Half Moon Bay 2014

[Travieso]

It wasn't the race that changed.

but it did change the race, and every other non-inshore race (just look at participation numbers)

[BobJ]

Personally I think it's the weather. Some are tired of all the DNF's due to light wind. Nonetheless, I'd motor to HMB this weekend if my boat was ready and all the 9/15 deadline stuff was done.

[Travieso]

Personally I think it's the weather. Some are tired of all the DNF's due to light wind. Nonetheless, I'd motor to HMB this weekend if my boat was ready and all the 9/15 deadline stuff was done.

That too...

[Gamayun]

If the winds are too light or you don't/can't make the trip down by water, then drive the land yacht to HMB and join us for some Cal20 racing in the harbor before the SSS dinner on Saturday. Our Sponsors Race will begin with the skippers meeting at 1000, then we rig. We have a great fleet and we welcome crew. The wind has been really nice lately on the inside and I can almost guarantee you it will be fun, notwithstanding that some of us drive em like bumper cars...

[Harmon]

Since I broke Kynntana (the gooseneck casting sheared off from the bracket), would anyone like to have crew for a double-handed race?

Carliane

Call me at 415-244-8050 if you are still interested, and they let me change my racing status (I have a beneteau 350)

[Gamayun]

Call me at 415-244-8050 if you are still interested, and they let me change my racing status (I have a beneteau 350)

Hello Harmon. I'm just seeing this message now so too late to call. Thank you very much for the offer, but I decided instead to sail in our Cal20 races at HMBYC. Here's hoping you and the rest of the fleet have great wind :-)

[solosailor]

Is there anyone I can text my finish so that they can turn it in for me?

You have to turn in a filled out version but take some sandwich bags to put your finish sheet into and pass it along to a competitor post-finish. I might be turning and burning so that's my plan.

[Philpott]

The gory details. Well, the slow boats started last, at 10:30. I made it out the gate at 11:37, and already felt the beginning of the flood. I tacked and tacked. Then I tacked some more. I tried to hug the south shore and kept coming back to Baker Beach ("you again!"). At 2pm I was finally at ..... aaaauuuuggghhh!!! Mile Rock, where I turned on my engine. Just as I turned on my engine I saw a catamaran approaching. There were two men aboard. Now I've been approached by men in boats three times around the bay while reefing or heaving to while eating my lunch. They are being chivalrous and ask whether I'm "Okay? you being alone and all, we thought we'd ask." They mean well. So I thought this catamaran at Mile rock was another example of guys protecting me. Frustrated as I was, when they pulled up alongside Dura Mater I was not in the mood to be helped. I snarled at the guy on the port side, "What do you want?" The boat was Rainbow, and Cliff Shaw poked his head out from behind the dodger to say, "we're still sailing!" Holy cow. That's a flood for you. If I had been able to escape before the ebb turned there might have been just enough wind for Dura Mater to get us to HMB before the cutoff time of 6pm.

[pogen]

I tried to be cute and for once pass inside Mile Rock, where the current is quite a bit less. Unfortunately, the wind was also less, 4 - 5 instead of 7 - 8 out in the middle. I did 3 or 4 back-and-forths before somehow breaking out. Buffalo stayed way close to the south shore for a long time too before giving up and coming out more to the middle.


Edit.

If you look at the predicted current, here (current chart: http://bit.ly/1oRDHqb for location: https://goo.gl/maps/ETwte ) you can see that the increasing flood was just as our fleets were passing the area. The 25 min difference in start times for the first and last fleets does not seem like much in a 6 hour race, but that day it meant a difference of a knot or more of disfavorable current. Of course, on some days a building ebb might help the fleets that start later.

[Critter]

I would suggest that it's smart to start the fast boats first in buoy races, especially Corinthian where we all seem to converge around Blossom. For Half Moon Bay and other point-to-point races, slow boats first. There's enough relatively open space that we're not going to have too many traffic issues.