Summer Race #2

Wednesday 7/27/2011

Steady NNW wind at 6-10 knots. Current started flooding around 18:00. Course was from H to 26 to 24 to H. A & B sailed to K instead of 24.

It was a beautiful summer evening to be sailing. Just enough wind to keep boats moving. There were some nice clouds above to give the setting sun a palette to spread its glory. A sun dog appeared on this rainless evening.  Sailboats were spread all across the river with full sails. The Clearwater herself was out for a jaunt and she looked like the mother hen with all her chicks playing about. 

Every sense was entertained this evening. The scene was a treat for the eyes. The gentle lapping of water on the hull was sweet music. The life of the land was carried over the water to the nose. The gentle warm breeze on the skin made the scratchy winter gear a distant memory. Even the Schaeffer tasted better on this night.

It was a sailor’s evening. I have been interested in the new trawlers that are on the market. I thought to myself that it would make a great boat to do the Great Loop in. I had pictured myself in the future cruising the rivers and canals that cross America. I realized sailing on this special evening that I would not want the diesel beast to be my only means of propulsion. While the tugs look nice and serene in pictures, they are still powered by diesel. I cannot fully free myself from the preoccupations of the modern world while under power from such a damaging substance. I get few chances to connect with nature and it is impossible to do so when carcinogens are spewing from the stern.

This is not my normal thinking on the matters. I am in the middle of Moby Dick. Melville points out the conflict in the churches in his day. They speak of benevolence, yet they light their nights with the oil from dead whales. He said that in every gallon of oil burned there was a drop of fisherman’s blood. As he writes about the horrors of whaling on both the whalers and the whales, it is ironic that the places of worship lit the night with the very same substance that caused so much pain.

So, I may never make the leap from sail to motor, though I will still reserve that right and avoid any proclamations to the contrary. On this evening, I was in the perfect place on the perfect vehicle. It was another great moment on the water. It is too rare that I get the chance to have careless thoughts floating through my head while I carelessly float on the water.

There was also a race. The race committee had good course selection. Both fleets finished around the same time which is always appreciated on Pizza night. The Race Marshall was setup on the port side of the line. I prefer they setup on the starboard side. Click here to read why. Surprise became mark K since it was missing.

Summer Race #1

Wednesday 7/20/2011

Healthy SE breeze between 10 and 15 knots. A&B sailed to K twice around and C went from H to K to G to H. Current was ebbing all race.

We left the marina and immediately hoisted the sails. With the wind from the SE, we had a nice tight reach out to the starting area. Gusto was on station early and we passed by them on our way to get some upwind readings.

Sailing upwind, we did a tack or two before we caught the old jib on the mast. The ring that holds the whisper pole to the mast had caught on an existing tear in the jib and gave us a new window on the back of the jib. After 4 years and over 2,000 tacks my favorite sail ever was toast. I had ordered a new one a few weeks ago, so it was finally time to make the change. We were able to make the change with about 10 minutes to go to our start.

With new jib flying nicely, I focused on the start. We passed by the RM with about 2 minutes to go on port. We were sailing into the entire fleet while they were on starboard. Having been at the RM with 2 minutes to go, I had a good idea of when to tack to make the RM on time. When you sail in on starboard for a few minutes, it is much tougher to know if you are early or late. We passed the four early boats and then tacked in front of the late boats.

My spot was not ideal since a leeward boat could have taken me up, but there were none to contend with. At the start, we won the boat and led the fleet out to the left. I wanted to protect the left side from the Bugaboo move. In case you did not read this in the past, the Bugaboo move is an unexplained advantage boats get going left in the SE breeze. Even the stronger ebb to the right does not overcome this affect. We did see some of the reason for the affect as we came in from the port side and got lifted as we sailed into the mark on port. It is still a mystery to me.

The competition followed us in the same direction. I am not sure why no one tried the right side. We were ready to cover anyone that headed right and this could have allowed other boats to gain, but since everyone followed us, it was simply a drag race around the course. When you start ahead, a drag race is perfect.

The reaches were fun, but uneventful. We finished the race and noticed Jesse was taking some video while up in the rigging. I remember doing that in 1989 at the end of a Block Island race when we were hopelessly behind. It makes for some cool video.

