VICES (Verbal Interactive Command Exchange for Steering.)
The Jazz Cup race from Treasure Island to Benicia on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend is sponsored by our good friends at SBYC and Benicia Yacht Club. It is one of SBYC's major events and is followed by dinner at Benicia and breakfast the next morning. Somewhere in all that there is supposed to be some jazz?
BAADS entered 2 boats. ET was commanded by Laurence, and was crewed by Dan Sullivan, Paul Babiak, Leo Kornfield and Kaori ?????. Dave Izant commanded his Finesse with crew of Susan and Tom Fowle. With Dave, we left Finesse's berth in Alameda at 7:30 Saturday morning to be sure we had enough time to make the pre-race checkin deadline of 9:40. Before the race start, all boats were required to pass and be recognized by the committee boat at the starting line (between the committee boat and a large floating orange pyramidal marker).
We motored from Alameda in cloudy conditions with little wind and joined the mass of boats swarming about the start before 9am. Sue and I were VERY glad we had no responsibility for navigating through this mass of boats as traffic is, and will probably always be, one of our weak points in sailing.
Dave had us read the instructions so he could concentrate on traffic. From a racing novice's point of view, there were many ambiguities in the instructions, such as how long we could continue to motor (till 5 minutes before our start). There were 125 boats in 7 divisions with about 10-25 boats per division, and lists of the boats in each division, with their names, makers and sail numbers. The divisions were scheduled to start at 5 minute intervals beginning at 9:50. A warning gun and white "shape" at 9:40 indicated 10 minutes till race time, another gun and blue "shape" would indicate 5 minutes, then guns and red "shapes" indicated the division starts. One ambiguity was just what a "shape" was; we never did figure that out. 2 guns close together indicated a delay.
The race instructions indicated our "Division F." start should be at 10:15. We tried to stay out of the way of earlier starting divisions and still maintain visual contact with the committee boat and its signals while waiting more than an hour for the start. Around 9:40 the committee boat fired 2 guns and raised the red and white "Answering pennant" indicating a postponement of the start. 10 minutes later the pennant dropped, and the usual 10 minute warning period started. We are still not absolutely clear whether the timing of the postponement and warning period was correct, but we managed to spot recognizable boats starting in the divisions before ours allowing us to be sure of the timing of our start. We think it was at 10:30. We heard several questions on the radio about which division was supposed to be starting, but the committee boat cannot answer such questions; it is up to the racers to figure such things out for themselves.
We made a good start getting across the line only a few seconds after our gun, then tacking a few times to find the up wind mark which was 1 of a line of 3 buoys off the west coast of Treasure island. Do you all know those are there? We didn't.
After rounding the upwind mark we headed across the Bay and on the long reach which took us up to the Carquinez bridge and then on into Benicia. Winds for most of the race were light, at times we had less than 2 knots of indicated speed, and without a spinnaker wondered if we were kidding about being serious race entrants. Many boats passed us, but at least some were still behind us at the finish.
Laurence passed us with ET's spinnaker flying proud, to the accompaniment of muttering from Dave about taking it back-- ah come on Dave, remember how much work a spinnaker is.
We finished about 5:00 and due to the kindness of SBYC had little trouble finding our reserved berth at the Benicia marina. Other BAADS members including Commodora Kathi Pugh met us for a very enjoyable and delicious barbecue dinner on the deck of the yacht club. We were grateful for the good food, the delightful weather and surroundings, the excellent company and also that the rather obnoxious "jazz"??? (rock) band waited to start till we were nearly done. We finished the evening off with a delightful walk into town for a first rate chocolate ice cream cone and a look at the old state capital and other interesting and quiet sites.
Ten o'clock brought quiet to even that crowded marina and we spent a comfortable night on Finesse. Dave's alarm woke us at 4:00! but he grumbled justifiably about going back to sleep for a while and we didn't get started back till nearly six. The tide was perfect for the race on Saturday, but making it back Sunday required leaving very early to catch the ebb or waiting till so late we doubted we'd get back before dark. The trip back was almost all under the "iron genoa" as what wind there was came from straight ahead. Finally we were able to sail from Angel Island to the Bay Bridge in moderate breeze and finished another thoroughly great trip back at Alameda just before noon.
