DaySailer.org Forum

Tim, yeah I thought it could be misunderstood that way. In similar conditions my track would have looked pretty much the same - and I do have practice short-tacking, because I have to short tack either on the way to or from the dock

For me, this is about what conclusions you can draw given a GPS track. I've been playing with my GPS recently and have tried to see what I can learn about conditions from investigating the tracks. In particular, I've been trying to see whether I can spot wind shifts and currents, given some basic assumptions about what I was doing on a given leg (like sailing directly upwind).

In John's track can't see the 2 knots of current - at least not during the time they did their first group of tacks.

All I know is what the reported current was. Perhaps the current was less during the first set of tacks since we were further from the source. The second set we made very little progress.

John

Very little progress indeed. Short-tacking like this is a sore trial of patience even in the absence of current, and especially if the winds are light. I remember once spending over an hour short tacking a few hundred feet in a narrow channel (about one barge's width) with the wind blanketed so it would only really blow near one of the shores (the rest had to be by momentum). (I've since made a point of motoring through there , but that time was to please a friend who felt he wanted to do it all under sail).

I think you did the right thing by motoring through there, and the generous thing by towing the DS!

Just couldn't leave the DS behind.

John

jeadstx wrote:Just couldn't leave the DS behind.

No, indeed.

Nice write-up, John. Thanks for that and for the kind words about Reservoir Dog. And thanks for your advice regarding beefing the boat up for the event.
Every few weeks I come across another article written about this year's race and it's like I'm there again.
The event was so much freakin' fun! From the schizo winds (high and low) to the navigation to the people...great times! If it wasn't for the crappy long-distance drive to get there and back from Denver I would sign up again in a second.

One quick story y'all may enjoy: On day three--the long day--my crew (John Rudden) and I tied up at Snoopy's marina to grab a deli sandwich and a cold Coca-Cola (we didn't bring a cooler) and poop in a proper toilet (instead of disgracing a hastily dug beach hole, as we had been doing along the route). I grabbed the trash bag out of the cuddy and handed it to John on the dock to dispose of in a dumpster. Later that evening while anchored at Paul's Mott, exhausted after beating and reaching for about 11 hours, we began unloading the boat to set up camp. John was usually the unloader (wedged uncomfortably in the cuddy, legs sticking out) so he would pass me bags and I would transport them to the beach. He pulled out the other trash bag, which was supposed to be filled with our MREs for each nights' dinner and discovered it was actually the trash. In my haste at Snoopy's I had handed John our food thinking it was the trash bag. John was so rightfully pissed off. For the rest of the event we would have to eat only from our snack bag. There was plenty to eat--John stocked it well--but energy bars, jerky, crackers and canned tuna got old pretty fast. Thankfully on the last night, around the picnic table, the event coordinators grilled off a bunch of extra food that would have otherwise gone to waste, and we gratefully enjoyed turkey sausage and some baked beans. My wife, knowing the situation, was kind enough to meet us at the finish line at Magnolia Beach carring styrofoam boxes full of hamburgers and fries.

Glad you enjoyed it. I'm working on the full article.

John

My full article for the 2014 Texas 200 has been added to the Tx200 archives. I didn't send my article to the DS Quarterly this year since I sailed an O'Day Mariner.

The article is at http://www.texas200.com/2014/2014%20Texas%20200.pdf

John

John

Good read. Thanks

SD

Thanks

John