Facebook

Login

Support Sailonline

If you haven't already - join the SAILONLINE YACHT CLUB!

Please also consider making a donation - all amounts are greatly appreciated!

Board » Flag Officers » Races » GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE

Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

Posted by
RainbowChaser


Users avatar

Posts
2656
Registered at
2009-06-14 09:44:50
2013-10-26 16:06:34 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
NEW LINKS IN 2013

Wild Whales.org

Alaska Fisheries - Gray Whale management
______________



--- Last Edited by RainbowChaser at 2013-10-26 16:06:53 ---
Posted by
javakeda


Users avatar

Posts
73
Registered at
2013-03-01 03:18:22
2013-10-29 22:13:16 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
One of the lesser known advantages of Southern California living is the ability to go to local headlands [Point Dume, Palos Verdes] at certain times of the year and watch gray whales swim by.

Yes, it helps if you bring a 'soccer' chair, binoculars, and patience. But there are parks on both headlands with picnic areas and great ocean views. It's hard to beat that kind of serenity.

Where are these headlands?

Note that NOAA publishes free marine charts of US Coastal waters.
For those of you with mapping software like CPN, I recommend downloading charts for the areas the Gray Whales will cover.

Here are links to RNC charts by USCG District:

-- 17th USCG District, Alaska

-- 11th USCG District, Washington and Oregon


-- 13th USCG District, California


Note that each of these links take you to an 'agreement' page. That's a hoop you have to jump through before you get the charts.

________
edited to make links out of urls

--- Last Edited by RainbowChaser at 2013-10-29 22:30:06 ---
Posted by
RainbowChaser


Users avatar

Posts
2656
Registered at
2009-06-14 09:44:50
2013-10-31 10:36:40 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
First Waypoint S - Mount Westdahl

On Unimak island - this is a choke point for Gray Whales coming south (or going north in autumn) and an area where killer whales take every opportunity to predate on the Grays :-(
________
Posted by
RainbowChaser


Users avatar

Posts
2656
Registered at
2009-06-14 09:44:50
2013-11-01 10:36:45 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
Posted by
javakeda


Users avatar

Posts
73
Registered at
2013-03-01 03:18:22
2013-11-14 01:32:21 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
RACE REPORT:
Take a tip from Financial Portfolio Managers to make it through the Blue Goo!

Financial writer George Appel, starting the second paragraph of his book, "Technical Analysis: Power tools for Active Investors", makes this very simple statement:

"It's not how much you make that counts; it's how much you manage not to lose."

That, in a nutshell, is the best strategy for dealing with Blue Goo.
The key is to keep the boat moving in the general direction you want to go.
Letting the boat stop -- or even worse, go backwards -- carries a heavy penalty.

OK, great, but how do you do that ... actually?

Here are five things I did to get javakeda through the Blue Goo south-west of Middleton Island:

1) Forget about routers!
The True Wind Speeds are too slow.
The changes in True Wind Direction are too numerous.
The interpolation errors are too significant.
Under these conditions, router output is simply garbage with three decimal points.

2) Forget about setting DCs with TWAs.
Indeed, forget about DCs at all!
The wind direction is changing too rapidly to make TWAs useful
And the wind is changing too randomly to set a DC and hold any hope of accuracy.
Hand-sailing pays big rewards.

3) Pick out where you want to go and set a COG for that target's Rhumbline.
With Middleton, where I wanted to go was obvious. It was Middleton Island itself. That was the mark I needed to round.
And it was on the other side of that blob of blue in front of me.

4) Use the Wx Inspector's VMC tool to refine the COG course.
By using the VMC to the next mark, I was able to maximize progress toward that mark as the wind shifted.
At first I was on a starboard gybe, and the VMC course took me to the left of the Rhumbline to the mark.
Then, I flopped to the port gybe, and the VMC course took me the the right of the Rhumbline to the mark.
The deviations, left and right, averaged out and produced a total progress toward the mark that was greater than if I had just held on the Rhumbline.
[Not surprisingly, the gybe point was when the wind crossed the Rhumbline.]

