Update: Andrew Campbell, 2008 Laser Olympic Rep was out on a log canoe that weekend and writes about it on his blog
Looking good
1 day ago
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Log Canoe Season Starts Today
The Chesapeake Log Canoe is the Chesapeake Bays most famous classic class with some hulls dating back to the late 1800's. Most of the owners have now hotted up the canoes with higher aspect blades, triradial sails, carbon fiber planks and the racing has a very keen fan base that watch the races from assorted powerboats. Island Blossom and Island Lark have been duking it out the past couple of years for the season championship. The class is based around St. Michaels MD but does travel to other venues on the Eastern Shore. A good YouTube showing the boardmen throwing their boards as well as the bail out after a capsize (support boat comes over and the masts have to come out first)......
Music for Friday; Joe Walsh, Funk#49
Saw Joe Walsh, early 70's in Cleveland. Memory is somewhat hazy but Joe is one mesmerizing guitar player.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Return of Eric Arens
Eric Arens was in town a week ago. He moved out to SF on the left coast some 20 years ago but we get to see him out East every five years or so. I am a member of the select club of Eric's International 14 crews back in the 70's and early 80's. From Annapolis that includes Ned Lawson, Roger Link, Dick White, Paul Weiss (somebody will have to fill me in on his West Coast crews). Eric still races the modern I14 with Alan Laflin (I think both Eric and Alan are 69 yrs in age) though they pick their days (as is their right!).
Eric learned to sail in an International 14; an extremely challenging ordeal but he persevered to become one of the top in the Annapolis fleet. Eric was always a very steady driver, you could depend on him to get around the course, sail side up, most of the time. Eric depended on his crews to give him tactical input, something rare in the 1970's, but which made crewing for him fun.
Eric was a talker; being a PHD physisist at NASA, he would sprinkle the sailing tales with interesting scientific topics. Eric was eager to learn, sailing or otherwise; if you had something interesting to talk about, he would listen intently. Just be ready for some probing questions if your logic was faulty.
After the days racing, the drill would be for Eric to help you get the I14 on the trailer and then he would be off, making his rounds of the dinghy park. It was the unwritten code of Eric's crews that you would put the I14 to bed. Eric might stop by and give you a hand and then he might not. You would shower and change and catch Eric still in his torn wetsuit and his torn canvas Topsiders..... still kibbitzing. If it was a cold day, Eric's lips were blue and he was shivering but he seemed not to notice. You would drive out and Eric was still talking. I don't know what time he got home but it drove his first wife nuts.
Tip of the hat to Bob Ames who hosted the party for old 14'ers to celebrate the return of Eric and to tell tall tales from long ago.
I'll have more from Eric Arens down the road
Eric learned to sail in an International 14; an extremely challenging ordeal but he persevered to become one of the top in the Annapolis fleet. Eric was always a very steady driver, you could depend on him to get around the course, sail side up, most of the time. Eric depended on his crews to give him tactical input, something rare in the 1970's, but which made crewing for him fun.
Eric was a talker; being a PHD physisist at NASA, he would sprinkle the sailing tales with interesting scientific topics. Eric was eager to learn, sailing or otherwise; if you had something interesting to talk about, he would listen intently. Just be ready for some probing questions if your logic was faulty.
After the days racing, the drill would be for Eric to help you get the I14 on the trailer and then he would be off, making his rounds of the dinghy park. It was the unwritten code of Eric's crews that you would put the I14 to bed. Eric might stop by and give you a hand and then he might not. You would shower and change and catch Eric still in his torn wetsuit and his torn canvas Topsiders..... still kibbitzing. If it was a cold day, Eric's lips were blue and he was shivering but he seemed not to notice. You would drive out and Eric was still talking. I don't know what time he got home but it drove his first wife nuts.
Tip of the hat to Bob Ames who hosted the party for old 14'ers to celebrate the return of Eric and to tell tall tales from long ago.
I'll have more from Eric Arens down the road
Laser Carving Downwind (vs. Finn)
No sooner did I post about Laser Carving Downwind than another YouTube popped up; this one of a Laser vs. a Finn downwind. As you watch the video you notice the Laser's course change is more radical than the Finn's. This is also one of Erik Bower's pithy observations; the Laser being lighter and more nimble than the Finn, there are more gains offwind for the Laser in the larger angles of up and down. That being said, the Finn class allows unlimited pumping when the wind is greater than 12 knots. Not sure if the wind is 12 knots but I would suspect the Olympic Finn sailors would be "air rowing" all the time in these conditions.
You may catch a glimpse of the dinghy ahead of these two, at one point rocking and rolling close to capsizing. This is a production RS300, longer, high aspect ratio fully battened rig, but the closest production singlehanded design to the narrow waterline Gen 2 Classic Moths. Mothist's who have sailed Mistral designs can sympathize. Sometimes the best way to get these Moths downwind is to eschew the fancy stuff, keep it bolt upright and steer for the mark.
You may catch a glimpse of the dinghy ahead of these two, at one point rocking and rolling close to capsizing. This is a production RS300, longer, high aspect ratio fully battened rig, but the closest production singlehanded design to the narrow waterline Gen 2 Classic Moths. Mothist's who have sailed Mistral designs can sympathize. Sometimes the best way to get these Moths downwind is to eschew the fancy stuff, keep it bolt upright and steer for the mark.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
On the Road; Brigantine NJ
The Mid Atlantic Classic Moth Championships were this past Saturday; hosted, as always, by George Albaugh at the Brigantine YC. Brigantine is the next beach town north from Atlantic City, the East Coast gambling mecca. Sailing takes place on the back bay, hemmed in by marsh but still within clear sight of the Atlantic City skyline of casinos and wind turbines. Thirteen Classic Moths showed up despite an abysmal weather forecast.
