It is a beautiful day on Charlotte Harbor. Temp in the mid 80's and 8-12 breeze.
I drove by Port Charlotte Beach this morning and several teams are already setting up.
Ding, I'll catch you sometime this weekend with the promised rum.
Have fun folks!
This is the official site, correct? http:/
Currently showing 35 entries, correct?
Looks like a great event! Hoping you get great weather (and wind)!
EDIT: Will there be any live updates or tracking for us to follow?
Mike
NOAA says SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY Sunday through Tuesday.
Should be sporting!
The Charlotte Harbor folks are already exceeding expectations, they are eager and very nice we really lucked out!
Rumor on the beach is we have a bid for the Outer Banks for the 2016 Championship, yahoo!
Time to go to racing!
While I sit in Tokyo with major jet-lag and wishing I was in FL, I just exchanged a dozen texts with some of my fellow CRAM guys. Sounds like the sh!t hit the proverbial fan today. Many damaged boats. One possibly sunk(?!). Hope all are OK. Apparently big wind gusts over 30. Should be interesting to see the stories trickle in. Since I'm not there to confirm details, I don't want to start rumors, but apparently some of the top contenders were not unscathed.
Holy sh!t batman it was blowing hard. Mike and Tripp broke their mast in a pitch pole on the way out to the course. They on there way to get a replacement and will be on the water tomorrow. Many damaged sails and broken parts. Almost everyone had at least one capsize most had two or more. Only one race today.
Hopefully no injuries, right?
The wind chart is interesting. Average was 15 or less, with gusts under 25, but the gusts were frequent and huge compared to the averages, which is certainly not easy to handle.
Results? Rumored top ten?
Mike
Huge variation in wind speed records at various nearby sailflow sites. Looking at the attrition, I'd guess yacht club wind and on-water wind were two different things.
My boss drove by the harbor this morning and saw the fleet flying downwind. He wondered how they would get back upwind. Flatten out the main, drop the traveler and get a 225 # crew.
Dave, Thank You for the compliment. It is always fun to see other people having fun!
Good point, especially with that direction. But, regardless of the amount of wind, the huge variations between the means and gusts is what typically gets you.
Mike
Charlotte Harbor is shallow and basically goes from east to west. The tide was outgoing and it is still draining the Peace River basin from rainy season. High tide this morning 6:34 AM 2.1, Low tide 3:05 PM .2. East wind 15, 20 and more against tide.
Upwind and laylines must have been real interesting.
The wind chart is interesting. Average was 15 or less, with gusts under 25, but the gusts were frequent and huge compared to the averages, which is certainly not easy to handle.
Results? Rumored top ten?
Mike
Results are here: https:/
The charts you reference are probably pretty accurate we all tend to think it's bigger than it really is when we are living it. Water was flat breeze strong and for the most part completely manageable until you needed to jibe. For me, I really needed to hit it just right and I missed the first time. The second time we ate it was when I jibed to pick up a separated sailor. Fortunately he was picked up by a chase boat and that's when I called it. Crew boat and skipper were all in good shape and I was getting out while we were still ahead 🙂
Looking forward to tomorrow, still a good breeze but maybe not so much. I didn't bring enough rum to do 1/4 race a day.
Lot's of damage but it looks like everyone is making an effort to get it sorted to be back in the game tomorrow! Spirts appear to be high but I'm not that sociable and my circle is pretty small so I could be completely wrong on that account.
From the description above, I would have guessed that the waves wouldn't be so bad (breeze coming offshore, with the current), but it's hard to say without being there, of course. Thanks for confirming that, Ding.
8 of 28 finished, wow. Good thing they cut it to one race, or that would quickly turn into a deep hole from which to climb.
Hope tomorrow is nicer for you!
Mike
Should DNS get the same score as DNF? Seems like a DNF should be rewarded for giving it a go.
I thought DNF was a finish # of DFL, but DNS was DNF+1?
Sorry to hear you guys got plastered Monday. We had a thoroughly delightful Buzzelli just up the road at SSS... They kept pushing the big wind forecast back, so the nuking 25-35 knots we were predicted to get on Sunday only turned out to be 15-20 which was ideal..
