Summer Race #4

Wednesday 8/10/2011

WNW breeze between 6 and 14 knots. Current was neutral at the start and the flood began right away. All divisions sailed from H to F to G to H. Skies were mostly clear and the moon made an appearance.

Tonight was our turn as Race Marshall. Three of us set out from the marina a little after 17:00. We motored East in the WNW breeze. The breeze was shifty, but we thought it would hold out for the evening. We motored around H and took a wind direction. It was 295-305, so we went with 300. Here are the instructions for setting the line.

DUTIES OF RACE MARSHALL:
1) Setting the starting line:
Direction: This line should be perpendicular (90 degrees) to the true wind If time permits, take a wind direction at Buoy 26 before proceeding to the starting area at “H”.
Length: At least as long as a yacht would travel in 2/3 of minute at the speed of 6 knots; longer is better than shorter. If you have any questions, ask the race committee prior to the start.

I used to eye out the starting line, but I decided to use the GPS to make the line square. First, I motored by H and took a fresh GPS coordinate. Making this the waypoint in the GPS gave us both range and magnetic bearing. To figure out the length, we had to make a rough calculation. 2/3 of a minute (40 seconds) at 6 knots (10.13 feet per second) is 405 feet. With the wind at 300 degrees, we knew we had to go to a spot where the bearing to H was about 210 and 500 feet away.

With a bit of wind and current, we went to a position about 500 feet away where the bearing was 200. We figured the boat would drag back about 45 feet from the anchor spot and that would leave an angle of 210. We ended up pretty close to the target numbers and the line seemed square. This ended up working out much better than just eyeing it out and will become part of our race committee procedures going forward.

We decided on course E-0 for all fleets. I would have liked to send C on a shorter course, but there were no good options compatible with E-0. Ideally, I would have sent C to K instead of G, but I did not want to make up a course and confuse the boats. I could have used a twice around option for A&B using just F, but once around for C would have been too short for such a nice evening. In the end, all boats finished within the time limit and I think the course worked out. Unfortunately, the Full Moon race would not start until after 20:30, but something had to give. I did not want to sacrifice the main race to shorten the wait for the one or two boats that would have stuck around for the Full Moon race.

As the start approached, it appeared to us that the wind went a little more west before the start and I figured the pin was favored. Regardless, the majority of the starters went for the boat end all the same. There were multiple barging incidents. Comet was the most hurt by the late bargers. They had a great starting position and another boat came in late hailing for room. This is against the rules. If you are unsure, please check my barging post.

After the boats were off the line, we had about an hour of downtime before the first finisher came in. We took the times of the finishing boats on two separate sheets. This is a new procedure for me and it is one of the many I learned by working with Tom DiLauro in the Hudson Cove regatta. It is very helpful to have two times in case one is illegible or just plain wrong. One sheet was scored based on the check-in order and the other was scored according to the order of finish. It may be overkill, but you do not get a second chance to take down times.

After the boats finished, we hoisted sail immediately and prepared for the Full Moon race. The breeze was still fresh and we raced Zoom around a 3-mile course. It was great sailing. Nice conditions and the moon was out the whole time. We moved swiftly around the course and finished in about half an hour.

Right after finishing, the wind died and we were forced to motor in. We were happy it held out for the night’s racing. Special thanks to the crew of Glory Days for hosting the Full Moon match race. With such low participation in the Full Moon race, it is probably time to move it to its own night or abandon altogether. I like the idea of getting some extra time in on a Wednesday night since I am already on the river, but it is pretty clear that my sentiment is not universally shared. It also did not help that many boats had young kids aboard for a Minisceongo youth event.

The golfers were not on the radio tonight. It appears the warning letter from the FCC may have made an impact. I hope it is the end of that annoyance.