Note that the stars were perfectly aligned for using these techniques.
They don't always work as well as they did here.

5) Use hand-routing to improve on Wx Inspectors VMC courses.
Note that I did NOT say to use a router for this. The observations in '1)', above are still valid. Routing software is useless here.
But before there was routing software, navigators routed by hand.
In Blue Goo, conditions are changing too rapidly for a 'rigorous' hand-routing.
But it is still possible to do some SOTP hand-routing and gain a little more.

In the Middleton blob, I found myself with very light airs to port and more pressure to starboard. The VMC course was taking me more to port that seemed best. I made a SOTP 'routing' decision to head directly for the 3kt wind line, and THEN figure out how to round the mark.
Actually, I spent some time with the 12hr time-slider and the polar working out when to stop heading for more pressure and start heading for the mark. That's the hand-routing part.

The result was that javekeda rounded Middleton well ahead of the rest of the fleet. The lead that rounding produced allowed me to hold off the charges of rumskib and garagiste and eke out a win.


--- Last Edited by javakeda at 2013-11-14 14:04:17 ---

--- Last Edited by javakeda at 2013-11-14 14:06:03 ---

--- Last Edited by javakeda at 2013-11-14 19:35:57 ---
Posted by
javakeda


Users avatar

Posts
73
Registered at
2013-03-01 03:18:22
2014-03-16 01:00:04 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
Because I am a subscriber, not sure if this link will work for the non-subscribers:
Ventura County Star

If it doesn't, I'll try to post an alternative.

This is to an article in the Ventura County Star [a 'stellar' local newspaper] covering the trip back north for the Gray Whales.

As this article indicates, the GW migration is important to many of us here in SoCal.

I truly appreciate SOL honoring this migration with a race.
Hope that race will be run again in future years.
_______________

--- Last Edited by RainbowChaser at 2014-03-16 23:40:56 ---
Posted by
RainbowChaser


Users avatar

Posts
2656
Registered at
2009-06-14 09:44:50
2014-03-16 23:42:24 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
Hiya javakeda - that link only loads the paper's index... doesn't go to an article. I can't see anything about Gray whales in the index shown, either.

Posted by
NZL_Scotsman


Users avatar

Posts
251
Registered at
2008-10-04 07:59:40
2014-08-11 00:44:22 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
We have two windows for the race this year, early October or mid November. I'm planning early October at the moment, but let me know if you think mid November is better.
Kevin (NZL Scotsman)
SRC Member
Posted by
RainbowChaser


Users avatar

Posts
2656
Registered at
2009-06-14 09:44:50
2014-08-11 11:47:50 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
The N-S migration starts around the end of October so perhaps November would be better but... with climate change a SOL start from Bering earlier in October would not be unreasonable :-D



--- Last Edited by RainbowChaser at 2014-08-11 11:50:11 ---
Posted by
captjack1942


Users avatar

Posts
239
Registered at
2008-01-18 03:24:03
2014-08-13 05:07:31 - Re: GRAY WHALE MIGRATION RACE
Well is is August here in central Cal, but we have both Grays and Humpbacks here around Monterey Bay. You'd think the Grays would be up north now, but there is a huge amount of small fish and krill here now.

Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

Please login to post a reply.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m

Current Races:

Bay to Bay 2025 - Leg 1 - Great Sandy Strait

Prepare for an electrifying start to the 2025 Bay to Bay Yacht Race! In partnership with the Hervey Bay Sailing Club, this first leg will see our SOLers take on a fast-paced, 16-nautical-mile sprint through the stunning waters of the Great Sandy Marine Park, weaving past the breathtaking landscapes of the Great Sandy National Park. Racing in high-powered 18-foot skiffs, the fleet will battle shifting winds, tricky tactics, and fierce competition—all in pursuit of victory! With the thrill of the race and an unforgettable sailing experience ahead, we can’t wait to see you on the start line!
Race #1905
INFO from brainaid.de
18ft Skiff PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: B2B - SYC
Race starts: May 03rd 01:00 Registration will open soon
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Regata dell’Accademia Navale 2025

