What Sailors should know about Log Racing
Racing sailors know how frustrating it can be when, during a race, they have to change course not because of shifting winds but because other non-racing recreational boats, ferries or freighters, oblivious of the race, insist on crossing ahead of them. Similar situations arise during so-called “log races” which are, in spite of all the talk about high fuel prices, still quite popular among motor boaters on Puget Sound, Lake Washington. and the Strait of Georgia.
Sailors vary widely as to what they think about motor boaters. Many sailors consider these fellow boaters of the motoring kind as people from a much darker side of the world, often up to the very moment when they finally switch themselves to a “stink pot” due to high age or spousal preferences. Regardless, there are many sailors who would not mind to accomodate motor boaters if they just would know why it might be important for a motorboat captain to maintain a given course and speed.
That is where log racing comes in. “Racing” is meant here not as speed maximizing behavior but as a contest between navigators honing their skills of estimating the effects of winds and currents as well as the knowledge of their boat. Speed through the water is usually a constant in the sense that the skipper identifies it before the race and then estimates how long it takes for the boat to cover the distance between two marks as well as for the course as a whole. Ultimately, the skipper with the lowest percentage estimation error is the winner of the race. There are first, second and third winners in overall ranking in addition to ranking within (speed) classes. Results below 1% are generally superb and — for obvious reasons — easier to achieve on Lake Washington than in Rich Passage. Talking about Rich Passage, it is probably no accident that the historically largest and most popular of these log races is the “Heavy Weather” contest run by the Bremerton Yacht Club since the 1930ties on a Saturday or Sunday in mid-February (This Web page also documents the fact that log races around here are not mere contests on the water, but also social events in the Clubhouse).
An observer (referee) is assigned to each boat who makes sure that all speed, course and navigational rules of the IPBA (International Power Boat Association) are followed. Among the forbidden navigational tools are usually all watches, cell phones and SOG (speed over ground) devices such as GPS. After the end of the race, the actual “Contest Log” is compared with the “Predicted Log” for the determination of the error percentages.
The implication for the conscientious, tolerant and good-natured sailor are clear. When you see a string of motor boats followings each other at similar speeds between obvious markers, chances are you may “do good” by for once giving up your sailor’s right-of-way and not getting into the middle of the contestants forcing them to change course. I guess, a good way of identifying log racers may be to use your binoculars and look at the skippers’ serious and determined race faces.
More about log racing can be learned by visiting this explanatory Web site. For a good way to study what is going on here in the Puget Sound area, go to the IPBA Upcoming Events page.
