Home	Spring Meeting at GGYC 3/17/18

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

What a fun way to kick off the 2018 Islander 36 Association season! 48 people, representing 23 boats gathered at Golden Gate Yacht Club for the event. The full list of attendees is just before the pictures.

The weekend got off to a good start with 5 boats arriving at Golden Gate Yacht Club by Friday evening. Zenith, Ophira, Natural High, Green Flash and Freedom Won socialized on the docks, then enjoyed a great Golden Gate YC dinner overlooking the bay. Commodore DaPrato raved about the terrific soup.

Saturday morning's sky was not the typical SF Bay sky. Big, billowy cumulus with black bottoms alternated with radiant blue. Rain and virga fell to the southwest, and north - northeast. But GGYC was dry and the Bay softly brushed by light northwest winds.

GGYC General Manager Bob Mulhern and his talented and responsive crew of Chloe, Jimmy, Martine, Santos, Nario and Stacy set up beautiful tables and tended a friendly and flowing bar. Race Chair Eric Mueller brought fun I-36 Season Calendars, and Rick & Sandy helped fold them and place one at every plate. Treasurer Roy Samuelson, with Melinda and Commodore Bob DaPrato's help, set up the sign-in table, complete with name tags and Islander burgees. Shortly after 1100 the crowd started rolling in.

Shortly after noon the two Bobs put their heads together and declared lunch was ready and directed tables to the buffet line. The GGYC crew laid out a delicious buffet of Salmon and Tri-Tip with salad, asparagus and au gratin potatoes. By 1215 the lunch line was moving quickly. As dessert time rolled around, Rick Van Mell called the group to attention to celebrate Pat Salvo's birthday, complete with a cake and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday To You." The GGYC crew cut the cake and passed it out.

Commodore DaPrato then introduced Kame Richards of Pineapple sails to give a presentation on the art of sail setting. In Bob's usual humorous style, he pointed out that Kame had the idea to start a sail making business over beers with a buddy, has typically sailed 3 days a week for 20 years, including on San Francisco Bay (duh), the California coast Hawaii, Mexico, Great Lakes, Australia and New Zealand. Now Pineapple Sails turns out 5-600 sails per year at costs ranging from $350 to $5,000.

Kame pointed out that whether racing or cruising, setting sails correctly leads to both speed and safety. He quipped that men seem to think that having the rail down and a manly, tight fisted half turn on the helm was macho. Perhaps explaining why many women aren't interested in steering. But, Kame noted, the guys have it all wrong. Too much heel and rudder angle slow you down. What's possibly wrong is the sails are too big or too full. Get those right, and steering is light and responsive -- and the boat is faster and safer.

He started with the ultimate challenge of going to windward efficiently. When close hauled, the jib is trying to pull the forestay to leeward, creating a curved luff. That reduces the distance between the leading edge (the luff) and the back edge (the leech) and makes the sail "rounder" or, technically, adds "draft" to the sail. That develops more power, particularly heeling which will slow you down in heavy breeze, and limits how closely you can point into the wind. One good solution is to tighten the backstay to pull the forestay tighter - stretching the sail back out and making it "flatter" which reduces heel and increases the ability to point into the wind.

However, there is a limit to how much tension you should put on the backstay so as not to try to bend the boat! One way to determine how much backstay tension is enough, while at a mooring or dock, is to run a line from the stern pulpit forward, past the mast, over the bow pulpit and hang a heavy weighted bucket on the end of the line. Then mark the mast at the spot where the line passes it. Now start tightening the backstay with your adjuster until the line rises, even a little bit, above the mark on the mast. This means the bow and stern have been pulled up and you are bending the boat. Back off the adjuster until the line is at the mark and record the position. That is the maximum amount you should put on the adjuster. (A consequence of too much pressure can be found at our "Smile Crack" page: http://islander36.org/smile/smile.html .

When it really blows, sometimes it's better to just use the headsail and drop the main. That reduces heel angle and the force of the main trying to bring the boat up into the wind. This reduces the need to turn the rudder, which reduces drag.

When there are big puffs and you heel, just letting the traveler down only marginally helps. It's better to ease the sheet which allows the boom to rise and lets the top of the main twist off to spill air and reduce heel.

Also in gusts, by turning into the wind just in advance of the puff you reduce the total sail area exposed to the wind and thus reduce the heeling effect. When the puff passes, bear off just a little and continue on. The boat that steers least goes fastest.

