Sutherland Regatta

Saturday and Sunday, 9/25/2010 – 9/26/2010 Saturday: Puffy 10-20 from the West. Current flooding. Boats sailed from H to F to G to F and back to H both races. Sunday: Fluky 4-10 from the North. Current flooding. Boats sailed from H to C to K and finished at D. I could not commit to doing this regatta until 07:30 Saturday morning. I wanted to spend the weekend with the kids, but this is the last regatta of the season and it was right where I keep the boat. After spending most of Friday night awake, I figured I would go out and sail Saturday and either sail with the kids Sunday or just bag it. I got to the skipper’s meeting and the office kept calling me to troubleshoot a problem. I was already in the lurch about racing and this seemed like it would cancel my plans. Luckily someone else was able to handle the problem and I was out on the course by 09:50. I decided to sail as much as possible before the race. When sailing solo, I like to work out any bugs and make sure all the gear is in the right place. Once the race starts, I cannot make many adjustments so I tune the halyards, outhaul, lead positions, and Cunningham. I also like to throw in a few tacks to make sure the jib is not catching on anything. It really sucks to have to leave the helm and run forward after a tack. This can be real tricky if there are other boats around. After getting some good wind readings, I furled in the jib and got ready for the start. I decided to start 20-30 seconds late. I did not want to deal with too much traffic and also wanted the boat end so I could get right. I had to go behind some barging boats, but I got a decent start and tacked right away and headed to the right side of the course. This was a mistake and I was pretty deep at the first mark. Izus and I made a pretty big gain by going south on the leg from F to G. Gusto took a northern track and also fared pretty well. On the beat back to F, Gusto went left and I went less left. Gusto made a huge gain at the end of the leg and I ended up finishing in second. I was happy with the result, but felt pretty exhausted. It was a lot of work since the breeze was shifty and gusty. I also had to wing the jib twice and that is a real pain in the ass when sailing solo. I considered retiring before the second race, but recovered quickly in the time between races. I would have been fine if I had some crew, but I considered retiring since being tired and short handed could become unsafe. In the second race I decided to start right at the boat. I was ahead of the fleet at the start and this time played the shifts up the middle. This worked out well and I rounded in third place right next to Thomas A. Hawk. We sailed even down to G and the next upwind was pretty uneventful. I crossed the line and corrected over the fleet. I was very happy with a 1st and 2nd for the day. I raced to get home and spend some time with the wife and kids. I was pretty tired and went to sleep by 11PM. The next morning, I brought the wife, Rowan, and Hazel out with me. It can be difficult getting the kids out of the house early, but this day was not too bad. We got to the boat and were the first ones out to H. We sailed a little and the kids enjoyed seeing all the boats come by. Rowan waved and said hi to most boats that came close enough. The start was backwards (the RC was on the port side of the line). I decided to start on the starboard side since I wanted to get right quickly. At first this looked like a terrible decision, but by the time I rounded the first mark it proved to be correct. I was the second boat around the mark. The downwind leg was terrible. The wind was light and the current was against us. One boat sat on our air for the entire 40-minute leg. After about 35 minutes, they were still on my air a little over a boat length behind me. This really pissed me off. This boat was deep in the standings and we lost position on some other boats. Once they got close to me, I decided I had to do something about it. I decided I would not let them pass this close to windward. They should have given me more room and not tried to ram it up my ass. I then rolled in the jib (it was winged out), turned the wheel, and the boat came up. Since no one on the boat could help, I let the boat round up at a consistent pace while I trimmed in the main. I was now slower, higher and in front of the boat that was taking my air. Instead of going below me, the guy decided to try and stay above me on my wind. I tried to diagram this situation in another post. At first they did not realize why my jib was rolled in. They soon found out. I was ready to take them up to the moon. I continued to head higher and they were slow to react. Their jib backwinded from having if winged out and they turned hard to weather, but it was too late. They were already to close to me for me to continue to head up and they did not trim in their boom. Their boom ended up hitting my weather lifeline. I yelled, “protest”, headed down, and unfurled my jib again. I also told them that if they wanted to play, they should be prepared. It was ridiculous that they assumed I would just let them roll me. They were obviously not ready to be taken up and ended up fouling me. I am sure they would like to claim that my turn was too fast for them to react in a seamanlike manner. I’ll have to write about the rules involved in a future post, but hard turns to weather are common on a downwind leg when a boat tries to roll you without much room. They came in way too close and fouled me. I regret my actions. I was being a real jerk there and felt like I needed to act Old Testament on them. I should have just taken my lumps rather than risking a collision with a boat that had no idea what they were getting into. This is not the America’s Cup. I need to be less of a psycho on the course. My wife was not surprised by the sequence of events. I take racing etiquette very seriously. If a boat is going to get into close quarters with me to hurt my position, I will defend my position like a cornered animal. The damage had been done and this move was really about revenge. After the incident, I let the offending boat and the rest of the pack near me round the mark ahead. I took a nice wide turn into the mark and ended up in a nice position. Further up the course, I tacked out too far left and lost the race to Gusto. Gusto and Jazz are often very close. We tied for first in the regatta with Gusto getting the tiebreaker. They had a great regatta and I look forward to our next meeting. Rowan was thrilled to go up and get the trophy. We ended up staying way past everyone else at Minisceongo. It is a great yacht club and we enjoyed making use of the grounds. It also helped that the keg was not kicked and Rowan liked filling my beer. Once we got home I told my wife how excited I was about the trophy. I have had the same sailing briefcase for 20 years and it showed its age. The prize was a new briefcase made for sailing. I gushed about the briefcase and my wife liked it too. I then offered to give it to her and she replied with a jab that only she can make, “No thanks, it says second place.”

Race Situation Test

This is just a test. Not like anything that happened recently.

Full Moon Poll

I thought I would put up a poll for the full moon races. Due to conditions, only two races were held and participation was low. I was thinking of giving up on the idea, but thought some input on when to hold the races would help. Here are the ideas: 1. Keep it on Wednesday. 2. Move it to the Saturday night of a full moon and start at 8PM. 3. Move it to Saturday night of a full moon and start at 7 with a longer course. 4. Bag it. Please comment on this if you have an idea that is not mentioned here. I left out Friday night since I would not be able to join.

Summer Race #10

Wednesday 9/22/2010 Fluky wind, no race. I was a little held up at work and did not get to the boat until 17:30. We quickly drop the lines and headed out to the course. I finally brought everything I needed to see what was wrong with the prop. The water was comfortable at 72. It helped that it was close to 85 this evening. When I got under the boat and saw the prop, I was surprised to find it completely covered in barnacles. I did not have my metal scraper on board, so I had to use a file to scrape off the barnacles. They were everywhere. It took a good 10 minutes to completely remove the barnacles from the prop and shaft. We later noticed a quarter knot improvement in boat speed due to cleaning the prop. Oddly, the waves were big enough that once or twice the boat hit my head. There was not much force, but I did not feel quite right after I got back on board. Once I got my bearings, I realized there was no wind and we would not be racing tonight. I still held out hope since some weather was coming, but its arrival was too far away. At 18:30, racing was cancelled for the evening. This goes against the letter of the instructions that give an 18:45 hard time for the first opportunity to cancel, but fit within the intention of the instructions. I will see if I can get that changed to 30 minutes past the first signal or just remove it completely. Perhaps instructions for canceling due to no wind should make the RC wait 30 minutes, but in severe storms it would be nice to have the flexibility to cancel 18:15 or even earlier. The RC was excellent in communicating the postponements and abandonment. We headed in after watching a nearly full moon rise over Croton. It was shitty sailing weather, but a decent evening to float on the river. We headed over to Minisceongo for pizza night and enjoyed their hospitality. I may have been talked into racing over there this weekend, but we will see. I would like to thank John Nonemacher for being the force behind putting this Wednesday Night racing together, John Edwards and John Beck for scoring and posting the scores, and everyone who raced for a great season. Wednesday Night races are a great time on the water. It helps break up the week and keeps us out sailing all season long. Our fleet is very competitive and everyone seems to have a good time. I am already looking forward to next year. So with the end of the season will come of the end of this type of blog. I plan to continue posting some information over the winter. Please check back here in another week or two and I should have some idea of what I will write about over the winter. My past attempts have failed miserably, but I’ll give it another shot.

