May 21, 2009, Vallejo Race, Luna Sea, 4th & 3rd, Dan Knox

A view from the rear . . . Well The Great Vallejo Race for 2009 is history. For those of you that missed it I can tell you that you really should try and not miss it again. A great time was had by all. And the sailing was terrific. Lots of ebb, an almost perfect amount of wind and a very long Spinnaker run from the first mark all the way to the Napa River. And the way back was just as fun with the beat in moderate winds. Oh and did we mention the ebb and the fact that one boat had a terrific time and sailed without a Spinnaker?

Our hoped for 8 or 9 Islander 36’s on the starting line just did not materialize. We had five boats at the line; Diana, Captain Hooke, Cassiopeia, Orion and Luna Sea. All in all three boats that had a chance to win and then Orion and us.

If you want to get a good start I suggest you that you skip the sail trim clinic and all the starting practice. After winning all the starts we started last in the real race. The ebb was a killer and as all the boats beat to the first mark everyone was short and had to toss in a couple of extra tacks just to make the mark. The usually suspects were in the first three positions with Lou and Steve in front.

Everyone launches a kite after rounding and everyone had the same plan, get back to Berkeley and get the heck out of this ebb ASAP. The only thing we had to worry about on our straight shot back was to make sure we didn’t go thought the starting line! Anyway we took our time putting up the ‘chute and got it up without any problems. Debbie came back from the foredeck and was trimming the spinnaker. She did a great job the entire way and did not over trim. Debbie was just terrific for the entire race!

(Most people over trim. Here is a clue: When the kite start to curl just hold off for a count or two to trim. It may not look as pretty but you will go faster. No one trims a spinnaker like Cindy and the rest of us should just try and copy her.)

As we headed for Red Rock and the Richmond Bridge we had some traffic problems with two tugs and another tug pushing a large barge. We had to head up a bit to get around the tub/barge combo but got a little help as some race committee guys in a launch went over toward them and told them to speed up. And they did! Amazing. I had never seen that before. Anyway was were approached the bridge we were catching up to Captain Hooke and as we got a bit closer we begin to take their wind and a sure pass was in the cards. We would come up behind them and then heat it up just a bit and try to roll over them. Oh it would be sweet! I’m sure Tom and David would be so happy for us. Each time we tried to pass they would take us up and both of us would get further out in the ebb. Not the best thing when Lou and Steve were scores of boat lengths ahead. Anyway as the bridge was coming up we had our chance.

The bridge of course is an obstruction and because of that they would have to give us room to stay clear and could not take us up into it. So this was our big chance. So here we go to windward and here they come and I am start to think am I nuts. That’s Tom and David down there, the guys they always shout out they are fully insured. After listening to the Jim Robinson’s little talk at the GGYC where he told us about Martha yelling “Just run into them!” I start to have second thoughts. Plus there was that little “event” at GGYC mid-winters so we decide to forget about that going up by the bridge thing and taking advantage of the obstruction. Better to just be safe.

Besides I went to the I36 rules meeting and I don’t know if we made it all the way to rule 19 before the Bloody Mary’s came out. It may have been a good idea but there are other ideas. (Actually after talking to Cindy and rereading Rule 19 Tom and David had every right to take us up and run us right into the Bridge Footing. The Bridge Footing is surrounded by “navigable water” and as such Tom and David did not have to give us room. So it pays to not only read the rules but actually know the rules!)

Anyway we make it under the bridge and finally do get around Captain Hooke as they smarten up and head back inside for relief from the ebb and we pass them to windward. We are actually in second place. We hail Tom and David and I am sure we say only nice things as we pass them. Anyway right behind both of us is Cassiopeia and frankly we had no business being up with either of these guys. They must be drinking; they are good and well usually our goal is to look good not actually be good. Anyway all three boats are pretty much together and we were all heading back to shore to try to get out of the ebb which was slowing everyone down.