We continued sailing after the race. We sailed on a beat up to Croton point before turning downwind and doing some nice long broad reaches back and forth across the river. When night fell, we headed into our slip and called it a night.

The RM was excellent once again. The Race Marshalls have run some great races the last couple of weeks. I hope this continues.

Spring Race #10

Wednesday 7/13/2011

Good breeze starting at 10-15 from the WNW building to 15-20 with puffs up to 25 knots.  The current was flooding.  Course was from H to 26 to K to H.  Full Moon course was from H to 26 to 24 to H.

I arrived at the marina early this week to fix a winch.  When I arrived, the bottom was nice and clean.  This was the first time I paid to have the bottom cleaned and it was well worth it.  The temperature was a nice 80 degrees and the light breeze in the harbor made working on the boat pleasant. 

Two of the paw springs on my primary winch had lost their spoke.  This caused the paws to not stick out and catch anymore.  Luckily I had replacement springs on hand and was able to fix the issue quickly.  I took the time to clean and grease the primaries hoping to avoid any future issues.  Everything went smooth this time, but be careful with those little springs.  About three years ago, I lost a spring overboard and had to fashion a new spring since the old ones are no longer available.  Draping a towel over the lifelines will help keep those little springs from liberating themselves to the sea.

We then headed out to the race area.  We immediately set the main in the lee by the harbor.  We lost a hat and were unable to recover it before it sank.  The breeze was fresh and took us to the Race Marshal quickly.  When we got there, the line was skewed, but the RM corrected this before the start.

We had a nice start to the race and were able to keep the lead up to the first mark.  We saw a port-starboard incident, but were too far away to know what happened.  If anyone else saw that, please add a comment.

Rounding 26 was easy since the current helped push us north.  Once we turned downwind, we winged the jib and sailed straight for K.  The wind got lighter before building to close to 20 knots for the final upwind leg.  The last leg was a nice ride to the finish.  We were near Hard A Tack who seemed to be having another great race.  I am always pulling for them since they are a boat that is constantly out there sailing to get more experience.  Their effort is paying off well.

After the race, we sailed around and had a sandwich before the full moon race began.  The moon rose around 20:00 and the full moon race began.  The wind was still up in the 15-20 knot range and it was a tough slog to 26.  The flooding current working against the breeze was building up some nice square waves. 

We finished the race and headed straight in.  We were all a bit tired from the fresh breeze.  It was a great night of racing.  We don’t get too many heavy air nights this time of year.

Both race committees did a great job.  Matty Mozar of A Line Up volunteered to do the full moon race on short notice and pulled it off without a hitch.

I believe the radio interference we are getting is coming from the Hudson National Golf Club.  I spoke to the FCC again Thursday morning and they indicated that they would monitor the area again the week of August 1st.  So it looks like we will have a few more weeks of interference.  Please try anything you can to get through to these people that they should not be using a marine radio.

http://www.hudsonnational.org/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?GRP=949&NS=PUBLIC&APP=80&DN=EMPLOYMENT

Marine Radio Complaint Update #2

Communication on my part was lacking last week.  I sent the email to a Louis Roman in the FCC instead of Luis Roman.  Of course the email was not forwarded nor replied to, but that is to be expected from a government agency.  Being in a customer service oriented business, I have an overly high expectation of how organizations should work.

Back to the facts, Luis checked out a few courses on the Rockland side of the river and found no violations.  I was able to talk to him today and let him know what course to focus on.  They should be going out there this afternoon.  Hopefully they will catch the doosh bags in the act and nail them. 

I do plan on talking with the dooshes tonight by name.  The end may be near.

Spring Race #9

Wednesday 7/6/2011

Nice start to the race with 10-15 knots from the WSW. That went down to almost nothing before a westerly vein came and went to carry everyone home. Current was ebbing all night. Course was from H to 22 to D to H.

I missed the previous week since I was on vacation at Long Beach Island. This week was my first time on the boat in 2 weeks and it was nice to be back on the river. Frank and I were the crew tonight and we motored out of the slip shortly after 17:30. We were greeted by a healthy WSW breeze which made for a great reach over to H.

