Danger at Coronado Landing

We sent out a note and posted on the website, but it’s worth repeating. We’re no longer allowing club members to dock at Coronado landing / Peohe’s. 

Several of our Ensign sailboats have sustained significant damage, up to 3k in repairs, by docking there. 

The design of the docks at Coronado landing, specifically at Peohe’s restaurant, are high and have a protruding overhang. Our boats have low sides, and with swells, the boats can easily be smashed against the overhang. Adding extra fenders doesn’t help. 

The board has voted and approved a prohibition on docking at Coronado / Peohe’s effective immediately. Club members are responsible for damage caused to the sailboat that you have signed out. Please help us to avoid this significant damage to our sailboats and huge cost of repair bills to the club.

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Evening Club Social Fun Sail & BBQ 

This Tuesday, the 23rd of August

Every 4th Tuesday evening of the month, club members get together for a Fun Sail and BBQ. It’s a great way for new members to meet other members, and for old members to recruit new members. Bring your friends and family for an end of summer sail on a Tuesday evening, or just come hang out and eat a hotdog! 

4:45 - Meet & Greet at the blue key box
5:00 - 7:00 - Sail
7:00 - 8:00 - BBQ

Hamburgers & Hotdogs provided
BYOB and something to share / potluck

Please RSVP to Louis - LSwanepoel4@gmail.com

Upcoming events:

• Racing Clininc Saturday 08/27/2022
• Club Fun Sail & Social Saturday 09/17/2022

We can use the BBQ. Hamburger, hotdogs and trimmings provided. Please RSVP for food prep

This is a potluck event so please bring your own food & drink (BYOB) and something to share.
 

 

Tuesday September 6th, 2022 at 5pm

Monthly meeting of the Board of Directors. All members are encouraged to attend! The meeting is via Zoom. Contact one of the Board members for the link if interested

Check the calendar for all upcoming events and event updates

 

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to help out in maintaining the boats we have two opportunities coming up in September. Volunteers, please contact Paul Feldon at pfeldon@aol.com

Gussying up the boats

We have new Convair Sailing graphics that we’ll be applying to both sides of all the boats in the fleet. 

Four groups of 2 members each would suffice, but the more the better for this endeavor.
 

Changing oil

We need to change the oil and gear lube on 4 of the 6 Ensigns. While changing the oil can be done with the motors in place, changing the gear lube requires lifting the motors off the boats and onto the dock.

If possible, we should schedule both for week days or early morning weekends to minimize disruptions in day sailing/racing.
 

Save the Ensign Motors!

We’ve had a few incidents of an Ensign motor falling off while underway, here’s a few steps to prevent that.

2) Make sure weight is shifted aft if the motor is running, e.g. do not stand on the foredeck with the motor running if you’re the only one in the boat. This will bring the water intake just above the propeller out of the water and potentially overheat the motor.
3) After the motor starts, be sure there is a solid stream of cooling water from the bottom of the motor housing.  If not, shut down the motor, mark the boat out of service, and contact the boat captain or fleet captain asap.

4) Always shift from forward to neutral to reverse and vice versa with the throttle in IDLE (slowest) position.

5) Before tilting the motor, be sure that the gear shift lever is in the FORWARD position.

6) After sailing, run the fuel out of the carburetors by disconnecting the gas line and letting the motor run at idle or slow speed until it dies. Then, disconnect the fuel line from the motor before tilting the motor to avoid crimping or damaging the line and connectors.

Volunteers, please contact Paul Feldon at pfeldon@aol.com

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Have you been interested in racing on the Ensigns? 

We’ve been racing the Ensigns as a club for 15 years, and we’re Fleet 77 in the Ensign Class Association.

Ensigns have a rich history, with over 2000 built. Our club's oldest Ensign is the 2, which was built in 1962; the newest is the 1122 which was built in 1966. 

In order to foster a more competitive racing experience, several years ago the club acquired E323 and E722, bringing the fleet size up from 4 boats to 6.  

The Ensigns race 8 months of each year, including the annual Ocean Race in September, racing from March through October.  They typically race with a skipper and two crew.  All boats race with spinnakers. 

The current season mid-year standings are:

Depending on Ensign racing interest, we may organize two racing fleets for 2023. 

If you are interested, please contact the Ensign Fleet Captain, Tracy Williams at tw.cscsail@gmail.com
 

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Adapted from an archive article by Bill Schlafer

Without using a spinnaker, sailing dead downwind (DDW) not only feels like the slowest point of sail, but it IS the slowest point of sail. When sailing DDW the magnitude of relative wind is equal to the true wind speed minus your boat speed. 

You can liven things up a bit, get a breeze on the boat, and have more fun by sailing a few degrees to the left or right of DDW. In fact, you can often get to your downwind destination faster! Seems improbable but true.  While it's true that sailing straight downwind to your destination is the shortest length, it’s the slowest point of sail. 

The truth is by sailing a slightly longer course, but at a faster speed than achievable by sailing DDW, you can get to your destination faster, and have more fun too.   

This works because even though you're sailing a longer distance, your boat speed will increase nicely when turned off of a DDW course.  This increase in speed will compensate for the longer course, now actually two legs of an isosceles triangle. 

Here is a table that shows how much speed you have to increase above the DDW boat speed when sailing at an angle, theta (θ), either to the left or right of the DDW course.  If your speed in the direction of the angle chosen increases by the amount shown, you will match the time it would have taken to sail directly downwind to your destination.  If your speed increases more than the indicated percentage, you will get to your destination faster than sailing a straight downwind course. 

These percentage speed increases for a 15 to 25 degree off of DDW angle course are easily achievable in a Victory and make downwind sailing more fun, exciting, and likely faster!  And just for those whose minds might want to carry this to an extreme, you can see that sailing at large angles off a downwind course is theoretically possible, up to a limit, but practically, is not doable!  

To come out ahead: 

DDW = 4.00kts  then 15°= > 4.16kts   30°= > 4.64kts 

That says: if you are doing four knots dead down wind, you must do better than 4.2 knots if you bear off 15 degrees and you must do better than 4.7 knots if you bear off 30 degrees if you are to beat the dead down wind speed.   

Next time your destination is downwind, have more fun and potentially get there faster by bearing off 15 degrees or so to each side! 

 

 

Special thanks to our club members, authors, and Daniel Sission and Tracy Williams that contributed to this club newsletter!