Welcome to Sailonline’s first partnership with the City of Livorno, in cooperation with the local yacht clubs and the Italian Navy, to offer you the online opportunity to race the Regata dell’Accademia Navale. 630nm in length, starting and finishing in Livorno, the race takes you the length and breadth of the Tyrrhenian Sea via Porto Cervo and Capri. Online, you will be sailing a Class 40, which should keep you well in with the top of the real-life fleet which we will be tracking on screen!
Race #1902
INFO by brainaid.de
Class 40 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC
Race starts: Apr 27th 09:00 Registration Open!

▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Gulf of St Lawrence 2025


The Gulf of St. Lawrence, with one of the largest and deepest estuaries in the world, will be the site of a completely new race in SOL. Our Melges 40 will take us 950 nm from Bathurst in Baie des Chaleurs around the islands of Anticosti, Pelee and Prince Edward admiring beautiful landscapes along the way. Fair winds.
Race #1910
INFO from brainaid.de
Melges 40 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking:
ARQ2 - ARCH - SUPSOL – SYC
RACE CLOSE: Friday,
May 2 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Apr 21st 17:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Transat à Deux 2025

Above you see a single-handed sailor semi-foiling his Beneteau Figaro III to the horizon. It is in fact Ireland’s Sailor of the Year and the overall winner of last year’s Solitaire du Figaro, Tom Dolan. Somehow, we got our hands on a polar for the Class, and rather than trying to surreptitiously track Tom and his mates in the 2025 edition of the Solitaire, sailing rather-short, single-handed legs across the Celtic Sea and Biscay, we thought we’d see how our virtual craft would fare on the Class’s double-handed 3900nm Trans-Atlantic, from somewhere in Brittanny to somewhere in the Caribbean via somewhere in the Canaries. Allez, mes braves!
Race #1901
INFOby brainaid.de
Figaro III foil PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC
Race starts: Apr 20th 11:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Sinbad by Balloon 2025 - Toamasina to Baia de l'Oiseau


You may recall that when last we visited Madagascar in the company of Sinbad, the Sultan commanded our intrepid inspirator to seek out fabled islands where in Summer the sun barely set. We did and we returned but the Sultan wasn’t happy with Sinbad’s report, so here we go again, now by SOL Balloon instead of sailing vessel. Expect to be in the air for at least 2100nm and depending on how the wind brings us, anything between two weeks and two months before we shall descend at the Sultan’s given coordinates!
Race #1884
INFOby brainaid.de
SOL Balloon PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - SBB
Race starts: Apr 09th 11:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Valparaiso to San Francisco 2025

Get ready for an exhilarating new challenge as we set sail on the fourth leg of the 2025 Ocean Championship Series! Following in the 19th century footsteps of Isabel Allende's heroine, Eliza Sommers, 'Daughter of Fortune', this all-new route takes us across the vast eastern Pacific, from Valparaíso, Chile, to San Francisco, California - a 3500nm journey of endurance, strategy, and pure sailing adrenaline. This leg will be raced aboard the powerful Rapido 60, pushing sailors to their limits as they navigate the open ocean. Do you have what it takes to conquer the Pacific? Join us and put your skills to the ultimate test!
PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1900
INFO by brainaid.de
Rapido 60 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: OCQ2 - OCCH - SUPSOL - SYC
Race starts: Apr 07th 11:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Go to race archive

SYC Ranking

  1. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Patrick70119
  2. Sailonline Yacht Club Member WRmirekd
  3. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CriticalHippo
  4. Sailonline Yacht Club Member KaSToR
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member FreyjaUSA
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member vida
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rumskib
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Kipper1258
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member bonknhoot

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

SYC members have the benefit of access to our mobile/lightweight web client!

The mobile client