After six weeks of frustration we finally had almost perfect conditions. The wind had been slowly building all day and by race time it was NW, high teens gusting into the twenties. For some reason the sea state appeared not to have risen as much as would have been expected.
As there had been some muted grumbling of late about nothing but short windward/leeward courses it was decided to take advantage of the conditions and let everyone stretch their legs on a longer, mainly reaching course. The flood in the inlet was less than half a knot (maybe a little more with the wind behind it) so the course SATMF, nearly 6 miles, was set.
So many boats asked where mark A was, about half the fleet, (its off Union Wharf) that it is obvious that many skippers have not bothered to update to this year’s Sailing Instructions and related documents including Mark Locations. Go to ptsail.org and under the “racing” tab you will find all the information in printable PDF format so you can keep a copy on your boat. Everything changed at least a little bit this year, some of the changes are significant.
The starts were orderly, using the A mark relieves the pressure to crowd the pin. There was an erroneous signal by the RC after the second start, which caused Dorado and Boreas to return to the line unnecessarily, for which we apologize and hope their final positions were not impacted. Using the A mark also relieved the fleet of the need to fight the very gusty air along the waterfront and delay the start to let the ferry escape.
The leg AT turned out to be about dead downwind and some of the braver souls flew (or tried to) their chutes. After rounding T and heading out to M the wind continued to strengthen with reports of gusts over 30 kts. Most boats exercised their reefing gear or wished they had it. It was exciting to watch the reach to the finish as boats were close together, near rounding up and in one case the relative position of two boats changed in the last two hundred yards. The fastest boat took 52 minutes to complete the course and the slowest 1 hr. 12 min. so we could have set a course over 50% longer, but perhaps under these rugged conditions an hour is enough.
Visiting the docks afterwards we found a lot of exhilarated sailors. It seems this race compensated for a lot of drifters and variables, and was one of the most fun races we have had in a long while Fortunately no injuries or serious mishaps were reported. However we later learned of a collision between Raven and Norma Mae, Raven subsequently retired and Norma Mae was DSQ. The results below have been updated.
This race marked the maiden use of the “Start-O-Matic” automatically timed horn system, courtesy of Todd Knoblock, Guy Hupy and Tulip Morrow. If only we could get it to raise the flags too! We would like some feedback as to the audibility of the horn out on the water in terms of loudness and directionality. It should be fine for boats around the starting area but we are worried about boats hearing it when they have wandered off a ways. It has a much lower frequency than the customary air horn so the attenuation with distance will be less.
Don’t forget there is one more race in this series, Friday May 8th , 6:30 pm.
Spring Whitecap 2015
Race 5
Information is provisional and subject to modification
Regatta results saved: Tuesday, May 5, 2015 10:41:51 AM PDT
(Entries=16) PHRF – Thunderbird
Division: PHRF (6 boats) (top)
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | Rating | Finish Order |
Finish Time |
Time Allowance |
Corrected Time |
Time Behind |
Adjustments | Pts |
| 1 | 1719 | Pacifica | Jones, Doug | 130 | 1 | 19:32:28.0 | 00:12:45.7 | 00:40:42.3 | 00:00:00.0 | 1.0 | |
| 2 | 81 | Sparkle | Hupy, Guy, McGinn, Brian | 129 | 2 | 19:33:34.0 | 00:12:39.8 | 00:41:54.2 | 00:01:11.9 | 2.0 | |