Summer Race #9

Wednesday 9/15/2010 Inconsistent North wind from 8 to 18 knots. Current flooding, but changed shortly after the race. A&B sailed from H to C to 22 and back. C sailed from H to C to F to 24 and back. I went up to the boat early to get some small repairs done. I had blown my outhaul the previous week and there were some lingering issues to deal with. I was happy to see that Samalot Marine had fixed my outhaul earlier in the week. They did a great job with it. This is the third or fourth time I have had a breakdown and they were able to patch it up without having to miss a race. It is a great benefit for us to have a full service sailing facility in the marina. Since the major repair was done, I was left to clean up a few things and repair some of the woodwork below. Frank and Kevin (the greenhorn) arrived right as I finished up and we headed straight out to the course. Along the way, I tightened the shrouds, as the mast was way too loose. This brought some extra tension on the forestay. As we arrived at the start area, I was happy to see the RC on station. A great line was set. It was an appropriate length with the boat end a little favored. We sailed around in a nice heavy northerly and got the course. I decided to start near the boat and get there a little early to avoid the crowd. As I was sailing away from the line on port tack, I noticed other boats were setting up early as well, so I tacked after them and figured I would get to the line right on time. Coming back on starboard with less than a minute to go, the early boats started to luff. They were not in the best spot as they were luffing while being too far to windward. This allowed me to sail below them without any concern for not being able to head up to the line. We settled into a nice controlling spot with no one below us and a few boats above us. I was thinking about shutting the door on the windward boats, but opted for a clean start at the RC boat. At the start, two boats were over early down the line. Up at the boat we were all clear. We sailed for a minute or two before tacking onto port. Further up the course, we were close to the port layline when an A division boat crossed us and tacked right on top of us. We are not in the same division and there was no reason to tack directly on top of us. It is not like we were on the lay-line, just close to it and they could have sailed a little further and not hurt us as badly. This slam move ended up killing us for the rest of the leg. I should have tacked right away to clear my air, but instead I sat in the bad air until we got over to the right side of the course. We rounded the mark and the wind lightened. This made it tough on us since we do not have a spinnaker. Four boats in our division passed us on this leg. The leg was 3 miles, but with the current, it seemed like it was forever. We finally rounded 22 and knew that we had to pass Gusto to keep our position in third place for the series. We tacked out to the left side for a minute to clear our air. We were behind Gusto and another boat, so the tack allowed us to sail in clear air. Once out there, we were able to sail our optimal upwind angle which is lower than most boats. We got ahead of Gusto and felt good up on the left side. Then Gusto tacked to the left side and we were late to react. We could see them making a gain above us, so we tacked back and then tacked right on top of Gusto. Let’s pause. Seems like I did the same bad move that I was complaining about earlier. Well, I did. The difference here is that I needed to put Gusto about a minute behind us to correct over them. We are in the same division and whenever we race against each other it is always close. ALWAYS. So I made a competitive move against a boat that we are locked into a tight battle with. In the earlier example, the boat that hurt us gained no advantage in affecting our wind. In this case, we gained an advantage, as we needed to put a few seconds between them and us. We crossed the line right behind A Line Up from C2 and just ahead of Hard Attack. Gusto was about the exact handicap time behind us. In the end, I think we beat them by one second. It was a thrilling last leg and a great challenge right up to the line. Every second counted and that is about all you can ask for in PHRF racing. With the mix of C and A/B boats finishing together, the RC did a great job with the course. It is ideal to have everyone finishing around the same time. The RC made the line, course, and management superb. It was a great race for all. After the finish, the wind was on the higher side and we reached around for a while to enjoy the last bit of evening. After a few beers, the sun set, the wind got lighter, so we headed in. It was nice to see a couple of boats sailing around as well. As long as the wind is up, it is great to sail on the river during the twilight. There is one race left in the season. Depending on the times for Gusto and us, third place could come down to the final race. It is nice to go head to head against our closest competitor once more.

Summer Race #8

Wednesday 9/8/2010 Heavy NW wind from 15 to 30 knots. Current was ebbing hard in the middle of the channel, but significantly less on the east side. A&B sailed from H to C to F to 24 and back to H. C went from H to C and back. Tonight was the first night of the early starts. Things started out rough for us. I have docked in my slip over 200 times and tonight was different. While easing out of the slip, the bow was held in and the stern swung out the wrong way. Our reverse had little bite to it, so we could not turn the boat the right way to motor out of the docking area. We ended up having to reverse the whole way out of the docking area and it was a little slow. Once we had the room to move in forward again, the boat was not moving at its usual speed. Having not taken the boat out for two weeks, I thought the problem might be a stuck blade on the folding prop. Unfortunately, my 2-year-old daughter dropped my only mask in the water this summer, so I was not able to dive and see what the problem was. After motoring a bit we heard a thump and things felt better. We arrived at the start area and the committee boat was already on station. The RC was on the port side of the line. This is not the best place to be setup and I explained it in the Spring Race #6 blog. Since the line was longer and the starboard end favored, the RC position did not really play a factor in the start. We chose a Vanderbilt start for tonight. This is basically a timing run from the end of the line. We reached on port with 4 minutes to go and then turned back with 2:15 left. We knew we would be a little late, but this was on purpose, as we wanted to be able to tack immediately to port after we crossed the line. The right side seemed to have equal wind and we knew there was less foul current. After the start, there was one competitor way ahead of us. We figured they decided not to race, but apparently they were racing. They were over 3 minutes ahead of us. When we caught up to them, we asked if they were racing and they said yes. I believe they started early and did not know it. Since I was not sure what they did, I had no interest in protesting. The weather leg was very windy. At times the whole main was flogging as we chugged upwind. Boats were rounding up and at least two of them had jib problems. We rounded the first mark in second place helped by one of the top boats in our division tearing their jib. After the rounding, we heard the RC call for the race to be shortened. This really got me fired up. Our boat sails best in winds over 20 knots. 25 knots is the ideal condition for us. It is rare to get a fresh breeze on a Wednesday night and I was not happy with the prospect of a 4-mile race getting shortened. Then the race committee explained that they were shortening the race because of a 35-knot wind reading. At this point, I radioed back that the wind was not that strong. I should not have done this. Radio communication should be free of opinion and feedback from competitors and I went against my better judgment. After the RC realized they could only shorten C division, I radioed back again that this could create a hazardous situation, as boats would now be finishing from opposite sides of the line. Again, I was wrong to air this on the radio and should have kept off the airwaves. More on this at the end. Back to racing, we held even on the blast reach to F. Boats were rounding up here and there, but no one was in distress. The leg from F to 24 was downwind. We had Mad Mad Hatter right next to us. They put up the kite. It did not help their position, but it was a gutsy move to fly the kite in those winds. I applaud the effort. It is great to see a competitor that will test their skills in heavy air. From 24 to the finish was a one tack beat. We were able to foot most of the way and that helped us pound through the chop to the finish. Coming into the line, a C2 boat was coming down to finish from the other side. We had to hail “leeward” to them as we both wanted to finish in the same spot. The C2 boat was forced to avoid us at the finish. This was somewhat dangerous as they were having trouble handling the boat in the breeze. We were the first B boat to cross the line and got our first bullet of the series. Since the breeze was up, we continued sailing. We tried our best to keep a little air in the main and not flog it too much. Once we got close to Haverstraw, our outhaul blew out. It also broke the webbing holding the main clew to the slug in the boom. We immediately dropped the main and continued to sail under jib alone. I was able to rig the reef line to the clew and tied the clew to the slug using a sail tie. Sail ties are great for quick fixes on the water. In no time we had the main back up and continued to pound to the north. This was good practice for a breakdown in a race situation. After the sunset, the wind settled into the 15-20-knot range with huge shifts off Stony Point. We reached across the river up there and worked our way back to Haverstraw. The engine was working fine when it was time to dock, so we had no more issues. When I got home that night, someone sent me an email with the wind graph. The graph is in MPH, but does show a 28-knot puff.

Now the wind graph has been posted on the website. Not sure if that is some sort of message or not (my paranoia issues are well documented in my blog from years past). I deserve any criticism for acting like a jerk on the radio and arguing with the race committee. It was wrong and I hope I never do that again. But let’s get some facts straight. 1. I was wrong. No doubt about it. I should not have communicated anything over the radio. The adrenaline mixed with being pissed off resulted in my poor judgment. 2. The graph shows that the wind hit 26 knots right before the start. It was not until 30 minutes after the start that the graph hit 28 knots. This is only 2 knots more that the wind before the start. It was not as if some huge increase in breeze came along. It was just a couple of knots more than what we had immediately before the start. 3. It is up to each competitor to decide if they can race or not. If a boat cannot sail 4 miles in 25 knots of breeze, they probably won’t be able to sail 2 miles either. They should withdraw. 4. If the breeze is too strong for boats to sail 4 miles, it is probably too strong to have boats finishing in opposite directions. We had a finish issue with another boat and we were fortunate that no one lost control. 5. The wind graph is in MPH, not knots. Max gust was 28 knots, max average was 24 knots. You can get the conversions here. The above reasons are no excuse for my radio blunder. I am embarrassed by my gaffe. At the same time I want to get my thoughts on heavy air out so I will not feel compelled to lose my cool the next time a race is shortened or abandoned due to a good breeze. Ever since the America’s Cup left the 12-meter design, sailboat racing has retreated from sailing in heavy air. We see lighter boats optimized for 8-14 knots of breeze. It is becoming more common to abandon or shorten races on great sailing days. Sailing world has a great article on the subject from June. Quote: “A 25-knot breeze isn’t a viable excuse to cancel racing. It is a reason to go out and test your skills against the elements as well as the competition. Wind is our friend. It’s what makes our sport great.”