Thanks Dave and BAADS.
A few things we learned, some of them for the second time?
We are glad to have been reminded by the 3 buoys near the upwind mark to look at charts more often and take note of channel markings. So often in San Francisco Bay, waters outside of channels are still very deep and so present no hazard to boats of the size we sail, that we may have a tendency to think the markers are there for the big guys only. Make that assumption one too many times and spend the next tide cycle stuck in the mud, if you are lucky. In San Pablo Bay our depth sounder registered 5 feet as we headed toward deeper water. Depth sounders and charts are there to be used.
Self tailing winches take a good bit of practice. When grinding in the jib sheet after a tack, you need 2 wraps while rapidly trimming up the sheet to catch the sail as quickly as possible. Then you need to take another wrap on the drum of the winch and get the sheet over the self tailing hook and into the channel that holds it so nicely in place. Doing all that while putting the winch handle on and getting the sail trimmed quickly enough to keep the skipper from yelling a bit is harder than it seems. Tight tacks near the start of a race are not a good place to practice this little dance! (well better next time.)
VICES: Verbal Interactive Command Exchange for Steering.
Tom Fowle: As Sue and I have developed our mutual skills in sailing, we have looked for a way in which we can easily communicate while I am at the helm. My skills are still weak in holding a course, and I find myself quite far off course much more quickly than seems possible. If Sue simply gives me continuous corrections, I am always paying attention to her only and have mostly to ignore my own feelings about what is happening to the boat. From Sue's viewpoint, she is having to talk constantly, correcting for my over corrections or lack of corrections, a process made inevitable by the delay in any such 2 person verbal system. There aren't many things which irritate Sue, but one of them is having to repeat herself. Doing things that old way makes repetition and irritation for both of us unavoidable, and more to the point causes what an engineer might call a lot of slop in the feedback loop.
On the way back from the Jazz Cup, we developed the basics of a new approach to this problem which we both like better and which allows me to improve my own skills while still getting feedback from Sue when I get it wrong. I simply tell her what I think is happening. Every few seconds, or if I think something is changing, I say something like "coming up," or "falling off". At the same time I start what I think will be the appropriate corrective action on the tiller. If I am not really sure I am right, I await Sue's response to my statement before correcting. Sue simply has to say "yes" or "no" unless more data is required. As I make a corrective turn, I often say what I think is going on, "coming up to course" or "on course, stopping turn". Sometimes, I just say "seems o.k." and once in a while that's even right.
Even with one brief session using the "VICES" system, I am eager to practice more. I can now learn my own judgmental abilities and get quicker feedback. I find that even with this little experience I can begin to feel the process moving from a conscious skill to a more automatic response. It will be interesting to see if a process which involves speech can become almost as automatic as any "learned" skill must be to be done well.
Measuring boat speed:
On the Jazz Cup race, Dave wondered whether his knot meter was reading low. On the way across from Alameda I had cleaned the paddle wheel which runs it, and it was indicating changes in speed, but when under power where we should have been making 6 knots, the meter indicated 4.
On the way back from Benicia, Dave told us about a "measured mile" just inside the entrance to the Oakland estuary. This mile (a nautical mile of course) is indicated by small yellow triangular markers, one on either side of the channel, and one set at each end of the mile. To check your boat's speed, you pass through the mile on a course of 85 degrees magnetic or its reciprocal maintaining as steady a speed and course as possible. You time your passage and calculate your speed (just like a word problem). To be really accurate, you turn around after completing the mile and time your passage in the opposite direction, then average the 2 times, to cancel the effect of currents. We passed through the distance (one direction only) in 9 minutes 45 seconds, giving us a speed of 6 knots, or as close as makes no difference. We proved that knot meters, even if they seem to work, can be far off the mark. It's a shame that there is rarely much wind in the estuary, so it would be hard to check speed under sail. Nevertheless it's an interesting thing to know about. Does anybody have experience with compass ranges in which you can "swing ship" through a circle and check the compass by sighting on known landmarks?
VICES (Verbal Interactive Command Exchange for Steering.)
Updated 2-18-1999 and 6-20-2005