We were in front (except of course for Diana which was waaaaaaaaaay up there) so there was no reason for us to go way inside and run around as we have been known to do from time to time. We would let Tom and David and Kit go inside at least until they passed us. There is no reason for us to take a chance right now. Maybe they would run aground. (Quickly I wonder if David has a computer on the boat and maybe we can hack into it and recalibrate their depth sounder remotely, you know just to help them out a bit!) Our plan is to stay a bit outside of them, remain the windward boat and sail in a bit deeper water. If they pass us then we can head inside behind them and let them lead the way. Right now however it was all good. And ahead was the photo boat to record our current position in second place. So of course something bad is going to happen. I can just feel it. Things are going way too smoothly.

Anyway we are outside the other boats just sailing and smiling and then we hit bottom. Not hard just a touch in the mud as the depth gauge reads 5.9 feet! We head out a bit more until we get up to 6.5. We are still in second but this is just too weird. We are the outside boat and we hit ground. Anyway we pass The Brothers, smile and get our picture taken still in second place and heading for Vallejo. Captain Hooke and Cassiopeia go way inside of us. Maybe 5 boat lengths. We are trying to stay in 7 feet of water. I have no idea how they can even be floating. Then we see two boats inside of them run aground and they are stuck badly. Everyone on the boat is saying go inside, if they can do it we should just be able to follow them and I am saying we are in 6.5 feet of water and we can’t go inside any further or we will run aground. Then it happens again we hit the bottom! The other boats are inside of us and we hit again and they just continue.

They are making trees on us because of the ebb. They we hit for a third time and now they move further ahead (maybe 10 boat lengths). We have to move into the current to find deeper water. They continue to just smoke us. Really it is kind of funny and I think this is what we get for being so happy before. The sailing Gods are laughing at us! What did Tom say last year: The Hooke gives and the Hooke takes it away? We are totally screwed.

So here we are with no chance to catch Diana and there isn’t much chance in catching Captain Hooke and Cassiopeia by just following them around and continuing to hit bottom. They are better than us and unless that make a major error, which is pretty unlikely we are not going to pass them by out sailing them. Time to try something new, even something dumb, there is nothing to lose at this point. So I talk to the crew and tell them we are tossing our plan of sailing along the mud line and going directly for the mouth of the Napa River. We will be able to sail on a hotter reach, able to sail faster and have less distance to go but we will just have to deal with this ebb. As we head up the boat speed picks up and we are doing over 7 knots but the SOG is only 5 sometimes 4.5! Still we are sailing less distance and it is worth a try. Maybe we will get lucky.

Up ahead we see Lou and Steve change course and they look like they are switching sides. First we think their boat has broken and then we think maybe they have started celebrating just a bit too early. Next we think they just must be drunk. They are giving up their position and are not staying between the boats behind them and the finish line. Frankly we have no idea what they are dong and now I wish we had just stayed behind Captain Hook and Cassiopeia, because Diana is going nowhere fast. Or rather they are going slowly to nowhere! Our gamble is looking bleaker by the moment as the wind starts to slow down but the ebb doesn’t!

Anyway we see Captain Hooke do the gybe from hell as they try to anticipate the wind shifting as they get to closer to the Napa River. They then gybe back as Kit just blows past them. I tell our crew: See those guys they have the best crew in the fleet and they just blew a 4 hour race with those gybes. (Our gybes have all been good, thank mucho to Debbie on the foredeck and Chester gybing the main and Loraine and Myphi handling the sheets and guys.)

Meanwhile Cassiopeia looks like a winner, Captain Hooke will be second and if Lou and Steve can get going Diana will be third and we will be fourth. So much for our gamble, it costs us big time. We would have been so much better just to stick with our plan. Orion as they say is somewhere learning. Been there done that!

And that is just the way we finish. Oh you get no burgee for 4th at Vallejo. How do I know that? Been there and done that also!

Everyone is waiting for us to finish. The VYC looks a bit full so we follow Diana and Captain Hooke over to the Vallejo Marina. What a great marina. I learn that one of our Islander guys at one time was the Assistant Junior Harbor Master at the Vallejo Marina. (I’m not saying who but I’ll give you a clue: His brother David told me.) But I don’t mention anything to the marina staff being fearful they would charge us double.

