Winds were dead before a NE breeze kicked in. It died down, but was enough for most boats to complete the race. A & B sailed from H to C and back twice. C sailed H to C to F to H. C course was shortened. Current was ebbing hard all night.
The wind was light and variable from the start of the night. We hoisted the main in the harbor in a light NW breeze. After sailing by my brother's boat (the one he plans to sail on with his family for a year), we headed out to the course in a light southerly. We made one knot east and the current pulled us at 1 knot south. This gave us the southeast course we needed to get to H. Once there, the wind totally died.
Some showers came through and brought in the northeast breeze. The Race Marshal left the line skewed and rolled right into a start. With the right side favored, boats would pile up at that end. For our start, we had two boats barge in on us. It was unfortunate as we were in line for a great start, but the barging boats fouled us and our start was made worse. It was blatant barging. I protested. On the way in, the main barging boat sailed by to acknowledge they would take the penalty. At least some justice would be served for their foul that gave them a significant advantage over the rest of the fleet.
We still managed to stay ahead of the boats and rounded C in first. The drift across to F was long and slow. With the current threatening to sweep us right down river, we had to do all we could to make F. As we got closer, we needed a miracle to get around F and that miracle came in the form of a 45 degree shift from northwest to north. We rounded F and barely hung on to first at the finish. Merlin made a nice charge at us towards the end, but ran out of runway and were not able to pass us.
It was the longest race of the year. It was nice to spend the whole time racing, but it cut into my post race beers. Having already hurt my back loading the beer cooler onto the boat, it was ironic that we barely touched them.
Here are some pictures of the rainbow during the race.
Light SW breeze. Current was ebbing fast. Course was from H to 22 to H. Sky was overcast.
We left the marina around 17:15. It was an early start and we were very early to the line. We sailed to the start and took some upwind numbers. Unfortunately, the wind died completely before a race could get off.
Drifting against the ebb, there was little hope for racing, but the Race Marshall stayed on station, fulfilling their obligation to try and get a race in. Around 18:20, the wind once again filled in and the RM jumped into quick action and got the races started. This was an excellent performance form the RM and their patience is much appreciated.
While watching the first start, we noticed a pile of boats at the port end of the line. There were some yells, but no protests. Bully sailing would once again prevail as apparent fouls were not protested. Sailing is a self-policing sport and can quickly descend into anarchy when boats do not police themselves and others. I hope I am wrong and no rules were broken, but by the sounds of the voices and course corrections of starboard boats, I believe some infractions may have occurred.
With the strong ebb threatening to push boats over the line early, I knew the line would get crowded for our start. I was also worried about another drop in velocity during the start sequence since it may affect our ability to stay on the pre start side. I lined up to be at the starboard end a little early even though the port end was favored. I figured the crowd would gather down there similar to what happened in the first start. These events came to pass. Blue Horizon snuck out of the port end in great shape and won the start. We did OK since we kept our air clean and were able to tack onto port shortly after the start.
The spotty wind on the upwind leg kept us alert for changes. We got as far west as we dared since the wind seemed light against the western shore. We then tried to stay in the velocity rather than play directional shifts. With the help of the current, we made it around 22 without much hassle.
From 22 we stayed high on starboard tack and reached towards the shallow water near Croton. I am not sure if this strategy paid off since the boats to the west seemed to make out just fine. The RM was properly lit with an anchor light at the finish and that is where we crossed the line.
With the breeze very light and a foul current we rolled in the jib and motored back.
There was an interesting ferry captain that hailed the fleet on 72. He must have been having a bad day since he laid into the fleet with expletives and a nonsensical rant about using government marks for racing. I know the frustration of having pleasure craft in the way of a commercial vessels, but the captain needs to know the rules. Unless constricted by draft to the channel or other restriction on movement, power gives way to sail. A 78-foot catamaran that can go over 30 knots, drawing just a few feet, is probably not very restricted.
I may write a separate blog about ferries and sailboats. That will be a place for us to gather information about the rules as they apply to our races.
The winds were light from the NE between 0 and 2 knots. A healthy WNW breeze kicked in around 19:00. Current was ebbing until 20:00 then flooding. All divisions sailed from H to D to 26 to H. The Full Moon race sailed H to 26 to 24 to H.
This night was a tough one. It was light from the NE as we headed out. I was ready to swim again, but it appeared the Race Marshall was going to start us no matter the wind speed. As we prepared for the sequence, our plans included anchoring at the line. A few boats ended up doing this.
As the time approached for the C start, I was way out of position. I ended up starting over one minute late. I came into the boat end on a reach, but the wind was so light that we had trouble making one knot through the water. With foul current, this was barely any progress over the ground. We heard of two C boats that got pushed into the RM. Half the other C boats either anchored or started very late.