Fellow road warrior John Z. and I went up in double deck trailer mode. Saturday's forecast, like the rest of the East Coast, was for rain and more rain. Luckily Sat. dawned cloudy with no rain but shortly after launching, around 10 am, a dark line appeared in the West and rapidly ensconced our racing in moderate to heavy showers. The plan was for five short races, back to back, to avoid the predicted thunderstorms of the afternoon. Well, we avoided the thunderstorms, and thankfully, the rain let up once the racing ended only to start up with a lighter drizzle when we packed the Moths up.
It was a light air day. The start line was short and the weather mark was tucked up under the weather shore to make for some very tricky conditions. The Classic Moths are like the 6 meter keelboat class, we divide our trophies up depending on the age and the speed of the various hull designs.
Mike Parsons, who owned the favored left end of the start line the last two races, won the higher performance Gen 2 division. Joe Courter, sailing his Maser (modified Laser) registered some high finishes to take Gen 1 (slower, higher wetted surface designs) and Greg Duncan took out the Vintage Division (restored hulls from designs dating from the 1940's and older).
Your humble scribe finished third in Gen 2; getting to the weather mark OK but getting stuck in the water in the calm zone compared to the high flying Mistral designs.
Some pictures from Ingrid Albaugh. Click on picture for a larger, higher res view.
Start with Harrahs casino and wind turbines in the background.
Erik Albaugh coming to grips with the narrow waterline Mistral design.
Exiting the dead zone around the weather mark. Raining pretty hard.
Approaching the reach mark.
Fellow road warrior John Z. and I went up in double deck trailer mode. Saturday's forecast, like the rest of the East Coast, was for rain and more rain. Luckily Sat. dawned cloudy with no rain but shortly after launching, around 10 am, a dark line appeared in the West and rapidly ensconced our racing in moderate to heavy showers. The plan was for five short races, back to back, to avoid the predicted thunderstorms of the afternoon. Well, we avoided the thunderstorms, and thankfully, the rain let up once the racing ended only to start up with a lighter drizzle when we packed the Moths up.
It was a light air day. The start line was short and the weather mark was tucked up under the weather shore to make for some very tricky conditions. The Classic Moths are like the 6 meter keelboat class, we divide our trophies up depending on the age and the speed of the various hull designs.
Mike Parsons, who owned the favored left end of the start line the last two races, won the higher performance Gen 2 division. Joe Courter, sailing his Maser (modified Laser) registered some high finishes to take Gen 1 (slower, higher wetted surface designs) and Greg Duncan took out the Vintage Division (restored hulls from designs dating from the 1940's and older).
Your humble scribe finished third in Gen 2; getting to the weather mark OK but getting stuck in the water in the calm zone compared to the high flying Mistral designs.
Some pictures from Ingrid Albaugh. Click on picture for a larger, higher res view.
Start with Harrahs casino and wind turbines in the background.
Erik Albaugh coming to grips with the narrow waterline Mistral design.
Exiting the dead zone around the weather mark. Raining pretty hard.
Approaching the reach mark.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
SSA TESOD June 16
Good breeze from the NE with a tricky chop. Tip of the hat to John Z for the photos.
Laser start
505 Upwind
Laser upwind
Bill Beaver flying his International Moth
Fuller Moore, Ted Morgan on RC duty
Laser start
505 Upwind
Laser upwind
Bill Beaver flying his International Moth
Fuller Moore, Ted Morgan on RC duty
Downwind sailing; Laser carving the waves
Offwind sailing in Lasers has become very sophisticated compared to the 70's when I was racing. To facilitate surfing on waves, the top sailors have developed a radical carving technique of diving off by the lee and then heading abruptly up.
After TESOD racing, while munching on my dinner, I had the pleasure of talking offwind Laser sailing with a very articulate and knowledgable collegian, Erik Bowers, from the College of Charleston. Erik has aspirations for the Laser Olympic berth down the road but his explanations were so detailed he would make an excellent coach (he is spending the summer with the junior program at Tred Avon YC over at St. Michaels).
Here is what I gleaned from Erik;
Here is a great YouTube video with Brendan Casey using onboard audio to give his description of how he carves a Laser offwind.
After TESOD racing, while munching on my dinner, I had the pleasure of talking offwind Laser sailing with a very articulate and knowledgable collegian, Erik Bowers, from the College of Charleston. Erik has aspirations for the Laser Olympic berth down the road but his explanations were so detailed he would make an excellent coach (he is spending the summer with the junior program at Tred Avon YC over at St. Michaels).
Here is what I gleaned from Erik;
- Minimize tiller movement. Body movement and sheeting are the two keys. You must be balcanced in the Laser to facilitate rapid body movements.
- Work perpindicular to the waves. This may not be the rhumb line course. If you are not sailing the rhumb line, you may have to work one angle harder to get back to the rhumb line.
- Course change in Lasers can be up to +/- 40 degrees.
- Heading up is mostly massive sheeting in. Erik grabs three handfuls of sheet to begin the head up and also in breeze, you need to throw your weight to windward. In lighter wind, you stay centered to help the Laser head up.
- Body Movement fore and aft. If the waves are catching you, keep your weight forward, if you are faster than the waves, keep your weight back to keep the bow light.
- This technique is mostly about feel and is hard to describe in words. Erik was bouncing around in his chair trying to demonstrate.
Here is a great YouTube video with Brendan Casey using onboard audio to give his description of how he carves a Laser offwind.
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