Anyway within a few minutes everyone is over on Diana having a good time and Lou and Steve are trying to think of a good story to tell everyone as to why they decided it was a good idea to go and change sides. We play shoot the Champaign cork at the J/105’s. Peter comes by and looks great. I wish Peter still had an I36. Kit and the winning crew of Cassiopeia come over. Congratulation to them!

Rick and Sandy show up and take lots of pictures for the web site and after everyone drinks all the alcohol on all the boats we finally head off for dinner at VYC, where the fun is just starting. OK Lou is a great sailor but he is even a better dancer. The band is great and I’m sure Lou and Myphi would get the award for the best dance couple if there was such an award. We see Michele and Dennis as well as Jerry and Marianne. It is always great to see Marianne. We then run into the BAAD’s crew and they are all smiles. They came in right behind us but they only ran aground once, which was two less times as we did! What a great group. I hope they come for every race. In no time at all I am sure they will be taking us all to the cleaners.

We decide to leave earlier than most and head back to the boat and call it a night. After all there is a big race tomorrow.

Sunday dawns windy. Immediately everyone starts to thank about last year and the 40 knots of wind. Sail selection seems to be the topic of the day. We have a 120 and a storm sail having left everything else at the dock. I tell everyone we are going with the 120 like we have a choice. Everyone selects something different and we get out of the marina about 30 minutes before the race. Kit is motoring around and we remind him that Cassiopeia is a sail boat! We say hi to Marianne and Jerry as Mon Desir is looking very sharp. Lot of people including Don Scott are on Sorcery but he seems to be the only guy doing anything. Michele looked great and we really wish she was on board with us. We miss Harry and John.

Anyway we plan our race. The west end of the line has more current but the east end probably has a bit more wind. We decide to start on the west side on a starboard tack we will we reach off a bit as we come out of the river, a place where there can be a lack of wind because of the hill. Anyway as we are in our start sequence with about a minute and a half to go we are leeward of Captain Hooke in a pretty good position but we spin around because we figure that Tom and David never start out in traffic and I tell everyone that they are probably going to run the line. We will head up stall for time and come around and then barge the line (in typical I36 fashion) on more of a reach and then head up to cross the line at speed. Sounds like a plan.

The only problem is Tom and David don’t run the line. They stay up and shut us out at the start! We have to luff up into the wind and let them pass and as our starting gun goes off we hit the line going about 1 knot! I was sure they would run the line. They always run the line! Anyway live and learn; we won’t let ‘Hooke get a hook on us again. Once again Diana gets the best start. She is at the other end line with better wind. Captain Hooke and Cassiopeia are next then there is Orion and us. Once again all those practice starts are paying exactly zero dividends. Anyway as we make it out of the Napa River we pick up a bit but we are still behind the big three.

We decide not to take as many tacks as the fleet and head much further before making our first tack. This didn’t appear to make much difference as by the time we get out to into the bay the boats are all in about the same position with Diana still ahead and to the right. Cassiopeia and Captain Hook together and to the left with us in the middle just slightly behind them. Orion is a bit further back but definitely in the game. The wind is blowing 12-15 and all the boats are sailing nicely. (Good choice on the 120.)

However we like our position in the middle as we think we are getting the most push from the ebb. One time we actually hit 10 SOG as we are going 7 knots with a 3 knot push from the ebb. That doesn’t last but about a minute but it was very cool seeing that big 10 on the gauge! Diana is falling a bit behind the leaders as she is carrying a smaller headsail. Things are going well for us as for a while it appears that we have caught up to Cassiopeia and Captain Hooke and now we are reaching off just a bit from close hauled heading to the finish. Reaching off just a bit increases our speed quite a bit.

I don’t know exactly what happen next but somehow we managed to sail into a wind hole and for about 5 minutes where the wind speed dropped below 10 knots. We are still sailing well but our speed has dropped and we can see that Captain Hooke is just about to pass Cassiopeia as we drop further behind. We have lost sight of Diana and hope she has not passed everyone and has finished already. We don’t pick her up again until after the finish when she comes in fourth. We finish about a minute behind Captain Hooke and Cassiopeia. So it is third for us and we have lots of smiling people on board!