We debated the start on our boat. Frank believed that the start was the right thing to do and I thought the RM should wait until there was a steady 2-3 knot wind. The RM said they measured 3 knots on the water, but we did not see that ourselves. It is a tough call, so I will post a survey and let’s get some anonymous opinions.
There was one boat left to race against in C shortly after the start since so many were stuck on the line or worse. We ended up well behind that boat during the light and variable part of the first leg. Then we looked to the West and saw the breeze coming on. We maneuvered the boat as best we could to head north. This brought us to the left (west) of our competition and we got the breeze first. They had a comfortable lead when the air finally reached them, but they decided to squander that lead and head up to engage us.
I try to be Mr. Mellow on Wednesday nights, but sometimes I just can’t get away from boat to boat situations. This boat wasted a lot of distance to get close to us. They were still ahead, but only a boat-length to leeward. We both sailed high for a while, then I made a drastic turn to leeward and went below them. I just wanted to get to the mark quickly. After a costly delay, the other boat sailed from over two boat lengths to windward back down to us. Now they had lost more distance and we were overlapped to leeward. It was quite a bit of good fortune for us to have this boat engage us from a commanding position and then switch positions and put us in the leeward spot.
We were moving ahead of them at this point. They were still overlapped when they called for room. I was amazed by this since we were a long way from the mark. I responded to them that we would start our stopwatch and time how long it took us to get to the mark. (To make this clear, the boat seemed to call for room at this point and we said that it was too early.) They were about to lose their overlap and we had no intention of giving them room after that. By the time we got to the mark, doing 5 knots, 75 seconds had passed. Let’s pause and do some math together. Keep in mind we were ahead, so the 3 boat-length circle uses our 28 feet as the boat-length.
5 knots = 8.44 feet per second 75 seconds * 8.44 = 633 feet 633/28 = 22.6 boat-lengths
28*3 = 84 feet = 3 boat-lengths = 10 seconds from circle to mark at 5 knots
I could be terribly wrong with what the other boat was trying to communicate, but it appeared that the boat was asking for room over 22 boat-lengths away. Sound crazy? It should, but it is not. I have lost this protest before. You would be amazed how fast 22 boat-lengths can turn into 3, or even 2 in the old days. Having that previous experience has taught me to start a stopwatch when a boat makes a hail for room. When you can give the protest committee a hard time, with your speed, things will be clear in the hearing. In this case, it was purely academic.
Back to racing, in those 22 boat-lengths we sailed to the mark, we added to our lead and there was no room issue with that boat. We rounded ahead of them and then tacked three times quickly to get on their air. I normally would not do this, but they engaged us, so I thought it best to get well ahead and avoid any further issues. We were over a minute ahead at 26 and cruised on down to the finish.
After finishing, we heard a boat that wanted to take a penalty. They did a 360. A 360 is used when you hit a mark. If the rules allow, you need to take a Two-Turns penalty (720) when accepting a penalty. Our rules say that boats need to acknowledge their foul and take a percentage penalty of their finishing place.
PENALTY SYSTEM: For infringement of a rule of Part 2, penalties will be as set forth in rule 44. If a scoring Penalty of 20% is taken, a yellow flag need not be flown and the decision to accept such penalty need not be made while racing. But the decision must be made before the convening of a protest hearing.
Rule 44 talks about the Two-Turns penalty and says that a penalty can be a scoring penalty if specified in the sailing instructions. Our instructions seem to indicate that the scoring penalty is the one we use, although it could be argued that the instructions allow for either penalty.
Full Moon Race
Once the boats had finished sailing, we set the anchor and got ready to run the full moon race. We decided not to pick up the flags since the wind was up and the RM was still anchored. We rolled into a start at 19:55. The breeze was still good, but was beginning to fade. We executed the sequence and the 6 boats racing had a nice start.
The race looked pretty good until the wind dropped out about half way through. Four of the six boats finished. It was a nice evening as Genesis approached the line in light air. Here is a video of them coming into the finish with the full moon behind them.
There was a tight finished between Gusto and Zoom with Zoom just barely edging out Gusto by a few seconds. We then fired up the diesel and headed in.
On the way in, we had a large motor boat coming up from the south. The boat was to our port and they were heading 20 degrees to the starboard of our course. This was a collision course. I was hoping the captain would make a slight turn to take our stern, but he was not yielding. I was not positive we had the right of way, nor did I want to press the issue. Since the other captain was not yielding, I threw in a 360 before it got close. There is no pride in navigating at night. I did not know the other captain’s abilities, so I decided to take the drastic turn and make clear my intention of motoring behind him. He passed without incident and we made it back to the harbor.
Turns out I was right of way, but I did not need to sink my boat to prove a point. In case you need a quick refresher, click here.
Saturday and Sunday, 9/25/2010 – 9/26/2010Saturday: 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.”
Wednesday 8/11/2010ESE 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.
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.