Once at H we went upwind a bit and found more pressure up the course with a righty. This made us want to go to the right side of the course after the start. The line was committee boat favored. With the nice breeze I knew there would be some traffic around the boat at the start. We did our typical start for these conditions:

• Run the line from the RM on starboard from 3:30 to go.
• With 2:30 to go, we tacked about and headed back towards the RM.
• At 1:30 to go, we were downwind of the RM and moving towards the fleet that was approaching on starboard. (We were on port)
• With 50 seconds, we tacked onto starboard and began our approach.
• We were slightly early, so I headed up to slow down and keep our position.
• With about 15 seconds to go, we were two or three boat-lengths down from the RM, but we were building speed towards the line.
• We started with little room to spare. We had enough speed to tack over to port and cross the guys that were slow coming out of the fight for the boat end. (I heard some of those boats had barged in)

So off to the right we went. When we tacked back to starboard up the course, A Train could cross. Zoom banged the left corner and at the mark had a comfortable lead. I can never figure out why the left side pays off in this situation. I call it the Bugaboo move as Bugaboo always kicked our ass when they stayed left. The current and direction seemed to favor the right side, but the proof is in the results. The left side was favored and I cannot explain why. A comment on this would be most welcome.

Downwind, we had a few B boats around and we worked with them down the rhumb line. Zoom went to the East side and had a tough time there. Seems like they went back to the well and I once again have no idea why it did not work for them. The only thing I can think of is that the breeze did not seem to get far enough east. Half way down the leg, Frank saw some dust coming off the land to the northwest, so we headed west for a few minutes to catch the new breeze and got to D quickly.

Once at D, we headed up and sailed to the finish. The breeze was nice, so we sailed around until 21:00 before heading in.

The Race Marshall did a tremendous job this night. The course was long and challenging, yet everyone finished in time. The line was fair and the announcements were clear and on time.

As far as the golf course doosh bags, since I heard enough of their first names and searched the local courses on the web, I now know the golf course they are from and have reported that back to the FCC. That should help them end this issue quickly (FCC translation = months). Next week I will hail them by full name. If the FCC cannot end it, I will publish their personal information and anyone will be able to discuss marine radio etiquette with them any time of the day.

I plan to add a special post on barging. This is common and I think there is a good opportunity to make starts more orderly if everyone knows what barging is.

Here is a video of our post race sail.

Here is a picture:

Marine Radio Complaint Update

Last year some doosh bags from a local golf course decided to use marine radios for their communications. This got in our way on the Haverstraw Bay because they chose channel 72 to use. This is our channel for all racing communication on the river.

Since I write the blog, I decided to contact some people last year. I called and emailed the FCC and while I got in contact with Laura Smith, it took until the end of the summer until we finally spoke. She said she would refer the issue to the field, but that did not happen. Here is a blog about that.

I had better luck with the Rockland County Sheriff. Adam Feuer, the Chief of Communication, and I were in contact, but it was late in the season and the dooshes were not active the night he monitored 72. I emailed him again this year, but did not hear back.

At some point Kevin from Minisceongo YC successfully got in touch with the FCC and had their field office ready to respond. Unfortunately, the contact information on his complaint left the FCC with no way to get back in touch with him. The FCC claims they called his contact number and emailed the complaint address with no response.

A few weeks ago, I was pissed off and took some additional action. Since I know the FCC emails are in the format firstname.lastname@fcc.gov, I emailed about half a dozen senior FCC officials by getting their names from the FCC site. That brought about a quick response (two weeks).

Last week, while away, I got a call from Dan Noel. He is the FCC director of field operations in the NY metro area. I called him back upon my return to work yesterday (7/5/2011), but did not reach him.

Finally, this morning I got a call from Louis Roman. He works for Dan Noel and was looking to get details on the doosh transmissions. He explained that he received the complaint from Minisceongo, but could not get in touch with Kevin based on the contact information left. We discussed the situation for about 10 minutes and he said he would have an agent look into this early next week.

I am going to be in touch with Louis from here on out. I will give him updates whenever I hear the dooshes on the radio. Since I moved to a new house recently, I have not been out on the weekends much. If anyone has any additional information on when the doosh bags transmit, please leave a comment and let me know the details and I can forward those on to the FCC.

After 15 months, I finally seem to have gained some traction and I would appreciate any help in giving the FCC additional information about the doosh transmissions.