Summer Race #6

Light NW winds. Current ebbing all night. We sailed from H to 26 and back. We had a good start and then watched most boats sail by us. The breeze was fluky and we were out of phase all night. Worse was the current. Since we are slow in the light air, our VMG was equal to the current near the mark. The faster boats we were near made it around, but we did not for another 20 minutes. Once around, it was an easy drift to the finish. Tonight's lesson was that I am slow. Oh well. I was also out of phase. Very frustrating. At least I am learning what the fleet does at the start and will take advantage of that in the future. The douchebag golfers are still using the marine radio. I wrote the FCC about this a while ago, but they are too busy with Janet Jackson's tit to give a damn about marine safety and rule violations. Maybe you guys can contact the coast guard and local police. They may be more interested in putting a stop to the gopher chasers. I was away for week 7, so hopefully I'll be back in week 8 and finish the rest of the season. I also bought a used sunfish for my new house. I am very excited to sail again on a small boat. That's how it all began for me.

Summer Race #5

Wednesday 8/18/2010 Light ENE breeze 2-6 knots. Current flooding. A & B sailed course I-0 twice around, C went once around. I-0 is H to D and back. The forecast called for easterly breezes tonight. We expected a turn to the southeast, but that never materialized. Coming out of Haverstraw, we hoisted the sails and were able to make about 3.5 knots through the water. We experienced wind changes of up to 80 degrees. Light and fluky would be the conditions all night. The RC tried to get a start off at 18:15, but the winds got really light and the RC postponed the starting sequence. We rolled into another sequence when the easterly showed some life. We setup to run the line with the current. We felt the best winds were to the left; so running down to the pin was a nice option. We had one boat ahead of us and they were slowing down before the start. They were in our way, but we were not overlapped to windward until 10 seconds to go. At this point, we were far enough form the line to head up to close-hauled and sail away. The boat below us was slow and then they pinched into the wind and we were able to roll them. Had they accelerated sooner, we would have been in bad air and forced onto port. That is the life of the slow boat in the fleet. We got lucky this time and found ourselves as the left most boat with clear air. We rounded the first mark in third place right behind Gusto. We were able to sneak ahead of them after the mark. Once they got their chute going, they accelerated to be below us, but they would then stop when they hit our bad air. I feel bad for them since it is not easy to pass us to leeward and they would have to go at least 2 boat-lengths to windward of us to pass. If they try to pass closer, then I would prevent that by luffing. I don’t mind being passed, but if you are too close to windward, I will defend my air. We rounded H just ahead of Gusto and stretched the lead to 1 minute by the time we got back to D. The last leg was painful. Within a few hundred yards, Gusto had already caught us. The rest of the B fleet was over 2 minutes behind and they were catching us as well. I can easily say that in these conditions, the lack of a spinnaker cost us at least 120 seconds in .6 miles. That translates to about a 200 second per mile difference in speed. Luckily we had a big enough cushion to stay ahead of the rest of the fleet and finished third in B. After finishing, we dropped anchor and hosted the Full Moon race. There were three boats participating in the fluky breeze. We chose the same course, I-0. After the race began, the wind was getting worse, so we shortened the race after 20 minutes to finish at D. It was still pleasant on the water and I think the participating boats had fun. Oddly, one boat asked if we were doing the race, but did not join. I wondered why they bothered asking. As we headed in, we were greeted by a westerly near the west shore. That confirmed that the breeze was very fluky. We were at the dock around 20:30. It was one of the earliest times I have gotten in all year. I would like to write about at one rule scenario. The different rules that apply when reaching across the line and a boat is clear ahead. Here is the situation. Two boats are reaching down a starting line on starboard tack with 30 seconds until the start. They are two boat-lengths below the line and about 30 seconds from reaching the pin. Boat A is clear ahead and boat B is catching up. Here are the rules at play: 12 ON THE SAME TACK, NOT OVERLAPPED When boats are on the same tack and not overlapped, a boat clear astern shall keep clear of a boat clear ahead. 11 ON THE SAME TACK, OVERLAPPED When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat. 15 ACQUIRING RIGHT OF WAY When a boat acquires right of way, she shall initially give the other boat room to keep clear, unless she acquires right of way because of the other boat’s actions. 16 CHANGING COURSE 16.1 When a right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear. 17 ON THE SAME TACK; PROPER COURSE If a boat clear astern becomes overlapped within two of her hull lengths to leeward of a boat on the same tack, she shall not sail above her proper course while they remain on the same tack and overlapped within that distance, unless in doing so she promptly sails astern of the other boat. This rule does not apply if the overlap begins while the windward boat is required by rule 13 to keep clear. SECTION C AT MARKS AND OBSTRUCTIONS Section C rules do not apply at a starting mark surrounded by navigable water or at its anchor line from the time boats are approaching them to start until they have passed them. Proper Course A course a boat would sail to finish as soon as possible in the absence of the other boats referred to in the rule using the term. A boat has no proper course before her starting signal. Room The space a boat needs in the existing conditions while manoeuvring promptly in a seamanlike way. Keep Clear One boat keeps clear of another if the other can sail her course with no need to take avoiding action and, when the boats are overlapped on the same tack, if the leeward boat can change course in both directions without immediately making contact with the windward boat. Let’s look at the last rule first. The preamble to Section C makes it clear that rule 18 will not apply at our starts. Since there is navigable water around our starting marks, you do not get room. This will prevent barging. Since there are no rule 18 considerations, we end up treating the situation as though it happened on open water with one exception. The pin can be used to consider a boat’s proper course. With boat A clear ahead and boat B going faster, let’s assume an overlap is imminent. Boat B has a choice to make. If they go above boat A, then boat A will be able to luff up to head to wind. Since we established that B is faster than A, this could result in B being over the line early. B needs to consider their relative speed advantage, the distance to the start line, and the time left. A has right of way through this whole scenario. So rule 15 will not apply since before the overlap B is the keep clear boat under rule 12 and after the overlap, B is the keep clear boat under rule 11. So all we are left with is rule 16. This is a bit of a game here. If A has been holding a steady course and then decides to come up once she sees what B is doing, then rule 16 will come into play. Initially, B does not have to anticipate a change of course. All she needs to do is keep within the definition of Keep Clear (see above). This is where you will often see a boat scream to take it up, but they do not come up themselves. If a boat is going to push you over the line early, at least make them get close to going over early as well. React to the boat’s movements, not the yells as they try to intimidate you into being over early. As long as you come up as they do and continue to keep clear, you will not be penalized. A seamanlike manner is not a tactical manner. It does not matter the competency of the crew. You need to turn the boat to weather as much as the boat below you and do it fast. Your sails may not keep up with the turn, but you had better start turning when the leeward boat does. So in the above situation, boat B risks being over early. If they can get above A and stay clear, then they will end up with a better start to windward and with more speed. The other option for boat B is to tuck in below boat A and begin to luff them. If boat A is going very slow and B has good speed, it may be possible to sail right by them and then get clear air ahead. Here the rules are a little trickier. First, when boat B gets the initial overlap to leeward, boat A becomes the keep clear boat. Rule 15 now applies because boat B acquired the right of way. This means boat B will have to give boat A some room to keep clear. In other words, boat B cannot just get the overlap a foot away from A, but has to give a little more room so A can keep clear without making contact when they turn. So now we have boat B to leeward of boat A. Rule 17 applies. You may look at rule 17 and think that boat B is bound to a proper course. The trouble here is in the definition of proper course. A boat has no proper course before the starting signal. So even though rule 17 is in effect and will be in effect for the entire duration of the overlap, there is no proper course, therefore no limitation on the luffing rights of B. As long as B follows rule 16, she can luff A up to head to wind. Sometimes if B has slowed enough, A may break the overlap when they turn up. At that point B once again would become the keep clear. Assuming the overlap never breaks, B could potentially push A over the line. If you find someone trying to do this on a Wednesday night, it is a dick move. They need to be close enough to you to luff. They need to give you time to change course in a seamanlike way. If they do it properly, they will most likely end up over early as well since they had greater speed and need to keep their own boat up to force you over. Too often I see people just expect the windward boat to drastically change course and the leeward boat barely heads up. It is one thing to protect your position on the line; it is another to purposely chase a boat from behind with the intention of fouling up their start. There are other reasons for B to take A up. If A is too far from the line, B may push A closer so they both get a better start. B may also want to slow A further to get clear air by getting ahead of them. Since the overlap is created from clear astern, both rules 15 and then 16 limit the speed with which B can force A up. Now I said that when B gets the leeward overlap from clear astern, rule 17 applies, but proper course does not exist before the starting signal. AFTER the starting signal proper course applies. The proper course for a boat going upwind is close-hauled. B is now limited by rule 17 to sailing no higher than close-hauled while she is within two boat-lengths of A. There is only one exception in this example. If B needs to sail above close-hauled to get around the pin, then that is their proper course and only then are they entitled to luff A above close-hauled. So before the start, B can luff up to head to wind, but after the start close-hauled is the limitation, unless B needs to pinch above the pin. Even if A and B are 1.5 boat-lengths apart, the leeward B cannot sail above close-hauled. This is often lost on most racers. Most racers think they can head up until they are right next to the windward boat. They cannot. Once you get leeward overlap from behind and while staying within two boat-lengths of a windward boat, you are obliged under rule 17 to sail your proper course. The windward boat can drive down onto the leeward boat, but you cannot sail up under them. Good luck!

