Should I Sell My Laser?

Should I sell my old Laser?

There it is. Stuck in the corner of the garage with a couple of bikes. Behind the lawnmower. A convenient shelf on which to store my RS Aero foils.

It's now October and I just realized I haven't sailed my Laser since April. All summer, I have been ignoring the Laser and sailing my RS Aero instead.



How did that happen?

It wasn't the original plan.

When I bought my RS Aero I intended to split my time between the RS Aero and the Laser. Actually the plan that my two fellow RS Aero buyers and I had agreed was that we would sail the RS Aeros on Saturdays at the club and the Lasers on Sundays. But that went out the window on the first Sunday after we had taken delivery of our Aeros in May last year, when I showed up at the club with my Laser only to find that my friends had already reneged on our agreement and they were sailing their Aeros. Whatever.  Six of us in Lasers raced the two show-offs in RS Aeros and in the last race I crushed them all.

Crushed

I actually wrote in the blog post about that day Laser Sailing at the Lake - Crushed! ...

I love lake sailing.
I love Laser sailing.

And so I became a two boat sailor. I would sail the RS Aero at the club and at regattas and then when I went back to sailing my Laser I would strangely find that I enjoyed the Laser even more then I used to, and that my time in the RS Aero had actually improved some aspects of my Laser technique.  A Laser sailing friend from the west coast who had also bought an RS Aero told me that when I went back to the Laser it would feel like a truck...

A truck - not a Laser

But later in the summer of 2015 after I went Back to the Laser for a couple of days, I didn't think it felt at all like a truck and I was writing of the experience...

I love my Laser.
I am a two boat sailor.

I sailed the RS Aero a lot in the summer and fall of 2015, including two regattas at our home club, the RS Aeros North Americans at the Gorge and the Archipelago Rally (which I almost won!)

Archies

But then at the start of the frostbiting season in November I was feeling all nostalgic about Laser sailing again so I took my Laser down to Newport and had a terrific time including leading the 44 boat fleet at the windward mark in one race.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

I sailed a few more days with the Newport Laser frostbite fleet over the winter and did a bit of solo practice in March and April, but then I put the Laser away in the garage - and it hasn't moved from there for six months.

This summer I have sailed my RS Aero in club races and also with the Bristol Laser fleet on a couple of Tuesday evenings. I have done several RS Aero regattas including three in New England, the US Nationals at the Gorge, and the RS Aerocup on Lake Garda.

Fuzzy screen capture from a video of me sailing at Lake Garda

I have met RS Aero sailors from all over the world who share my passion for the RS Aero. And my enthusiasm for racing and regattas and traveling to regattas has never been higher. But somehow along the way I forgot my Laser.



How did that happen?

Do I need to keep the Laser any more?

Should I sell it?

RS Aerocup Malcesine - Photos from Day 3

Sunday, the third and final day of racing in the RS Aerocup at Malcesine on Lake Garda was another beautiful day of sailing in paradise. The southerly breeze kicked in dead on time for our first start at 1pm and we were off.

A start. But where is Tillerman? Buried again it seems!

Mike Saqui - my nemesis on the race course - with boat flat and game face on.

He did beat me by a few points in the regatta but I crushed him in both races on Sunday.

Nick Craven - another sailor I was crossing tacks with all though the regatta.
I guess that's his game face?

Anyway he beat me in the regatta but I crushed him on Sunday too!

My favorite photo from the whole regatta!

But where is Tillerman?

Kristo Ounap from Estonia - 3rd in the 7 rig fleet.

Amazing speed downwind. I rounded the windward mark with him in one race and he was gone, gone, gone before I could figure out what he was doing to be so fast.

Peter Barton from Great Britain - 2nd in the 7 rigs.

Per Christian Bordal from Norway - winner in the 7 rig fleet.

Another one who has figured out how to make big gains downwind.

More on that in another blog post.

The RS Aero 7 medal winners with their podium pants on.

Do they look happy, or what?

Thanks to SBG Films for all the amazing photos.

RS Aerocup Malcesine - Photos from Day 2

Thanks for SBG Films for these photos from Day 2 of the RS Aerocup on Lake Garda.




Wow! The waves were even bigger than I remembered.

Liina Kolk from Estonia - RS Aero 5 Champion

Karlijn van den Boogaard from the Netherlands. Youngest competitor.

Ben Rolfe from Great Britain. RS Aero 9 champion.

Kate Sargent from Great Britain. A very close second in the RS Aero 5 fleet.

The fleet going downwind. But where is Tillerman?

Oh, there I am. Does this wetsuit make my bum look big?

Mike Saqui from Great Britain. 

One of my closest competitors on the race course.

RS Aerocup Malcesine 2016 - Photos from Day 1

Photos from Day 1 of the RS Aerocup at Lake Garda - thanks to SBG Films.

Per Christian Bordal from Norway currently leading the 24 boat strong RS Aero 7 fleet with six bullets in seven races after two days of racing.

A start. Where is Tillerman?

Peter Barton GBR (orange visor) RS Aero International Class Manager - lying second in the RS Aero 7 fleet after two days of racing.

Peter Stephinson fron Australia - the guy who developed foils to make the Laser and the Aero fly like a Moth.

The sailor in 1831 looks a lot like Doug Dubois from Park City USA, but he told all the sailors at the dinner on Friday night that his name was Donald Trump and if they let him win a race he promised not to build walls round all their countries and make them pay for it.

Kate Sargent GBR, after two days only one point out of the lead in the RS Aero 5 fleet.

Pastoso

The view from our hotel at breakfast time.

A light northerly breeze,  which will likely switch to the south around lunchtime and build during the early afternoon. Just like it has every other day. Perfect conditions for RS Aero sailing.


The regatta started yesterday (Friday.)

There was a skippers meeting at 11:30.

After the usual welcome speeches and one good question and several not so good questions from sailors, pizza and little hors d'oeuvres were served, along with some bubbly.

Bubbly at a skippers meeting - 90 minutes before the first race! I didn't have any. Honest!

But I do love Italy.



And so we raced on Lake Garda. The winds built up to about 16 knots during the racing.

I was passing boats upwind.

Boats were passing me downwind.

I tried out some of the things Peter Barton taught us at the clinic. How to set the sail controls to point well going upwind. Different ways to pump going downwind.



I was feeling very mellow.

Between races I just lounged in my Aero and soaked in the view.  This must be the most spectacular sailing location in the world.



After two races I was feeling so mellow - actually a bit tired - I decided to skip the third race and go back to the hotel to find TIllerwoman and have a beer. Or two.



We have bubbly - prosecco - at breakfast too.

Maybe that's why I feel so mellow?

RS Aeros at the Gorge 2016

Here is a superb video produced by Yannick Gloster of one of the lighter wind days during the RS Aero US Nationals at the Gorge this year.

Check out the gybe by the handsome fellow with sail number 2017 at 1:43.

There are also some excellent close-ups of other much better sailors (even they are not quite so handsome as #2017) that are very good examples of how to sail the Aero well.

What can we learn from this video?

What looks fast, and what doesn't?

What did Tillerman have for lunch?

Joe Berkeley and Carbon Upper Envy

Joe Berkeley

Photo by Stuart Streuli

One of my favorite writers of regatta reports is Laser sailor, Joe Berkeley.

Every regatta he goes to he seems to be able to write an original and fascinating report full of humorous observations and personal anecdotes about the sailors he competes with such as Peter Seidenberg, Christine Neville and Peter Shope.

Not only that, his reports always seem to be published on the Internet a few hours after the regatta is completed.

How does he do it?

Well Joe, among other things, is a highly successful professional freelance writer. But, even so, the quality and timeliness of his regatta reports are impressive, and set a standard that the rest of us can only dream of attaining.



This weekend was no exception.

Joe sailed his Laser in the New England Laser Masters at Wickford RI.

I sailed my RS Aero in the Massapoag YC Annual Regatta in Sharon MA.

Around 9 o'clock on Monday morning I settled down with my third cup of coffee and wondered if I could summon up the energy to write a regatta report for the RS Aero class. I really should. I am the Aero fleet captain for the host club after all. But what should I say? What to leave in and what to leave out? Can I find something interesting and new to say about each of the Aero sailors at the regatta? Ideas were jumbling around in my head and I couldn't work out how to organize them.

WWJBD. What would Joe Berkeley do?

I decided to waste some time checking Facebook.

What's this?

Another brilliant regatta report from Joe Berkeley - with photos - and filed at 8:14pm on Sunday evening! How does he do it?

I read Joe's report and had to chuckle at the penultimate paragraph where he reported on an issue that seems to be troubling the local Laser sailors...

From the grass roots level, the cry was heard, "Where, oh where is the carbon fiber upper?" There is a feeling amongst the group that the carbon fiber upper could outlast numerous top sections, marriages, and careers. It could be a cradle to grave deal. You're born, you get a carbon fiber upper that is with you through all of life's ups and downs. You never have that sad feeling of breaking an upper in half, tearing a sail and being towed back to home port.

Joe is referring of course to the Laser's aluminum upper mast section. It had been a windy regatta and I am guessing that a number of the sailors ended up with bent upper mast sections, or even one or two broken ones.

Been there. Done that.

It happens.

It's a feature of the Laser.

And for years there has been discussion about a new carbon fiber upper mast section for the Laser but nobody seems to know if, or even whether, it will hit the market.



And then it struck me.

Since May of 2015 I have been sailing with a carbon fiber upper.

And a carbon fiber lower. And a carbon fiber boom.

I don't have to worry about those Laser sailing bent spar problems any more.

No more carbon upper envy for me.

I putzed around the rest of the day and finally managed to cobble together a regatta report by 6pm.

I posted it on the class Facebook page.

And I see that someone put it up on the Yachts and Yachting website.

But Joe Berkeley could have done a much better job.

We really need Joe Berkeley in the RS Aero Class.

RS Aero US Nationals 2016 - Offset Mark Mayhem - Almost

Thanks to Cheryl Muir for these great photos of some of the action at the offset mark at the RS Aero US Nationals in the Columbia River Gorge a couple of weeks ago.

Here comes Tillerman in 2017, close behind Scott Malone in 1731 when Scott's RS Aero decides to do a windward roll on him.

What?

Is this the dude who sailed single-handed non-stop across the Pacific with one hand tied behind his back. (I am sure I was told something like that by other sailors over a few beers on the night before the regatta.)

AAAAGH! He's going to take me out. His mast is going to land on my deck. How can I avoid him?

No wait. Phew! 2017 has escaped a close encounter with 1731.

But here come three more boats about to ram into 1731's hull and make massive gashes in it.

AAAAGGH!

And where is Scott. Has he drowned?

Oh wait. Scott didn't drown. There he is again. Thank god for that!

But 1251 is going to sink Scott!

No wait. 1251 missed him.

But here comes 1422.  Eric Aker, El Presidente, is about to punch a YUGE hole in Scott's hull. And Scott can't even see him... yet.

And who is that coming into the frame from the left?

Oh look! Nobody hit the capsized boat.

But where is Scott?

Has he drowned again?

And Tillerman has rounded the offset mark, clear of the pack as he heads down the run.

Scott is still alive and hanging on to the transom of his turtled boat.

Woo hoo!

I probably screwed up big time later in the race.

RS Aero US Nationals 2016 - Columbia River Gorge

After moderate winds for the clinic on Wednesday and Thursday which were perfect for the purpose...

And a light easterly for the long downwind race and speed challenge on Friday which was exactly what was NOT needed...

For the RS Aero US Nationals on Saturday and Sunday the Gorge did what the Gorge does.  The westerly came in with a vengeance and then continued to build.

On Saturday it started at around 10 knots and then built up to about 22 in the puffs.

Me in 2017 getting a not too bad start. It was probably a general recall!

Four races were held each day. I survived three races on Saturday without a capsize although the conditions were very challenging for me in the third race. My finishing position improved in every race - but even so they weren't anything to write home about. After three races I was mentally and physically exhausted so I decided to call it a day.



On Sunday it was really nuking, with an average wind speed of 25 knots and over 30 in the gusts.

Me in 2017 - looks like that once again I didn't get my vang on before the start

In the first race I was hit on the head by the boom (duh!) but survived the experience and finished the race.

In the second race I was surfing downwind in a enormous gust - probably the fastest I have ever sailed in an Aero - and, remembering something a coach had once told me about it being easiest to gybe when you are going fastest, I attempted a gybe.  The coach was wrong! After the gybe the boat got an attack of the wobblies. (Apparently this is the official term for this phenomenon. At least, it was the term used by RS Aero uber coach Peter Barton at the clinic.)  First the boat tried to capsize to windward. I saved it. Then it tried to capsize to leeward. I saved it. Then it DID capsize to windward.  Glug, glug, glug!

Not the gust that did me in.

After righting the boat without too much trouble and watching the rest of the fleet sail over the horizon, I decided that I had had enough for the day and sailed slowly back to the beach.

When I got there, somebody looked at me and said, "Are you bleeding?"

Apparently I was. Even carbon fiber booms can draw blood. Is it time I started wearing a helmet for sailing?

Hmmm. I asked a doctor friend if there are any differences between the symptoms for concussion and the symptoms from drinking too much beer, and he said no. So I started early on the beer.



OK, I only completed half the races but I was so pumped up after five days sailing an RS Aero in the Gorge, that I am determined to improve my physical and mental fitness and heavy air skills so I can do better when I come back to the Gorge next year.

Oh, and by the way I was not the only sailor who struggled a little in the prevailing conditions. Out of 35 entries, 21 sailors failed to start or finish at least one of the races.

Aeros mating

Not a broken mast in case that's what you were thinking

Being towed in for an emergency repair after a collision

Just another capsize recovery

Even some of the sailors at the front of the fleet capsized occasionally

Thanks to Sean Trew for his amazing photos of the regatta, to Columbia Gorge Racing Association for hosting the event, to the regatta chairman Michael O'Brien, the coach for the clinic Peter Barton, and to all the volunteers who worked so hard to put on such a great event for us.

And a special thanks to a long time follower of this blog, John from PDX, who was one of the mark boat volunteers. It's always good to meet the crazy people who actually read the utter nonsense I post here.