It reminds us that the Brits and others sail, and even race, on some very small waters that, in the States, nobody would consider suitable for sailing.
There is one small water venue that I am familiar with in the good ole US of A, a venue the Classic Moths try to go to once a year; the Cooper River SC, just outside of Philadelphia, PA, on a dammed up river of about 240 meters at it's widest. Our current Classic Moth National Champ, Mike Parson, hails from this Cooper River SC and the shiftier the conditions get, the more Mike motors to the front. A pic of Mike at this years Nationals..........
A video from France that shows Ponant class sailboats short tacking on a very narrow body of water...........
My post on the Brigham Scows, another river class is over here.
wow - those were both cool videos. I can't hardly imagine trying to sail on a river against the current! I know that years ago, the Sunfish class used to "race" down the Connecticut River, but I don't know that they ever sailed back up against the current.
ReplyDeleteI see in your profile that you started the sailing club at Miami (OH). I lived about 15 miles straight west of Oxford, near Brookville Lake for a few years. I sailed my Super Porpoise (a Sunfish clone) there a couple times, not as much as I would have liked... but I didn't have a trailer to pull it at the time.
cheers, my2fish
Aaah, Cooper River! I did race in a Laser regatta there once. What a place!
ReplyDeleteThere was hardly any wind and so we drifted along the ditch one way, circled round a little triangle of buoys where the ditch was a bit wider, and then drifted back along the ditch to the club. It's really challenging to go fast in those conditions. That's why sailors from clubs like that are often so fast.