This is the first time Luna Sea has ever beaten Diana and needless-to-say we are pretty happy about that. Lou and Steve are just great as we finally meet up with them on the way back to the estuary. They are happy for us and in fact I think they may be more excited than we were. You know the people in the I36 fleet are truly special and we are lucky to be part of such a wonderful group. Somehow I can’t see any other group of racers being happy someone beat them. Just doesn’t happen. Anyway congratulations to everyone for a race well sailed. But special thanks to Lew and Steve for their wonderful sportsmanship and attitude. They give us all something to shoot for.

--Dan

June 9, 2007, Knox Race, Luna Sea, 7th, Dan Knox

OK this is a racing note from the point of view that our good friend Lou Zevanove probably has never experienced! Let’s start by making a list of what is good about coming in last:

First you get to actually go sailing. That in itself is a good reason to go out. You get to plan around a date and people actually show up on the boat on time and somewhat ready to go. After all if you are just going for a little sail and they should up late there is no harm done, but starting a race more than 30 minutes late gets you a DNS. Don’t ask me how I know that. By the way a DNS is way crummier than last.

Second and everyone will tell you this over and over again; your sailing skills do get better. But your people skills get better because too. Put a larger number of boats in a small starting area and you will soon learn that it is very necessary to work together so you will not get bumper car city. (By the way I miss the bumper cars at Pier 39 and smacking Luna Sea into the dock at Pier 39 with a 5 knot current is not the same thing.) Plus everyone on the boat will learn the value of teamwork after making 10 gybes in a row at the starting line only to be over early.

You get to wear a cool shirt into the Yacht Club bar that has the word racing on it so that everyone that doesn’t race thinks you must be pretty good. OK they really know better but you can wear it to the Giants games. Those guys don’t know.

Islander 36’s are very good looking boats but unknown to Lou and a few other people is that the best view of an Islander 36 at a three quarter view of the transom. We get to see that a lot!

You get to help the local marine based economy by buying lots of new racing gear. Of course it really doesn’t help you go any faster but it is all pretty cool stuff. If you are a front runner you also get to help the local economy but then all the new stuff does actually make you go faster. (Tom and I have exactly the same sails but our have blue numbers and his have green. Maybe we should have gone with the green also?) But the really cool thing is that you get to hang out sometimes with people like Jocelyn Nash at the Boat Show and believe me that can be a high point of a racing career for us rear enders.

You get to race longer than anyone else. You race much longer than the people that actually win. If you really do love racing doesn’t it make sense that you would want to race longer. In the last race Don pointed out to me that we got to race a full 12 minutes longer than Windwalker, but we were only 6 minutes out of second. Maybe Windwalker just can’t race all that long without getting pooped. We are in this for the long haul, no finishing 12 minutes early for us.

You get to waive Hi to all those cute girls on Harry’s boat.

You get to improve your VHS radio skills. Three weeks ago I had to radio Charles on the race committee boat for the Encinal Yacht Club and let him know we were still racing and were not dropping out. Charles being the gentleman that he is did not ask up to pick up the markers as we were sailing toward the finish.

And finally to get to age the Champaign bit longer. Let it be known to all that on Luna Sea we do have a few bottles of Dom Perignon on board for that first victory. But every time we make it back to the dock alive and all in one piece we pop a few corks of Domain Chandon anyway just to celebrate another great day of sailing. And of those of you in the know, know that Domain Chandon Blanc de Noirs is my favorite Champaign and so maybe there is a reason why we keep losing. I see no reason not to celebrate with my favorite except of course when John is around then we have a Margarita or two and talk about how much fun we had. I guess that is my favorite part after all.

--Dan

September 11, 2004, HDA - Islands Tour, Pilot, 3rd, Jim Robinson

Hello Joseph and Fellow Racers:

Just to take a moment to let you know that Joseph had a magnificent start on the fleet this past Saturday. The line was clearly favoring the pin end, but it takes some strength of fortitude to port tack a fleet of 17 to 20 boats that are 36ft in length. This fleet has been filling the line recently as well I might add....there really hasn't been much of a second line when the gun goes off, so to attempt such a thing was really fun to see. Anyway, Joseph and the guys on Windwalker hit the line perfectly - at the pin end, on a port tack, right at the gun. It was a beautiful thing as they were able to cross in front of the entire fleet of starboard tack boats. I saw the whole thing - as I was trapped behind both Mustang and Wind Walker.

