Dunder Mifflin Paper Company 71st Sail

We are having spectacular fall weather this week. Sunny days and perfect sailing breezes. On Tuesday I went down to one of my favorite spots, Fogland Beach in Little Compton, for my 71st day of Laser sailing this year, sponsored by Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

I pretty much had the whole twelve miles of the Sakonnet River to myself. Not that I could explore it all in the light breeze on Tuesday afternoon. Just time for a relaxed mellow sail in the autumn sunshine, wondering how many more days like this I will be able to enjoy before the icy blasts of the New England winter sweep over the area. Time to work on light air technique and enjoy the views up and down the Sakonnet from Portsmouth Park to Rhode Island Sound. Perfect.

Thanks to the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin for their generous sponsorship of my 71st sail. If you need any paper products give them a call.

First Two Bucket Lists

Two entries are in already for our group writing project Bucket List.

1. Zen of Zensekai II - By Sea. You can skip over the bits in his post about breaking his bilge pump and his hyperbolic praise for some dude he calls Master T.

2. Christy of Central Air. There's definitely a common theme to most of the seven items on her list. It's pretty clear what is really on this lady's mind. By the way, what is a "super-fly" and is it a good thing?

Now if you excuse me I have to go and nail some jello to the wall while maintaining a cool hand on the tiller and trying to read the three letters in that one's eyes.

Cemco Turbo Vertical Shaft Impact Crushers and Contract Manufacturing 70th Sail

My 70th Laser sailing jaunt of the year was a blast around Bristol Harbor in a brisk north-westerly. Good workout for the hiking muscles and a chance to work on my boat-handling technique, especially tacks and mark roundings.

It wasn't exactly a new revelation but one thing I noticed particularly was that I do need to improve my ability to get back into the fast upwind mode after tacks and leeward mark roundings. It takes me too long to get into the full-on hiking position, sheet in (especially after a mark rounding), swap hands (after a tack), balance the boat, accelerate up to full speed, and get in the groove

Hmmm. Always good to find something to improve.

Thanks to Carol Anne for arranging sponsorship for this sail from Cemco Turbo Vertical Shaft Impact Crushers and Contract Manufacturing. If crushing is what you need then Cemco Turbo Vertical Shaft Impact is the way to go.

Don't just take my word for it. A picture is worth a thousand words...


Maybe Cemco could help me crush "that one", my friends.

Bucket List Group Writing Project

Did you see the post about Gary Jobson's Bucket List? What's on your bucket list? What are the sailing things that you dream about doing before you die?

"Bucket List" is the title of this month's group writing project. The challenge is to tell the world (via your blog or this blog) about the things you would like to achieve in sailing before you kick the bucket. You don't have to be an old geezer like me and Gary Jobson to participate. Whether you're 15 or 85, just write about your sailing dreams and ambitions for the rest of your life.

If you need inspiration grab a copy of the October 2008 issue of Sailing World and read Gary's article in full; or go see the movie The Bucket List.

Same rules as usual...


1. Write a post on your blog on the subject of "My Sailing Bucket List".

2. Once you've posted your list, let me know about it by sending an email to tillermeister@gmail.com including a link to your post. If you don't have a blog just email me your list and I will post it here. Please let me know about your post, or send me your story, by Saturday 18 October.

3. I will post here two links to your story. Every day or so I will write a post listing any new entries in the project. Then at the end of the project I will provide a summary post with links to all of your lists.

Please participate in this project. Do it for fun. Do it to so that new readers will find your blog. Do it to inspire other sailors. Do it to inspire yourself. Oh, just do it.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Gary Jobson's Bucket List

In the latest issue of Sailing World there is an article by Gary Jobson about his "bucket list", the sailing things he would like to do before he kicks the bucket. Now you would think that in 50 years of sailing a guy like Jobson has done it all. But no. The article is entitled There's Much more on the Horizon and he is full of ideas.

Among other things he muses about organizing a crew of veterans and youngsters to race for a major championship title; learning to jibe a foiling moth; campaigning a Melges 32 or a Laser SB3; having a shot at the A Scow title with Buddy Melges in his crew; team racing; cruising to the Galapagos and South Georgia Island; and breaking the 50 knot barrier.

There were three things on his list that especially struck a chord with me...

