Memorial Day - 2009

I can’t remember a more exhilarating and spectacular racing experience on Psyché’s Song.

Certainly, last Sunday’s Memorial Day Race came close, if it did not equal that day we had to jibe to the wrong side of H-Mark and then tack with our spinnaker up to round the mark on the correct side. That maneuver was forced upon us by about a half dozen arguably overlapped boats which would not or could not give rights to us in our inside position. After returning to the course, we rapidly overtook the troublesome handful of boats and won.

Winning in last Sunday’s 18-boat fleet came close to that. We had plenty of knowledgeable spectators, from the Fulmore race in from Santa Cruz who could tell we were in a zone. Psyché’s Song had clearly had her groove back. The performance of all aboard made the result possible: Pat called for the successful windward passage through the kelp beds with which we caught two or three boats on the first leg; it clearly was the smoothest and quickest spinnaker set I can recall; the 18-22 knot winds did the rest.

This win elevated Psyché’s Song into 1st place in the race for the annual High Point Trophy (CHRF Sunday series) at 95 points, but it’s a narrow lead. Our nearest challenger is 4th place Browser who, with two wins has 84 points with her 19 points for race committee still coming to her.

Scoring Yacht Races in Progress

Way to go Team! In tonight's Wet Wednesday, Psyche's Song won again in extra innings. We finished 6th out of 15 starters, which situates us in 3rd place for the Spring Season Series - not at all bad for a start on 2009 WW's.

Last night's experience got me to thinking.

I see similarities between blue water/ocean racing on one hand, and racing in drifting conditions in our Santa Barbara venue. Of course, my experience in the former is not 'real' like in the Volvo Ocean Race, but 'virtual', as in the Volvo Ocean Racing Game.

Let's set aside Wet Wednesday handicapping systems and assume boat-for-boat competition on the water. In last night's conditions, and in the VOR/VORG, it's impossible to score a race while it's in progress, except at mark roundings and at the finish line of course. What I am saying is that, in almost any other competitive and quantitative sport you can think of (baseball, football, golf, tennis, etc.) you can, during the game, make a statement as to who's ahead and who's behind. In last night's adventure, it was impossible to tell, because there were so many different, scattered, and changing micro-wind situations. VOR also challenges racers with micro-weather systems except that there is a much wider range of conditions in ocean racing. In both situations, making assessments on the basis boats' positions during the race can prove very misleading. Someone pointed out last night that while Prime Time blew Psyche's Song away at the 1st mark, there was a photo-finish between the two at the finish line. Additionally boats which typically blow Psyche's Song off the water in light 5-10 knot conditions, were beaten boat-for-boat in last night's drifter.

The difference is to be found in the human component. Psyche's Song's team always extracts the most out of her rig, especially in the most challenging and marginal conditions.

VORG Leg 7 Starts

Less than 30 minutes away. Don't see Macavity or Oral Exam on the line. Nor do I see any wind to speak of. Zilch on the latter. There is nothing, there. Plenty of opportunities for winning places when there doesn't appear to be enough wind to beat the current. That's what Psyche Song teaches!

Well, I don't believe this picture is as bad as it appears to be. Nor do I believe Macavity won't appear. We shall see what we shall see.

Update (20:38 PDT): Got off to my best start ever, and worked myself up to position 18 (out of 207,000+). But when the wind filled in, I found myself in an adverse wind direction. Now I am around 420 and losing boats quickly. I don't think I can stop the bleeding until new wind comes in at 02:00 tomorrow. Beating at about 53 deg TWA. What else can I do?

Macavity and gang finally showed; they're back a ways. Bailiff also showed. Trailer Park Girl is the closest competitor at this point.

Have to press on.

May 25:

Trailer Park Girl finishes First in Fleet! This is Leg turned out to be the closest VORG event that I have been in. Substantial leads changed back and forth throughout our trans-Alantic crossing. TPG came from behind to grab 1st in Fleet in a photo-finish (click to expand):
Finishing in four digits behind TPG were Oral Exam, Wyliecat-30, Gilded Butterflies, Bailiff, and Macavity. (Oral Exam finished ahead of me by a mere 18 places!) Notably, these members of our SBYC Group also finished 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th in the 53-Member California Club.

Unfortunately, None of us finished under 1,000! For us, who have to contend with 2 A.M. watches, that achievement should be equivalent to line honors. Maybe next Leg?

Congratulations to all who sailed.

VORG Leg 7 Starts

Less than 30 minutes away. Don't see Macavity or Oral Exam on the line. Nor do I see any wind to speak of. Zilch on the latter. There is nothing, there. Plenty of opportunities for winning places when there doesn't appear to be enough wind to beat the current. That's what Psyche Song teaches!

Well, I don't believe this picture is as bad as it appears to be. Nor do I believe Macavity won't appear. We shall see what we shall see.

Update (20:38 PDT): Got off to my best start ever, and worked myself up to position 18 (out of 207,000+). But when the wind filled in, I found myself in an adverse wind direction. Now I am around 420 and losing boats quickly. I don't think I can stop the bleeding until new wind comes in at 02:00 tomorrow. Beating at about 53 deg TWA. What else can I do?

Macavity and gang finally showed; they're back a ways. Bailiff also showed. Trailer Park Girl is the closest competitor at this point.

