Sailing and Grandkids

Sailing and grandkids.

The persistent themes of this blog.

Today Tillerwoman found a canvas bag at the back of a closet that apparently came from the Laser US Masters Championship in 2008. So, being a curious kind of fellow, I just had to look up where that regatta was sailed.

New Bedford YC apparently.

I even wrote three blog posts about it.

My Best Friend
Dirty Duck
Blindsided


There's lots of entirely forgettable stuff about sailing in those three posts.

But the parts that still struck a chord with me were the parts where I wrote about my (then) only grandchild, Emily.

Emily and me at the beach

A few years ago

After the first day of the regatta...

Then home for lamb chops and salad with Tillerwoman, Cutest Granddaughter in the World, Tiller-Son#1, and Tiller-Daughter-in-Law who had all come to see us for the weekend. 

Apparently Cutest Granddaughter in the World had been asking where I was. When told that I was sailing she had said, "Grandad is my best friend."

Life is good.

And after the second day of the regatta...

I skipped the Saturday night regatta dinner at the yacht club and went home as my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter were still at my house.

My two-year-old granddaughter Emily must have missed me because I was the center of her attention all evening. "I want to do something with you Grandad," she was saying before I was barely in the door. Hmmm. I needed to rinse my sailing clothes. Emily likes to play with hosepipes. So I let her spray water all over my sailing gear (and occasionally me) and she was deliriously happy.

I was even chosen to be the one to put her to bed and tell her bedtime stories. So I told her about when her father was a little boy and how he and his brother used to ride on my Laser sitting in front of the mast. And how we went camping in France with the Laser and the boys sailed on a lake with me. And how when her father was seven I bought him a green, wooden Optimist whose name was Dirty Duck and how he used to sail that all by himself. 

Her last words before she drifted off to sleep were, "Maybe one day I can have a dirty duck?"

Emily's father in Dirty Duck

A lot of years ago

Smart, funny, kind, loving, creative Emily is ten now.

Her passions these days are dancing and acting and friends, not sailing.

We never did buy her a "Dirty Duck."

When we went over to my son's house yesterday I only saw Emily for a few minutes before she was out of the door, going to a sleepover with a friend.

I have five other grandkids now.

Two of them are two years old.

Emily's little brother Andrew - one of those two-year-olds - still wants to play with me.

He has a leg in a cast right now, so we couldn't do anything very active.

But he does like to cuddle up to me and watch videos with me on my computer.

His favorites are "Three Little Fishes" and "Day One of the Total Domination 2015 Moth US Nationals at the Gorge."

No, really.


Day One Total Domination Moth US Nationals from Nick Bowers on Vimeo.

He even knows when to grunt "Huh" like the singer does.

Maybe we will be buying him a Waszp one day?

Andrew at the beach
This year

Sailing and grandkids.

The more things change the more they stay the same.



In other news, Tillerwoman has thrown my 2008 Laser US Masters bag away.

Best Aerial Footage of Laser Sailing Ever

Check out this video of the last day of racing at the 14th Caribbean Laser Midwinters in Cabarete, Dominican Republic in January.

I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that this could well be the best aerial video of Laser racing ever made. Plus it totally captures the experience of sailing and racing at Cabarete. Kudos to ALZA Cabarete for a superb job.

My 2-year-old grandson Andrew loves to watch videos of boats.

When I am over at his house he will come up to me with a big grin and say, "Boats. Boats. Boats." This is the sign that he wants Granddad to get out his computer and show him the video in this post of last year's International Moth US Nationals at the Columbia River Gorge.

Next time Andrew asks for "Boats. Boats. Boats" I am going to show him Lasers at Cabarete.

It's never too early to get them hooked on Lasers!

Son of a Son of a Blogger

My youngest grandson, Andrew, is two years old now.

He loves watching YouTube videos of nursery rhymes... and videos of boats.

