lesson in racing

[sailbadthesinner]

so saturday around midday i go to the local sailing club and hang around looking for chap whose name i had been given that he may need crew.
this time took my peice of paper with all the names i needed.

i meet the chap and help him rig his boat which he quite clearly cherishes more than life itslef. now these are GP 14s. but they are not the wooden hulks of my memory. they are light and fast and have lots more bits of string.
the chap explains that he will take me out if he has time pre race. but is also at pains to point out he now has a crew and wants to win some races so does not really want to break in a new crew. i fully understand and tell him whilst i can pootle and potter the spinnaker is new to me and could not claim to be competetive.
i understand exactly his position. we go out and he lets me helm and trys me out as crew. it is at this point i start to feel like a pig at a fair. he asks me my weight and gets me to do a few manouevres. after a short while he announces that i can helm and crew ( the spinny aside) and might be 'of some use in the future' he then annouces i can borrow his spare gp anytime i want to take one of my scouts out or want to racing sans spinnker. i thank him sincerely and inside i leap for joy

back on shore i am grabbed by someone else who offers to take me out after second race.
by now wind and light are fading
i ask to be shown the manouevre for the spinny
basically the crew does all but the halyard. the gybe manouvre was done and i flew it (very badly i have to say) looking at the speed these guys do when racing i am lost in admiration. it turns out the boat we are on belongs to a guy who has just won the irish nationals this year and the club has one uk and one world champion in the gp fleet.
anyway everyone was really friendly and more than happy to let me stumble about their boat and sit patiently showing me the ropes.
if you can stand the cold its great fun and i can't wait to get racing.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=red>if guinness is good for you. i must be very very good</font color=red>

 

[cameronke]

Back to basics

I recently got myself a wee Laser to get back to basics when my E-Boat is laid up over the winter. Was out both Saturday and Sunday over the weekend and forgot just how much real fun dingies are. A nice keel boat is all very pleaant but when it comes to a reasonably hot dinghy its grin factor 10. I had lots of adventures with the mainsheet which manages to snagg everywhere, had a swim in front of the Cal Mac ferry and got ashore as it got dark with some spectacular bruises and my tongue bleeding from having bit it. No idea when these injuries occurred as I was totaly peoccupied with keeping the bloody thing upright. I would reccommend getting a dinghy (and a good dry suit) to ward off the winter no-sailing blues
Regards to all

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[jimi]

Re: Back to basics

Laser. The thing that annoys me most about this is when the mainsheet snags on the transom when gybeing .. reckon abot 50% of my capsizes come from that .. the rest come when sailing by lee and capsizing to windward .. great fun ... but think I'd raher be on a keelboat in the winter and a dinghy in the summer;-)

<hr width=100% size=1>O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

 

[claymore]

Re: Back to basics

Jimmi
Grab a handful of main and pull it over as you go into the gybe - then you won't have the slack to snag on the back corner.

<hr width=100% size=1>regards
Claymore
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[ParaHandy]

Re: lesson in racing No 1: weight

A very few yrs ago whilst taking part in National Champs, an ex-world champion passed us as if standing still. On chatting to this geezer (weight 8 st) discovered that crew was his son (6 st). his total weight was less than half ours. one race, which got completely out of control, the aforementioned midgets were being trounced by yours truly and all other tubs of lard in wind F7+ but the race officer abandoned the race when the leeward mark took off downwind ....

No 2: know your racing rules. watch out for single-handed sailors. to keep themselves amused they chant the rules to themselves before going to bed at night and will quote some obscure case law which occurred years ago to justify why their bow is impaled in your hull ...

No 3: skiff racers
these characters are the Schumachers of the racing world ... or think they are. main thing to avoid is engaging them in conversation at the bar. they will have glazed look in their face, be drinking orange juice and will shuffle off to bed (claiming exhaustion) at 8pm

No 4: mixed fleet racing
nothing they like better if yr boat not so manoeuvrable is whipping inside at a mark forcing you to crash gybe/tack/sink/capsize. has its consolations though if in a bunch of laser sailors. this lot don't give a sh*t and will be found at the back of the fleet. many pleasant hours spent chatting away whilst pootling toward a mark

No 5: race officers
are a rule unto themselves although putting tiny little dink into his newly painted hull (he was committee boat) at the start not wise if you want to win anything ....

hope this helps ...


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[qsiv]

Re: Back to basics

... also, an appliaction of tank tape over the quarter will reduce the risk of the sheet snagging.

If you want some hardcore Laser tips, you could do worse than <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.roostersailing.com>these people</A>.


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[Aja]

Re: Back to basics

You have got me thinking..... must dig out the Laser and have a blast on Boxing Day to the amusement of the rest of the family.

My only problem is that the Kyles does get a tad empty at this time of year, I might end up off Arran two days later, although a good SW breeze does kick up some immense planing waves.

Where are you sailing? Is there a rescue boat?

Regards

Donald

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[Sybarite]

Re: Back to basics

Is there a deck house version?

John

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[Twister_Ken]

Kidology

Go to any open meeting and the also-rans flock around the winner's boat like zoo-visitors at penguin-feeding time. They will be surreptiously testing shroud tension, trying to work out how the five block cascading kicker is rigged, noticing the drilled-for-lightness tiller extension, etc.

This provides a heaven sent opportunity for the champion with a practical joking bent. They can amuse themselves doing pointless things like fitting red and green toestraps, putting numbered strips against everything that moves, and polishing the mainsheet sheeves with Brasso, certain that at the next open meeting everybody else will be doing the same.

Be warned, they may even have a sheet of numbers fixed to the boat saying things like "F3. Upwind, jib fairlead 127mm inboard and 67 mm aft. Main halyard 45 kg, Jib halyard 37 kg. Traveller 43%" These numbers are not the fruits of extensive boat-on-boat testing, but something they made up around a pub table in midwinter. They keep the real sheet of numbers in the thigh pocket of the driver's dry-suit where no one else can see it.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[ParaHandy]

Re: lesson in racing No 6: plumbing skills

.. show absolutely no aptitude in this skill otherwise you will be volunteered to sort out the showers which had been previously installed by a short-sighted, one legged, one handed, bloke who happened to be passing by twenty years ago ..... same bloke who does holding tanks, i've no doubt

in fact, better to deny any building type skill as roof of clubhouse is leaking as if not there and was also installed by ......

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[cameronke]

Re: Back to basics

Hi Donald
I sail from Toward sailing Club just across from Rothesay Bay. Rescue boat? sometimes but I do tend to go out later in the day when most others have gone ashore. Had the whole of the eastern end of the Kyles to myself both Saturday and Sunday.

Hi Jimi
You hit it on the head. My capsize (now upon reflection) was caused by the mainsheet getting caught round the rear corner. I have also managed to get it caught round the tiller, leg, kneck etc etc. Reckon I need to focus on technique.

Regards
Cameron

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[ParaHandy]

Re: lesson in racing No 7: Fred

Fred is the club handyman, very personable and helpful. nobody knows for sure where he came from or what he does for the rest of the week but he was most likely the plumber for lesson No 6 ...

Fred had an idea and talked to Dave the club factor over a drink. Dave was a bit woozled by this time and as Fred's plan was explained - painting one of the faded rib safety boats - Dave who was a plank or two short of a tree reckoned a skin of paint might hold the air in better, nodded assent and resumed inspection of the 18 year old bosom of the club's newest recruit ...

Fred duly painted the rib which now moults red paint onto anyone and everybody who comes anywhere near it. as a safety boat it never saved anybody as nobody was prepared to lean over the moulting cylinders to pick somebody out of the water .....


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