Aug. 16/17 DRAKES BAY RACE

[Wylieguy]

I have a question. How is the OYRA/SSS Drakes Bay Race weekend going to be scored? OYRA uses a different division break system than the SSS and some SSS boats are sailing OYRA with a crew. There are SSS boats registered with OYRA who will sail this race as part of their OYRA series. Does this mean they can't register/score in the SSS version of the race? What about Starts? Separate OYRA/SSS Starts? Thanks, Pat Broderick "NANCY" (OYRA and SSS member)

 

[pogen]

Good question, I forwarded it to our Race Chairs/Race Info.

 

[pogen]

From Allen Cooper:

This is Paul's race but
I suspect there may not be many boats that would not have done shorthanded OYRA anyway. As I read it all short handed boats will be starting in E so fleet assignments will be as per usual. If a boat is shorthanded they can be in both fleets at the same time as scoring will be done separately by each organization. If a boat usually races crewed in OYRA and in SSS they will have to choose. In life you have to make some hard choices but this should not be one. Choose the way to race where you have the best chance of improving your season standing or that is the most fun for you or flip a coin.
This is an experiment and after the race and after the feed back we will decide whwthr to continue to include the race.
Allen​

I guess I need to read the SI's and check Jibeset.

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

I want to double dip. Why can't I check in for both and just be late for my OYRA start?

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

Anyone finish tonight?

 

[pogen]

I stayed on the south side of the course and I think I did OK. I was still trying to round the island arount 1830, and crossed tacks ahead of J-35 Pegasus by 2 boatlengths. Wind at the island 3 - 5 kts, veering strongly to the N. as I was rounding. Pegasus was one of two other SH boats in my Division. We were both well ahead of the crewed 1D35 Alpha Puppy. "Do you think we can finish?" "Probably not." Shortly after they furled their headsail and fired up their motor. I followed suit about 15 min later , and we both motored around the back side of the island. I thought it was not physically possible to sail >25nm in the light air in less than 5 hours. Good visibility and very calm seas at the island. No whales spotted, but lots of jellies, the big ones with the rusty orange middles and little purple by-the-wind-sailor jellies. And I saw an ocean sunfish for the first time, not a big one, only about 3' long.

I had AIS going as did several others . The track misses most of the detail of tacking out and rounding.

Motored home and had all sorts of A/P - Alternator - weird battery voltage things going on, and also inadequate fuel as I didn't imagine I would have to do that. Crossed under the GG Bridge at about 11:40, retired, heard the RC say they had finished one boat, I think the one with the blue spin that had passed me about 3 nm short of the island. Got to the slip around 0230 after motoring and sailing part way to conserve fuel. Next time full tanks at start!

 

[Wylieguy]

Life Choices Made For You By Others

From Allen Cooper:

This is Paul's race but
I suspect there may not be many boats that would not have done shorthanded OYRA anyway. As I read it all short handed boats will be starting in E so fleet assignments will be as per usual. If a boat is shorthanded they can be in both fleets at the same time as scoring will be done separately by each organization. If a boat usually races crewed in OYRA and in SSS they will have to choose. In life you have to make some hard choices but this should not be one. Choose the way to race where you have the best chance of improving your season standing or that is the most fun for you or flip a coin.
This is an experiment and after the race and after the feed back we will decide whwthr to continue to include the race.
Allen​

I guess I need to read the SI's and check Jibeset.

Yes, I guess we need to "make some hard choices but this should not be one. Choose the way to race where you have the best chance of improving your season standing . . ." I guess some life choices are made by others for us when they schedule a race late and pile it on top of another race. Why can't the SSS run its own Drakes Bay Race as it does all its others? In setting up the ocean races there is a planned effort to avoid overlaps since the number of races is fairly low (IYC, BAMA, OYRA, SSS, the two Monterey Bay races) and the number of regular entrants is also low. Pre-planning has always made sense. I will just point out that there are TWO shorthanded divisions in OYRA, so how can "all short handed boats [start] in E?" My OYRA Division is "F", not "E".

 

[Critter]

I'm glad Pat raised the initial question. I've been curious too about whether I can be scored in both series, and how the starts will be handled.

I am confident that there's a reasonably equitable way to make this work. Perhaps the OYRA shorthanded starts should be eliminated, and after the modified OYRA sequence the standard SSS sequence would run. It looks like all the regular OYRA shorthanded boats would be starting with their competition except for Moonshine, who would be starting in SSS Sportboat. That may or may not be an advantage for him. Or, if Moonshine isn't interested in being scored in SSS, he can start in SSS class F with Pat and me and the rest of our OYRA class.

Max

PS - and as Tchoupitoulas wrote, SSS regulars such as Starbuck and Whirlwind who are racing OYRA crewed this year certainly ought to be scored in both races if they choose to go shorthanded. Unfortunate that they'll be late for their OYRA start.

 

[Tchoupitoulas]

Where are SSS season standings? Decisions need to be made.

 

[Philpott]

Hoowhee! . You Wileyguys and competitive racers are sure whiney. I'm just happy there's a real live singlehanded event coming up and that it's offshore. Shorthanded means well but it's not singlehanded now, is it? For those of us who don't play well w others, a race for singlehanders put on by an organization that is called the Singlehanded Sailing Society is such a peachy idea that I'm not going to complain about a thing. I'm just going to sign up and do it. Oh, yeah! I've already registered. Have you?

 

[Philpott]

As I recall, the idea was to float this idea (Drakes Bay) and see whether members like it. To see if they sign up for it. Enjoy it. Have fun doing it. See if they like it enough to do it again. Another option was to sail to Coyote Point and do an overnight.