Any boats will do, but he gets most excited about videos of foiling moths, like this one of International Moths at the Gorge, back in August.

I think there may be a WASZP in his future.

Tiller Extensions on the Beach

While I was in Oregon this weekend playing in a little boat, Tillerwoman went to the beach with the Massachusetts tiller extensions.

The photo reminded me of this photo from a 2013 post.

Wait.

1, 2, 3.

1, 2, 3, 4.

There's another tiller extension in the 2015 photo who wasn't there before!

How did that happen?

Sons of a Son of a Sailor

All three of our grandsons spent the day at our house yesterday.

Life is good.

Random Things I Am Thankful For This Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for…

My sailing friends 

especially the ones who drove 

down from Massachusetts so many times 

to train with me in Rhode Island this year

The RS Aero 

perhaps the best new singlehanded sailing boat 

since the Laser

Cup-holders on boats 

The winter solstice

Trapezoid courses

Form N-400

MagSafe

Snow

My blog readers 

especially those of you who 

take the trouble to leave a comment 

or send me an email

Waking up

Sunrises

Mangoes

Papayas

Marley

Rum

 especially rum after sailing 

The farmers, growers, fishers, brewers, and winemakers 

of New England 

The Oxford comma 

The Final Beat

IEEE 802.11

Rule 43.1(a) 

Command-Shift-4

The Leinster Burger 

at Aidan's Pub 

Beer 

especially beer after sailing 

All the people who work in restaurants and bars and pubs 

Even More Extreme Sudoku

by

Antoine Alary 

Six little people

Captain Andrew

Grandson Andrew.

Coming up to 6 months old.

I think he's ready to go sailing.

Looking Back at Laser Sailing in 2013

It's Throwback Thursday so let's take a look back into the dim distant past of… 2013.

It was another funny old year…

In January and February I did a spot of frostbiting with the Newport Laser Fleet. There was the day we sailed in the fog, there was the day I got ice on the deck and a big smile on my face, and the awesome day when I almost began to feel that I might not be too bad at Laser sailing after all.

Then there were three consecutive weekends in February when even I didn't think it was suitable for Laser sailing, but towards the end of the month I actually broke my own record for how early in the year I went out for a bit of solo practice. I must be nuts.


In March I went down to Florida with some friends to train with coach Kurt Taulbee at SailFit.

This is me

I learned a lot, especially on the day when I helped one of my friends (and myself) overcome Heavy Ar Fear by being the idiot to be saying, "It looks great out there. I'm going sailing. Who's coming with me?"


On returning to chilly Rhode Island I did a bit more frostbite racing and another eight days of Spring Training in March and April. I was pretty pleased with myself at the end of April thinking that I had prepared as well as I reasonably could for the upcoming season. This Year Will Be Different. Right?


I did some more solo training in May. Well sort of. You could also describe it as going off on my own for some rowdy raunchy loud hysterical crazy fun.

This is me too

Then I sailed four regattas over the summer of 2013 and learned something at all of them.

At the 2-day Wickford Regatta in May I learned that all my on-the-water practice in March, April and May had paid off. I was fit enough to be able to complete every single race and I still felt strong right up to the end of the final race. This was major progress compared to 2012 where I was frequently missing the last race or two on every day at the regattas I attended. Even better than that, I was passing boats on reaches and runs, probably due to some of the work I did with Kurt at SailFit. So that was all good.


The 2-day John Bentley Regatta at New Bedford YC in June would have been special whatever happened on the water,  because it was in memory of a sailing friend we lost way too young the previous December. But I did learn a lot too, mainly about Managing Arousal and Anxiety. Or how not to be a slug or a crazed squirrel. On the first day I realized afterwards that I had been too much like the crazed squirrel. And on the second day I started like a slug, but found a couple of ways to energize myself, get myself in "the zone" and enjoyed a rewarding day of racing in perfect Buzzards Bay weather. I don't remember a day I had more fun racing. And I finished in the top ten! So that was all good.