I would also like to congratulate Midnight Sun as I think, by their win this past weekend, have locked in the Season Championship for 2004.

In parting a couple of thoughts about this past race. It was really fun in spite of being seriously out sailed (once again) by Tom Cat. It was great to see all the boats on the line at the start. It was great to see the lead bounce back and forth few times during the race and it was basically anyone's race until the wind filled in from the left side of the course instead of the where I and bunch of others thought it was going to continue from. Midnight Sun took a chance staying where they did - it really paid off.

I'm not sure we can make the next two race day as my son (and grinder extraordinaire), Woody, has a surf contest down in Southern California the same weekend.

Ah well....next season.

We're in for the Nationals however.

I look forward to sailing with all of you in the future.

Warm regards to all,
Jim
Pilot

August 28, 2004, South Bay, Midnight Sun, 1st, Peter Szasz (Skippered by regurlar crew Chris Boome)

We started too far down to the port end of the line. The committee boat was favored, but Peter told me I had better not scratch the red paint on Midnight Sun and Diana was behind us and to leeward about a minute before the start so we had to get going a bit early to get over her. The good thing was that we had nobody to leeward so we had a clear lane...the bad thing was that the beat was short and Windwalker had a really good start to weather.

We were going fast in the light beat with flat water, we had the jib very powered up with a little pucker in the luff and the backstay on just enough to keep the headstay fairly straight. Since the class lobbied for such a short course, the first beat was pretty critical and we probably made a mistake by deciding to tack to port and take Windwalker's stern rather than go bit further and try to get in front of her. Windwalker did a nice job of tacking to port just after we dipped her stern so that we were pinned on port tack until she decided to tack for the final approach to the buoy. Since she overstood a bit, this allowed Pilot to sneak just inside of us at the 1st mark closely followed by a Diana and a bunch of other boats.

Since we were reaching into the mark and we were able to roll over Pilot as we rounded the mark. It was at this point that we made the tactical decision that decided the outcome of the race. The course was a very broad reach/run to a jibe mark about a mile away and we had to decide whether to go above Windwalker (with Pilot right on our stern and the rest of the fleet close behind)...we chose to sail very low (actually by the lee) to get clear air to leeward of the boats behind. The thinking was that if we gave up a little distance but were able get clear air, we would avoid all the boats from behind coming up and trying to take our air during the whole leg.

This strategy worked well, and we were able to round the wing mark first. One other choice we had to make on this leg was whether to go above or below some Santana 22's that had started ahead of us. Since the last thing we wanted to do was get headed up into the wind shadow of the whole Is 36 fleet above us by some macho Santana 22 sailor, we decided to sail below the Santanas which seemed like the safest thing to do. Their wind shadow was nothing compared to the disaster that could have happened if they decided to luff us into the Islander 36 fleet.

After the wing mark, the only thing to decide was which of the several marks out there was actually ours...we split the difference and gave up a little distance just to be sure.

The rest of the race was pretty much follow the leader because the ebb tide made the windward legs 95% starboard tack.

It was a beautiful day and the raft up idea was nice, but it did seem like asking for a one hour race course was going too far towards the raft up priority.

Chris

August 28, 2004, South Bay, Zenith, 9th, Art Fowler

Here are some interesting statistics on the finish of Saturday's South Bay Race.

(All times refer to minutes:seconds). 17 boats started - all finished. Boats finished, roughly, in three groups. first six within 1:58; next seven within 1:37: final four within 1:45. Gap between first and second group 1:41, between second and third 2:38. Difference in elapsed time from winner to last place 9:39.

Average ground speed of winner 4.87 knots; of last place finisher 4.14 - roughly three quarters of a knot.

A total of six boats beat the boat following them by 11 seconds or less. Closest finish: 1 second (Tenacious over Mischief). I don't care where you are in the pecking order - that's an exciting finish. Other close ones were 4, 5, two at 10, and one at 11 seconds - that's just more excitement.

