Three Laser Sailors

As I missed sailing this weekend due to being stricken by the terrible, debilitating disease known as a Man Cold, I have had to get my Laser sailing fix by reading about the exploits of others. Thankfully there are many Laser sailing blogs out there. Here are my three favorite posts of the week...

B.J. Porter is an experience big boat sailor but has recently bought himself a Laser and, on Saturday, he started frostbiting at his local club the other side of the bay from me in Rhode Island. Sounds like he had a blast, performed better in the races than he expected, and described the experience as "The most fun an adult can have wearing a hermetically sealed rubber suit." Check out his account at Blind Squirrels...or.

B.J. Burrows (what is it with this BJ thing) is a 16-year-old living in the Bahamas just making the transition from Sunfish to Lasers. Last Thursday was his first Laser training session with a local coach in which it sounds as if B.J. learned a lot about how to sail a Laser downwind in 15 knots. His summary of the day: "I have never had so much thrill or excitement while sailing in a Sunfish as I had today in the Laser." Read all about it at Welcome to Laser Sailing...

Meanwhile at the other end of the Laser sailing skill spectrum, 2012 Olympic hopeful Clay Johnson is Training in Clearwater. I am never sure whether to be inspired or to abandon all hope when I read how hard the guys at the top of the class are working. Clay is training in Florida with some of the top Laser sailors from other countries, in what sound like perfect conditions - 89 degrees and 15 knots.

Each day we either go to the gym or bike in the morning, followed by a long session on the water in the afternoon.

The past two days we've done 15+ mile downwinds to John's Pass. We start by sailing out the inlet, work on downwinds to John's Pass, sail in the inlet, derig in our boats, and tow up the inner-coastal back to the sailing center. It makes for a pretty long and tiring day...

Phew!