This is a slug

The 2-day New England Masters at Sail Newport in September was a big learning experience too.  On the first day, the learnings included….

1. Mid line sag is real
2. The other sailors have no idea where the start line is either.
3. The other sailors are really good at accelerating off the start line.
4. I suck at accelerating off the start line.
5. In a large, close fleet it's not a good idea to approach the mark on the port tack layline.
6. I hate bridges.
7. Don't capsize
8. I need to learn how to do capsize recoveries faster.
9. Don't screw up
10. When I don't race for a couple of months, I screw up.

But apart from that it was all good.

On the second day, I learned that Doug's advice on Improper Course about Sailing in the Middle of the Fleet (a primer for the mid-fleet average sailor) really worked. I was 6th out of 48 in one race (woo hoo!) and won a trophy for third place in the "incredibly old geezers - they really ought to be in the nursing home instead of blundering around the race course getting in everyone else's way" category (woo hoo again!) So that was all good.


On the other hand, at the 3-day North American Masters in October it was not all good. For some reason I was not prepared - certainly not mentally and perhaps not physically either - for the regatta. I had been looking forward to it all year but my heart wasn't it. I sailed badly. I quit early. The experience did cause me to think a lot about what kind of sailing events I do and do not enjoy and how that will affect my choice of regattas this year; and also to work out what I will need to do to prepare for a major event like this in the future. So that was all good. I really should blog about it one day.


Wait. What happened in July and August?

In July I went Laser sailing locally ten times, including one afternoon sailing with my son on Mount Hope Bay when we made a landing on Spar Island and claimed it for the British Empire.

This is my son on Spar Island

And in August we spent a lot of time with the family and I only sailed my Laser four times.


Oh wait. I almost forgot the highlight of the year - the trip to Minorca Sailing in September. This year one of my local sailing friends and his wife joined us there and we all had a blast. Well, I had a blast. I think the others did. I learned a lot and won the first Thursday regatta, and won the pursuit race, and won the second Thursday regatta. And there were sardines. There were definitely sardines. It was all good.

These are sardines

And then in December, Tillerwoman and I had another wonderful vacation at the Bitter End Yacht Club in the BVI. We sailed catamarans a lot together. I sailed a Laser and won both the Laser regatta and the Hobie regatta on the Sunday we were there. There was kayaking and swimming and running and hiking. There was rum. There was definitely rum. It was all good. I really should blog about it one day.

This is me relaxing at BEYC

Wait. What happened in November? I have no idea. Apparently nothing.

According to my notes, I went Laser sailing on 72 days in 2013. It's not 100. But it is more than 43 so most of my male readers are happy.


Oh. I almost forgot the best day of the year. October 12.

Andrew James

5th grandchild

3rd grandson

Born 12 Oct 2013

It was all good.

How to Get Killer Starts in Laser Races

Last Thursday evening there was another webinar organized by Javier "Rulo" Borojovich, the head coach at the Laser Training Center in Cabarete. This one was about Starting Technique and featured as guest expert, UK Laser sailor Nick Thompson, currently ranked by ISAF as #5 Laser sailor in the world.

Nick Thompson

God knows I need to improve my starts but unfortunately - well fortunately really -Tillerwoman and I had agreed to babysit the four Massachusetts tiller extensions at the designated hour for the webinar while their parents went out on a well-deserved night on the town in Boston which was somehow earned by my daughter-in-law's blogging efforts. I think I mentioned before that she is the successful blogger in the family. People actually give her things like money and nights out on the town in Boston for her blogging. I don't know where I'm going wrong.

Where was I? Where am I? Oh yes babysitting the Massachusetts tiller extensions.

4 grandkids randomly doing stuff

 on a couch that isn't very level

So as I really really need to improve my starts, and as I was clearly not going to be able to concentrate on the webinar while four grandkids were running around the house pretending to be a ballerina or monster trucks or whatever it is they are supposed to be, and bouncing off the walls and singing songs about royals or tigers or making monster truck noises, and clamoring for something to eat or refusing to eat what is put in front of them, in other words just kids being kids… I asked Rulo if I could have a look at a recording of the webinar at some later date. And he agreed.

