Astra Race – March 2021 – 2nd Place

South Bay Family Sailing Series-March 20, 2021 Saturday, (7.5 nm.)

Saturday, March 23, 2021 was an exceptional day for sailing.  The wind was finally up so the race was going to favor the bigger boats. Dan has designed the course so it would be like America’s Cup race course, up wind and downwind.  “SailFlow” predicted the wind speed for race day to be 7-8 knots and as it turned out it was a constant 10 knots with gusts to 12 knots.  Low tide was at 9:53 and was a +1.2 ft, so the tide would be flooding during the whole race.  Predicted wind direction was to be from 270*(west), however the actual direction was from 258*(south of west).

The South San Diego Bay was a bit active on this Saturday.  There were 4 races going on simultaneously.  Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta including J-Boats, Vipers, 29ers and our South Bay Family Sailing Series.  It appears we sailed through their race course six times.  It was a bit crowded, but it looked like we stayed out of their way and many of our boats sailed away from their course.

We had our largest fleet sailing that included 13 boats.  The first group crossed the line at the noon start included: 4 boats, Blewbyou ( Bass Boat), KISS, Fast Sunday, and Mike (Death Roll).  12:04 the second group consisting of 3 boats, Miller Time III, Sanctuary, and Estate Sail.  Finally, the third group of 6 boats started at 12:08, Bon Temps, Marilee, Astra, Consigliere, Ran, and Elusive.  Looking for the first mark, buoy A we were unable to find it at the location it was supposed to be.  It appeared that someone had moved it further west, so the whole group began sailing to the new location.   Repeated legs up to buoy A and back to the start, the boats started to spread out.  The first group started to be overtaken by the late starters except for Mike and KISS who were holding their own. Boats changed positions as the race went on to the finish.  The first to cross the finish line was Elusive 13:36:26, followed by Consigliere 13:42:43, Mike 13:45:00, Marilee 13:47:15, Astra 13:47:17, Ran 13:48:54, KISS 13:49:59, Estate Sail 13:52:43, Bon Temps 13:55:15, Sanctuary 13:57:45, Bass Boat 14:05:40, Miller Time III 14:16:45, Fast Sunday 14:20:24.

We all had a GREAT TIME!  Congratulations to All racers.

Putting the corrected finish times into the Mike Collins Handicap System we find the following:

http://sailingtracker.appspot.com/?fleetChoice=sbps&dateSelected=11%2F16%2F2019&submit=Select+Race

Congratulations: 1. KISS, 2. Astra 3. Elusive

Looking for the PHRF scores for the March 2021 race I used the android app “Race Calculator”.  The PHRF handicap system reveals the following:

1. Elusive 2. Mike 3. Consigliere 4. KISS 5. Ran  6. Bon Temps 7. Marilee     8. Astra 9. Bass Boat 10. Estate Sail 11. Sanctuary 12. Miller Time III          13. Fast Sunday

CONGRATULATIONS  ALL!   GREAT DAY ON THE WATER!

Our next race is: Saturday April 17, 2021

See you on the water.   Bring a new boat to participate.

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