Summer Race #4

Wednesday 8/11/2010 ESE breeze from 4-10 knots. Current ebbing hard, at times over 1.5 knots. Both fleets sailed from H to G and back to H. Going out to the course tonight, we first stopped by buoy 26 to get an idea of how strong the current was. We trotted along side it at 1.7 knots and were stationary over the ground. We knew the current would be strong in the middle of the river. We made our way down to the start area. The RC was on station and prepared to deal with the shifty NE breeze. They setup for a course to D. As forecasted, the breeze began to work its way to the right. By 18:10, the breeze was due East. We do not have an upwind course for easterly breezes. D would have been a close reach on starboard and G was a one-tack beat on port. The RC decided to send us to G instead and reset the line. People seemed to disagree with the call, but I think it was the right choice. First, with the current ebbing hard, it would have created a lift on starboard tack and would have allowed the boats to easily make D on a close reach. At least the course to G was a one tack beat. Second, the courses that use D would have sent the boats around 24 and this would have put boats into the full current and could have prevented boats from finishing the race. By going to G, we stayed out of the max current. At 18:25 we rolled in the sequence. Since the wind was inconsistent and the current was pushing boats toward the line, we stayed far away from the line. So did most of the fleet. The pin end was very favored, but I did not want to get tangled up with the A boats that were setting up by the pin. Jazz is a tub compared to most of our competitors and it does not serve us well to mix it up in close quarters. So we stayed back from the line until 40 seconds and then tacked to port and found clear breeze right below Comet. The beat was a nice setup for Jazz. Since we could almost make the mark, we pressed on the jib and sailed fast. We held our own on the leg and had only a short 1-2 minute starboard tack at the end of the leg to make G. Coming into the mark on starboard, we were hailed by a boat on port for room. We did not give them room and I will explain the rules in that situation at the end in Example #1. We rounded the mark and were right above Elixir and just behind Kohlinar. The course again helped us, as it was a tight reach back to H. Without a spinnaker, we were able to not lose too much ground due to the angle being pretty tight. In a broad reach, we would have fared much worse. Chi and the A boats had run away from us and we were happy to come in second tonight. Seemed like it was the best possible course for the conditions. The Race Committee was flawless. They did the right things delaying and resetting the start. It was more work than normal, but in the end it paid off. After the finish, we sailed by the race committee to thank them and continued up the course to watch the action in C2. It was compelling. There is a nice tight group of 26-28 foot boats that seem to be having fun each week. We saw one C2 boat roll another on the leg. We saw another boat take the high road on the leg and it did not seem to pay off, but I do now know where they were at the mark. The last boat finished around 20:00. Seemed like a great race for all the fleets. Xanadu had a nice race in C2, as they were clear of the other small C2 boats. I believe Xanadu was sailing solo. After the race, we continued to cruise around in the easterly breeze. Then around 20:15, a fresh southerly filled in. The breeze picked up to 12-14 knots with occasional whitecaps. We sailed on until about 21:00 enjoying this new breeze. It was nights like this that gave me the idea for the Full Moon races. Unfortunately, I know no way of predicting when we will get this late evening breeze. I do know that it does not seem to work the same on full moon nights. I would say we get a new breeze 3 or 4 times a year after 20:00 hours. Rule Example #1 Two boats converging at the windward mark on opposite tacks. It is a port rounding, so the port tack boat is inside of the starboard boat. Rules: 18 MARK-ROOM 18.1 When Rule 18 Applies Rule 18 applies between boats when they are required to leave a mark on the same side and at least one of them is in the zone. However, it does not apply (a) between boats on opposite tacks on a beat to windward, (b) between boats on opposite tacks when the proper course at the mark for one but not both of them is to tack,… 18.3 Tacking When Approaching a Mark If two boats were approaching a mark on opposite tacks and one of them changes tack, and as a result is subject to rule 13 in the zone when the other is fetching the mark, rule 18.2 does not thereafter apply. The boat that changed tack (a) shall not cause the other boat to sail above close-hauled to avoid her or prevent the other boat from passing the mark on the required side, and (b) shall give mark-room if the other boat becomes overlapped inside her. 13 WHILE TACKING After a boat passes head to wind, she shall keep clear of other boats until she is on a close-hauled course. During that time rules 10, 11 and 12 do not apply. If two boats are subject to this rule at the same time, the one on the other’s port side or the one astern shall keep clear. In our situation, the port tack boat called for room. We were both fetching the mark and the port tack boat was within the three boat-length circle. When we look at rule 18.1(a) and (b) we see that the port tack boat does not get “room” at the mark. Rule 18 is turned off in this situation. In our situation, the port tack boat was on a collision course with us so we can end the discussion here as far as the real life example. If we want to take it a step further, we can assume the port tack boat would cross ahead. During the tack, they would have to keep clear under rule 13. Remember, rule 18 is turned off, so they are not entitled to “room to tack”. Once they complete the tack, rule 18.3 comes to play. If they are still clear ahead when they complete the tack, rules 18.1(a) and (b) would no longer apply because both boats are now on the same tack. So 18.3 comes in to say that the boat that tacked is not entitled to room under 18.2. It goes on to say that the boat that tacked cannot take the other boat above close hauled. This would prevent the tacking boat from shooting the mark. It also goes on to say that is the boat that was fetching all along gets an inside overlap, then the boat that tacked has to give them room. In essence these rules combine to make the port tack boat the keep clear boat. The only situation where the port tack boat is entitled to room is when they can tack ahead of the starboard boat and the starboard boat is over stood enough that they do not have to go above close-hauled to give the other boat room. In this case it is not really room, it is a windward leeward situation. You can see a good write up of this rule and some of the next example by clicking the link below. Please note that one of the captions incorrectly refers to rule 10.3. They should have written rule 18.3. http://www.sailingworld.com/experts/luffing-late-overlaps-tacking-and-jibing-at-marks Rule Example #2 Two boats finishing. The leeward boat protests. This is all I heard on the radio about a protest. 18.2 Giving Mark-Room (a) When boats are overlapped the outside boat shall give the inside boat mark-room, unless rule 18.2(b) applies. (b) If boats are overlapped when the first of them reaches the zone, the outside boat at that moment shall thereafter give the inside boat mark-room. If a boat is clear ahead when she reaches the zone, the boat clear astern at that moment shall thereafter give her mark-room. (c) When a boat is required to give mark-room by rule 18.2(b), she shall continue to do so even if later an overlap is broken or a new overlap begins. However, if either boat passes head to wind or if the boat entitled to mark-room leaves the zone, rule 18.2(b) ceases to apply. (d) If there is reasonable doubt that a boat obtained or broke I do not know what happened to the two boats involved. I will only speak to the rules. First, a finish consists of two marks. These are to be treated like every other mark of the course except the starting marks. So rule 18 can apply. In the race, the finish was a broad reach, so 18.2 would apply once ONE of the boats enters the three boat-length circle. So you cannot barge at a finish, you are entitled to room at the finish. The only way the leeward boat can block out the windward boat would be if the leeward boat entered the zone clear ahead of the windward boat. If the windward boat then established an overlap, they would not be entitled to room since the overlap would need to exist before they enter the zone. I do not know the actual situation; I only used it as a reason to quote more rules. I like to spit out rules and invite anyone reading this to comment if I am incorrect or unclear. This blog is not enough on its own. It is the feedback that will make it better for the readers and foster a greater understanding of racing and the rules.

