// BLOG
Key West Race Week – Part Five – A Response
January 8, 2010
Sorry that it has been so long since I’ve written. After celebrating the New Year holiday Jeff Jordan and I zipped a J80 to Key West from Annapolis in a 48 hour 2500 mile round trip blitz. I don’t recommend it, but it can be done. Unbelievably I am headed back down there right now. I’m in Florida and will be back in Key West late tomorrow afternoon.
So, the question was basically, we are coming to the first windward mark, the wind is blowing 16kts from the same direction, we still have current moving left to right and the slight geographic left hand shift DID come in as we sailed to the left. So where do we tack?
Well, I would argue that there are three places where we might tack: (diagram two)
Position One, would be to tack RIGHT NOW. With the current pushing us toward the layline we should be able to get to the mark, and with the boats to windward of us not quite fetching the layline they are likely to continue on and give us enough clear air to make the mark. If we were interested in being inside at the weather mark then this might be a good move. Is that what we want? Likely we’ll have to pinch up to make the mark, we’ll be slow, but we’ll be inside. It is even possible that we will “catch” a piece of those boats on our hip (the port tackers) and force them to tack shy of the layline. It is RISKY. But, it could move us up quite a few places. 
Position Two, would have us tacking on the leebow of the lead starboard tack parade boat. Again, we should initially have clear air, and given this position we should have no trouble making the mark and likely maintaining much of our speed. Given that the boat that is just to windward of us is being controlled by the boat to windward of her, we may well get an inside overlap at the weather mark, and possibly be able to hold that overalp going to the offset mark. This has potential benefits regarding our position, but we’re likely to be slowed significantly by the other boats. A pack of boats always travels slower than a boat alone. 
Position Three, would have us tacking well past the layline on the outside of the the bulk of the group. Usually we’d like to avoid being on the outside of the pinwheel due to the extra distance that is forces us to sail. But, I would argue that in this case it is a safe place to tack, guarantees the clearest air, and given how crowded this rounding is going to be, might give us the opportunity to sail our own rounding. Furthermore, we are sailing to the windward mark on a port tack lift, which suggests that we want to do a bear away set and continue on starboard tack after the mark, so being outside initially could be to our advantage. 
Three viable choices. But just as when we started there are elements of a great mark rounding. Having ALL of these elements if very difficult to do, and therefore we often have to compromise and prioritize. For instance, in the absence of all other boats I would want to:
Round each mark close enough to touch it – without touching it.
Treat the rounding as the set up for the next leg.
Steer aggressively with body weight and sails.
Sail fast.
Be able to immediately know whether I am lifted or headed to the next mark.
In this instance I would go with number three in this instance. I can make arguments in favor of all three, but I feel pretty strongly that tacking outside the parade is in this case a good move. It is the first rounding. So let’s be fairly conservative. We have to be looking ahead; this tack is not about where we end up at the weather mark, but rather where we are positioned for the spinnaker set. The strategic factors indicate that we want to initially head to the same corner we just came from, so sailing to the outside of this pack should give us a clear lane around both marks and the ability to continue on after the spinnaker set without fighting for clear air.
So in this case I would go outside of the pack, and hope for a dog fight that we aren’t a part of. We are now clear to really focus on our spinnaker set, rather than fighting for positioning. We are overstood slightly and can sail fast, possibly past boats that are slowed by the pack or their own efforts to clear the mark. For this first mark, I am satisfied to be very conservative.
I think you can argue for anyone of these positions (and more), but for me the take away here is to look at where we want to be, not necessarily where are. I also want to really make my “move” when I’ve got a bigger advantage, and if I don’t then I will focus on the simple things (go fast for instance) and put myself into a situation that limits the chance for mistakes.
Key West Race Week – Part Five
December 29, 2009
You are the green boat. Where do you tack? What is your strategic thinking? What is your tactical thinking? Is this a good place to “push” a tough maneuver? What are your rules considerations? Is there a “safe” option? Let’s hear your thoughts. Post them to the comments section or email them to me.
Visualization First Windward Mark
Check Out This Fresh Spinsheet Article
December 29, 2009
Key West Weather – Let the pattern begin
December 29, 2009
December 28, 2009 10:00 pm EST
Location: 24.46N 81.88W
Wind Direction: N (360°)
Wind Speed: 15.9 knots
Wind Gust: 17.1 knots
Atmospheric Pressure: 30.21 in (1022.9 mb)
Pressure Tendency: +0.05 in (+1.6 mb)
Air Temperature: 66.4°F (19.1°C)
[ Observed at Sand Key station. ]
I have started my weather data collection for Key West Race Week, presented by Nautica. And I was sitting here writing a weather briefing for Key West Race week, and while I was searching the interweeds for some supporting data for my anecdotal diatribe. Fortunately the good people (they really are) at North Sails have put together a great reference. Check it out below or go to their website. Here is what they have to say and, for what it is worth; it is pretty close to what I would have written, and interestingly the current conditions are almost EXACTLY the conditions we are using for our visualization. I love being lucky.