So once I had recovered from the babysitting experience (only joking kiddos - I always love spending time with you) and the terrible awful disgusting thing that happened just after their parents came home from their bloggy night out in Boston (you really don't want to know) I settled down quietly at home to watch the recording of the webinar and learn about starting technique from Rulo and Nick.

Rulo's presentation and Nick's expert contributions covered everything you would want to know about getting killer starts in Laser races including, how to decide where on the line to start, how to hold your position on the line, how to create a leeward gap, how to accelerate at the start, and how to hold your lane after the start.

Of course a lot of this is standard stuff that you will hear at any starting clinic or can read in any good book about Laser sailing. But there were also quite a few useful tips and hints that I hadn't heard before such as…

• Why Nick doesn't start in the middle of the line very often but why Robert Scheidt does and where someone who doesn't have very good boat speed (I think he was talking about me) should start.
• A trick on how to spot the RC boat at the end of the line when the view is blocked by sails.
• The importance of checking "drift rate."
• How to find a gap on the line in the last 30 seconds before the start (with a video showing Nick pulling this off to perfection!)
• Six tips to minimize leeward drift.
• Three ways to create a leeward gap.
• Five keys to protecting your gap.
• A trick to confuse the judges. Sssshhh. Don't tell anyone.
• Three best ways to practice starting.
• And much much more.

So thanks to Rulo and Nick for an excellent webinar.

And thanks to Emily, Aidan, Owen and Andrew for being good kids and so much fun (apart from that terrible awful disgusting thing that happened after their parents came home.)

The next webinar will be on 27 March and will be about upwind speed in light and medium winds with Laser Olympic Bronze Medalist Rasmus Myrgren from Sweden as guest expert. You can sign up here.
       

Andrew on Fridays

12 Races

I kind of went crazy with running races in 2013. I ran 12 races in the year, certainly more races than I have run for many years - perhaps more races in a year than I have ever run before - for a total of over 80 miles of racing.

Part of the motivation was an attempt to qualify in the Grand Prix Series of the Rhode Island Rhode Running Club. This originally involved running in 9 out of 15 designated races around Rhode Island and nearby states, with the distances ranging from 5ks to half marathons. This was changed during the year to 8 out of 14 races due to some canceled race or scheduling conflict. I forget the details.

You know how I am with crazy artificial participation challenges. So I went for it and I did complete the required 8 races to qualify. (I could have done the 9 if I had needed to - so there!) I didn't make the top 5 but I was up there at times. And I did discover some new, different, interesting races as a result.



The year started, as it always seems to lately, on New Year's Day with the Hangover Classic 5 Miler in Bristol, which I wrote about at Celebrating the New Year Tillerman Style. It was frigging cold. There was ice on parts of the course. But I ran a good time (for me) so that was all good.



For reasons that escape me now I ran another race in Little Compton only 4 days later, a 4.8 mile road race. It wasn't even on the grand prix circuit. I must have been crazy.



In February I ran the 15k Run the Reservoir Race in N. Scituate RI, another regular on my schedule these days and took a few photos to use in one of my incredibly annoying Where Am I? quizzes. I thought my shot of the ladies lining up for the Porta Potty before the race was especially well-framed. O Docker was first to answer the quiz correctly. Isn't he always?

In early April I entered another of the grand prix races, the Thomas Giunta 5k in Fall River. Fall River MA is the town immediately to the north of my current home town of Tiverton RI but I hadn't thought of it as much of a running venue before. How wrong I was! The race is in honor of a fallen police officer and the pre-race ceremonies were very moving. I started near the back of the pack and had a lot of trouble in the first mile picking my way past the ladies who like to walk six-abreast with strollers and similar obstacles. But surprisingly in this race I achieved my best age-graded score in the grand prix series of all eight grand prix races I ran. No idea why. Maybe having to go slow in the first half mile ain't such a bad plan after all?

I took the opportunity of the Fall River race to take some urban landscape photos for another Where Am I?  quiz. O Docker was first to get it right. Again. Isn't he always?

The Laser frostbiting season was still going strong on the last weekend in April when I skipped sailing to go and run the Newport 10 Miler. The race started and ended at Fort Adams, the home of the Laser frostbite fleet, and at least one superfit young dude did both the running race and the Laser racing. Not me! I was knackered after the running so I went home and wrote a post about Socks. Sounds like I spent most of the race looking at lady runners' legs. Hey, it takes a long time for me to run 10 miles. I have to find something to pass the time.

At the end of May I went into Boston to run one of my favorite half marathons and wrote about it at A Half to Remember. Memorial Day Weekend. A few weeks after the Boston marathon bombings. A race which is always in honor of fallen Boston police officers, and this year especially in memory of Sean Collier the MIT police officer murdered by the marathon bombers. A very emotional day. Glad I was there to express my thanks to all the police officers attending for their courage and professionalism in dealing with the extraordinary challenge the city faced this Spring. Boston Strong!



On the first weekend of June 1 decided to bag another grand prix race. And I was so glad I did for several reasons. It was way over on the other side of the state, at least 30 minutes driving, a 5k in North Smithfield. It was the hottest day of the year up to then, so I didn't run very fast but discovered afterwards that I had scored two achievements…

• First it seemed that not many of the other Rhode Island Rhode Runner grand prix point baggers had bothered to brave the wilds of far north-western Rhode Island so I ended up in third place among "Rhode Island Rhode Runner men grand prix point baggers who bothered to do the race and also qualify for the full series." That didn't do my series score any harm. Woo hoo! I'll take it.
• Even better I achieved something I had only done once before in my life. I won a running trophy! It was only for second place in the "incredibly old geezers - we are amazed that they can actually stagger round the course in this heat" category. But even so. Only Twice in a Lifetime!  Woo hoo! I'll take it.

I also managed to use a photo of part of my trophy in one of my world famous What is this?  quizzes.

Guesses ranged from a Blogulator 5000 to a roll of carpet, and an armadillo. For once it wasn't O Docker who got it right.



Geeze, this post is dragging on and we are only up to race #7. Time to pick up the pace.



There was a 10 mile race on a Friday evening in July in Narragansett. It was called the Blessing of the Fleet but I never saw any blessed fleet. It was a showery, damp, humid day. The parking was a long way from the start. It rained on me at the end of the race. I couldn't find any free food or drink after the race. The finish was even further from the parking than the start was. But I did see an amazing double rainbow over the bay (through my rain-spattered spectacles)

There was a 5 mile race on a Sunday in August on Common Fence Point in Portsmouth. I ran out of oomph. Probably because I did a 12 mile training run only two days before. Some times I am really dumb.

There was a 5k race on a Sunday in September in Warren. It was called Finish for the Guinness. They gave you a Guinness to drink at the finish. I should have taken a photo of it to use in a What is this? quiz.



And there was a half marathon on a Sunday in October, the UnitedHealthcare Newport Half Marathon.  Best weekend of the year because…

• Spectacular course
• I didn't run out of oomph
• My son ran the race with me
• My son had a son on the day before the race.

And there was a 5k in Barrington on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to Trot Your Turkey Off, and that's all I have to say about that.



Phew.

So there you have it.

12 races. Four 5ks. One 4.8 mile. Two 5 miles. One 15k. Two 10 milers. Two half marathons.

82. 7 miles.

I must be crazy.

UnitedHealthcare Newport Half Marathon 2013

On Sunday I ran in the UnitedHealthCare Half Marathon in Newport, Rhode Island.

I chose to run the race for three reasons.