Summer Race #3

Wednesday 8/4/2010 Steady S breeze, 8-15 knots. Current was flooding all night. A & B sailed from H to 22 to G and back. C sailed from H to 22 to K and back. We left the harbor early and decided to sail upwind for a bit. We took some wind readings and then headed back to the start area. The RC tonight was late getting a line set. They also set themselves up on the port end of the line, which should no longer happen. I explained the reasons in a previous blog (Spring Race 6). Since the RC was late setting up and did not take registration until they were anchored, the time to register was compressed. Many boats ended up stepping on each other to register. Around 18:10, a course was announced and we began our pre-start maneuvering. I was determined to be conservative at the start. I knew the current was pulling boats away from the line, but I still wanted to be in the second row of boats. We ended up starting over 30 seconds late. This will probably be the last time I try to be conservative. I am just not good at it. I would rather be over early than 30 seconds late. Gusto had a great start right on the line. Off the line the bigger boats were devouring us. We tacked above Chi and were in their bad air in less than two minutes. We then got rolled by an A boat. We tacked out again and finally had fresh air 5 minutes into the leg. The course seemed to be pretty even upwind. The left side seemed to be favored late in the leg and we could have benefited more by moving further left on the port layline. We were the fifth of seven B boats to round the first mark. On the reach leg, we started low and were able to pass Gusto before they got their chute up. Finally and Thriller had a close call after Thriller rounded K and was on port. When we sailed by K, we noticed that K was down to a stub. There was nothing sticking out of the water, as it appeared a motorboat had decapitated the mark. It was very tough to find K. We continued onto G. Before the mark, Gusto had passed inside of us and Finally. With about three boat lengths to go, We turned up high to get some space and then gybed the boat. The three boats ahead of us rounded wide and we were able to sneak inside and take the windward advantage for the rest of the leg. Gusto worked their spinnaker well and pulled ahead of us. We passed Finally and finished fourth on this night. It was a disappointing finish since the wind speed was high enough for us to be competitive. After the race we continued to sail around. The wind was still fresh from the south and the weather was nice on the water. We saw the C fleet finish and Glory Days was impressive. They managed to cross ahead of A-Train from C1. It’s always a good race for a C2 boat when they cross ahead of a C1 boat. Later, in what is becoming a C2 match race, Summer Wind crossed ahead of Alineup. It is nice to see those two boats have fun racing against each other. I remember many races in the last few years where Summer Wind was out there alone. It is always more fun when you have another boat right next to you. By 20:00, it appeared that all boats had finished. For the third time this year, the race committee called out to the fleet to see if anyone was still racing. I mentioned in my Spring Race 5 blog that this is a bad trend. The race committee should stay on station until all boats finish or call in to withdraw. The competitors should not have to confirm that they are still racing when they are having a rough night. One of the reasons we take registrations is to make sure all boats are accounted for. If there is a registered boat that has not finished or withdrawn, the RC needs to stay on station. After the RC got no response, they raised anchor and motored in. We kept sailing. There was a curious cruising boat up river sailing wing on wing. It is rare for cruisers to wing it when they are not racing. Soon the cruiser gybed the jib and started heading for H. We decided to investigate. Turns out it was a C2 boat coming back to H to finish. I do not know why they had fallen behind, but I suspect that the stubby K mark may have been part of the problem. We asked them if they were still racing and they responded affirmatively. We asked them to take a time as they passed H and its bearing was 270. This happened at 20:18. Twelve minutes before the time limit expired. The race committee had abandoned them on the course before the time limit expired. We have sailed 11 races this year and in three of them C2 racers have been hailed by the race committee to find out if they are still racing. We continued to sail around and had another chance encounter that only happens when you screw around after racing. We saw four sailboats coming up river. We were not sure what they were doing so we sailed over to the lead boat. We recognized the boat as a Navy 44. When the second and third passed by, we ran downwind while they motored by and asked some questions. They were finishing up a three-day trip from Annapolis to Newburgh. They looked pretty tired and were happy to be close to their final port. Everyone seemed to enjoy the encounter.

Summer Race #2

Wednesday 7/28/2010 Puffy WSW breeze, 6-16 knots. Current was ebbing strong all night. A & B sailed from H to 24 to D, twice around. C sailed the same course once around. When we arrived at the starting area, it was clear this was going to be an interesting start. The RC set a short line, with the boat end favored, and the current was sweeping boats towards the line. We decided to sail towards the start area on port and find a nice spot to approach the line. We knew from the current and other boats that we would be a bit early. We then tucked in behind a boat and approached the line on starboard with 30 seconds to go. We had one boat come from behind and establish an overlap to leeward about a boat length away from us. Right before the start had sounded the mast man of the boat started yelling at us to take it up. I responded that their boat must head up and luff us before we would turn higher. It appeared they would have room to make a hard turn and clear our stern. While the mast man continued to tell us to go up, their boat was not turning up. Let’s stop here and review the rules. First rule 11 applies. We were the windward boat, so we are required to keep clear. 11 ON THE SAME TACK, OVERLAPPED When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat. Keep Clear One boat keeps clear of another if the other can sail her course with no need to take avoiding action and, when the boats are overlapped on the same tack, if the leeward boat can change course in both directions without immediately making contact with the windward boat. Notice that in the keep clear definition, we are only required to give enough room so that the leeward boat can change course and not immediately hit us. That is all we are required to do. When their mast man was yelling, the boat was at least 15 feet away from us, so we were keeping clear. There is nothing in the rules that says we have to anticipate their moves. Even though their mast man was telling us to come up, I do not have to listen to their intentions, but rather, I have to stay clear of them. Since they established the overlap from behind, they were sailing lower or at the same course we were on. So for the luffing to begin, they needed to change course, not just yell for us to sail higher. 16 CHANGING COURSE 16.1 When a right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear. So the whole time their mast man was yelling, I was watching their boat and waiting for them to begin to turn up. When they finally did turn up, I began our turn up into the wind. Now their boat was finally changing course and we were coming up to keep clear. Their mast man continued to complain about the situation and I responded by saying, “shut up or protest.” I was not interested in continuing an argument with one of their nine crewmembers. If they think we are breaking a rule, protest. The mast man on their boat continued without a break. My point with the whole situation comes back to the old school way of resolving differences of opinion. We need to have a protest structure that is used by competitors. It is a bad thing that this person felt compelled to complain incessantly to us about the situation. That is a result of them not wanting to protest and discuss the situation in a mediation or hearing. Instead they chose to argue it on the water. I will not be able to win an argument on the water since I am busy steering, trimming the main, and looking out for other boats. Their mast man obviously had nothing else to do at the start except to argue about the rules. In another world, it would be like arguing about politics with a mother while three kids were screaming at her. It just does not work. I have been involved with club racing where protests are frowned upon. You end up getting crazy actions because half the people on the course learn the rules from experience rather than reading. Then both boats end up thinking they were fouled and settle it in another way. These arguments should not be taking place on the water. Period. Know your rules, if you think someone has broken them, protest. The rules are clear on what should happen. Back to the race, we came out of this situation slow and heading to the wrong side. I lost track of the wind direction during the start episode, as did the rest of the crew. We ended up headed to the left side upwind and that was the wrong choice. The right side was favored and we paid for it. We rounded the first mark in third. The first downwind leg was puffy enough that we held our own against the spinnaker boats. The next upwind was uneventful. Everyone recognized the right was favored and it was a parade. Downwind again and back up were more of the same. We were in a tight race with Heart Attack. Our rating seemed to work in this breeze as we held with them upwind, but lost time downwind. We corrected over them by 19 seconds, so it was very close. Mad Hatter won the race by over 3 minutes. Sorry C boats. I did not see much of what went on. It was nice to race for over an hour, but since C was done first, we did not have a chance to see how the boats did. We did notice some new boats out there, which is always nice to see. For further reading, check out this link, which describes the different levels people go through to gain knowledge of the rules. http://apparentwind.blogspot.com/2009/05/learning-to-embrace-racing-rules-of.html

Summer Race #1

Wednesday 7/21/2010 Consistent storms cancelled the racing for this evening. We arrived at the boat to a hot and humid 90 degrees. We knew a line of storms was approaching, but the line was wavering around the NY/NJ border. We decided to take a peek out in the river before the storm hit. Some people were nice enough to warn us about the coming storm, but we tried to let them know that we were just looking around. With three people on board, docking is easy, so we figured we would have a better view of the conditions form the river. Once out past the pier, we saw the conditions deteriorating. There were a couple of boats out on the river and it did not look like they would be able to find safe harbor. We went back to our slip. At this point, the race committee had already postponed the start until 1845. This was a smart move as it kept boats in the safety of the harbor. Then the storm came with at least 40-knot winds and hail. While in the midst of the storm, the race committee called over the radio and cancelled the race. While it was the smart call to make, I wish they had waited until 1845 to cancel the race as the race instructions say that races should not be cancelled before that time. It just seemed that the race committee reacted to the strength of the storm. I do not think what they did was wrong; it was just too early to fit within the rules. It helped us, as we were able to leave the boat before the next round of storms came through. If I were RC on this type of night, I would have said at 1800 that the radar looked bad and the race would probably be cancelled at 1845. That is all that is allowed within the rules. Either way, the correct call was made and we left. Determined to sail on this night, we went to Franklin Lakes, NJ. My brother has 3 boats ready to go there (2 Sunfishes and 1 Hobie Bravo). There was no wind at the lake, but the sky was nice. To the north we could see the storms rolling furiously to the East. We headed to the bar to have a cocktail. Right as we stepped in, the winds picked up and we decided to go out on the water. We enjoyed the only 30 minutes of breeze on the lake that evening before calling it quits when the wind died again. It was a weird night. Terrible storms in one location and a clear sky ten miles south. We will have to wait another week before making our debut in the B division.