Oh, by the way, did anybody have as much trouble as we did trying to locate the pin on the finish line. According to the print out of my track it shows, without a doubt, that the pin was the only mark placed by the BVBC Race committee that wasn't dragged seaward by the ebb tide and that includes marker 31. Perhaps an anchor alarm commonly found on today's GPS receivers would be in order for the BVBC. We certainly have seen some interesting circumstances involving our R/C's this year.

August 14, 2004, Berkeley Circle Midnight Sun, 1st, Peter Szasz and Pilot 4th, Jim Robinson

From: Robinson, James W(Mill Valley XSI 27G) [mailto:james_w_robinson@ml.com]
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 9:34 AM
To: Peter Szasz
Subject: Islander 36 Race

Nice job. I sure get tired of looking at your transom. I thought common knowledge is "go right" in the Berkeley Circle. You guys killed us on the first leg going left. I think I was 8th or 9th going around the windward mark the first time.

We finished 4th on the day. I'm putting my dodger back on after watching Diana.

See you,

Jim

From: Peter Szasz [mailto:pszasz@att.net]
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2004 1:58 PM
To: Robinson, James W(Mill Valley XSI 27G)
Subject: RE: Islander 36 Race
Hi Jim,

Maybe I should put different pictures on our transom - Any suggestions?

We read the wind at 205, 210 at the start, which is a bit south of the norm.

In these conditions, the puffs seem to be lifting on port tack if you go far enough to the left, and miss the header (lift after the tack) on the right.

We missed a couple shifts early and Dianna got ahead, but they were coming in on a starboard header, so we managed to sneak front of them at the first mark. The Zevanoves sailed a great race.

It was good to be out and sailing with you all again.

I will miss the next race; will be cruising on Puget Sound, but my crew Chris will probably take the boat to keep the attendance up and the points down - (he is a goooooood sailor). Please be kind to him.

Peter

August 14, 2004, Berkeley Circle Midnight Sun, 1st, Peter Szasz (by Chris Boome)

Aboard Midnight Sun:

On the way down to the starting line it was much more overcast than normal and we noticed shifts to the south which kind of made us re-think the normal "go right" strategy for the Berkeley Circle.

At the start we had clear air and could hold our lane for as long as we wanted. We actually wanted to tack on to port a bit earlier than we finally did, but were held out by another boat. As more of the fleet tacked to port, we started "itching" to go and finally just tacked, not sure if we could clear the boat to weather on starboard...but as soon as it was apparent that we were going to pass in front of them, they also tacked.

We did not have the best speed the first leg and for a while, the boats that had tacked to port first were ahead of us, so, rather than lock opurselves into a 3rd or 4th place at the weather mark, we tacked back to starboard and sailed most of the way to the port tack layline. Fortunately, we did get a little shift back to the south that put us around the mark with a small lead.

The run down to the leeward mark was interesting because as we got lower on the circle, the wind had more holes in it and more change of direction.

We got a lift (shift to the south) as we were about 7 mins from the leeward mark and decided to gybe on it...this produced a BIG gain over the people who stayed on port tack all the way to the mark (sailing dead down wind or by the lee)...don't forget that the wind shifts the same while we are sailing upwind or downwind! By gybing on to the favored tack downwind you can get a lot more speed, which is essential because the boats are all underpowered without a spinnaker.

After the leeward mark, the wind was picking up and it became a "normal" Berkeley Circle day...go right but don't overstand. We had the marks in our GPS so we had a very good feel for where the layline was, even though we could not see the bouys on the circle. This was especially helpful on the second upwind leg.

After the second upwind leg, the wind had filled in and we just had a nice sail down to the leeward mark and back to the finish.

Chris Boome

June 5, 2004, Knox 2-Race Day, Midnight Sun, 2nd & 3rd, Peter Szasz

Some thoughts on the last races at Knox buoy.

The extremes of the variable conditions and the "challenges " provided by the race committee gave us plenty to talk about. The most valuable lesson learned again, (probably for the 100th time), that Point Blunt at Angel Island and it's buoy is a tricky place. It seems, that one must be close to that mark on the starboard tack in any condition; ebb or flood.

