Bad weather 2016 race season

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Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby klb67 » Sun Aug 14, 2016 5:04 am

My local Sailing Club has had a very rough 2016 race season so far. They scheduled 10 races between May and mid-September and then scheduled a 3 race fall series. Our first two races were cancelled due to no wind, and then we managed to get only 2 of the next 5 races in - the rest were cancelled due to severe weather.

It's been a fairly dry summer in Western Pennsylvania until the last week or so, but the storms we've had have been on race day unfortunately.

I sail in our Sunfish class, but had planned to sail my DS with my eight year old son last week in the Open class, but thunderstorms popped up.

Has anyone else had such bad luck this summer?

The race committee has already scheduled one make-up race next week by converting a learn-to-race session to an actual club race. Hopefully the folks learning to race will decide to come out and race for real. Unfortunately I don't think the schedule will allow for other make up races.
Last edited by klb67 on Sun Aug 14, 2016 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1976 DSII - #8039
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby GreenLake » Sun Aug 14, 2016 12:32 pm

That's seriously bad luck. I've had either too many or too few crew for the conditions for some of our beer-can races... plus schedule conflicts. So it's been hit-or-miss this year. We have 15 races between May and early September and a 6 week mid-winter series. Plus a few "pick-up" races in some of the off-weeks.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby Shagbark » Sun Aug 14, 2016 6:21 pm

I've got you both beat. Don't have a sailing club in my area, at least that I know of, so I've got zero races in.
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby GreenLake » Sun Aug 14, 2016 10:18 pm

I call that a 'race to the bottom' :D

I know that kind of competitiveness in the face of adversity!

No sailing club here (I mean, there are plenty, but none that I would join). The local races are more like a fun happening for whoever wants to show up (anything from 8.5 to 85 feet). That gets the numbers up, which makes it interesting, so does the diversity. I've had the smallest boat on the lake put a hole in my boat (absolutely nothing she could do about it) and had the largest boat round a mark full-speed behind me, with, I swear less than arms length of room between my stern and his bow sweeping by (talk about a skilled driver!). So, plenty excitement.

But, being a mixed fleet, even if the dinghies are sorted separately, sailing with no handicaps means a DS isn't a competitive boat. I tell anybody who joins me as crew that I am fiercely competitive, and will defend last place against all comers! It can be a hard fought thing. Earlier this month, with conditions just right, it was a photo finish between me sailing solo and a laser. I nearly lost my last place to him!

(Not only was the wind such that I could benefit from the DS's slightly longer waterline, but the direction was skewed to turn the downwind run into something between a close to a broad reach, so I had the jib draw fully the entire time. In those conditions, and with very steady winds that allowed me to really dial in the sail trim, he just couldn't catch me on that leg.)
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby Interim » Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:20 pm

Greenlake--

what do you mean by having the jib draw fully?

--john
1979 DSII
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby GreenLake » Wed Aug 17, 2016 3:50 pm

John, somewhere between a broad reach and dead downwind the jib gets blanketed by the main. Once you are sailing dead downwind, you can bring the jib over to sail wing-on-wing, at which point the DS will noticeably pick up speed over just a few degrees off the wind when the jib is behind the main which renders it somewhat ineffectual.

On the night in question, we had a broad to close reach. The apparent wind was never further back than 90 degrees. Since the jib is normally trimmed with its luff approximately in line with the apparent wind, 90 degrees is about the limit where you can give it some reasonable foil shape. Beyond that, it partially acts as a drag device (or may even be trimmed with reverse air flow). Also, of course, with a broad (or closer) reach, the main isn't fully against the shrouds and you can trim it to the conditions.
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby jeadstx » Wed Aug 17, 2016 7:15 pm

I got a couple races in during the Spring, but none during the Summer. There is a night race this weekend, but I don't plan to do it. Too hot with too much power boat traffic between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Most of our racing is after Labor Day up to the next Memorial Day. The big multiple day race is the Wurstfest Regatta the first and second weekends of November. First weekend is board boats, the second weekend is keel boats. Each weekend draws about 80 boats in different classes. We have had enough Day Sailers to be able to race as a class the last few years.

John
1976 Day Sailer II, #8075 - Completed the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Texas 200
1952 Beetle Boat Swan Catboat
Early Rhodes 19
1973 Mariner 2+2, #2607 - Completed 2014, 2015 and 2016 Texas 200
1969 Day Sailer I, #3229
Fleet 135; Canyon Lake, Texas
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby klb67 » Mon Aug 22, 2016 1:42 pm

jeadstx we are fortunate that this lake is limited to 20 HP motors. It doesn't lower the fishing pressure much, but it does eliminate the jet skis, boats pulling tubes and big man made waves for the most part. We do end up racing/sailing through some of the better fishing areas, and since i fish too, i empathize with both groups. I'd like to think that when a fishing boat sees a fleet of 10-15 boats assembled and buoys being deployed that they'd give us room, and most do. But I also realize that a guy can't and shouldn't have to get his 4 or 6 lines in immediately because a wind shift just made his fishing area your best course to a windward mark, and some of my club members don't see it that way.

I was very happy to find just intermittent clouds and steady but oscillating winds at the lake on Saturday, and it was a great morning of sailing and racing. Often we have to wait for the wind to fill in, but the race committee boat began start sequences right about 10:30. We 5 Sunfish had a headwind out to the start line, so the 7 or so Scots got a start and race course to themselves, and we still managed 3 more races after that all before lunch. It was fun to observe a wind shift and try to decide how long it might stay that way and whether a tack was in order to take advantage or not. Sometimes I guessed right and was richly rewarded - other times I guessed wrong and lost ground, but managed to put together 3 great races. At no time was it a huge wind shift where you went from a reach to run or anything like that, but often there was a clear advantage towards the mark by tacking. More typically our wind just goes away for a bit and you are searching for wind, or it is more or less steady, so this was a different sailing experience.

The day was originally scheduled as a learn to race day, where the club works with newer sailors on a short course to get more comfort starting and racing. I was glad to see 3 newer Sunfish sailors got some racing experience with me and another guy who have been doing this a few years. Other newer Sunfish sailors opted to learn on the Scots, which was another good opportunity, since they could discuss what's going on on the course with the experienced skipper. I'm still planning to race my DS II this year, but need to find a Saturday that my son doesn't have soccer and can crew.
1976 DSII - #8039
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Re: Bad weather 2016 race season

Postby GreenLake » Mon Aug 22, 2016 3:25 pm

Having a speed limit helps. No restrictions on the size of the craft - some are definitely ships, but it limits the wakes. And on race night, even clueless people figure out when they are in the way, if first 10, then 30 then sixty boats are all barreling down on them. By the time the dinghies follow that parade, the bigger boats have swept the course for us. :)
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