Spring Race #10

Wednesday 7/14/2010 Early storms cleared out and left a nice night with light northerlies. The current was flooding hard and I think the rain added to the flow. C sailed from H to Breakout and back. A & B did the same course twice around. We left the slip early to dump the holding tank. There was a rumor that the race was cancelled, so we were a little concerned since there was not much activity on the docks at 17:30. After pumping out, we motored to the course and were happy to see the race committee out there early. Right away we noticed the current was going to be a factor. Light northerly winds and a flooding current would make it tough to cross the starting line. As more boats came out, the RC moved the line and made it longer. The boat end seemed favored in the new configuration. Many boats stayed upwind (and up current) of the line. As the start was coming up for A & B I saw Comet do a dip start. This was a good strategy for the conditions and seemed to work out for them. It took a long time for the entire division to get across the line. Trying to stay above the line ourselves, we had to sail through the first group with about 3 minutes to go until our start. One racer was not happy that we were close to them and hailed that they were racing. I reminded them that we were racing as well. They were on starboard and we were on port, so we ducked them anyway. It just annoys me when boats don’t know the rules and yell incorrect things. Both of us were racing and I was not compelled to stay clear, as I would have been before their start and one minute after their start. It was important to stay above the line and I weaved through the first group of boats to maintain my position. First, the racing instructions state the following: Racers shall keep clear of the starting area until their preparatory signal is sounded. Failure to keep clear will be grounds for protest by a competing yacht or the committee boat. Notice the phrase “prepatory signal.” A boat is considered to be racing once the prepatory signal has sounded. You cannot use propulsion after this point and you are allowed to move freely around the start area as long as you follow the normal racing rules. The starting area is not defined in the instructions, but it is usually considered on half of the distance of the line away from the line. This makes an oval or rectangle that is twice the length of the line on the long part and on length of the line on the short part. Sometimes I get some of this reaction from boats that are slow to start, but tonight was different since we stayed on the course side of the line. The Racing Rules of Sailing state in their definition section: Racing A boat is racing from her preparatory signal until she finishes and clears the finishing line and marks or retires, or until the race committee signals a general recall, postponement or abandonment. So clearly we are racing just like all the boats that have already started. We needed all the time we had to get across the line and setup near the RC. With the light air, we tacked right next to the RC and slowly picked up speed waiting for the start. At the gun, we were in a great spot and took off. Well, I guess it was more like inched away, but it felt nice. Bugaboo was directly behind us and A-Train seemed to linger around the starting area. Right after the start, Christiana approached us on port and attempted to lee-bow us. A lee-bow maneuver is when a boat tacks right below a boat that they cannot cross. The hope of the lee-bow boat is that they can carry enough speed to keep from getting rolled. Once they are back up to their speed, they will then try to pinch off the windward boat. I was able to defend our position by footing for speed with the little room I had then rolling over them. I doubt they were trying to affect us, but the result would have been the same if we were not able to roll them. As it turns out, we would have been better off if we were forced onto port since the right side of the course was favored. We were near Gusto at this point and watched them head off right. We could immediately see the gains they were making, so we tacked and headed to the East shore. We hoped for more wind and knew we would be in less current. This move paid off and we built a nice lead on the rest of the fleet. As the lead boats approached the area where C is supposed to be, the mark was missing. Breakout was the leader at the time and they decided to drop anchor and act as C for the rest of the fleet. This selfless act saved the race for the rest of the people out there. Breakout’s quick action showed the Corinthian spirit is alive and well on the Hudson. They sacrificed their race so that the rest of the fleet would not have to. I greatly appreciate his effort. We rounded Breakout with a decent lead and drifted with the current to the finish. We won the race. When the lead boats were coming to H, they asked if they still had to go around twice. The response was affirmative. Then some of them complained. While I agree with the complaining boats that the course should have been shortened, this hardly seemed like a reason to complain on the radio. All boat one boat made it around twice this evening, so the result was fine. It seems there are a few boats out on the water that want to always get in as fast as they can. I received similar hostility when I did not cancel the race I was RM for at the earliest possible time. There was a protest on the course as well. I was not a witness to the events and only briefly spoke with Merlin while racing to get the protest reason. Apparently A-Train tacked too close to Merlin. Here is the rule that is involved: 13 WHILE TACKING After a boat passes head to wind, she shall keep clear of other boats until she is on a close-hauled course. During that time rules 10, 11 and 12 do not apply. Notice that you are not considered on the new tack until you come down to a close-hauled course. I would consider this to be the time the jib fills and begins to pull. I do not think close-hauled is defined in the rules, but it is a generally accepted concept. This race was the conclusion of the spring series. There were nine races sailed and we were the only boat in two of them. Four of the other seven races only had two or three boats in the division. Since the participation is so light, we are going to move into the B division and sail it non-spinnaker. Unfortunately, this will leave the C1 division with only 2 active boats. I would like to add a spinnaker to be more competitive in B, but my boat is still used primarily for cruising with my children. I need to keep the netting, bimini top, anchor on the bow, jack lines on the main, roller furling, etc. This makes it difficult to add the spinnaker gear just for Wednesday nights. So we will start the Summer Series in the B division and race without a spinnaker. The 24-second handicap should help in a medium breeze. It will be too much in heavy air, and not enough in light air. I would have liked to stay in the C1 division, but there just is not enough participation. We’ll see how things go and may reconsider our decision next year.

The Protest

My wife said something to my son Rowan today that he did not like. He yelled "PROTEST!" I am a big rules guy in sailing. I have not had a protest make it to a jury since 2000, but I make sure I have a red flag ready to go. Over the years I have tried taping a flag to the backstay, Velcro, and now a great solution I found at http://www.sailorsprotestflags.com. Rowan was fascinated with the latest product. It is a protest flag shielded in a tennis ball. This beats keeping the flag on the backstay as the sun would fade it. It also beats Velcro for convenience. I just pull on a strap and out pops the flag. Rowan asked about it. I explained that in sailing you must fly a red flag when you protest. He asked what a protest was. I explained that it is what a boat will do when they think another boat has broken a rule. If the other boat acknowledges the foul, they will take a penalty. If not, the protest can go to a jury to be decided. With that in mind, Rowan protested his mother when she said something he did not like. I may have to get him his own red flag. I will convene a jury tonight and find the facts of the protest. Odds are it will be thrown out for improper procedures.

Spring Race #9

Wednesday 7/7/2010 Hot night. Sea breeze filled in and brought 6-14 from SSE. Current flooding hard all night. A & B sailed to K, G and back to H. C sailed to K and back. This was shaping up to be a bad sailing night. An early summer heat wave had its grip on the area and temps were close to 100 with humidity high as well. The forecast hinted at a possible sea breeze making it up river, but there was nothing at 17:15. We motored out of the harbor early and saw some dark water to the south of us. We headed straight for it and hoisted the main. Once into the breeze, we unfurled the jib and began sailing nicely to weather. It was still light, but the 6-8 knots felt good on the warm day and the breeze was cooler than what we had back at the dock. When we turned downwind to get back to H, the committee boat was not on station yet. They were setting their anchor around 17:50. Check in was a bit of a mess as many boats like to radio in and the RC asks for sail numbers and stuff. It is funny because there are 2 or 3 new boats each season. Things don’t change much, but the check-ins sounds like it is an introduction for a first time regatta. The RC was nice enough to allow us to check in by sailing by. We prefer this as we do not have to battle for airtime and our sail number is clearly visible. A & B had a pretty good start. Surprise had a great leg and almost ran away with the race. Chi was solid in B. As our start approached, I was diligent to keep the current in mind as we approached. I went conservative again and started at the committee boat 10 seconds late. We were in a great position above and ahead of the fleet. In light air, A-Train is our biggest threat, so we tacked on them as they went off right. This soon proved to be the wrong tack, so we tacked on them again as they came back onto starboard. A-Train tacked a third time to clear their air, but we continued on, as the benefits of going left were now clear. We lost some time on Bugaboo in the exchange, but it is easier to keep up with them in light air than A-Train. We held out to almost the port lay-line. I do not know if we held our own on this side, but we did not seem to lose anything. Around the mark, we were a few minutes behind Bugaboo. It seemed like they might correct over us, but they sailed up and into the favorable current. I stayed on a straight course, as it seemed like the current difference was not worth sailing the extra distance. In the end, Bugaboo almost corrected over us. It was a tight race. Glory Days took the C2 class. They stayed left on the upwind leg and that seemed to pay off for them versus the fleet. I would have preferred the course that A & B sailed since it was reaching downwind, but that may have been too much for the C2 boats. It would be nice if C1 sailed different courses than C2. The divisions are broken out by performance and C1 boats are able to cover more ground than C2. Frank had an engagement to get to after the race, so we only sailed around for 30-40 minutes before heading in. It was a perfect night for cruising. The current was with the wind. We were able to sail a nice tight angle and keep the breeze on us. It was a perfect end to the heat wave we were in that week.