From the big brains at North Sails:
Very consistent sailing conditions are frequently experienced during Key West Race Week. Often nailing subtle wind shifts is the key to success. The typical Key West weather in January follows a relatively simple and predictable cycle lasting between five and seven days. Predicting individual shifts is difficult, but a general understanding of the weather patterns can be a big help in defining what shifts you will experience.
To understand the cycle, let’s say that the first day of racing finds a recently passed cold front stationary or dying south of the racing area. At the same time, a high pressure center would likely be building in the northern Plains and sweeping toward the southeastern U.S. coastline. This weather pattern often brings cool temperatures and a cloudy sky to Key West. Winds would be northerly with gusty and shifty conditions. The wind speed will normally start the day fresh, say 15 to 20 knots and maybe more, but decrease with time.
On the next day of the cycle, the high would move to the southeastern U.S., positioned almost directly north of Florida. The high in this position weakens the northerly wind, veering it to the northeast. The breeze can be gusty and shifty, but there is a clear easing trend. Big directional swings to the right are often possible, especially during the afternoon.
Days 3 and 4 find the high lingering over the Southeastern U.S and spreading east off the Georgia or northeast Florida coast into the Atlantic. The wind continues veering to the east and sometimes southeast with speeds slowly starting to increase, especially on Day 4. These are the most consistent sailing days, with smaller, oscillating shifts. Temperatures are often seasonable and humidity increases with few clouds in the sky.
Toward the end of this period and moving into Day 5, the high moves off the Southeastern U.S. coast. The wind veers further into the southeast bringing warmer and more humid air. Trade wind cumulus clouds containing isolated showers may pass through the course causing larger oscillations and shifts.
By the end of the cycle, the high moves farther away from Florida to the east. The cycle begins to repeat itself with another cold front possibly threatening Key West from the northern Gulf. Ahead of cold fronts, watch for winds veering farther right and increasing in strength. The weather becomes less stable and there is even the possibility of some squalls and thunderstorms in this pattern.
Keep in mind that there are always exceptions to this cycle and the timing can change. However, the accompanying wind rose graphic shows how this weather cycle relates to historic wind conditions. The wind rose shows historic wind speed and direction frequency near the racing areas during the race period. Notice the N/NNE wind often found during days 1-2 of the cycle is more frequently fresh to strong. Winds tend to moderate when veering to the NE on day 2. Increasingly fresh speeds are apparent as the wind frequently veers from the ENE to ESE on days 3-5. The cycle often repeats after day 5 so the moderate to fresh SE/S winds on a cycle that extends to days 6-7 are less frequent.
If you are planning to race in Key West, you better start watching the weather now! You may be able to see this cycle and become more familiar with it before the race. Also, any unusual weather patterns may give you some hints on how things can vary from the typical weather pattern. Monitoring the Key West weather is easy in the North Sails Weather Center – simply visit www.na.northsails.com and navigate to the North Sails Weather Center. Look specifically at the current and forecast surface weather maps in the weather charts section of the North Sails Blue Weather Center. You can use these charts to see the movement of systems around the region and where you are in the cycle outlined above. Also, use the North Sails Blue Weather Center to monitor wind conditions reported near the race course area. Mostly importantly, sign up for complimentary race weather outlooks and race day forecasts issued by the North Sails Blue Weather Center.
Key West Race Week – Part Four – A Response
December 28, 2009
"STARBOARD! PROTEST! DO YOUR TURNS!"
Most of the responses to this visualization said that this was an easy one, but you should have known it couldn’t be that easy. In order to keep frivolous fouls in check, the rules are written to make both the protested and protesting boats clear a few hurdles.
Starboard certainly had to avoid contact (Rule 14) which violates Rule 10 (On Opposite Tacks). But what is important (and becoming seemingly more so) is how Starboard goes about protesting. Recently it seems that more and more PC’s are working hard to disallow protests before they get to the protest room by being STRICT about the procedural steps. So that brings us to the:
What do we do?