Have to press on.

May 25:

Trailer Park Girl finishes First in Fleet! This is Leg turned out to be the closest VORG event that I have been in. Substantial leads changed back and forth throughout our trans-Alantic crossing. TPG came from behind to grab 1st in Fleet in a photo-finish (click to expand):

Finishing in four digits behind TPG were Oral Exam, Wyliecat-30, Gilded Butterflies, Bailiff, and Macavity. (Oral Exam finished ahead of me by a mere 18 places!) Notably, these members of our SBYC Group also finished 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th in the 53-Member California Club.

Unfortunately, None of us finished under 1,000! For us, who have to contend with 2 A.M. watches, that achievement should be equivalent to line honors. Maybe next Leg?

Congratulations to all who sailed.

Wet Wednesday

Thanks for hanging in there tonight, everyone. We finished the marathon in 5th place, out of 20 starters. Zephyr finished behind us an hour later. We trophied. But the big news is that by finishing we moved from 3rd to 2nd in the series! Thanks to you guys making this boat go through the water without any wind to speak of!

The Volvo Ocean Racing Game (VORG)

Standing after the 6th Leg.

This is the way I score the Santa Barbara Group:

I and a few other people close to me discovered this event mid way in its 2nd Leg, South Africa to India, as I recall. Therefore I toss all scores in the first two legs, counting just the legs I was able to start: 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th. However, some of the other boats were in the race from the start, and some placed rather impressively. So, I had to include their good scores and toss their less illustrious performances. One skipper changed boats (1st boat had a rather unfortunate name), so I combined the scores for her boats.

That said, there are two ways to score this race. I'm not sure which is more valid.

The first is VORG's way: the cumulative standing of the Group's boats vis-à-vis the other 200,000 boats in the VORG. According to VORG, I'm in 5th place:

In the SBYC Group on a typical leader board, I am also in 5th place:

I can easily see that the long 5th Leg from China to Brazil was my worse performance, followed by my best Leg from Rio to Boston. Really alarming is how Macavity's performance has steadily improved. In the 6th Leg, Macavity not only finished 1st in the group, but finished under 1,000. Both coveted scores have so far eluded me.

Both of us scrupulously maintain radio silence as to outside resources used. I'm concerned that he has become a little more computer proficient than I had anticipated. Otherwise, he's on the keyboard 24-7.

The racing was very close. I thought I had lured him into a wind pocket and ditched him for good on the way up the coast of South America. I will remember that tactic! But he came back. Then around Boston, I went to bed too sleepy and too late to check my auto-pilot and went off course enough to hand him an insurmountable margin.

I have not reduced the number of errors I make in a leg; but I have reduced their magnitude.

But I will remember this leg especially for turning the mid marker in 32nd (out of 200,000) places.
It was also a 1400hrs weather change, also. I had carefully plotted my course but not noticed the Island was east of the mark. (Note the last minute course change to avoid the half-moon shaped island under the port rail.) That was inexplicable that the course would be laid out like that! In my resultant panic to avoid running ashore, I immediately lost 1,000+ places. Running aground would have cost me 10,000 places easily.

Very exciting. But no cigar.

The Volvo Ocean Racing Game (VORG)

Standing after the 6th Leg.

This is the way I score the Santa Barbara Group:

I and a few other people close to me discovered this event mid way in its 2nd Leg, South Africa to India, as I recall. Therefore I toss all scores in the first two legs, counting just the legs I was able to start: 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th. However, some of the other boats were in the race from the start, and some placed rather impressively. So, I had to include their good scores and toss their less illustrious performances. One skipper changed boats (1st boat had a rather unfortunate name), so I combined the scores for her boats.

That said, there are two ways to score this race. I'm not sure which is more valid.

The first is VORG's way: the cumulative standing of the Group's boats vis-à-vis the other 200,000 boats in the VORG. According to VORG, I'm in 5th place:
In the SBYC Group on a typical leader board, I am also in 5th place:
I can easily see that the long 5th Leg from China to Brazil was my worse performance, followed by my best Leg from Rio to Boston. Really alarming is how Macavity's performance has steadily improved. In the 6th Leg, Macavity not only finished 1st in the group, but finished under 1,000. Both coveted scores have so far eluded me.

Both of us scrupulously maintain radio silence as to outside resources used. I'm concerned that he has become a little more computer proficient than I had anticipated. Otherwise, he's on the keyboard 24-7.

The racing was very close. I thought I had lured him into a wind pocket and ditched him for good on the way up the coast of South America. I will remember that tactic! But he came back. Then around Boston, I went to bed too sleepy and too late to check my auto-pilot and went off course enough to hand him an insurmountable margin.

I have not reduced the number of errors I make in a leg; but I have reduced their magnitude.

But I will remember this leg especially for turning the mid marker in 32nd (out of 200,000) places.
It was also a 1400hrs weather change, also. I had carefully plotted my course but not noticed the Island was east of the mark. (Note the last minute course change to avoid the half-moon shaped island under the port rail.) That was inexplicable that the course would be laid out like that! In my resultant panic to avoid running ashore, I immediately lost 1,000+ places. Running aground would have cost me 10,000 places easily.

Very exciting. But no cigar.