The following is Chris Boom's description of our less than perfect approach and rounding. The leeward mark was # 23 to the east of Angel Island... good wind all the way there, but we could see it was light if you went too far inside after rounding. We headed in to Angel Island (the only thing to do because of the flood tide) and tacked a bit short of being able to lay Pt. Blunt to stay in the wind...we could see this for a long time, we talked about the options.

The best thing for the tide was to take 2 extra tacks to get on the starboard layline. On the other hand, it was windy, we had a good lead and did not want to risk screwing up a tack etc...THIS WAS A BIG MISTAKE. We gave away 2/3 of our lead by not making those 2 tacks AND by being too conservative and sailing way past the layline to Blunt before tacking to port to clear the buoy." Being conservative when leading is OK, but one shall not ignore the fundamentals.

Regards,
Peter

PS.: I for one would like to hear from Tom Cat (two firsts) and Pacific High for sure.

June 5, 2004, Knox 2-Race Day, Pacific High, 6th & 2nd, Harry Farrell

At Peter's request, I can summarize my lesson learned as, BE IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME.

You all know me well enough to know I didn't plan that "catch the wind first" maneuver. It came about as a result of attempting to play every false wind direction that seemed to hit the boat. I would say "I can feel it on my arm" its coming from the East, then south then southwest, then west then back to south again.

Every one of our sail adjustments (we had so many boom swings we probably created our own wind) eventually took us away from Yellowbluff and farther south east until we were able to catch the edge of the "slot" westerly.

By the time we arrived at Angel the wind had filled in enough for us to round the last mark and head for the finish line, which at first I couldn't find, then discovered it southeast of us. To me it seemed to be off the course, but then that was just the topper for a very strange race day.

Harry

June 5, 2004, Knox 2-Race Day, Tom Cat, 1st & 1st, Barry Stompe

Sorry it took so long, but, I haven't looked in my e-mail box for awhile. The Knox Races had a variety of challanges. I'm sorry we didn't take a hitch or two after the leward mark on the first race. We stayed out in the wind and flood waaaaaaay too long and let Pilot get by and almost Blue Streak.

When the wind got so light at the weather mark we were lucky enough to have a smoker on board. The smoke allowed us to see the faint changes in wind. If nobody on the boat smoked I would bring some incense or, better yet, start the BBQ.

Some sailing/racing friends just bought the Islander 36 Silver Cloud. We should be seeing them out at the races soon.

Fair winds,
Barry

May 15, 2004, City Front Race, Midnight Sun, 1st, Peter Szasz

We had a windy (18 to 30 knots), ebb tide race.

We left the harbor around 10:30 for the 12:00 strt, as we had a couple of new people on the boat and have not raced Midnight Sun in these conditions with the current sails before.

It took a while to get in sync with the conditions and set up the boat. We used our 125 jib, tacked to the deck instead to the furler, to lower the COE, with the leads well aft. With the foot trimmed to the shrouds, the leach was about 8 to 10 inches from the spreader. In other words, lots of twist. The rig was tight, trying to keep headstay sag to minimum. The main traveler was down about 2/3 from center, with lots of wang for a pretty tight leach.

Barry, on Tom Cat had a big jib, but looked like he had an army on the rail to keep the boat right side up and was very fast in winds bellow 20 kts. Even though we were very light on crew, as I had two no-shows, our set up seemed faster upwind in the 20+ range. The big jibs were faster downwind but not enough to make up for the trouble upwind.

There was a lot of confusion on our boat, as there was no rounding signal displayed with the course signal. The lead boats chose correctly to round the first mark to Strbrd. (just think of the mess trying to buttonhook and jibe back into the approaching starboard tackers if rounded to port) The rest of us followed. As there was no required rounding direction, the rest of the marks were rounded by the leaders in a "logical" direction. As far as I could tell all the rest of the boats followed.

We tried to sail in the middle of the "river" upwind, and hugging the shore down.( except for X, that had to be left to stbrd.) On the second downwind leg, we stayed close to shore all the way to the entrance to Pier 39 harbor. As local wisdom says "in the ebb tide: stay along the shore too long, than wait another 2 minutes before you jibe for #18 (Blossom Rock) buoy."