Spring Race #8

Wednesday 6/30/2010 Beautiful night. Shifty NW breeze from 6-18 knots. Current ebbing hard over 1 knot. All boats sailed up to B to 24 and back to H. We had a rare beautiful night. The Hudson has many nice evenings, but lately, Wednesday nights have brought foul weather. Tonight there was breeze and sun. The temperature was a very comfortable 75 degrees. We left the marina and immediately put up the main. We did this to acclimate ourselves to the wind and figured we could sail to the start. IT also helps to be getting feedback from the sails as soon as possible. Right away we noticed the puffs and the direction changes. Once at the line, we found it to be a little on the short side. The boat end seemed favored. Some people thought the line was more skewed, but I thought it to be within 20 degrees of perpendicular. I was disappointed with the call for the course. Going into B with a foul current can be very difficult. The wind is shifty and the current is ripping through that part of the river. There were some nice courses that went to 26 and then to K or G that would have provided two upwind legs and kept us away from Stony Point. The start was uneventful. Bugaboo and Jazz were on the line and Bugaboo was above us. It was a great start for them as their speed allowed them to get on top of us. I was a bit early, so I ended up slowing down at the start. We ended up tacking twice and continued to the west side of the river. This seemed to pay off a bit as we were about 2 minutes behind Bugaboo at our next cross. This time, they went left and had a big gain. We should have stayed closer to the West shore than we did. The current killed us in the middle of the river. We rounded the mark over 4 minutes behind Bugaboo. With the knowledge that the middle of the river was where the current was ripping, we immediately winged the jib and head back to the middle to get a boost this time. That worked out well as we closed the gap to well under 3 minutes by the time we rounded 24. We were close hauled most of the way to the finish. The current was sweeping boats down river, so most boats stayed high on their course. We finished close enough to Bugaboo to correct over them. We then kept sailing upwind and enjoyed the nice evening. As we continued up river, we saw a pack of C2 boats that were close to B, but not quite able to get around. The shifty and dieing breeze and the strong current conspired against these boats. They just do not have enough VMG to make any progress into the strong current. Then I saw Summer Wind. Despite the difficult conditions around B, somehow Summer Wind made it around. At least 6 boats were unable. It was awesome seeing them break through and glide with the current down to 24. Unfortunately, sailboat racing is not fair to all boats. Summer Wind was about 20-25 minutes from finishing when the time expired. They will not get credit for beating those other boats around the mark. I would just like to recognize their great race. It will not be reflected in the standings and most boats were already back in their slips and unable to see how Summer Wind did something no other small boat did that night. They rounded B. With the current pushing them, they had a huge lead over the rest of the C2 boats that never made it around B. If they were given an extra half and hour (not allowed), they would have beat half their fleet. They will be scored OTL, but they sailed a great race. I dedicate this blog to Summer Wind and the great race they sailed. At least this will be the one place where their accomplishment will be recognized. No real rules issues tonight. The main take away from the evening is that the current is the most important factor in the northern part of our race area. We played shifts and lost ground upwind. We then went out of our way to get into the favorable current downwind and made big gains.

Spring Race #6

Wednesday 6/16/2010
 Puffy SE breeze between 12 and 18 knots. Current running out. All Divisions sailed to 22, G, and back to H.


Once again this week, the forecast called for a nice southerly with a chance of rain. The rain would hold off this evening, but the breeze stayed all night.

We motored out of the harbor and hoisted the main. The wind was puffing up around 20 knots with a steady 15 knots across the entire river. As we approached the start line we saw a problem. The line was short and the committee boat was on the port side with a very long scope on their anchor. I knew right away that this would make it a tough start.

It was interesting to have a time check, but then the sequence started at 18:14 instead of 18:15. Kind of defeats the purpose of a time check.

It has been common in my 5 years of racing in the HBRA for the RC’s to setup on the port side of the line. This seems to be a carry over from the starts at 26 where you had to anchor on the port side of the line to stay out of the channel. I think the last three races have had the committee boat on the port side of the line. This creates a more difficult start.

It may not seem like it should matter which side of the line the boat is on, but it can make a big impact. The side of the line matters because of the racing rules. Since starboard tack has the right of way over port tack, most boats will start the race on starboard. This causes them to leave the starboard end of the line to windward and the port end of the line to leeward. Since the boats are heading upwind, it can be tough to get above the leeward end of the line. Since the boats are on starboard, it is the port end of the line that will have most boats struggling to clear. If the port end is a buoy then it is easier for boats to clear it since there is no rode extending upwind from the mark. Using a mark at the port end makes it less of an obstacle.

The impact of being on the wrong side of the line is made more significant by a long scope. When a committee boat has a long scope, it makes a bigger obstacle for the racers since its anchor rode will need to be avoided and the rode is upwind of the committee boat. You now have a 100-foot obstacle to get above when starting.

The third factor in the starting line was its short length. With puffs up to 20 knots, the line should have been 2 to 3 times longer. It is rare that someone makes a line too long on Wednesday night and it is all too common for a line to be too short.

With a small current pushing boats over the line and the high winds, there was a large convergence of the A & B fleet right at the start. With 10-12 boats right on the line with little room to maneuver and the large obstacle at the port side, a near disaster unfolded. Boats were early to the starboard end and had to run the line. Once they got close to the port end, they no longer had enough room to cross the committee boat. Below them were other starboard tack boats, so they could not turn below the committee boat. Some tacked onto port and then fouled the starboard boats that were otherwise making the line. Some of those boats also had to tack onto port and they fouled other starboard tack boats.

In the end there was a lot of close calls and a lot of fouls. I only heard one boat acknowledge a penalty, but I saw more than one foul. A dangerous starting situation was created that could have been avoided. Here are my three tips to avoid a repeat of the situation:

1. Make the line at least as long as specified in the sailing instructions. This will give boats more room to maneuver.

2. Make the committee boat the starboard side of the line. This will make the larger obstacle upwind of most starters and allow the starboard tack boats to slide down the line towards the smaller obstacle.

3. Make the starboard side of the line slightly favored. This makes it easier to get past the port side and discourages port tack starts.

Having seen the debacle of the first start, I decided to play our start more conservative. We did a short 2 minute timing loop and ended up at the starboard side of the line about 3-5 seconds late for the start. Since C boats tend to be a little more spread out at the start, we did not encounter the same issues as the first start. I had one C2 boat tack above me and try to come down, but I told him to stay up until I was past. I did not like having to make them stay up, but I could not allow them to sail down onto us. After the start, we immediately tacked and headed to the west side of the river. We expected more wind and more favorable current there.

We were 1.5 minutes behind Bugaboo at the first mark. We were happy with this delta. We then headed low on the way to G. We did this to compensate for the lift the current was giving us and also thought the wind would get light towards G and did not want to head low in the light wind. We actually made up some time on Bugaboo as their main was in too tight and it stalled most of the leg. I see that often with the cruising boats on reaches. When reaching, you want at least two, if not all, of your telltales on your main to stream back. You do not want to luff it, but having the main in too tight can be just as slow as luffing.

We rounded G and sailed on down to H. We finished under 2 minutes behind Bugaboo, so we probably ended up correcting over them. We were comfortably ahead of the rest of the fleet.

In C2, Merlin had a nice race. They seem to sail more like a C1 boat than C2. Summer Wind also seems to be sailing very well lately and that is nice to see. There was a group of four C2 boats that finished the race close to each other.

We stayed out for a little while and I practiced tacks with Eric. He does not get to drive often and I wanted some exercise, so we switched positions and did a dozen tacks in the nice breeze. It is nice for me to experience what the crew is doing and for the crew to do the same. Here is how I do a tack:

1. I announce my intention to tack by saying “ready to come about?”

2. When the trimmer responds affirmative, I say “tacking.”

3. Right as I begin to turn the boat, the trimmer will ease the sail 2-3 inches. This allows the sail to move a little bit away from the shrouds and also helps the boat round up into the wind without as much resistance. At this point I am turning the boat pretty slowly.

4. Once the jib loses all wind, I accelerate the turn. The trimmer releases the sheet.

5. I have the helm over far as we pass head to wind.

6. Before the jib blows out on the new side, I slow down the turn. This reduces the drag of the rudder and allows the trimmer to pull the sail in while the wind is still blowing the sail back instead of away from the boat. This will allow the jib to come in quicker and use the winch just to finish off the trim.

7. Once the boat is almost on it new heading, I begin to steer normally on the new tack. I also make sure the traveler is up on the new side and the main is pulling.

If done right, I will not have to foot to regain speed. If something goes wrong, I will drop the traveler a bit and foot until I get back up to 90% of target speed.

It was a great night for racing and we sailed a perfect course for the conditions.