Use yarn or telltales on the luff of headsails to see if the wind is flowing evenly on both sides. In most cases, having them parallel on the inside and outside is ideal as the wind is flowing smoothly on both sides. In really heavy wind, having the inner telltale flying up may be the best way to reduce power and keep the boat more upright. A maximum heel of 20 degree is best. (Keep the rail at least 6" out of the water.)

Going downwind, use the vang to control the twist in the main. In light weather, a rigid vang can hold the boom up to create some draft in the main.

Finally, Kame demonstrated how just a 1% change in the length of a chord can create a very large change in the draft of a sail. That means a 1% change in the chord of the jib with halyard tension, or a change in the main outhaul can be critical.

Kame noted that sailing with friends and competitors is a great way to get different ideas. Maybe finding out that what you are doing is great, or learning there are better ways to do things.

Kame finished by thanking the I-36 Association for their $250 contribution to his Community Sailing Program that gets kids and adults out on the water.

Then Commodore DaPrato called the business meeting to order, starting off calling for an acceptance of Treasurer Roy Samuelson's report on the tables. Motion made, seconded and approved.

Membership Chair Jocelyn Swanson recognized new members Linda & Steve Ritz with Full Circle, and noted we've had 7 new members so far in 2018, including returning long time member Frank Burkhart with Island Girl.

Race Chair Eric Mueller passed out pocket-sized copies of the I-36 2018 Events Calendar (see pictures below), and encouraged boats to come out and join the fun.

Commodore Bob DaPrato switched hats and extolled the cruise schedule for the year, encouraging all to come to the April 14th Bay Model cruise and talked up the idea of a Giants Game cruise to be coordinated with John Melton.

All hands celebrated and brought the meeting to a close about 1445.

Boat	Owner & Crew
Bella Luna	Bob DaPrato & Maria Santiago
Blaze	Chris Rossiter
Celebration	Ken & Miriam Rappolt + 2
Everyday	Gail & Merv Giacomini
Falcon	Bruce & Donna Hallberg
Freedom Won	John & Nanci Melton
Full Circle	Linda & Steve Ritz
Geja	Andrew Vik
Green Flash	Liz Munnally and Mike Patterson + 3
Island Girl	Frank Burkhart
Kindred Spirits	Don & Barbara Henderson
Mischief	Charles & Kathryn Hodgkins
Natural High	Dennis & Judy Bush
Ophira	Gary & Pat Salvo
Serenity	Eric Mueller
Shalinda	Tim & Linda Barnes, Dave & Sharon Hanna
Some Day	Roy & Melinda Samuelson
Vanishing Animal	Rick & Sandy Van Mell
Wild Horses	Ruby & Rob Benderman, Rebecca
Wind Catcher	Doug Ford & Leah
Windwalker	Rich Shoenhair
Zenith	Bill Nork
Zingara	Steve & Jocelyn Swanson

Pictures (so far) by Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Saturday morning ...	Green Flash	Bella Luna	Ophira	Zenith
Natural High	Nice sterns ...	and flags ...	This cloud ...	is towering!
Beautiful new paint ...	logo and varnish ...	deck and ...	mast collar.	Commodore Bob ...
with Maria & Roy.	Registration table ...	and name tags.	Set up time ...	tables look great ...
nice cards ...	outside ...	inside ...	Beautiful!	Let fun begin!
On race deck ...	Liz and Mike	Eric and Bill	Don, Barb, Nanci, Kathryn	Judy and Ruby
Gary, Frank, Dennis	Celebration crew	Sandy and Ken	Steve and Eric	Green Flash crew
Rob, John, Maria, Rebecca	Nasty to the north.	Linda and Steve	Merv, Gail and Chris	Bob and Bob ...
declare lunch!	Smiles first.	Celebration and Frank	Shalinda crew.	Gary, Pat, Kathryn, Charles
Roy, Jocelyn, Steve, Bruce, Donna	Donna, Don and Barbara	Sandy, Linda, Steve	Kame and Roy	Kame Richards' goodies
Rick and Sandy!	Buffet ...	Great greens ...	great hot!	Full house ...
all around.	J 105 start.	Andrew, Ruby, Rob	Doug and Leah	Bill + Green Flash crew
Jocelyn, Steve Bruce, Donna, Don & Barbara	Pat, Kathryn, Charles Nanci and John	Ken, Frank, Kame, Bob and Maria	J 105's again.	Birthday girl Pat.
Kame begins ...	luff tension display	all about curves!	Keep it upright!	Eric's race report
Natural High's mascot ...	5 month old Buddy.	The End.

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