Nobody was interested in racing Lasers so I sailed a Hobie Wave. There were six Waves and three Getaways (another Hobie beach cat) in the races.
After a week of strongish winds, the winds were light for the weekly racing on Sunday. Such is life.
Over the years I have developed a few key rules for doing well in the cat races at Bitter End...
- Give yourself enough room to reach and accelerate at the start.
- Do the minimum number of tacks.
- Don't get stuck in irons in the tacks.
- Sail fast.
- Don't hit anybody.
The start line had a strong port bias and I could see that the majority of the fleet were planning to start at the pin end of the line. But, as Tillerman's Five Rules For Doing Well In The Cat Races At Bitter End don't say anything about trying to fight eight other cats to win the pin I chose to start near the starboard end of the line in every race, in clear air, with plenty of room to accelerate, with freedom to tack, and with no chance of getting pinned beyond the port layline, or getting involved in some godawful melee with eight other cats.
It worked out pretty well most of the time.
One race I didn't get such a good start but as all the boats ahead of me were approaching the windward mark the wind died and they all stalled and I managed to sneak a tack inside them and pass most of them.
And in the last race my competitors were so eager to win the pin that one of them hit the pin and the rest were all involved in some godawful melee trying to luff round the pin, thereby infringing Rule 5 of Tillerman's Five Rules For Doing Well In The Cat Races At Bitter End.
I had to laugh. Children can be so cruel at my age.
At the awards ceremony I was awarded the traditional bottle of rum for coming first in the Wave fleet.
And that was the last time I've won a race in 43 days.
Oh?
You came here because the title said there would be something nice to look at on a cold and dreary day?
OK. Here it is then.
12 comments:
16 December 2102 ?
I think there's something about the very sight of Miss 43 that has you thinking with something other than your mind.
Well done for spotting my deliberate mistake O Docker. I have put one in every post for the last 5 years. I bet you can't find them all.
You're probably right.
I guess I'm too much like a typical newspaper reader. I usually read just the first paragraph and then look at the pictures.
Mojo, where you at?
HA! Good to end the day with a hearty cackle. Probably scared my neighbors half to death but hey, whatever keeps 'em from knocking on the door to borrow a cup of flour.
You can't beat a hearty cackle to end the day. I like it with tilapia and mushrooms.
And a mystery sauce
And beets. Beets make everything better.
LOL. Tillerwoman and I were just looking at a recipe using beets for our vegetarian dinner this evening.
I love beets. Don't forget to post a picture!
And wow, you're actually serious about the vegetarian thing, aren't you? I thought that was just a joke driven by how weird my hasenpfeffer looked marinating in the fridge back (it actually ended up being quite good and it looked MUCH more appetizing after cooking than it did when it was a bag of bunny parts in a ziploc bag in the fridge). Are you going full-time vegetarian or on and off? How about stuffies from Evelyn's?
TQ and I always agree that we should probably eat less red meat than we do, but it would take an awful lot of willpower.
We're not being 100% religious about vegetarianism, but most of our meals are now vegetarian. I guess I need to write a post to explain all the whys and wherefores soon.
I'm not being 100% religious when I say that 43 is a damn fine number. with or without the mystery sauce.
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