Super moon = super sail!

[sinnettc]

On Saturday evening we joined several friends at the dock for a potluck followed by a moonlight sail. The weather was hot all day and I didn't expect much on the wind front. Ha! The deck was muddy from anchoring out on the 4th of July. No longer a problem; plenty of spray to clean things up.

This is our friends Lou & Rochelle in their Mac 25 with the super moon coming up behind them.

Our boats really do hold their own with march larger ones, at least cruisers anyway. The picture below was taken after dark of the Catalina 27 which we'd been chasing to the south end of the lake and was following us after the tack. We'd been creeping up on him and had to do a quick tack when he did a slow one right in front of us.

Sailing through twilight and into the dark is definitely a different experience. You can't see the telltales and it's a lot harder to see who the a**hole is who cut across your bow, twice! One of the local Wavelength 24 sailors who thinks messing with non-racers is fun, I guess. The Admiral was not amused, btw. Pretty sure this is him behind us on the final run back to the marina; he sheared off and went back down the lake while we went on in and docked the boat.

 

[shnool]

As the owner of a pretty spritely race boat myself, and I'm more than apt to play "chicken" with fellow club-mates that I know, and know me, and are decent sailors themselves... I generally won't do it at night, no matter how confident (well there might be one fellow racer I might put in the hot seat a time or 2).

HOWEVER, I will say that I've talked to many of the sailors after I've done some daytime sparring with them, and especially those of the larger cruiser variety, they feel like I was too close, when I was infinitely more maneuverable than them, and always had more than enough room. It's given me a different point of view, because while I may be able to dodge THEM quickly they aren't able to do the same for me.... I suspect your wavelength cohort might have had the same misguided opinion.

I can tell you on my Capri 25, I can spin the boat around 360 degrees within 3 boat lengths... taking up only 1 boatlength of width in the process. I call it a penalty grinder as I can take a penalty, and STILL be in the game (bad news if I were ever to act on it). I suspect the wavelength is likely a similar penalty grinder.

Regardless Chris, they are some great pictures... Moonlight sails are always quite impressive.

 

[NewportNewsMike]

Nice pictures - boating at night is always a different world. And, as Chris said, sailing at night, as opposed to motoring, adds an additional layer of of difficulty since you cannot see your sails, tattle tells, other boats, et cetera as well as when there is some daylight along for the trip.

As to the "across the bow sailing" of the other boat, I am not supporting this fellow in the following comments, I think he was in the wrong for doing so.

That said, folks who race regularly, particularly in a "tight" fleet, have a different concept of what is acceptable "racing room" with other boats. The Racing Rules say you must give "room to race" to the other boats, but that "room", in a race, is sometimes measured in small number of feet, or sometimes in inches. Racing in a tight fleet does help build an individual's skill and increases his confidence in his boat handling capabilities - he gets competent and confident.

But good skippers leave that attitude on the race course. Cruising around, day or night, is not racing with other boats / captains who have chosen to participate in that "game".