Monday, February 08, 2010

ALPO - the Secret Formula for Winning Laser Races


One of the latest videos to go viral on the liberal youtuby bloggyspherie thingie is of Sarah Palin reading cues written on the palm of her left hand to answer questions when she was being tossed softball questions interviewed after her speech at the Tea Baggers Tea Party Convention last weekend. Apparently those liberal elite types think it's hilarious that someone who considers herself to be presidential material should need a cheat sheet to answer tough questions such as, "If you were president what would be your top three priorities?"

I disagree. I don't begrudge Mrs. Palin her Cliff Notes. In fact she has given me a terrific idea to improve my Laser sailing. I wrote last week in Brain Freeze how I keep forgetting important tactical principles when I am racing in the frostbite fleet. So now I just need to write cheat notes on my hand and I won't forget them again.

No wait. That won't work. I wear black latex gloves when frostbiting and I won't be able to read anything written on them.

Hmmm. WWSD. What would Sarah do?

Let's see. The three points she had difficulty in remembering were...
  • Tax cuts
  • Energy
  • Allow America's spirit to rise again


Wait a minute. Couldn't she have used an acronym to help remember those three points? T.E.A. That would have been easy. After all she was at the Tea Baggers Tea Party Convention.

So what acronym could I use?

The four things I need to remember when Brain Freeze sets in are

  • Avoid the crowd on the start line
  • Look before tacking to preserve clear air
  • Port tack layline - don't go there
  • Opposition - cover them on final beat

ALPO!

I can remember that.

How about you? Do you have any special tricks to help you remember important stuff when racing?

7 comments:

bonnie said...

Black latex?

Do they still sell Wite-Out correction fluid?

bonnie said...

Oh, now look what you made me do.

Baydog said...

Looks like a Tele-palmter. We would get detention for behaviour like that.

tillerman said...

Dead right Baydog. I wonder where young Sarah Palin first used this trick, and whether she got caught before?

Carol Anne said...

I had thought about correction fluid, too. But then it occurred to me that it would be more special to use one of those marker pens with metallic silver ink -- a little more flash that way.

What's interesting is how few people seem to notice when one uses unobtrusive notes. I have a list of logical fallacies on a page of my calendar-planner, but since that planner is open on my desk at all times, my students don't realize I'm consulting it as I deliver the lecture. The downside is that since I don't seem to be USING notes, they generally don't bother to TAKE notes, other than the main points I list on the chalkboard.

Jack of all Trades said...

Somewhat of a tangent, but would Tillerman please describe his frostbiting glove system?

I'm new to frostbiting and am still trying to find what works for me. I've tried dishwashing gloves (too tight with glove liners) and neoprene gloves (the grippy stuff started tearing after the second use).

Pat said...

There would be the idea of installing a "Smartboard" on your Laser. Unfortunately, although Carol Anne enjoys using them at work, the maintenance contact for them seems to have fallen by the wayside and they have some "issues".

But, maybe there's a special formulation of water-resistant Scotch Post-It Notes for the Laser.

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