This race started out with great promise. Ten boats turned out even though it was a holiday weekend. The wind had been building during the afternoon and as race time approached, on the dock, it measured 5 – 8 kts. with occasional stronger gusts. The wind direction was 350º M which made MT a perfect windward/leeward course. The wind outside the bay appeared stronger than inside and the current ½ mile east of Pt Hudson at 19:00 was only a ¼ kt. ebb, so course SMTBF was set. The return to B rather than M was in consideration of the ebb increasing to 0.4 kts.
All started well and things went to plan until the boats were about 1/3 of the way to T, when the wind softened and backed to varying between 270º M and 240º M and the downwind leg became a close reach. By the time the fleet was about 1¼ miles from T the wind had died to the point that occasionally boats appeared to be moving backwards in the current. After 40 minutes of this an attempt was made to shorten course and have the fleets come back from T straight to F. A general call on VHF 68 elicited only two responses. Another call naming each boat individually did no better. As the leading boat was nearing the tower, in a move of desperation, the RC started repeated multiple horn blasts accompanied with vigorous waving of the S flag and holding high the F board, having no idea of the audibility or visibility of these activities at 1.5 miles distance. Apparently everyone eventually figured it out, some by checking in with the RC on VHF.
While the fleet was working its way around the tower, the wind did fill in a little from the SW to about 3 kts but it was very patchy and it was necessary to be lucky or skilled or both to make progress with the time limit looming. Two boats managed to beat the time limit, one from each fleet. Sparkle beat the limit easily by almost half an hour, Thatuna had six minutes to spare. Boreas missed by only 15 sec. and it was painful to watch Second Wind sit still about a hundred feet from the line as the final five minutes ticked away.
It was noticed later, when reviewing the wind history at the mill for Friday encompassing the period of the race, it appeared to have only small similarities to what we saw on the water and at the dock. While they did show large variations in wind speed it was generally stronger than we saw. Also the direction was generally NW at the mill, there was not the southerly component in it that we found in patches on the water. Our confidence in the mill as a forecasting tool is now on a par with most of the other weather sites. Those not on a par are useless.
This week we welcomed back True North (Pearson 28) an infrequent visitor, such a pity we couldn’t keep the wind turned on to make her feel welcome.
Summer Cat’s-paw 2015
Race 3
Information is provisional and subject to modification. Regatta results saved: Sunday, July 5, 2015 3:30:32 PM PDT
(Entries=17) PHRF – Thunderbird
Division: PHRF (8 boats) (top)
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | Rating | Finish Order |
Finish Time |
Time Allowance |
Corrected Time |
Time Behind |
Adjustments | Pts |
| 1 | 81 | Sparkle | Hupy, Guy, McGinn, Brian | 129 | 1 | 19:56:52.0 | 00:10:57.9 | 01:10:54.1 | 00:00:00.0 | 1.0 | |
| TLE | 1 | Second Wind | Nicholson, Dwight | 231 | TLE | No Time | 00:19:38.1 | No Time | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| TLE | 278 | True North | Nolasco, Peter | 207 | TLE | No Time | 00:17:35.7 | No Time | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| TLE | 39650 | Pacemaker | Barcott, Ed | 161 | TLE | No Time | 00:13:41.1 | No Time | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| TLE | 45 | Annie Too | Pike, Ted | 153 | TLE | No Time | 00:13:00.3 | No Time | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| DNC | 0 | Lady Eileen | Crabtree, Barrett | 264 | DNC | No Time | 00:22:26.4 | No Time | No Time | DNC | 9.0T |