1) Hail “PROTEST”. This needs to be immediate, polite and clear. We should also be VERY clear on who is going to be talking to the other boats on the course. Generally, I would suggest that I’m in the best position to do so, but I am certainly open to discussing this. “Do your turns!”, “Hey, you SOOO fouled us!”, “What the f*&(@@%@^&!!!!! are you thinking!?” are NOT acceptable, and don’t need to even be mentioned (although they often are.) Just a clear “PROTEST” and the boat name or sail number will do.
2) Immediately Fly Flag and fly until we’ve finished. This seems to be the favorite “out” of the protest committees these days. We’ve got about 10 seconds to get the flag displayed. It also pays to have some sort of time mark for when we did it. So, I carry a protest flag in my PFD, in addition to the flag on the backstay/stern rail/etc. We can always pull the more permanent flag when time allows.
Interestingly, this year I acted as the arbitration officer for several big boat events. Often I was told that they flew the flag as soon as the person who was sent to fetch it from the nav table got on deck. Not good enough. I was told once that they flew it about a minute after the incident, once it was clear that everyone was OK. ISAF says you can do better than that. There was only one incident this year that, I witnessed, where a PC (arbitrator actually) said to another party “well, did you KNOW you being protested?” When the answer was yes, we moved forward in spite of some questions about the flag. Point is, we’ll be flying it and leaving it flying from as soon after the incident as possible.
3) Get back to racing. Following the incident we have done what we are required to do at this time. There are a few things that we should do before too long, but right now we need to get back to racing ASAP. Too many teams let an infraction, or the other team’s actions (or inaction) consume the conversation. For the most part, it is time to forget about it and get back to racing.
4) Write down time of hail and incident information. Given how we are structuring our team work, I think that our forward person should be able to draft an incident report immediately after we start racing again. This info is best to get down ASAP so that we can get on with the race and not worry about forgetting important info.
5) Immediately after finishing, hail the RC to declare our intentions to protest. While the SI’s for this race only request that we inform the RC that we intend to protest, some PC will take this request very seriously. This past summer I was racing at an event where the arbitrator was questioning the validity of my protest because the PC didn’t have a record of my hail. Fortunately, I had a witness (from another fleet) that was willing to testify (although it was never necessary). So I also add that we should record the time of our hail and any other hails that we might hear. Finally, we should continue to hail until the RC confirms our hail. I hate being a chatty Cathy on the radio when racing, but it always is a bummer to loose a valid protest on something minor.
6) We also should be looking for witnesses. A witness that saw the incident will make our case MUCH stronger, and knowing who to find back at the dock will make the process MUCH easier. Now is the time to do it.
7) We should as a team review the incident report to confirm that we all agree with what happened and then get ready to race again.
If it seems like a lot – that’s because it is. The key to winning in a protest situation is preparation, and I believe that begins at immediately following any incident.
How about those hails?
You are absolutely right, from a rules standpoint they have no meaning or bearing. There is no required hail of “starboard” or “hold your course” in the rule book. In fact in this situation starboard isn’t required to necessarily hold her course (and she didn’t she bore away) so the hails don’t change the situation. That said, they hails are a good idea. STARBOARD is making it clear to PORT that she doesn’t think the cross is going to happen. PORT is declaring “I’m going for it.” Communication on the course I think can improve the game that is played. It is important though that the communication be clear and not be a distraction. In this case – I think both hails helped; even if they weren’t necessary.
Now, what should THEY do?
Well, they fouled us. It is pretty clear, so what they should do is take a penalty.
According to the SI’s they have the option of either doing a One-Turn Penalty, or taking a 20%. They can do a tack and a gybe in the same direction or they can fly their yellow I flag and carrying on.
Upwind, I think the 20% penalty is worse than the one-turn penalty. So, they need to sail clear of the other competitors (or make sure they are clear of them) and do a tack and gybe in the same direction. A well executed one-turn penalty should be less of a penalty than the 20% would be. So they would have been wise to have practiced that before the regatta started. They should also start their one-turn penalty with a gybe, rather than a tack, use their sails and body weight to aggressively steer the boat through the turn and then get back to racing!
After the race is over, they should find the boat they fouled and make it clear that they they took their penalty. If they DID take a 20% penalty it will be important that they inform the race committee and file within 90 minutes of the RC docking.
So they have plenty to fret about as well.
For some, all of this is more than they want to deal with, and either do not call protest, or don’t follow through with it. I’m of the opinion that there are inadvertent that take place on the race course, and in order to have a fair game, we should enforce them. I just go back to any other game I play – basketball, tennis, squash – if a friend fouls I call it. If those fouls start to impact my game I work to improve.
Have a great day!
Protest Flag
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