| 3 | 3068 | NoName | Boling, Doug & Anne | 216 | 4 | 19:43:00.0 | 00:21:12.2 | 00:42:47.8 | 00:02:05.5 | 3.0 | |
| 4 | 39650 | pacemaker | Barcott, Ed. | 161 | 3 | 19:38:20.0 | 00:15:48.3 | 00:43:31.7 | 00:02:49.4 | 4.0 | |
| 5 | 1 | Second Wind | NIcholson, Dwight | 231 | 6 | 19:51:45.0 | 00:22:40.6 | 00:50:04.4 | 00:09:22.1 | 5.0 | |
| 6 | NM | Norma Mae | Arsulich, James | 148 | 5 | 19:50:57.0 | 00:14:31.7 | 00:57:25.3 | 00:16:43.0 | DSQ | 7.0 |
Notes
| (1) | Start Date/Time = Friday, May 1, 2015 18:39:00.0, Length (nm) = 5.89 |
Division: Thunderbird (10 boats) (top)
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | Rating | Finish Order |
Finish Time |
Adjustments | Pts |
| 1 | 1144 | Blew Bird | Ginther, Dan, Dunlap, Piper | Thunderbird | 1 | 19:43:35.0 | 1.0 | |
| 2 | 242 | Dorado | Daubenburger, Joe | Thunderbird | 3 | 19:45:03.0 | 2.0 | |
| 3 | 173 | Boreas | Greene, Josh | Thunderbird | 4 | 19:46:02.0 | 3.0 | |
| 4 | 542 | Thatuna | Lynes, John | Thunderbird | 5 | 19:47:16.0 | 4.0 | |
| 5 | 944 | Mabuhay | Barron, Greg | Thunderbird | 6 | 19:48:38.0 | 5.0 | |
| 6 | 840 | Rowdy | Fry, Jerry | Thunderbird | 7 | 19:48:39.0 | 6.0 | |
| 7 | 448 | Tzieu | Walker, Scott | Thunderbird | 8 | 19:49:06.0 | 7.0 | |
| 8 | 1190 | Raven | Blackbird Assoc. | Thunderbird | 2 | 19:43:59.0 | RET | 9.0 |
| DNC | 1106 | Kolus | Edwards, Ed & Sue | Thunderbird | DNC | No Time | DNC | 11.0T |
| DNC | 1248 | Kuma San | Fisher, Larry | Thunderbird | DNC | No Time | DNC | 11.0T |
Notes
| (1) | Start Date/Time = Friday, May 1, 2015 18:44:00.0, Length (nm) = 5.89 |
Principal Race Officer: DAB
Spring Whitecap 2015
Series Standing – 5 races scored
Information is provisional and subject to modification
Regatta results saved: Tuesday, May 5, 2015 10:41:51 AM PDT
(Entries=16) PHRF – Thunderbird
Division: PHRF (6 boats) (top)
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Total Points |
Pos |
| 1 | 81 | Sparkle | Hupy, Guy, McGinn, Brian | 1 | 1 | 6/DSQ | 1 | 2 | 11.00 | 1 |
| 2 | 1719 | Pacifica | Jones, Doug | 7/DNC | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13.00 | 2 |
| 3 | NM | Norma Mae | Arsulich, James | 2 | 5/RET | 3 | 5 | 7/DSQ | 22.00 | 3 |
| 4 | 1 | Second Wind | NIcholson, Dwight | 7/DNC | 7/DNC | 2 | 4 | 5 | 25.00 | 4 |
| 5 | 3068 | NoName | Boling, Doug & Anne | 7/DNC | 7/DNC | 6/RET | 3 | 3 | 26.00 | 5 |
| 6 | 39650 | pacemaker | Barcott, Ed. | 7/DNC | 3 | 7/DNC | 7/DNC | 4 | 28.00 | 6 |
Notes
| (1) | Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2013-2016 |
| (2) | Time limit expired (TLE) penalty is: Finishers plus 1 |
Division: Thunderbird (10 boats) (top)
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Total Points |
Pos |
| 1 | 1144 | Blew Bird | Ginther, Dan, Dunlap, Piper | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9.00 | 1 |
| 2 | 242 | Dorado | Daubenburger, Joe | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 15.00 | 2 |
| 3 | 542 | Thatuna | Lynes, John | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 18.00 | 3 |
| 4 | 173 | Boreas | Greene, Josh | 5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 23.00 | 4 |
| 5 | 1190 | Raven | Blackbird Assoc. | 9 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9/RET | 25.00 | 5 |
| 6 | 448 | Tzieu | Walker, Scott | 7 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 28.00 | 6 |
| 7 | 1106 | Kolus | Edwards, Ed & Sue | 3 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 11/DNC | 37.00 | 7 |
| 8 | 944 | Mabuhay | Barron, Greg | 11/DNC | 6 | 8 | 11/DNC | 5 | 41.00 | 8 |
| 9 | 840 | Rowdy | Fry, Jerry | 8 | 10 | 11/DNC | 7 | 6 | 42.00 | 9 |
| 10 | 1248 | Kuma San | Fisher, Larry | 6 | 9 | 11/DNC | 11/DNC | 11/DNC | 48.00 | 10 |
Notes
| (1) | Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2013-2016 |
| (2) | Time limit expired (TLE) penalty is: Finishers plus 1 |
Principal Race Officer: DAB