Header Photo: Bill Moss Over the Bar

The previous header photo is of Bill Moss and John Gallagher bombing around Annapolis Harbor in the late 1970's. Bill Moss passed away suddenly this past Christmas. We were teammates for the 1981 International 14 Team Races and World Championships and remained good friends ever since, long after I exited the International 14 class. Bill was the best of the best and his drive raised my sailing to another level for that two year campaign. It was that special slice of time when we were on top of our sailing game in an unforgiving dinghy. He will be missed.

The 1981 Team Race party; Bill on the left, the blogmeister on the right.

Header Photo: Albacore Fleet on the Potomac River

The previous header photo was of the Albacore fleet from Potomac River Sailing Association racing in big breeze on the Potomac River. What is interesting about this photo is the long, low, hulking building in the background. That is the Pentagon - the center of America's military - as seen from the water. I have one other photo in my collection of sailing dinghies that features dinghies in front of a famous building - this photo of three Fireflies in front of the Houses of Parliament, which was given to me by an English team, racing in team races on Baltimore harbor.

Intercollegiate Racing; Oldster Watches and Learns

In the month of March, I volunteered two weekends helping out the Naval Academy Intercollegiate Team with Race Committee (specifically finish boat with Midshipman James Allsopp).

First up was the John Jackson/Graham Hall Team Race on March 7. Actually it was quite a balmy weekend for the beginning of March. I have done some team racing in International 14's way back in the 1970's but the sport has really advanced. They have developed a Digital N course to enhance team racing moves. This course is short with races usually not taking longer than ten minutes. We had Gavin O'Hare, team race guru (he wrote the US Sailing book on it) as PRO.



Starboard tack roundings open up some quite nifty mark traps I saw that weekend. The short close reach allows luffing duels to hold up the opposition while your teammate scoots away. The downwind legs allow plenty of opportunity to camp on your opponents air. The result was that most team races I watched that weekend were still very much in play on the final beat to the finish. Sometimes the win came down to which team could get the most boats on the starboard tack advantage coming into the finish.

Team racing has become very sophisticated and intercollegiate coaches devote a large portion of their spring practice working on the moves and countermoves. I hope to watch some more.

There is a fellow who travels the intercollegiate racing circuit and his website, Sailgroove.org , is filled with video, sailor and coaches interviews, results