The scorecard in the link above has both as
number of registered + 1
. Theoretically, I like rewarding DNF over DNS - how much is debatable. Seems like it used to be that way, but I have not raced in a long time.
Sorry for the hijack.
Per RRS, the default for letter scores such as DSQ, BFD, DNE, OCS, DNC, DNS, DNF, etc. is entries plus one. Any of these can be changed by the SIs.
It's been this way for many, many rule book revisions (aka, at least a decade). The Hobie standard SI template used to use finishers plus one for DNF, but it's been at least a decade (almost two) since that was a standard practice.
The most common thing I see (across various classes, mono or cats) is TLE, which is typically finishers plus one or two. This is for boats still racing, but are too far behind to finish within x minutes after the first boat (all of which needs to be spelled out in the SIs).
Back on topic...
They should be in sequence now, wind looks a bit more manageable than yesterday.
Go Tall Guy!!!
Mike
Yes, the Buzzelli was a blast!!! I was sailing the red Weta.
Hijacks-R-us
Wind chart looks challenging, but not quite as bad as yesterday. Three races scored so far today, lots more letter scores, I'm sure there's more to the story.
Mike
http:/
Wow, awesome footage!
How did Mike break the stick? Did he sheet out the main when the bows dug in?
That start line sequence was awful for just about the whole fleet! Any start and finish is good if you're upright, I guess...
Mike
http:/
Wow, awesome footage!
How did Mike break the stick? Did he sheet out the main when the bows dug in?
That start line sequence was awful for just about the whole fleet! Any start and finish is good if you're upright, I guess...
Mike
Agreed! Terrible start for the majority of the of the fleet but it was really on and you couldn't hear anything. Mark did warn us that he starts on time (which I REALLY like!). If you weren't paying attention or didn't believe the start would start on time you got left behind. The starts today weren't as clean as I've seen them in the past (fleet wise) but it was a whole lot tighter.
Most likely, he's using GPS time. Synch your watch to a GPS (to the second), and you won't need a timer for the first race. If he's using even minutes for all starts, you won't need a timer at all.
Starting on even GPS minutes is one of the more subtle sailor-friendly things a good RC can do. Rock star RC will always time the initial warning/start on an even 5.
As a PRO, I can do this, but will admit to using the timer as a crutch when racing myself. Life would be much simpler if I could break that habit. You never have to worry about missing the flags, or synching a backup when (not if) the primary timer gets bumped and stops during the sequence.
Mike
Two more races scored today, weather looks much kinder, low teens with slightly higher gusts.
Sarah and Matthew are looking invincible! All bullets with a throwout of 3! Very impressive.
Good news/bad news for Todd. Back on the water, got a 2, then an OCS. Ouch. Why was he out for two days, BTW?
Tall Guy hanging in!!!
Mike
so when it's honking (like the +/- 27 knots), is it still faster/safer to run the spin downwind?
Since it wasn't steady 27 I'd say for sure run the kite. I would have. To be honest. There was plenty of carnage but the water looked pretty flat for the amount of wind so should have been relatively manageable. Granted I wasn't there so this is my wild guess. However. I run the kite downwind on the viper every time it's that windy so wouldn't hesitate on a bigger boat
Two more scored (4 total today).
Sarah/Matthew got a second 3 and another bullet, looking unstoppable now.
Virtual three-way tie for second, one point total separating Olivier, JC and Mike/Tripp!
Tall Guy hanging in the Top 10!!!
Mike
It is faster to run the kite in breeze. If you want to win it is what you have to do. If your plan is to win the war attrition you don't run the kite and that's my opinion only. I have had very skilled sailors tell I'm flat wrong about not running the kite in breeze. If you want to be safe you stay on the beach.
I'm not a spin boat sailor, so I won't claim first-hand knowledge, but that makes sense based on conversations and observations.
Running the spin makes you faster and somewhat minimizes the effect of the breeze, as the apparent wind moves forward.
Dealing with frequent 10 knot gusts when you're already depowered due to high average wind is what really wipes you out. True on any boat, even more so with a ton on sail area up.
Mike
It's all about keeping the apparent wind from going aft. Run too deep, or too slow and the pressure on the square top main, drives the bow down and over you go.
Works the same on A-Cats, spins boats, etc...