140-240 degrees: This is back to the shifts o ff the shore scenario, the numbers game on the compass, heads out of the boat looking for the shifts and gusts. We need to know which is the lifting tack out of the starting area, and the same thing at the beginning of subsequent beats. Don't forget that as you approach the windward mark area, there may well be more lifts on port tack if the windward mark is within half a mile of the shore. 240-270 degrees: We are still in a shifty sector for the wind. However, the land mass is not only ahead of us to the west, it is also to the left and south of us, creating a convergence area of wind. We should be working the shifts on the left side of the course (looking upwind) in more pressure. And looking for the header as you go in on starboard tack towards the shore, with lifts on port as you come out. 270-330 degrees: A similar scenario to the above. Shifts, with more pressure on the left side of the course upwind. There should be lifts on port tack over on the port layline for the windward mark. Sea Breeze The signs for a sea breeze in Torbay are little or no gradient wind, clear blue sky in the early morning, with a light, western sector wind. As the and heats up, and the cumulus clouds develop, the sea breeze normally comes in from 160 degrees (ish). Then backs slightly as it fills in. It then follows the sun in the afternoon, ending up at around 240 degrees (ish) in the evening. In the afternoon, protect the starboard side of the course! Tide The main flood stream flows from south to north across the face of Torbay, and the ebb from north to south. In the bay, the flood tide may have a clockwise rotation, with a back eddy anticlockwise along the northern shore. During the ebb, there maybe an anticlockwise rotation around the bay, with a clockwise back eddy along the southern shore of the bay. All this being more so during spring tides, as there is not much movement during neaps.
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