 

[Wylieguy]

Hoowhee! . You Wileyguys and competitive racers are sure whiney. I'm just happy there's a real live singlehanded event coming up and that it's offshore. Shorthanded means well but it's not singlehanded now, is it? For those of us who don't play well w others, a race for singlehanders put on by an organization that is called the Singlehanded Sailing Society is such a peachy idea that I'm not going to complain about a thing. I'm just going to sign up and do it. Oh, yeah! I've already registered. Have you?

Jackie, I don't think it's whining when the SSS jumps in on top of an already scheduled race and complicates things this way. I would point out that the SSS is not the only singlehanded/shorthanded ocean racing organization around. You can enter OYRA in the shorthanded division: sail single/double, use your autohelm, put up twin jibs, enter for the series, enter for an individual race, just like the SSS. You could have signed up for the OYRA Drakes Bay race up to Thursday prior to the race. The Spinnaker Cup had a shorthanded divison if you wanted a real ocean experience. By the way, so does the PacCup, which may be the "real" ocean experience. If the SSS wants an additional ocean race, I think the thing to do is schedule is separately so there's another opportunity to sail another short handed race on the ocean. I'm frankly hurt by your calling me "whiney" and don't know why asking the question should provoke that response. Pat Broderick

 

[Philpott]

But, Pat! None of those races have uniquely singlehanded events that score singlehanders separately. Singlehanders are at a real disadvantage because they are scored together with "shorthanders/doublehanders". You know this. I don't have to tell you this. And since you mention jibs, today I turned Dura Mater around in her upwind slip on O dock in Berkeley and poled out my jib with Bob's spinnaker and the sheets you gave me. Whoa! Really pulled that big fat stern of hers away from the dock. According to OCSC the wind just the other side of the seawall was 19 knots. Aside from the spinnaker whacking into my forestay once or twice, and falling into the water once, and the lines getting tangled on the wrong side of the clews, well I think it was a successful effort. At the dock. Let's see if I can do it on the way back from Drakes Bay. Singlehanded.

 

[Philpott]

Seriously. Am I mistaken here, or does shorthanded not commonly/generally/usually mean doublehanded? Two people on the boat, right? Isn't it kindof a misnomer to mush doublehanded and singlehanded sailing that way? And another thing: the definition of 'shorthanded" (1794) is "short of the regular or necessary number of people" (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1988). Now that suggests inadequacy of any boat without a crowd on board. And that makes ME feel whiney.

 

[brianb]

Shorthanded are races your insurance company sanctions. Single handed not so much.

 

[Wylieguy]

But, Pat! None of those races have uniquely singlehanded events that score singlehanders separately. Singlehanders are at a real disadvantage because they are scored together with "shorthanders/doublehanders". You know this. I don't have to tell you this. And since you mention jibs, today I turned Dura Mater around in her upwind slip on O dock in Berkeley and poled out my jib with Bob's spinnaker and the sheets you gave me. Whoa! Really pulled that big fat stern of hers away from the dock. According to OCSC the wind just the other side of the seawall was 19 knots. Aside from the spinnaker whacking into my forestay once or twice, and falling into the water once, and the lines getting tangled on the wrong side of the clews, well I think it was a successful effort. At the dock. Let's see if I can do it on the way back from Drakes Bay. Singlehanded.

Jackie, There is only 1 truly singlehanded SSS race - the Farallones (not counting the Hawaii race which is a very special event). The Vallejo 1-2 is only half singlehanded. All of the rest are single/double, even the LongPac, and if you look at entries, the majority are sailed doublehanded, especially the crown jewel 3-Bridge race. To answer the question in your next post: shorthanded as it's used for sailboat races around here means either single or double. It has at least since I began sailing MORA in the 1970s and continues with the SSS, OYRA, and other race authorities. Brian's right about the insurance folks, and a strict interpretation of Coast Guard regulations might suggest singlehanding doesn't allow for proper watch keeping.

 

[pogen]

OK, the Race Chairs have spoken:

Drake's Bay Race Announcement

 

[Philpott]

That was anticlimactic. Carliane and I were proud of ourselves as we crossed the start line first in our division. And then we got out the gate neatly. We were feeling optimistic. After that it was a slow slog. Carliane felt positively hateful toward one of the red Bonita channel buoys, as the growing flood along the coast kept us in one place for way too long. Finally, shortly before Duxbury, our gps told us that we would arrive in Drakes Bay at 12:15. In the dark. Sailing into a unknown anchorage. Sigh. So we turned on the engine and along the way Carliane pointed out the velella, the molamola (ocean sunfish) and chryosaura jellyfish. And there were lots of murra birds. It was quite nice having a marine biologist aboard, educating me. This was no race for heavier boats. As we limped out of Drakes Bay Dave Morris called out: "Use your biggest 150!" Ah. Thanks, Dave. I need a light air 150. Instead of my 7.5 oz jib. Even a 150 wouldn't have helped us much on the way home. Glass. Glass. More glass. When Randy Leisure on Tortuga put up his spinnaker it helped a lot until the wind changed. John Kearny on Neptunes Car was incredibly tenacious along the coast returning with that beautiful spinnaker of his. I sure hope he was able to finish. Not much offshore, and it wasn't hot like Doug Soderstrom predicted, and then, once inside the gate ... it was typical summer wind 17-18 knots all the way back to Berkeley. And I appreciated the fact that I could partially roll up that jib of mine.

 

[pogen]

Saturday was a good day for Mola spotting.

I saw 4 or 5 big ones, 4' to 5' range, and two young ones just the size of dinner platters.

 

[solosailor]

Lots of Mola for sure. Almost hit a few. Some huge ones 5+ feet for sure.