Centennial Cup 2010

Psyché's Song won the 2009 CHRF Championship which combines the standings of the Wet Wednesday Series with the CHRF High Point finishes. This is something we have done two or three times in the past, but is no mean achievement. Just showing up doesn't do it. Your crew has to be persistent, especially in marginal conditions when other crews just don't put out to get the most out of a rig. 11 throwouts in the High Point out of 21 races is, to me, exorbitant. Nevertheless, it is what it is.

It should also be pointed out, for instance, that we clinched it by dint of the efforts of Psyché's Song's women persevering in the season's overtime (into December) to sail a re-scheduled Lady-at-the-Helm race. It was sailed in 20 knots! Which was better than the 30+ knots in the scheduled version, earlier in the year!

Winning the Fleet Championship requires one to represent the Fleet in the Centennial Cup to decide the Club Champion. This year's Centennial was sailed in FJ's instead of the usual Venture-21's. Because the optimal crew weight for these collegiate dinghies was 300lbs, I wisely decided to ask Psyché's Song's Mainsheet Guy and MVP to sail the event.

How they did is not germain. The point is, they showed up, were not as overweight as I would have made our entry. I was proud of the lads!

Psyché's Song Is CHRF 2009 Fleet Champion

Next Boat Will Have to Be a....

As others see us.....

Since CHRF's races are more often than not inverted start or pursuit races, Psyché's Song finds herself meeting up with some slower boats at the last (leeward) mark. That is as long as things go well! 

In this picture, (click on it) she looks like a bully. Psycho Song? 

In fact, we never insist on water not permitted us under the Racing Rules of Sailing!

Psyché's Song - Port Tack

Psyché's Song

3rd Place in Wet Wednesdays

Just wanted to bring everyone up to date and, with the spray settled around the conclusion of Wet Wednesday 2009, it seemed a good time to do it.
The purpose of this chart is to display the standings for the Fleet Championship which decides which CHRF boat represents the Fleet in the January 2010 Centennial Cup. From the CHRF Fleet the boat which wins a berth in the Centennial Cup combines averages its final place in the 2009 Wet Wednesdays with its CHRF High Point standings. For this reason, the chart only displays the performance of boats which were competitive in both series. From the chart you can tell that Psyché's Song finished 3rd in the Wet Wednesday bracket and is in an insecure 3rd place in the High point Standings.

With four CHRF races to go, Psyché's Song, leads Zephyr by 6 points (134-128) in the High Point! Should we lose that lead, the Centennial Cup berth becomes a tie and is resolved by esoteric statistical manipulations. Very dicey! Since High Point standings at this time of year are determined as much by throw-outs as they are determined by on-the-water performances, a six-point difference is nothing. Anything can happen.

The next thing that happens is the Lady-At-The-Helm Race this Sunday. Our dock departure will be at 13:00hrs.

Hope for wind. Expect to win. Sail for speed!

CHRF Summer #4

Summer #4 will be sailed this Sunday, 9-July. Dock Time will be 1:00 PM. The CHRF Fleet is trying to organize group Crew pictures so they want us to appear on the deck at the Club at 12:30. I don't know how that's going to work out for everyone. So far, I expect

Let me know about it if you're not planning on sailing? Hopefully everyone can make the photo op. We also have the option to schedules the group photo after the race, if that works out better for us.

The stakes increase for Psyché's Song for the rest of the year. We're in 1st place in the High Point standings a mere 4 points ahead of Browser! But we don't care about results more than process, right? We're just out there to have fun. So, lets double our pleasure Sunday!
Psyché's Song

Reaching Toward the Leeward Mark

Psyché's Song thanks Brisa for what I believe to have been an April shot!

Click to expand!

Stranded in my Own Slip!

Right in the middle of successful Beer Can and CHRF seasons with two championships in play Psyché's Song has to take her first throw-out because of a dodgy engine. The lesson is, never, never call a mechanic until the engine quits on you. Mike's thinking he's god's gift to power yachts. He says,

Your Yanmar is under-performing.
I know Yanmars.
I'll show you what's wrong.
Let me fix it for you.

Before I could say "If it works, don't fix it," he took the trottle and wiped it out. I didn't need the engine to get to the fucking Islands. Or to Frisco or Baja. I just need it to get back and forth between the start line and the slip. Nothing was wrong 'til that ass hole put 'is hands on my boat. Now He's got me over the barrel. There's a word for that....

A Good Ship's Photographer Is Hard to Find.

For good photography during a race, you need some one who is not assigned to do anything else. Otherwise all you get are shots taken when not much is happening on the water. Like in drifting conditions.

Channel took some great pictures. These are the ones she shared.

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.