I hope this helps

May 1, 2004, Race to Vallejo, Mustang, 11th, Joseph Krensavage

Mistake #1: After rounding the windward mark, I sailed higher up than most other boats because the wind at the time was strong and I decided to sail a beam reach because I reasoned that with a strong breeze, the ebb current wasn't as much of a factor...then the breezed died and I was stuck in the ebb current and had to fall off to wing-on-wing to get out of the ebb as fast as possible. This caused me to wind up in the back of the pack, with only one or two boats behind me, and they weren't that far back, so I was essentially in last place.

Big gainer: From Pt. San Pablo to the Mare Island channel entrance I stayed close to shore (South) to avoid the ebb current in the channel and sail on a beam reach (true wind from the South/SW). I trust the calibration of my depth sounder (thank you, KKMI!) and sailed in 8-9 feet of water for about 10 miles. When my depth sounder read 2 feet or less, I fell off slightly, left. When it went over 3 feet I headed up slightly, right. The entire time I had someone announcing speed over ground via GPS, apparent wind speed and direction so the trimmers could fine tune their sail trim. This allowed me to pass about 7-8 boats that stayed out in deeper water. I finished in the middle of the pack and felt good about digging myself out of the hole I dug myself into. :-)

Peter, would you be so kind as to share with us how Midnight Sun won?

May 1, 2004, Race to Vallejo, Midnight Sun, 1st, Peter Szasz

Our pre race "strategy" discussions focused on the somewhat unusual day for San Francisco Bay, we reminded ourselves that while we have to be in the favorable, or at the least unfavorable current, we must place close attention to the wind.

Lots of wind checks before the start. With 5 min to go the pin end was favored, but a shift to the west suggested the comm. boat end. After a decent start (little slow off the line), the wind shifted back to the left allowing us to tack for the mark.

A good layline call with a little squeezing from the helm got us to the mark first. Not for long. As the boats behind us could see that we were running out of wind, they headed to the Richmond shore while they had still some pressure. So we went from 1st to 7th, to 2nd, to 5th, 2nd again etc. It seemed, that in the light going even with wing and wing, keeping the apparent wind around 120 gave us the best speed.

We noticed after the Richmond Bridge, that the top batten of the Main was sticking out a foot or so. Not wanting to break it at the next jibe, we hoisted the lightest crew member to remove it. (Obviously not me) We managed to pass two boats. Lesson; if you want to go fast downwind in light air, put about 170 lbs. on the top of the mast.

In the mixed fleet, with lots of spinnaker boats, we worked real hard to maintain a clear lane to sail in. Nearing the Brothers, we stayed a little bit out from the piers to insure clear air from behind and got lucky to receive a slight puff to manage to get by Diana.

From there we always headed to the new wind, stayed out of the bad current, heated it up in the lulls and covered Diana's moves to stay ahead.

May 1, 2004, Race to Vallejo, Four Cs, 15th, Julian Cohen

This was my first Vallejo race and I can state my learnings quite easily.

First, should have stayed with my initial strategy to follow one of the usual leaders. I quickly strayed from this and ended up with Joseph in the middle of the ebb.

Second, when you know you have screwed up, go back to your initial plan and follow someone who knows what they are doing. I chose to go my own way and while Joseph gained 7 or 8 boats, I lost at least that many. I sat in the middle of the channel and watched the parade pass me by.

All in all, a great experience and we had lots of fun!!!

May 1, 2004, Race to Vallejo, Freedom Won, 13th, John Melton

My first mistake was tacking away from the starting line after a reasonable start, presumably to get cleaner air. This caused me to require three tacks to get to the windward mark, while those that stayed on a starboard tack required only one tack.

My second biggest mistake was staying out in the channel instead of heading for the shollows. I was right with Julian.

I have some pluses that are related to moving most of my sail controls back into the cockpit, and mounting my whisker pole (four inches in diameter can't really be a whisker, can it?) up on the mast, very much as Peter has his set up, except my pole stows on the mast. This makes deployment of the pole much easier. Now all I have to do is figure out when to use which control, stay out of the current, and follow the fleet.