers paddle out to honor Jack. It is proposed that any sailboats that want to participate should sail outside the circle of surfers to provide a back drop to the event.  I am thinking it would be fun to have some of the Catalina boats sailing in this flotilla.  If there is interest, we could conduct a starting clinic after the event.  We could set another Buoy by the normal start mark and do a couple of countdowns and starts.

We will see you next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice

JUNE 6, 2017: MODERATE EASTERLY

JUNE 6, 2017

MODERATE EASTERLY

The wind in the harbor felt like an Easterly.  There was word of a strong Northwesterly on the outside.  I decided to keep use the 155 jib for the night.  We left the harbor and as we approached the start mark I could not believe all the boats that were out, and there were even more coming out behind us.  I believe “Catalina Tuesdays” is getting to be very popular.  More and more boats other than Catalinas are joining us.  It is all great fun: Learning to race and improving your sailing skill.  This is a great venue for improving your knowledge of saililng.  We decided on and Easterly Course B4: Start, Blacks, Gov, Finish and gave our ‘5 minute to the start’ horn.

We had about 15 boats on the line, many trying to start at the start mark end of the line.  Pair A Dice started a little down the line with clear air.  Makani and Perfect 36 were up the line a little from us as we all raced toward Blacks. Slowly they waterlined us and left us in their wind shadow as all three boats approached Blacks.  Makani had inside rights and took Perfect 36 down a bit before rounding the mark.  This left a wide open door for us to turn tightly around the mark.   On the long run down to Gov, we reached upward of Gov to maximize our wind in the sails and to minimize the slowing effect of the waves on our bow. Perfect 36 sailed even further out and Makani was trying the inside track closer to the beach.  When we reached the point where we could sail dead down wind, we set our pole and inched very slowly toward Gov.  Our strategy worked well and we rounded Gov ahead of Makani and Perfect 36. 

After rounding Gov we sailed outside searching for more consistent wind.  We saw a steady 9 knots of apparent wind that did not dissipate until we were almost to the layline for the start mark. We were watching Makani as they took an inside line closer to the beach.  When we crossed, Makani had closed a large part of the gap between us as we tacked to cover them.  Ultimately we rounded the finish ahead of Perfect 36 which was followed by Makani, Guenther on his “fin”, Nidaris II, Pacific Spirit, Kicks, Aeolian, Sea Quake and Toad.

STRATEGY VS TACTICS:

Strategy is sailing the course the most efficient way as if no other boats were competing.  Using tactics is applying the rules to maneuver and basically try to better your position by applying these rules against another competitor.  There are many examples of using rules to improve your position: luffing someone up at the start, establishing inside overlap  for a better rounding of a mark are just two examples.  It is a fine art balancing both of these principles (strategy and tactics) in racing.  Tactics are ultimately used intensely in team racing which is another topic completely. Overemphasis of either of these principles can hurt your performance.  Suffice it to say in normal fleet racing, like we are engaged in, any time you engage in a tactical battle with another boat, you may be leaving the other competitors a way to pass you.

SIZE DOES MATTER:

Pair A Dice was using a 155 jib on this night.  In these light wind conditions, every inch of sail area improves your performance.  Equipping a boat for racing can be an expensive proposition between sails for all conditions, and efficient equipment such as whisker poles that work well and adjustable fairleads can allow fine tuning of the boat while under way.  This does not mean you cannot learn how to improve your sailing using the equipment you have.  Everyone starts racing by finishing DFL.  As you learn more and get a team that works well with each other, you will start moving up through the pack. So do not get discouraged if you do not finish first. Keep coming out, keep learning and improving.

Please keep in mind the next SCORE regatta day is Sunday June 25.

I am looking forward to next Tuesday.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice