RS Aeros and Sunfish and Lasers - Can't We All Just Get Along?

I think I may have blogged myself into a logical cul-de-sac, a dead end, a place with no way forward.



Back in 2007 I wrote a post entitled Ten Reasons Why Sunfish Are Better Than Lasers.

I highlighted important benefits of the Sunfish such as how laid-back Sunfish sailors are (see picture) and that handy little cubby-hole behind the cockpit in a Sunfish where you can store your lunch, a few beers, your pipe and tobacco, and a cushion (see picture.) I am not kidding about the pipe. I used to race against a Sunfish sailor who smoked a pipe while racing. You could always smell the delightful aroma of his tobacco wafting on the breeze as he closed in on you from astern.



Then earlier this year I wrote a post listing 7 Reasons why the Laser is Better than the RS Aero.

This time I focused on the fitness advantages you get from lifting the heavy Laser hull on to the car roof rack, the clever way Bruce Kirby designed the shape of the Laser transom to maximize the chances of catching the mainsheet during a gybe (what fun!) and the many benefits that Laser sailors enjoy from being knocked on the head by that low boom occasionally. (And other advantages illustrated by the photos above.)



So... if Sunfish are better than Lasers... and Lasers are better than RS Aeros... then it follows that Sunfish are better than RS Aeros.

Huh!

Did I really mean to say that?



But then one of my Sunfish sailing friends came to the rescue and posted this video on YouTube that demonstrated conclusively, once and for all that RS Aeros are absolutely better than Sunfish.






Links to this video got posted all over the Interwebs - although every time someone posted a link to the Sunfish Listserve (sic) Facebook group it kept getting deleted.  I can't imagine who would do such a thing. Woodman Spare That Tree!

Anyway, all was well with the world, until this weekend the same Sunfish sailing "friend" (who was doing race committee duty) posted this video from Saturday's racing at my home club, Massapoag YC.



What?

A Sunfish beating an RS Aero?

How is that even possible?

But the camera does not lie.

And who is that pathetic RS Aero sailor?

Fatheads and Pinheads

On Saturday of the weekend before last I did some solo practice in my RS Aero 9 at the club. One of the very satisfying things about sailing a new class is that almost every day is a learning experience and I can see improvement in my skills every time I sail the boat.

After sailing I was starting to de-rig my boat when another club member, whom I hadn't met before, came across to chat with me and check out my boat. It happens pretty much every time I sail the RS Aero there.

But he asked me a question which initially had me stumped…

Why is the top of the sail square?

Of course he is right to ask. The tops of the sails of the other classes sailed at the club look like this…

Whereas the top of the sail of the RS Aero looks like this…

Hmmm.

I vaguely recalled that I had read or heard somewhere why the top of the Aero sail is like that but in the moment my mind went blank.

I blurted out something like, "I have no idea. I'm not a sailmaker or an aerodynamicist."

Aerodynamicist? Where did that come from? Is it even a real thing? And even if it is, what on earth does it have to do with sailing?

And then in a desperate attempt to sound not completely ignorant about my new boat, I mumbled something along the lines of, "Well, I guess it's a way to add more sail area."

As soon as I said it I knew it couldn't be the whole story. There must be other ways to add more sail area.

But my inquisitor, who seemed to be a very nice chap conceded, "I think you could be right."

I scrambled to think of another reason the top of the sail might be square and vaguely remembered something someone had told me and hazarded a guess… "And a sail that shape spills wind well in a gust."

The very nice chap was either not detecting my total ignorance about sail design or just being polite as he said again, "I think you could be right." And he went off to do something on a boat with a pointy top to the sail.

---

As soon as I got home I logged on to the Google machine and did some research on why some boats have sails that are square at the top. Maybe I looked a bit of a fool the first time I was asked this question but I wasn't going to get fooled again.

I found this interesting paper by Damien Laffforgue which has a whole section on square head sails vs roached sails.

Among the advantages of the square head sail that Damien lists are these. (My comments in italics.)

1. The surface area of a square head sail will be bigger than a roached sail for the same mast length (luff), but the aspect ratio will be smaller.

2. For the same surface area, a square head sail will have a smaller mast than a roached sail, therefore the centre of gravity of the rigging, and the centre of effort of the sail will be lower, which increases the lateral stability of the boat.

I guess #1 and #2 are two sides of the same coin, so to speak.

3. The square head gives a better aerodynamic efficiency in the upper part where the wind is stronger (velocity gradient.)

Ahah. That's what I forgot when I was talking to the nice chap at the club. More sail area up high where the wind is stronger is obviously an advantage.

4. The square head does not increase the lift but reduces the drag.

I'm not sure I understand this one. Why would it be less drag? More research is indicated.

5. The square head allows a better control of the main sail twist, and self-regulates the sail shape during gusts.

I am not sure I really understand the first part of #5 but the second part is basically what I was telling the nice chap at the yacht club. The square sail top opens up in gusts and spills air.

6. The head of a square head sail is more tolerant for small angles of attack, and then produces less induced drag.

More tolerant for small angles of attack? What does that mean? And there he goes again saying that sailing a square head sail produces less drag. Why would that be?



A little more research discovered that the reasons a sail with a square top has less drag than a sail with a pointed top is something to do with the tip vortex. Here is a good explanation of this effect in an article from Sponberg Yacht Design...

In any given aerofoil planform, the airflow on both sides of the surface are at different static pressures—high pressure to windward, low pressure to leeward—and they would really like to equalize. In a triangular planform, the airflow on the high pressure side gets a chance to equalize sooner, by virtue of the shape, than on a rectangular planform for example, by skewing up toward the tip and off the surface.   

This skewing of flow from the high pressure side, mixing with the flow on the low pressure side, creates a vortex off the tip. The bigger the skew, the bigger the vortex, and the greater the induced drag. 

In his book Aero-Hydrodynamics of Sailing, C.A. Marchaj (pronounced MAR-ki) shows a photo of what the tip vortex looks like.

And I found a slightly less technical explanation of this issue in a comment from Rick White on the Cat Sailor Forum in a thread about the pros and cons of square top mainsails…

I believe it was Dave Calvert that started the concept for windsurfers, before he started designing multihull sails. 

The theory is you have a fuller, more powerful area of the sail up high for lighter winds. 

Now, when a puff hits, because of the length of the batten sticking out from the upper mast, the wind uses that leverage to allow the top of the sail to blow off to leeward, thus depowering in the puff, lowering the center of effort, and also reducing the heeling moment. 

Sort of an automatic transmission, it shifts to a high gear in the puffs, and when the puff subside, it shift down again for more power.  

And they definitely work much better than pinheads.

So now you know.

Next time I am asked why the top of my sail is square I will be able to confuse the questioner with aerodynamic gobbledygook about tip vortices and velocity gradients and angles of attack and planforms... and pinheads.

You have been warned.

The Pursuit of Happiness

I am finding that one of the things I am enjoying most at the sailing club I recently joined is the Wednesday night pursuit race. This week was no exception.

The original pursuit race. 

"The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable." - Oscar Wilde

The fox never did agree with the Portsmouth Yardstick for the dogs.

Pursuit races, for the uninitiated, are when multiple one design classes race together with staggered start times. Based on the published handicap numbers for each class - or local variations of those - the start times for each class are set as near as possible to compensate for the different speed of each class so that, in theory, if all the boats were sailed perfectly they would all cross the finish line together after the fixed time set for the race. Of course none of the boats sail a perfect race so the first boat across the finish line should be the best sailor across all the classes. In a club like ours with multiple classes it is a good way for everyone to participate in a race together.

I find it's best not to take any handicap racing, including pursuit races, too seriously. Handicap numbers are at best only an average across all wind conditions, and some classes will do better in light air, others do better when planing is possible, and so on. Moreover in a pursuit race, boats usually start at whole minutes after the slowest class starts so that is another approximation and hardly ever reflects the precise differences in handicap numbers. You can drive yourself crazy if you start worrying about whether your class is disadvantaged in some way by the handicap system or pursuit start times. It's best just to forget all that and focus on staying in front of the fleets chasing you from behind (if you started first) or catching as many boats as you can if you sail one of the faster classes and start later.

The Bloody Mary is a really serious pursuit race for really serious sailors.

It is the largest inland dinghy race held in the UK.

It happens in January.

At my club the Sunfish start first. One minute later the Day Sailers (usually there is only one) start. Two minutes after that the Lasers - now joined by the RS Aeros - start, and the Flying Scots start one minute after the Lasers.

So far this year, before this week, three different Flying Scot skippers have won a race, and the Day Sailer has won one race.

---

One of the great pleasures of a small lake club like this one is the camaraderie between the sailors on the beach as we rig our boats and get ready for racing. This week was no exception.

Camaraderie on the beach.

Not at Lake Massapoag.

I arrived early and immediately met a man who told me he was going to be crewing on the Day Sailer. We were exchanging information about our sailing backgrounds when we spotted a car with a trailer that seemed to be shuffling backwards and forwards on the boat ramp and basically going nowhere sideways. We hailed the driver and asked if help was required and we gave assistance to unhitch the trailer and push it to where the driver wanted it. I am too gallant to reveal the gender of the driver.

Another sailor arrived whom I recognized as another new member because I had met her at the mandatory safety seminar for new members earlier in the year. (A great idea, by the way. How many other sailing clubs make the effort to make sure all new members are well trained in boating safety?) I knew she had been looking for a used Sunfish in good condition for racing, so we chatted about her new acquisition, a 20-year-old Sunfish in great condition and with new foils. Reminded me of my last Sunfish,  of similar vintage but with teal deck and purple cockpit.

On the beach one of the Flying Scot skippers came over to welcome the lady with the Sunfish to the club and admire her boat. It was the same man who had welcomed me to the club when I first showed up at the beach with my RS Aero. Apparently he has been a member of the club for decades and seems like a really nice guy. Once he left I told the Sunfish lady that he was a really good Flying Scot sailor and probably the man to beat tonight. "If you can stay in front of him you will be doing well." She laughed and said she didn't think that she was that good a sailor.

And so on. You get the picture. Just rigging our boats and chilling out with other sailors and having fun with some friendly banter and help and encouragement to each other

---

The breeze was surprisingly good for a summer evening. It was certainly stronger than Sunday, 6-9 mph I guess, but with some interesting shifts and variations in wind speed across the course.

The three Sunfish started.

The Day Sailer started.

2 minutes later it was our start.  4 Lasers and 2 Aeros.  My son was sailing one of the Lasers. (I forgot to mention - he has now joined this sailing club too.) I sailed with my 9 rig. The other Aero sailor opted for his 7 rig.

The boat end of the start line was slightly favored and I could see that three of the sailors were setting up to play games of  "Don't go in there!" and "Up up up!" right by the committee boat. So I stayed clear of them and started a little further down the line. I came in below them, got a great start and jumped out into clear air straight away.

The only lady in the Laser fleet was spotting the shifts better than I was on the first beat and we were dueling all the way up that first leg and I was only just ahead of her at the windward mark.

I had thought there was more wind on the right of the course (looking upwind) so I played that side downwind and passed the leading Sunfish, pulled out a lead on the Laser sailor and got the inside overlap at the leeward mark on the Day Sailer to take the overall lead.

On the next beat I went right and the leading Laser went left and that really set her back. I was sailing in good pressure and being lifted into the mark. Down the second run I could hear the wake of the leading Flying Scot behind me getting closer and closer. But he couldn't catch me and I won the race!

So a singlehanded sailor finally won the pursuit race this year! Five different skippers from three different classes have won the five races so far this season. The handicap system might not be perfect but it certainly seems to be giving a number of different classes a chance to win.

---

Back at the beach my son came over and congratulated me.

The skipper of the Day Sailer came over and congratulated me. (He won the pursuit race a couple of weeks ago when I was second.)

The sailor of the RS Aero 7 told me I had probably ruined the current handicap for the Aero 9.

Whatever. I really can't get worked up about it. If it is decided that Aero 9s should start a minute after the  Flying Scots instead of a minute before them, it really wouldn't bother me.

The RS Aero 9 rig feels to me like the rig that the boat was designed for. It seems to perfectly match the boat. I am sure I will still want to use the 7 rig when it gets really windy - just as many Laser sailors will switch down to a Radial when they are overpowered in a full rig Laser.

---

Life is good.

I love pursuit races.

I love my RS Aero 9.

I love having an omelette and a glass of wine with my bride at home after the pursuit races.

The RS Aero 9 is Too Fast

For those new to the story, the RS Aero has 3 rigs, with sails of approximately 5, 7 and 9 square meters.

RS Sailing recommend them for people of different body weights.

Many RS Aero owners are buying the boat with more than one rig. Some sailors may use a 7 or 9 rig most of the time but also have a rig one step down for heavier wind conditions. Or, like me, they may have a 7 rig for most conditions but also have a 9 rig for those lighter wind days.




Of course, other things being equal, the boat with a larger rig should be faster. But is a 9 rig with a heavy sailor much faster than a 7 rig with a lighter sailor? In heavier winds can a sailor in a 5 rig beat a sailor in a 7 rig who is overpowered?




We have been trying to work out how we are going to race the Aeros at our lake. What we have discovered so far is…

1. Lasers and Aeros seem to be quite comparable in speed and we are having close competitive racing by starting Lasers and Aeros together.

2. The 5 rig is indeed an excellent option for a sailor who finds the 7 rig too much to handle on a very windy day.

3. The first day we raced 9 and 7 rigs together the three boats finished a 30 minute race within a second of each other.

The Seattle RS Aero fleet have also been trying to work out how to race the different Aero rigs together. Here is what Seattle Aero sailor Michael O'Brien wrote in a comment to my post Three Flavors of RS Aero.

When we have a regatta with 10-20 boats per rig size ... no problem. Race in per-rig fleets. 

But for now, while building fleets, I favor scratch racing where you can use any rig in any race. It is simpler and works surprisingly well. As you say, the 7 and 9 have differences in speed, but when sailor weight is factored in -- it is often the sailor weight that is the bigger factor. Rig size gives the heavier and lighter sailor the chance to extend their range both up and down.

Our experience seemed to support the same conclusion.



But it seem we may have been wrong.

On Sunday the winds were very light. Maybe 5 knots at best but often much less than that and sometimes only 0-1. The water was flat (of course). There was a light drizzle at times.

In these conditions the RS Aero 9 blew the Lasers and the RS Aero 7 away.

I am the heaviest Aero sailor in our fleet. I was sailing the Aero 9.

Upwind it was easy for me to establish a lead on the rest of the fleet. Although, in the first race one Laser sailor did stay within a few boat lengths of me on the first beat.

Downwind I don't think the Aero 9 had much of an advantage, if any.  I was passed on one run by a Laser and the Aero 7 also closed the gap on me. I suspect I don't really know how to sail the Aero properly downwind in light airs yet. Or maybe I am just too fat.

I won both races by a considerable margin. And it was all due to distance gained upwind.

After the two official races, we asked the race committee to give us a start for a "race" back to the club. It was a reach all the way. The Aero 9 pulled out in front of the Lasers and Aero 7 immediately after the start, and just kept extending its lead.

In these conditions, it seems the RS Aero 9 is way too fast for fair scratch racing with Lasers and smaller Aero rigs.

But it did feel good!

I love my RS Aero 9!



Further research is indicated.

Rules Quiz - Outside Help

If a racing sailor receives information from someone else during a race has he infringed the Rule against receiving outside help?

The question came up in a friendly discussion among the Laser and Aero sailors after the finish of one race yesterday.

It seems the courses we sail most often at the club are W4 and W5. As you can see from the club sailing instructions a W4 course has a downwind finish and W5 has an upwind finish. On Sunday we were sailing W4.

Actually the diagrams in SIs don't tell the whole story because we also use W4 when we have the start/finish line in the middle of the course. Everyone knows (at least I thought we all knew) that this means start-1-2-1-finish. A downwind finish. The number indicates the number of legs, not the number of laps.



This is what happened on Sunday. The Aeros and Lasers were racing together (as usual.) The first boat - an RS Aero - crossed the line going downwind on the second run and was given a finish horn. (Modesty prevents me from naming the sailor.) A little while later the next two boats approached the finish line. One sailed outside the line and continued downwind towards the leeward mark. The third boat was clearly sailing a course which would take him outside the pin. So the winner of the race, being a kind, friendly person, hailed his two friends and told them it was a downwind finish. #2 came back and #3 changed course and they crossed the finish line downwind as required.



Then the discussion started...

1. Was the information received from another sailor against the Rule against Outside Help?

2. Even if it were legal in these circumstances, would it have been illegal in other circumstances?

3. Would it have been OK for the Race Committee to advise the sailors verbally of the correct course once they noticed that they appeared to be sailing the wrong course?

4. Would it have been OK for the Race Committee to answer a sailor's question if he had asked the RC if he was on the last leg of course and was approaching the finish?

Here is the relevant Rule. Other Rules may also apply of course.

What do you think?



And just because I like it, here is the video again of me (in the RS Aero 7) crossing the finish line of a W4 course at the club RS Aero/ Laser/ Sunfish regatta at the end of May. It was a little windier that day.



In the interests of full disclosure I should reveal that I was also suffering from course amnesia in the race in the video and was initially planning to sail outside the line and keep on going downwind towards the leeward mark. But I realized at the last minute that I should cross the finish line (maybe I saw the course board - duh!) and headed up to a broad reach to cross the line.

PS Apparently this video is one of the most watched videos on the MYCSunfish Fleet YouTube channel - (is that the right word?) but there's a lot of other good stuff there too, so head over there now and SUBSCRIBE!!!



I love this club.

I love my RS Aero.

I love this video (even if the caption is slightly misleading.)

No, I love this video because the caption is slightly misleading.

Three Flavors of RS Aero

The RS Aero comes in three flavors - 5, 7 and 9.

The numbers refer to the approximate sail area of each rig in square meters.

Each rig has a different sail area and a different length bottom mast section.

So you can have whichever flavor - or sail area-  suits you best.

As you can see, RS Sailing suggest that you should chose a rig based on your weight. On their website they also sum this up in a slightly different way, saying that the rig options will typically suit…

RS Aero 5 - youths

RS Aero 7 - women and small men

RS Aero 9 - men



Uh oh. Here we go again.

If you are a manly man you will want the RS Aero 9.

A manly man

It's just like the Laser and the Laser Radial. As my friend Yarg of Apparent Wind so eloquently wrote in  - Why Manly Men Never Use a Radial Sail - there's no way a manly man would want to sail a Radial or an Aero 7 rig. Those are for girls, right?

As it turns out… wrong. Very wrong.



Back in last March when I placed what was apparently the first Aero order from North America, I ordered it with the 9 rig. I was hovering a bit over 200lbs at the time and based on what I read on the website it seemed that that was the rig for me.

But then George Yioulis of West Coast Sailing went over to England to try out the RS Aero and came back saying he was advising his customers that even men of my size should initially buy the 7 rig. And when I went to Minorca Sailing in September I tried both the 9 rig and the 7 rig and came to much the same conclusion.

A much better looking sailor than me 

in an RS Aero at Minorca Sailing

The 7 rig was enough of a challenge for me in strong winds. On the other hand the extra sail area of the 9 rig was a delight in lighter winds.

So I decided to buy both the 7 and 9 rigs.

Yum - 2 flavors in one pie

My two fellow sailors in the Boston Aero Fleet also ended up buying two rigs. Yarg, who weight is in the recommended range for the 7 rig anyway, opted to buy the 7 rig with a 5 rig for those heavy air days. And the Email Dude, whose weight is somewhere between mine and Yarg's bought a 7 and 9 rig like me.



So then we were faced with the decision as to how to race these rigs. There isn't really any handicap racing at our host club, so at our winter planning meeting - at Mick Morgan's Irish Pub - we all agreed that for racing we would use the 7 rigs (at least initially) so we were on a level playing field. At least I think that's what we agreed. It was very noisy and I had lost count of how many pints of Guinness I had had by then.

While we were pondering how we would use the 5 and 9 rigs, the Class Rules for the RS Aero were published and they addressed the issue of how Aeros would be raced,  but when it came to the rules for swapping rigs they had us scratching our heads.

The rules say that the Aeros should be raced as separate fleets by rig size 5, 7 and 9 "where numbers permit" and that otherwise they should race using Portsmouth Handicaps.

Fair enough. But the next rule had us puzzled.

So Yarg could swap to his 5 rig if we were sailing a handicap series (which we are not.)  So if it was really nuking and he was totally overpowered in his 7 rig, the rule seems to imply that he couldn't sail his 5 rig because we were essentially doing fleet racing of 7 rigs. That seemed a little weird.

The second part of rule C.1.4. is even weirder. You can switch to a bigger rig but you rank as a "new entry."  A (perhaps unintended) consequence of this rule has already come into play in a series in the UK. There are 4 events in the series with best 2 scores counting. So you could sail a 7 rig in the first event, switch up to a 9 rig for 2 of the subsequent events, and sail the 7 rig in one of the subsequent events. You would then count as 2 entries with 2 scores for each. So you could actually be both first and second in the same series??? How does that make sense?

None of this made it any easier to figure out what our local rig-swapping rules, if any, should be.



In the end it was moot.

At our first regatta - the First RS Aero Regatta in USA East of the Continental Divide - it was really nuking. Well it was quite windy. We all started in 7 rigs but Yarg did capsize a few times. I know he capsized because in every race in the morning on one of the downwind legs I heard a big splash behind me and someone cursing a lot.

At lunchtime, Yarg switched down to the 5 rig and I didn't hear any more splashing or cursing in the afternoon. In fact he seemed to be doing really well on the first beat of every race in the afternoon but then his 5 rig seemed to lose distance to the 7s in the rest of the race. So we didn't need to protest him under Rule C.1.4. in the end. (Only joking Yarg.)



Of course that opened the floodgates.

If  a lighter sailor can switch down a rig in the heavy stuff, then it must be OK for a heavy sailor to switch up in the light stuff? Right?

OK. I know it's debatable. We have debated it a lot in my other class. In fact the old geezers in my other class debated it so much that we now have a rig-swapping rule for North American Laser Masters regattas that, as far as I know, nobody else in the Laser class in the world uses.

In any case, when the three of us raced in the Wednesday evening multi-class pursuit race last week I told Yarg I would like to use my 9 rig, just to see what would happen. If we don't test out these different rigs we never will figure out whether and how we can race them together. The Email Dude opted for a 9 rig too. So we started together, one 7 rig and two 9 rigs.

The other two Aero sailors got better starts than me so I was playing catch-up all the way up the first beat. As I recall, Yarg was leading at the first mark. I had a good downwind leg and gained the lead. On the second upwind, the first boat chasing us, a Flying Scot caught, up with us. I led the Aeros down the second downwind but the Scot rounded ahead of us at the leeward mark. Yarg, close behind me,went right on the short final beat, so I went the same way to cover him. The Email Dude went left, got a lucky shift and gained on us. We converged at the finish line. It was almost a tie. We finished within a second of each other, with the Email Dude in second (after the Scot), me third and Yarg fourth.

So what does that prove?

The 7 and 9 rigs are actually the same speed in light air?

Or, perhaps, more likely, a 160lb sailor in a 7 rig is as fast as a 195 lb sailor in a 9 rig in light air?

We should just sail the rigs that suit our weight and we will have even racing?

If only I had got a better start I would have won the race?

Yarg is a much better sailor than Email Dude and me?

All of the above?



More research is indicated.

Three things I do know…

I do love pursuit races.

I am so glad I bought this boat.

I am so glad I joined this club.

The Question With No Answer

I was sailing on Lake Massapoag the other day when another sailor asked me a question I couldn't answer.

I don't mean I didn't know the answer. There are a lot of questions about sailing that I don't know the answers to. Questions like... "How is it possible to sail faster dead downwind than the wind?" or "Why does the US Olympic team not win more medals?" or "Why did they get rid of Rule 17.2?" These questions are, in theory, answerable and somebody knows the answers - I assume. But the question I was asked totally stumped me because it did not compute, it was like one of those impossible paradoxes such as, "Which came first the chicken or the egg?"



But first let me digress and give you the background.

I have been sailing my new RS Aero quite a lot in the last few days. Mainly because I am entered in the first RS Aero Regatta in North America east of the Continental Divide tomorrow and I still have no idea how to sail the boat properly.

A couple of days at the lake it has been very windy - about 18 mph with 30 mph gusts and shifts up to 90 degrees. These are not the ideal conditions to learn how to sail a new dinghy. To be honest on those days I have mainly concentrated on keeping the long carbon pointy thing in the air and not in the water. But man, when you take off in an RS Aero on a reach in a 30 mph gust, you are really flying. And on those windy days, although I wasn't sailing very well, I consoled myself with the thought that which does not kill me makes me stronger, as the famous German Laser coach Friedrich Nietzsche once told me.

The other two days the winds were around 10mph so it was possible to work on boat-handling skills and boat-speed and all that other stuff that coaches call "training" and I call "having fun in the boat." One day I mainly worked on tacking and was starting to do something a bit more like a proper tack instead of my original method of "push the tiller over and pray." The other day of medium wind I sailed up and downwind with a Laser and another Aero which was great for working out things like whether to go high or low upwind and what angles were fast downwind.

And I am so pleased that I have two friends with Aeros on the same lake. We are all learning from each other and passing on little tips and tricks we discover. Everything from how not to break the outhaul (oops) to the optimum position to sit in the boat downwind.

All good stuff.

I am not really ready to sail this baby in a regatta yet but I am having fun, and that's what it's all about, right?



So what was this impossible question?

It was, "So do you like your Aero better than your Laser?"

I was nonplussed.

The question didn't make sense to me.

OK. I know we ask questions like this about consumer products all the time. Do you like your Audi better than your Subaru? Do you prefer Smuttynose IPA to Bud Lite?  Did you like The Graduate better than Honey I Shrunk the Kids?

All good questions. All easy to answer.

But a boat, at least a single-handed sailing dinghy, is not like any other consumer product. Not to me anyway. It's almost like a living thing. It's an integral part of who I am and how I have fun. It's a lifestyle. It's a community, or at least the way into a community. And that's all about the people you meet and the friends you make.

The Aero and the Laser offer different sailing experiences and entries into two different communities. Different opportunities to sail in different places. But I couldn't possibly say I like one more than the other. Not the way I feel right now, anyway.

You might as well ask me which of my sons is my favorite as question whether I like my Aero better than my Laser. The question is meaningless and impossible to me.

So I fudged the answer…

"I refuse to draw comparisons. I really enjoy having two boats. End of story."

Am I strange?

If you have more than one boat do you feel the same way?

Laser Sailing at the Lake - Crushed!

I joined the yacht club.

A couple of Sundays ago I hitched up my Laser trailer and headed off to race in the Sunday races at my new yacht club.

My friends Yarg and The Email Dude were there. But they had brought their RS Aeros.

What the?

I thought we had all agreed back at the big winter planning meeting that we were going to sail Aeros on Saturdays and Lasers on Sundays. But the the meeting was held at Mick Morgan's Irish Pub and there was an Irish band playing and I had had two (conservatively) pints of Guinness and I couldn't really hear what anyone else was saying so maybe I got confused. And I'm a bit deaf these days anyway. Must make an appointment to see the ear doctor.

My friends had taken delivery of their RS Aeros only a couple of days before, so I guess they couldn't resist taking them out and playing with them. Boys with toys!

Never mind. A boat's a boat. So there were 6 Lasers and 2 RS Aeros - with 7 rigs - for the Sunday races.



According to the handicap numbers they are using in the UK, the Aero 7s should be a bit faster than Laser full rigs but we did seem to have pretty even racing between Lasers and Aero 7s on that day. At least to start with, we are going to race Lasers and Aero 7s together starting at the same time. At least I think that's what we agreed at Mick Morgan's Irish Pub back in the winter but it was during a rousing chorus of The Wearing of the Green and I don't hear so well these days.

Wearing of the green

So off we went.

One race I was OCS.

What the?

I am hardly ever OCS.

I took this is a good sign. I am usually not very aggressive on the start line.

Obviously I was too aggressive on the first day of racing in 2015.

This year will be different.



Yarg and the Email Dude were often ahead of me in their Aeros.

But not always.

They were often ahead of me when we all raced in Lasers so I don't think it proved much.

Anyway lake sailing is so much about spotting shifts and gusts that a theoretical few percentage points in boat speed aren't all that relevant.



There was one race when I was 5th at the windward mark but then I overtook both Aeros and the two leading Lasers on the first reach to take the lead.

Woo hoo!!!

How did I do that?

Well, I spotted more pressure higher than the rhumb line and went for it.

And I used my double super secret trick I learned from Kurt Taulbee at SailFit about how to go fast on reaches.

But then I threw it all away by going the wrong way on the final beat.

Hey ho!

Such is lake sailing.

Must make an appointment to see the eye doctor.

So, going into the final race I had a 2nd and a 3rd and a 5th (ugly!) among the Lasers.

Did we decide at Mick Morgan's whether we were going to score Aeros and Lasers together or separately? I couldn't remember.

Maybe we did, but they were playing a rousing chorus of Whiskey in the Jar so I probably didn't hear the answer, and now I had no idea.

Whiskey in the jar

I set myself up for a good start but immediately after the start, the wind died and we were all sitting there with our sails hanging lifeless in the wind.

Somehow I got the boat going in a zephyr of about 1.62 knots and headed out to the left side of the course.

Then I had one of those moments of clarity that happen about twice a lifetime for lake sailors.

I saw a puff just ahead, and if I tacked on it I would reach that puff over there, and if I tacked on that I would reach that other puff.

I could connect the dots.

So I did.

And I rounded the windward mark with a substantial lead.

Down the run to the finish I was in clear air and the rest of the fleet were fighting each other for air.

About half way down the run, the wind died again, and then came in from a new direction, but I managed to spot it and I crossed the finish line in in first place beating both the Aeros and all the other Lasers by a considerable margin. Maybe I don't need to see the eye doctor after all.



I love lake sailing.

I love Laser sailing.



Yarg was gracious enough to invite a few of us to enjoy a few beers on his elegant curved dock at the north end of the lake. Mrs Yarg had prepared some delicious dips and we sat on the elegant curved dock and dipped and sipped and reminisced on the day's sailing.

Mrs Yarg asked an innocent question about how it had worked out with the Aeros and Laser sailing together.

I must admit I couldn't resist telling her about the final race and how I had beaten both the Aeros (and all the other Lasers) in my Laser

I must admit I used the word "crushed."

I probably used the word "crushed" a lot.



Children can be so cruel at my age.

10 Reasons Why Massapoag YC Might Be the Best Sailing Club on the Planet

On Saturday and Sunday my son and I raced with the Laser fleet at Massapoag Yacht Club in Sharon MA.

I can't remember the last time I had so much fun.

Here are 10 reasons why Massapoag YC is (quite possibly) the best sailing club on the planet….

1. There is Laser racing on Saturdays. Actually there is racing for Sunfish and Lasers on Saturdays. Lots of short races which is what we "board boats" like. Minimal waiting around between races. We did one windward-leeward race and then a gazillion Harry Anderson courses so we could enjoy some exciting reaches and the RC could video us gybing round the committee boat.

2. There is Laser racing on Sundays. Actually Sunday is their race day for all the fleets at MYC. Yesterday there was a good sized Flying Scot fleet, a couple of Day Sailers and seven or eight Lasers. The RC runs two longer races on Sundays, and then all the other boats go back to the club and the Laser sailors race lots more short races until our arms or legs drop off, whichever comes first.

3. There is wind. Lakes have a reputation as light wind venues. Well, it certainly wasn't light at MYC this weekend. Somebody said there were 28 knot gusts on Saturday and I don't think Sunday was much less. Of course it's gusty and shifty compared to sailing on more open waters but that just adds to the fun.

4. They let ME sail there. They even let my son sail there. Amazing!

5. The competition is just the right level for me. I'm not trailing around at the back of the fleet (except when I do something incredibly stupid.) On the other hand it's not easy to win there. In fact, I only won one of the gazillion races this weekend. But that's all I need to go home happy. (My son won a few more but then he had an expensive sailing education under the pretense of studying for an engineering degree.)

6. The club is only a few miles from my son's house. He doesn't have the time to sail very often so on the rare occasions I can persuade him to sail with me, this is one of the easiest locations to do it.

7. It's a very friendly fleet. In fact, when they found out that Sunday was my birthday someone organized an impromptu birthday party for me after sailing, complete with birthday cupcakes, a candle (66 candles would be a lot to expect) and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday in five part harmony.

8. The water is fresh. After all the sailing I do on the sea, it's a real pleasure not to have to rinse the boat after sailing.

9. They make videos of the sailing. Well, at least they did this weekend. I can see my rather slow capsize recovery, my very bad leeward mark roundings, and many other learning experiences.

Here is my son initiating the gybe at the RC boat

And here I have just completed the gybe around the RC boat

and am about to chase the my son (who was leading the race) down the final run.
Screenshots from MYC video by David Gilman.

10. I think Massapoag YC may have unwittingly hooked my two eldest grandchildren, Emily and Aidan, on sailing. They have only been sailing on small boats once before, two years ago. It was at Lake Massapoag and I wrote about it here. On Sunday, Tillerwoman and my daughter-in-law (recently named by National Geographic Magazine as a top family blogger) were in the vicinity of the sailing club with the kids so they brought them there, arriving as my son and I were derigging.

Apparently Emily asked her mother when she could go sailing again. Mom told her that she could choose to go sailing any time she wanted. Just say when.

Emily didn't have to think before replying…. "NOW!"

I think she takes after me a little bit.

Happy birthday indeed.

Emily sailing with me in 2012

My Butt

Another great angle from the videographer at Lake Massapoag.

Do these hiking pants make my butt look big?

My Hand

Thanks to the wonders of video technology, the RC at Massapoag YC were filming the races yesterday. Here they got a really cool shot of my hand on the gunwale.

Risk vs Reward

I had a fun afternoon on Sunday, racing with the Massapoag YC Laser fleet in Sharon MA. The wind was blowing at over 10 knots from the S down the major axis of the lake. Except for the odd occasions when it was 1-2 knots, or from the E, or from the W. Hey, that's lake sailing. Deal with it.

I had a typically mediocre series of races but I did learn a few things about starts. Or maybe relearned them.

There was one race where the boat end of the start line was favored. Another boat and I set up high and a boat just to leeward of the committee boat luffed us up and closed the gap on us and stopped us from barging. Quite right too. I was able to tack and gybe around and start a little late. But the other attempting barger and the boat that luffed him ended up getting tangled up with each other and they both had terrible starts.

Lesson #1: Don't barge.

Lesson #2: Enforce your rights but don't be so aggressive in defending your position that you end up tangled with another boat and you both get bad starts.

Then there was another time when the pin was favored and I attempted a port tack start. When I had checked the wind about 90 seconds earlier it was impossible to lay the pin on starboard from the boat end of the line, so it should have worked. But the wind had shifted and I realized way too late that I would have to duck the first boat reaching down the line towards the pin. And then when I had ducked him I had to duck the next boat… and the next… and the next... Oops.

Lesson #3: Don't try to port tack the fleet unless you are absolutely sure you can pull it off.

Or perhaps it was really Lesson #4: Don't try to port tack the fleet unless you have nerves of steel so you won't chicken out when you can see the whites of the eyes of six starboard tackers reaching straight at you.

On the other hand in the races where I set up for nice safe conservative starts on starboard tack away from either end of the relatively short line, I got decent starts and respectable finishes.

Memo to self: You don't have to "win" the start. You just need to get a good start, near the favored end, with room to leeward, accelerating at the right time, on the line at the gun, and preferably bow out on the boats to windward and leeward.

Don't roll the dice.

My Next Home

Where is the best small town to live in the United States?

According to Money Magazine it is the town of Sharon in Massachusetts.

Money Magazine explains its pick of Sharon by referencing its proximity to major job markets, its diversity, its schools, its natural beauty and its open spaces. They also mention the "town jewel", Lake Massapoag.

But for a picture to illustrate the article about the best small town to live in the whole United States, Money Magazine shows a picture of a Laser on Lake Massapoag. (Yes, I know that's not an official legal Laser sail, but it's still a Laser.)

The Laser fleet at Lake Massapoag.

Massapoag Yacht Club.

Are these really the features that led Money Magazine to honor Sharon in this way?



Maybe they've been reading my blog?

Maybe they read my 2006 post about Laser Sailing at Lake Whippersnapper? Which of course was really about Laser sailing at Lake Massapoag.

Or my 2008 post about a regatta at Lake Massapoag, Just One of Those Days?

Or my 2010 post extolling the virtues of Massapoag Yacht Club?

Or my 2012 post about what might be the best day of my life so far, the day I took two of my grandchildren sailing for the first time (in Sharon)?



You heard it here first folks.

Sharon MA is the best small town to live in America.

Because of the Laser sailing.

Why else?



Money Magazine has a video about three homes for sale in Sharon.

One of these is a "compound" of three houses on the shores of Lake Massapoag.

Hmmm. Kennedy compound. Tillerman compound?

Totally out of my price range of course, but I can dream.

There are lots of pictures on the realtor's website of all the features of the future Tillerman compound. Sweeping lawns. Swimming pool. Luxury kitchen. Gracious reception rooms. Immaculate landscaping. But this is the one that grabbed my attention...

I can just see my Laser on that beach.

When Daddy Was a Little Boy...

Continuing the story of Sailing with Grandkids...

So we all went off to the lake last Saturday. Two Laser sailors - me and my son, the blogger formerly known as Litoralis; my two eldest grandkids, Emily (6) and Aidan (4 years and 1 day); and Tillerwoman.

Conversations since that day have elucidated that Tillerwoman thought the kids were only going to watch Litoralis and me sailing. But I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to offer the kids the opportunity to come sailing with us (for the first time ever in their young lives) and that there was a pretty damn good chance that they would actually do it.

When we arrived at the lake, Aidan saw a Laser with the mast up and made some remark about how tall it was and how that must be "much bigger than your boat Granddad." It then dawned on me that although the kids had known  for ever that Granddad was a sailor and that Daddy has a Laser under the deck (which hardly ever sees the water) these kids had not grown up hanging around yacht clubs. I'm not sure they have ever actually seen a rigged Laser before.

So, while Tillerwoman took the kids for a tour of the waterfront, Litoralis and I rigged our boats.

Aidan watched.

His face says it all. He's not sure what to expect but he's darned if he's going to miss out on some fun that his big sister is going to have.

I was ready to launch first and asked Emily if she wanted to come and sail with me.

Of course she said yes. I knew she would.

I said the words that are a catchphrase in our family, "When Daddy was a little boy...."

The kids always cringe when they hear these words from me. They expect that I am going to tell the story (for only about the 429th time) of when we took their father camping in Spain when he was one year old and how he ate too many grapes and of the unfortunate and painful gastric consequences of his intemperance (which we don't need to describe in detail here.)

So now I say those words at every opportunity just to watch their little faces crumple up in pain as they remember the story about Daddy's dreadfully distressing grape indulgence outcome ... I really am a very bad Granddad!

But today I had a very different story about when Daddy was a little boy. About how he and his brother used to sit in front of the mast of my Laser and how they used to have sooooo much fun sailing with me in France.

So I lifted Emily on to the bow of my Laser and showed her where to sit and how to hold on to the mast. I rocked the boat a little just to give her a feel for how it would move while we were sailing and make sure she was comfortable. She hung on to the mast with grim determination.

But I think she was happy with the arrangement. It really is much better than being in the cockpit and getting tangled up with the sheet and with that crazy long tiller extension and getting trodden on by Granddad every time he tacks or gybes.

So we sailed off to the the middle of the lake.

I pointed out the other Lasers racing and then we sailed towards the north end of the lake. I reminded her that that was where the public beach that she had visited several times was. We came close to a couple of Sunfish sailors out having fun and watched them for a while.

Then she spotted something down the southern end of the lake that she wanted to see. Some kind of beach club by the look of it. As we sailed more she relaxed and released her death grip on the mast. She splashed her feet in the water and laughed at the effect.

We hit a bit of a lull and she told me she wanted to go faster. I took this as a good sign, but gave here a boring lecture on gusts and wind lines and all that stuff anyway. She splashed her feet in the water some more.

Then she saw that her father and brother were out sailing too and wanted to sail over and see them. So we did. Aidan looked just as happy as Emily. Then she told me she wanted to "race Daddy." I took this as a very good sign.

So we raced Litoralis and Aidan for a while and I gave her another boring lecture about how I was using the bad air off my sails to slow them down but she seemed to be having enormous fun in spite of that.

We sailed near the other half dozen Lasers doing informal races and I asked her if she wanted to join in with their races. She said yes. I took this as a very, very good sign.

I did my best to explain to her the race course and where the start/ finish line was.  I lined up outside the start line and let the other boats go off first. Didn't want to spook Emily by getting involved in any of the usual start line mayhem.

I did the usual lake sailing stuff - tack on the headers, go for the puffs - and we ended up in fourth place out of eight boats at the windward mark. I was pretty pleased with that but she wanted to know how her father and brother were doing. I looked around. "They're last," I told her. She seemed pleased about that.

Downwind I didn't pull up the daggerboard because she was sitting on the daggerboard shockcord. And I didn't do my usual extreme windward heel because I didn't want her to fall off the boat. But we maintained our position and we rounded the leeward mark in fourth.

"How's Daddy doing?"

"He's still in last place."

Big smile. Her. Not me.

Up the second beat I pointed out that if we could just pass that yellow boat, we would finish third. Not too shabby considering our late start and carrying a crew and not being able to sail properly downwind. So I did the usual lake sailing stuff - tack on the headers, go for the puffs - and we did pass the yellow boat and we were third. Not at all shabby considering.

"How's Daddy doing?"

"He's still in last place."

She seemed extraordinarily happy about that.

By now we had been sailing for about an hour. She was having fun. She was relaxed. She was enjoying sailing.

Mission accomplished.

But she had had enough, so we went in.

I don't know if last Saturday was the best day of my life so far, but it was pretty damn close.

Back

I'm back.

Back sailing again.

In early May I hurt my back.

It was shortly after the epic Laser sailing workout that I wrote about at Scary Play. I'm not sure if that really was the cause. The intense pain actually came on a few days later while I was sitting at my desk using my computer (like I am now.) I suspect I was sitting awkwardly and the real reason for my problem was that I had hardly done any stretching or back strengthening exercises over the winter and spring months before launching into energetic Laser sailing again, and then I didn't do any stretching after Laser sailing either and paid the price.

Lesson learned.

I didn't run or sail for several weeks which made me even more cranky than I usually am. During that time I did do a lot of gentle stretching and other exercises to aid my recovery.

When I did return to sailing again, I chose to ease into it relatively gently in order not to cause a recurrence of my injury. Not sail too much on any one day. Not sail on consecutive days for a while. I suspect reading Aussie Laser sailor Ash Brunning's account of the recurrence of his back problems made me ultra-cautious. I wince every time I read this post. It's all too reminiscent of my own experience. Don't want to go back there.

Massapoag Laser and Sunfish Regatta
My first day of sailing after the injury was the one-day Laser Regatta at Massapoag Yacht Club on June 16. I had originally been hoping that weekend to sail both days, perhaps doing two regattas in New Hampshire at Lake Sunapee and Lake Mascoma. But in line with my "take it easy at first" program I decided to do just do one day. The fact that my son, who hardly ever races his Lasers these days, was willing to sail at Massapoag (and it was Father's Day weekend too) was the deciding factor.

It was a fun day. Going back to Massapoag gave me a chance to catch up with some of the Massapoag Mashers who had come with me on the Cabarete and Clearwater trips earlier in the year.

The winds were stronger than expected. 12-15 knots out of the NW in the morning. I gave my back a good workout in two 2-lap windward-leeward races, scoring a 3rd and a 2nd and then decided to quit for the morning. I watched the other two morning races from the beach while I did some back stretching exercises and pondered whether the aches and pains in my back were the normal effects of an hour or so of Laser sailing after several weeks off, or signs of something more serious.

The winds were a little lighter in the afternoon. I did three more races, scoring another 2nd and then skipped the final race too. Didn't want to overdo it on the first day out and blow out my back for the whole season.

With three DNS's in an eight race regatta I didn't think I had any chance of making the metaphorical podium, so was pleasantly surprised to be called up to receive the 5th place trophy, which apparently I had won by the tie-breaker in a 3-way tie with my son and one other young fellow. Happy Father's Day!

My back sure was sore afterwards but was fine the next day, which was a huge relief.

Tuesday in Bristol
So the next Tuesday I joined a couple of the best Laser sailors from the Newport Fleet for a practice in Bristol Harbor. The wind was honking from the south with some juicy waves. There was no way I could keep up with my friends upwind... or downwind for that matter. I was definitely holding up the back of the fleet in every race that night. Nothing to do with my back. I'm just not in the same league as them.

I gave the back a really good workout and quit a little earlier than the others. Once again there was pain after sailing but a quick recovery overnight.

Back to Massapoag
The following weekend was the date for one of my favorite regattas run out of the Community Boating Center in New Bedford, but I didn't feel ready to test out my back at a two-day regatta yet. On the Saturday my friends at Lake Massapoag were doing a Laser coaching session with video feedback so I joined them there again. As it turned out there was hardly any wind so we drifted around for an hour or so and attempted doing some light air roll tacks for the camera. Actually watching the video afterwards was quite instructive. I realized that one of my persistent faults with roll tacks is still persisting, and picked up a tip from one of my buddies on how I might fix it, so that was all good.

Sometimes sitting crunched up in the boat in light winds is more uncomfortable on the back and legs than hiking hard in 15-20 knots. Again my back was feeling it that evening, but was fine the next day.

Another Tuesday in Bristol
The next Tuesday evening in Bristol the winds were honking again, only this time from the NW. Great hiking weather. There were five of us sailing. Here are four of us before we ventured out into the demon winds of Bristol Harbor.

There were a bunch of A-Cats out racing too and with the wind running diagonally across the harbor it was pretty much impossible to avoid them if we both wanted to race a WL course. This made the evening even more exciting because A-Cats...

1. are incredibly fast
2. are incredibly quiet so you never hear them coming if you don't see them first
3. are apparently somewhat hard to control.

After my first encounter on the race course with an A-Cat whose helmsman hailed at me, "You're gonna get killed!" I began to wonder if all A-Cat sailors harbored some deep grudge against Laser sailors.

I hung in there all evening with the others (no quitting early this week) and I only capsized once (clumsy gybe.) I was hiking in somewhat better style than the previous week and was keeping up a bit closer to the leaders. Nobody got killed by an A-Cat, and we all came back with big smiles on our faces. Then we wandered off to Aidan's Pub where I demolished a Leinster Burger (blue cheese and bacon on top) with pub fries and a couple of pints of Old Thumper, while we all enjoyed the popular sport of slandering the reputations of all our Laser sailing friends who hadn't come out to sail that evening.

Life is good.

I'm back.