| DNC | 3068 | Noname | Bolling, Doug & Anne | 216 | DNC | No Time | 00:18:21.6 | No Time | No Time | DNC | 9.0T |
| DNC | 26 | Ramble | Kaplan, Jon | 183 | DNC | No Time | 00:15:33.3 | No Time | No Time | DNC | 9.0T |
Notes:
| (1) | Start Date/Time = Friday, July 3, 2015 18:35:00.0, Length (nm) = 5.10 |
Division: Thunderbird (10boats) (top)
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | Rating | Finish Order |
Finish Time |
Adjustments | Pts |
| 1 | 542 | Thatuna | Lynes, John | Thunderbird | 1 | 20:33:31.0 | 1.0 | |
| TLE | 172 | Boreas | Greene, Josh | Thunderbird | TLE | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| TLE | 332 | Coco Solo | Carey, John | Thunderbird | TLE | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| TLE | 1106 | Kolus | Edwards, Ed & Sue | Thunderbird | TLE | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| TLE | 1190 | Raven | Blackbird Assoc. | Thunderbird | TLE | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| TLE | 1248 | Kuma San | Fisher, Larry | Thunderbird | TLE | No Time | TLE | 2.0T |
| DNC | 242 | Dorado | Daubenberger, Joe | Thunderbird | DNC | No Time | DNC | 11.0T |
| DNC | 448 | Tzieu | Walker, Scott | Thunderbird | DNC | No Time | DNC | 11.0T |
| DNC | 944 | Mabuhay | Barron, Greg | Thunderbird | DNC | No Time | DNC | 11.0T |
| DNC | 1144 | Blew Bird | Dunlap, Piper, Ginther, Dan | Thunderbird | DNC | No Time | DNC | 11.0T |
Notes
| (1) | Start Date/Time = Friday, July 3, 2015 18:40:00.0, Length (nm) = 5.10 |
Summer Cat’s-paw 2015
Series Standing – 3 races scored
Information is provisional and subject to modification.Regatta results saved: Sunday, July 5, 2015 3:30:32 PM PDT
(Entries=17) PHRF – Thunderbird
Division: PHRF (8 boats) (top)
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Skipper | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total Points |
Pos |
| 1 | 81 | Sparkle | Hupy, Guy, McGinn, Brian | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5.00 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Second Wind | Nicholson, Dwight | 5 | 4 | 2/TLE | 11.00 | 2 |
| 3 | 3068 | Noname | Bolling, Doug & Anne | 2 | 2 | 9/DNC | 13.00 | 3 |
| 4 | 39650 | Pacemaker | Barcott, Ed | 9/DNC | 3 | 2/TLE | 14.00 | 4 |
| 5 | 45 | Annie Too | Pike, Ted | 9/DNC | 5 | 2/TLE | 16.00 | 5 |
| 6 | 26 | Ramble | Kaplan, Jon | 1 | 9/DNC | 9/DNC | 19.00 | 6 |
| 7 | 278 | True North | Nolasco, Peter | 9/DNC | 9/DNC | 2/TLE | 20.00 | 7 |
| 8 | 0 | Lady Eileen | Crabtree, Barrett | 4 | 9/DNC | 9/DNC | 22.00 | 8 |
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 | Total Points |
Pos |
| 1 | 1190 | Raven | Blackbird Assoc. | 1 | 4 | 2/TLE | 7.00 | 1 |
| 2 | 542 | Thatuna | Lynes, John | 6 | 2 | 1 | 9.00 | 2 |
| 3 | 332 | Coco Solo | Carey, John | 4 | 3 | 2/TLE | 9.00 | 3 |
| 4 | 242 | Dorado | Daubenberger, Joe | 3 | 1 | 11/DNC | 15.00 | 4 |
| 5 | 1248 | Kuma San | Fisher, Larry | 5 | 9/RET | 2/TLE | 16.00 | 5 |
| 6 | 1106 | Kolus | Edwards, Ed & Sue | 8 | 9/RET | 2/TLE | 19.00 | 6 |
| 7 | 448 | Tzieu | Walker, Scott | 7 | 5 | 11/DNC | 23.00 | 7 |
| 8 | 172 | Boreas | Greene, Josh | 11/DNC | 11/DNC | 2/TLE | 24.00 | 8 |
| 9 | 1144 | Blew Bird | Dunlap, Piper, Ginther, Dan | 2 | 11/DNC | 11/DNC | 24.00 | 9 |
| 10 | 944 | Mabuhay | Barron, Greg | 11/DNC | 6 | 11/DNC | 28.00 | 10 |
Notes:
| (1) | Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2013-2016 |
| (2) | Time limit expired (TLE) penalty is: Finishers plus 1 |