Chelsea Regatta

6/12/10 I decided to try and do the HRYRA C fleet races this year. It started with the Hudson Cove Regatta. That is our club and we do the regatta every year. In order to compete for the overall HRYRA trophy, we had to do at least one day at Chelsea. With that in mind, I decided to take the boat up for just the Saturday of the regatta and hoped to do three races up there. Here is how the day went. 03:15 Woke up, made coffee for the thermos and headed out. The truck was already packed with everything I needed, so it only took 10 minutes to get going. 04:00 I put the cooler and my bag on the boat and headed out of the marina. It was damp and 55 degrees. The wind was mostly calm and the current was ebbing around one knot. I saw one boat outside of the marina and it was still very dark. 05:15 As I approached the Bear Mountain Bridge, the sky was beginning to get light behind the heavy cloud cover. Luckily there was no commercial traffic and I had the river to myself. It was nice watching the mountains light up in the morning haze. Lazy clouds were still strung across the mountains like a necklace. As the sun rose, they changed colors to reflect the new day. 06:30 I finally reached West Point. I was hugging the edge of the river the whole time to avoid the foul current. West Point looked imposing, as the morning haze had not lifted yet. There was a strong current in this area and the boat just had to push through it until I could find some eddies near Cold Spring. 08:00 As I was passing Bannerman’s Island, I saw my first boat since Haverstraw. The wind also picked up here and I decided to hoist the main and sail north. I sailed right by Newburgh and then under the bridge up to Chelsea. 09:30 I arrived at Chelsea right on time. Unfortunately I thought the races started at 10AM, so I was really 1.5 hours early. I jogged into the wind and patiently waited through the rain for the first race to begin. At 11:00 the rain ended, but my start was postponed for lack of wind. Racing: 11:30-15:00 Finally, when it was time to race, I was in a bad position early and was late to the start. Gusto was ahead of me and then covered me as much as they could. I was able to pass them at the leeward mark, but they got ahead for a little while before I finally passed them right at the finish. They would correct over me, as I owed them over a minute for the race. In the second race, I had a better start and was able to keep enough of a lead to win. I was lucky to do well since Jazz usually is very slow in light air. I was hoping for some heavy air for this regatta, so I was very happy to get a first and a second in the light stuff. 15:15 As soon as I finished the second race, I fired up the engine and headed south. This time I would have the current with me. As soon as I went under the Newburgh bridge, I was greeted with a 15-20 knot southerly. I prepared the boat and then unfurled the jib to sail into the breeze. At this point I did not have much of a choice as the waves were high and motoring would have been slow and hard on the boat. That said I was happy to finally be sailing in the fresh breeze. Right when the boat hit its stride, my hat blew off. I was feeling a little lazy and debated whether or not to go back and get it. After 20 seconds, I tacked and furled the jib and headed back to my hat. I retrieved it from the water, unfurled the jib and now it was time to rock and roll. The next 6 miles were great. Nice long tacks and great speed. The boat pounded nicely into the 2-3 foot swells and it was in its designed wind range. I got hooked in and kept sailing down to West Point. It was nice to tack side to side across the river. I would head to the West side and see some people jumping from a rock into the river. Then back to the east side and see some others sunbathing. Sometimes I could smell the life from the woods when I got close enough to shore. It was a very pleasant sail. I have never been able to sail in this area of the Hudson, so I continued down to West Point. The winds were very shifty here, but I was able to continue past West Point under sail alone. The river was pretty narrow, so I was tacking every 5-7 minutes. I kept this up through Bear Mountain and down into Peekskill. Finally around Stony Point I hit a hole in the breeze and fired up the engine again. I ended up sailing about 20 miles down river. It was a tough slog, as I seemed to be constantly tacking for over 3 hours. I was pretty tired from the sail, but I was also very happy that I was able to sail 90% of the way home from Chelsea and not add too much time to the delivery. 19:30 When I finally got back to my slip in the marina, the boat was a mess. I did not have time to clean up until I was in the slip and that took another 30 minutes. I finally got home at 21:00 hours. I was pretty tired, but was happy with the day’s result. I often plan for one thing when sailing and then enjoy something else. The 20-mile beat down the river was the highlight of the day and will not soon be forgotten. What seemed like a boring delivery home was actually more fun than the racing that day and more challenging.

Spring Race #5

Wednesday 6/9/2010 Puffy SE breeze between 12 and 25 knots. Current running in. All Divisions sailed to G, 26, and back to H. We arrived at the marina and saw a stiff SE breeze on the water. There was a light rain falling when we pulled out of the slip. It was blowing about 15-20 in the marina and we had to change out our jib. It was too windy to allow us to do it in the harbor, so we headed out to H and changed the jib out there. It was rough work as the waves were high and the wind was blowing at least 20 knots in the puffs. It took almost 15 minutes to get the old jib off and the new jib hooked up and rolled up. It had to be done since I was planning to go to Chelsea the following Saturday alone. Once the sails were setup, we headed over to the start area. No other C1 boats went out tonight. We were disappointed that there was no one to race against. While watching the first start, we saw Breakout shut Comet out at the starboard end of the line. This was interesting since Comet seemed to hang out too long before finally bailing and circling around to restart. Our start came up and no one was very close to the line. We started a conservative 10 seconds late since there was no competition and then sailed up the east side of the course. In short time, we made back the five minute head start on Hard Attack and Madame Baud. We rounded G and then enjoyed the nice run down to 26. Our jib should have been winged out, but I opted to roll it in and save some wear on it. Merlin winged out their jib and I was impressed. They were sailing the boat hard in tough conditions. Most of the A and B fleet flew their chutes as well, so it was nice to see competitive boats in other divisions sailing hard. We finished the race and then decided to sail around for a while. While the rain was not ideal, the wind was up and the boat was rocking around the bay. It was fun to be powered up and blasting through the waves and rain. My foul weather gear is 15 years old, but I can still get 3-4 solid hours out of it. So we sailed for another 1.5 hours after the race. As we sailed around, we saw Alineup and Summer Wind in a tight race. Summer Wind almost sailed by 26 before turning to weather. Alineup had a tougher time coming around 26. The wind was up and that part of the river had 3-foot rollers coming up river. After a few auto tacks, Alineup dropped their sails and withdrew from the race. That was the end of the racing. We made one more trip up to the committee boat before reaching back to the marina. Race Committee tonight was Rich Thabit on Three Sheets. Rich was RC three years ago when a nasty storm front hit the fleet and he had a rough time of it. Now the conditions were bad again, but Rich did a good job getting the race in. It was really cool to see him run the race in conditions he may not have raced in himself. He was not sure if enough boats would show up to warrant a race, but that should never be considered. As long as one boat shows up and the conditions are safe and acceptable, a race should be held. For the second week in a row, the C2 boats were hailed to ask if they were still racing. This is becoming a bad trend. Those guys are some of the most dedicated sailors out there and should not have to let the RC know they are still racing. The assumption should be that all boats that have not radioed in to withdraw are still racing. It really helps us to sail extra after each race. It is then that we can play with trim, switch roles, and try new things. We get a better feel for the boat when just sailing around and will improve our performance the next time we are out in foul weather. The best way to get better at sailing is to sail more. Since we had some decent gear on, the elements were not much of a factor. Sailing in all conditions can be fun and tonight was no exception. We had a couple of beers, hit some 7-knot speeds and had fun. I am looking forward to the next big breeze night.

Starbard and Port

Winter has got a hold of us. Two months from now I look forward to being back on the water. With the two kids under 4, I burned out sailing last year and put the boat away in mid October, a month early. Now I regret that. Sailing fever is hitting early this year. Normally I feel this way in March. At least then I can begin to work on the boat. This time of year, there is nothing to do except write about sailing in a blog. So I will dust off the rulebook and get into some scenarios. I have written some commentary with rules on my website. For two years I tried to write down the emotions and rule situations in the same place. I think I have learned some lessons from that experience. I also have some better tools to try for diagramming situations. I may skip my yearly rules class this year. I have not been asked and I am not ready to take the initiative. In its place, I hope to discuss some rules here. Hopefully the images and rules paste into this well. If not, I will post a link here to the pdf blog and allow a comment area. I have appreciated the feedback I have received and think it best to make that possible online. I hope that will keep my paranoia from getting me in trouble and quitting. OK. I'll start with the basics. Starboard Right. Green. Port Left. Red.

You are said to be on starboard tack when the wind is coming over the starboard side of the boat. Port tack is the opposite. Starboard tack has right of way over port tack. There are a few exceptions like inside the 3 boat-length circle. Now we'll get a little deeper. The tack you are on is decided by the opposite side of the boat that the boom is on. So if you are reaching on starboard tack, then the wind coming over the starboard side will push the boom to the port side. One application of the above concept is when you go dead downwind. At this angle the boom will lay naturally to either side. Since starboard has right away, it is a good idea to let the boom lie to port. This puts you on the tack with rights. This does not consider any other outside situation such as other boats and marks. When tacking upwind, the boat's bow will round up into the breeze. Once the sails begin to flap on the other side, you have gone past head to wind. You will then come down to a course where the sails will fill when trimmed all the way in. This is said to be on a close-hauled course. Now let's get as deep as we'll get tonight. Say you are sailing upwind on starboard. As you go above a close-hauled course you retain your rights. Those rights go away as soon as you cross head to wind. Rule 13 explains this. You are the keep clear boat until you come back to a close-hauled course. If two boats are tacking the the same time, the boat to port has to keep clear. A boat astern must also keep clear during simultaneous tacks. Let's look at another application downwind. Say you are behind another boat dead-downwind and you are both on starboard. Let's imagine you catch them and establish an overlap to leeward. At this point you are not allowed to take them above your proper course due to the limitations in rule 17. If you want to take them up, you can gybe the boat quickly to port and then back to starboard. If you gybe twice like this, you will have the full leeward rights under rule 11. I would only do this to elimnate any argument about my proper course. I bring it up mostly so you will wary of this if you are the other boat in this scenario. Windward Leeward next time.