I Threw My Drysuit Away!

Last summer I took a look at my very old, seldom used dry suit and decided it was time to toss it. I haven't sailed frostbite in dinghies in decades and the rather laborious task of replacing dry-rotted seals just wasn't worth it. I guess I've reached the point where I'm quite happy watching other dinghy sailors sail in freezing water, even if I have to suffer being a very cold spectator myself.

Here is a well done video of a cold, cold regatta, an intercollegiate regatta in 420's, shot in slow motion by a professional videographer, Doug Jensen. This video was shot in New England in March; a time when the air temperature may be on the way up but the water is still just a tad above freezing. Brrr!


SONY PMW-F55 Center Scan Mode Testing -- Part 2 from Doug Jensen on Vimeo.

Another 420 slow motion video in a post on Earwigoagin -plus some comments.

Racing on the Gorge

A neat compendium of video shorts of dinghy and foiler racing on the Columbia Gorge. (There's even an old fart handling the Laser downwind with aplomb.)


Sail the Gorge! from Bill Symes on Vimeo.


And going back in the Earwigoagin archives are two videos of the insane Laser Long Distance Race in the Gorge. Click over here and over here .

Race Committee for Thistles; October 9,10

I was Vice Chair for the Thistle Oyster Bowl at SSA on October 8,9. I was expecting to take a camera along and take a pic or two for Doryman, but we had little to no wind. We did squeeze a race off late Saturday in about 5 knots to make it a regatta, but Sunday only teased us with some light breezes in the Severn River; flat calm remained in the Bay. The regatta was called by noon.

The Thistle Class is doing as well as any dinghy class on the Eastern seaboard. Talking with class stalwart Don Moore he can list all the clubs where the class was once strong in the 1960's and 1970's and popular regattas were held, but now.... nothing. But that is how it is with all dinghy classes (with maybe the possible exception of the Lasers). It amazes me the small clubs and lakes the Thistles are still sailed. There are the Pennsylvania lake clubs outside of Philadelphia that I've never heard of. There is also a communal fleet of Thistles that are wet sailed all summer in New Castle Delaware. I have said it before; there is no better sailing dinghy to drift about a lake than a Thistle.

I was puzzling why even fiberglass Thistles have wood gunwhales and wood trim and found out it was a class rule,enforced so the class wouldn't look too plastic. Good rule! I also noted that two of the skippers had been sailing coaches in a previous life. In talking with one of the ex-coaches, I found it interesting, that after coaching kids in plastic 420's and Lasers, they were attracted to a classic dinghy like the Thistle.

I came across a YouTube of an intercollegiate regatta sailed down the road on the Potomac River on the same weekend. You get a good feeling on how the wind teased but ultimately became a no-show.

A Great Roll Tack Primer; Courtesy of Intercollegiate Sailors

The US Intercollegiate Nationals (Womens, Team Racing, Doublehanded) is taking place at Cascade Locks on the Columbia River, Oregon. One can get the feel of the skills, practice and athleticism of the current intercollegiate sailor in the following video featuring roll tack after roll tack after roll tack. Video taken at the Navy 2010 Trux Umsted Regatta.

Wait..... eyes don't trick me now!

I had one of those double take moments last Wednesday, 7:15 am, just after I crested the hill on Route 450, opposite the Naval Academy. Framed by the new Severn River bridge was one of the Navy 44 sloops, blue and gold spinnaker drawing beautifully in the early morning mist. As I stopped at the intersection, I could pick out five of the Navy 44 sloops spread out on the Severn River, fronting the Academy, all with their spinnakers up and drawing. But wait..... what was this?...... all five were furiously going backward under motor; the only way they could fly their spinnakers in the dead morning calm. Trying to keep one eye on the road, I digested such a bizarre sight. The conclusion.........obviously a photo op designed to take advantage of the ethereal early morning light. I wonder if those in the know will be able to pick out the stern wake in those photos?

Hiking Inversion

This amusing video, taken during an intercollegiate regatta, appeared not quite a year ago over at Sailgroove.org . It shows the crew hiking inverted; his torso in the boat, feet hanging over the side, while he frantically bails out his 420.

Watch more video of Groovy Move of the Week on sailgroove.org

Junior Sailor to Intercollegiate Sailor; Where did the Nice come from?

This past October, I did another weekend stint of Race Committee for the Naval Academy's Women's Fall Regatta. Warm weather, lightish winds and skilled women dinghy sailors going at it. Watching intercollegiate regattas over the past three years, there is one conundrum that has percolated up in my brain.

How is it that junior sailors, who seem to be very rules averse, (see my post about the cheating at the Laser Radial ACC's ) become magically transformed as intercollegiate sailors. For the most part intercollegiate sailors know the rules, acknowledge infractions on the water, and do their penalties. During the Women's Fall Regatta, out of 30 or so races there were only four or five protests filed.

Two instances from the weekend stand out in my mind.

1. I watched a St. Mary's sailor, who after finishing, was earnestly discussing an incident from the previous race with a fellow competitor. The discussion was calm and her hands were active in painting the boats positions. This rules discussion was treated as learning experience with the expectation that this wouldn't happen again.
2. At the finish boat, in one race we had a strong flood that had closed the starboard lane into the finish down to about 4 feet; below that you had to tack onto port to cross the line. This created one of those sailing black holes you see every once in a while. Those who tacked onto port were blanketed by starboard tackers and then slowed to a standstill by the flood. More boats piled into this zone, confronted by port tackers completely stopped, and more starboard tackers ended up below the safe zone and were now tacking. It was a mess. But there was no yelling and the poor port tackers were doing their damndest to flop back onto starboard to avoid fouling right of way boats. If I had been involved in that scrum, I would have stood up in my boat and railed against the race committee, the weather gods, the flooding tide and so on. But, thankfully, these women were much more mature.

So how is a junior sailor, who is now competing with dubious morals, molded into a responsible, mature intercollegiate competitor?

Is it?

1. Peer Pressure - There seems to be an expectation among intercollegiate competitors that if you foul, you will do your turns.
2. Coaching - Certainly in college racing with no throw outs, the college coach wants consistent good finishes. A DSQ for a silly foul where the sailor neglected to do penalty turns is a definite no-no. It adds a ton of points to the teams overall score.
3. Lack of parental involvement - There are parents watching the college racing but the key is - they are watching... they are not coaching, they are not haranguing the race committee, or the coaches, or their kids.

This is not to say that once intercollegiate sailors return to regular sailing they don't attempt to pull a fast one every so often on us oldsters.

A week later, the Naval Academy ran the coed Trux Umstead Regatta in lots of breeze. Here is a video of the 420's and Flying Juniors approaching and rounding the offset mark.

Classic Mothist at Heart

From Sailgroove, a video of Ken Legler, head coach of Tufts University, and his nonconformist approach to intercollegiate sailing. None of the standard Flying Junior's or Collegiate 420's for Ken and the Tufts Sailing Team. Seems that Ken is wired like a Classic Mothist. Welcome to the club Ken!

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