First of all it must be one of the most spectacular half marathon courses in the world. You start at First Beach in Newport and immediately run past the start of the famous Cliff Walk. Then after a short distance through the back streets of Newport, you emerge on famous Newport Harbor, run past Ida Lewis Yacht Club (famous as the home of Ida Lewis), past New York YC's Harbour Court (famous as the home of the 2013 North American Laser Masters), and through Fort Adams State Park (famous as the home of the Newport Laser Fleet).

Then it just gets better. After Castle Hill, you run alongside the Eastern Passage of Narragansett Bay with fabulous views across to Conanicut Island and to Point Judith, you round Brenton Point and head east along Ocean Drive with the best views in Rhode Island of the ocean and the amazing luxury homes along the coast. Eventually you leave the ocean and run along Bellevue Avenue seeing many of the Newport mansions (one of which is owned by the famous Larry Ellison.) Then, best of all, part of the final mile is downhill, back to the beach where you started.

Phew!



The second reason I wanted to do this half marathon this year was that when I first attempted it a few years ago I hadn't trained properly and I ran out of oomph after about 9 miles and walked most of the last 3 or 4 miles. I needed to prove myself that I could really do this course and maintain a good pace all the way round.



And the third reason was that many months ago I had foolishly challenged my 35-year-old son to run this race with me... and he had amazed me by accepting the challenge. So then I had to do it. My son was on the track and cross-country teams in high school but hasn't done much running since. So, when I showed him the Jeff Galloway half marathon training schedule and pointed out that (a) you only need to run 3 days a week for the whole 17 week program and (b) if you can run 3 miles you can start the program, he decided he would do it.



There was a slight complication about this plan: my son's wife was due to give birth 7 days after the day of the race. But his wife was very supportive and encouraged him to complete the training and do the race.

Then there was a much bigger complication about this plan: my son's wife actually gave birth (to a son) on the day BEFORE the race. So my son had to get up in the early hours of Saturday to drive his wife to the hospital after her contractions started, and then support her through the birth and in the first few hours afterwards; and Tillerwoman and I spent Saturday looking after their other three kids and taking those kids to the hospital to see their new brother. I wouldn't have blamed him if my son had decided to skip the race, but amazingly he decided to go ahead and his wonderful wife supported his decision.



So my son and I met up at the start at some ungodly hour on Sunday, and ran the race. Based on our training times I expected that my son would be slower than me but I had offered to run all the way with him. However, he would have none of it, and encouraged me to run my own race even if that meant leaving him behind. I stayed with him the first few hundred yards but he soon told me to go ahead. We did see each other briefly as I was heading out of Fort Adams as he was heading in. I phoned him when I reached the 5 mile mark and he assured me he was OK.

I stuck to my plan to run the first 7 miles at an easy, conversational pace, and then to pick up the pace a bit. I did run faster for miles 8, 9 and 10, but then I had another slight oomph deficit and returned to my easier pace for the final 3 miles. At the finish they called my name out on the PA system and I waved deliriously at the crowd and the cameramen. I expect there will be some photos online soon of me looking like some crazy old geezer about to collapse in a puddle of sweat. I might share them here if they are funny enough.

After the finish I called my son again and confirmed he was still going well. I had time to grab some Gatorade and a banana and then to find a good spot to cheer him on as he sprinted to the finish. He was looking very pleased with himself as well he should. It's not every weekend you welcome your fourth child into the world AND run your first half marathon.



I could show you some picture of the views.

I could show you some pictures of the runners in front of me (which would probably appeal to dirty old men who like seeing photos of fat-bottomed girls.)

But I think the best picture to sum up the weekend is this one.

We're Gonna Need a (Much) Bigger Boat!

Our fifth grandchild (and third grandson) Andrew James, arrived in the world at 8:21am this morning, weighing in at 9lb 4oz.

We hope to be taking his sister and brothers to see him later.

We're gonna need a much bigger boat!