• Take a Laser out in the surf, somewhere in the tropics, sail upwind for 20 miles in the ocean and then back downwind in 35 knots.
  
  
• Launch 10 Lasers off a ship in mid-ocean in 25 knots or more with 15-foot waves.
  
  
• Take his (as yet unborn) grandchildren sailing.

Good to see that a guy who has won the America's Cup, and with almost any sailing opportunity open to him, still knows what really matters in life. Laser sailing and grandkids. Love it.

Vistor 200,000

According to sitemeter, the 200,000th visitor to Proper Course stopped by a few minutes ago. He or she is in Huntington Beach, California and visited several pages including a couple of classic Tillerman posts 7 Reasons to Hate Laser Sailors and Worst Sailing Mistakes.

Thanks for stopping by, whoever you are... and thanks to the other 199,999. Without you this blogging game would be totally pointless.

Deja Vu

It feels like we've been here before.

Handy Map of San Francisco Bay

Click for larger image

World famous San Francisco Bay Sailor, Superblogger and Serious Ocean Going Racer, Edward of EVK SuperBlog fame says, "That is a very good map. I tried it and have tattoo'd the spot on my right index finger where my boat lives."

Oglebay Norton Flue Gas Desulfurization 69th Sail

Thanks to those titans of flue gas desulfurization material supply at Oglebay Norton for sponsoring my 69th day of Laser sailing in 2008, my third sponsored sail in a week.

I launched at low tide from Colt State Park in Bristol in a light northerly. It wasn't the most exciting sail of the year. But it was a good day to practice some of the light air skills I learned from coaches Rulo and Kurt earlier in the year; have some fun with roll gybes (awful at first but slowly improving); and work on my roll tacks (not too bad this day).

Towards the end of the session the wind started to die even more and I thought I would be becalmed about half a mile from the shore. But I couldn't let down my sponsors so I slowly inched my way back to the launch ramp to make sure that I would be able to express my heartfelt gratitude in this post to those wonderful folk at Oglebay Norton.

So let's have a big round of applause for my sponsors, and for that matter for everyone in the lime and limestone industry for their work in supplying the essential materials for flue gas desulfurization. Where would we be without them? And what the hell does all this have to do with sailing?

I'll tell you where we would be. Without flue gas desulfurization we would have more acid rain. And more acid rain means more acid lakes. And who wants to sail in sulfuric acid? That's what is has to do with sailing.

So who will sponsor my 70th sail of the year? Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers and Oglebay Norton Flue Gas Desulfurization are tough acts to follow. Any suggestions?

Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker 68th Sail

Last Wednesday I went out in the afternoon for my Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker 68th Sail of 2008. Thanks to the wonderful folk at Sharpie World HQ for their extremely generous sponsorship of this event.

And what a doozy it was. A brisk wind from the east blowing more or less perpendicular to the direction of the Sakonnet River meant that it was a total reach fest. I headed south, a direction that had me heading into the incoming swell, and concentrated on working fast through the waves. As I approached the Aquidneck shore I headed up and blasted out on a long port tack beat back towards the Little Compton shore.

After 45 minutes or so it was time to turn round and ride those waves back up to the north. What an experience! Lasering doesn't get any better than this. I sailed on a screaming planing reach right into Sandy Point and then did a bit of upwind work back across the river to Fogland, including a bit of that much-needed "spot the layline" practice.

So what has sailing to do with Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers? Good question.

I approached Sharpie for some sponsorship for my 68th sail after that inspiring moment in last week's presidential debate. Did you spot it? John McCain was doing his usual stump speech bit about the evils of earmarks when he pulled a Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker out of his pocket! And then he uttered those immortal words that will go down in history...

"I've got a pen."

And then looking somewhat curiously at his Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker, "This one's kind of old. I've got a pen, and I'm going to veto every single spending bill that comes across my desk."

Doesn't that just send chills down your spine?

No I don't mean his promise to veto "every single spending bill" that comes across his desk. I think that might be going a tad too far even for a maverick. I'm sure he doesn't really mean it. It's a metaphor. I think.

No, what thrilled me is that this guy owns an old Sharpie and he knows how to use it. I mean, his wife may be richer than Trump, and they own 13 houses and 8 cars (or is it the other way round), and they think that a private plane is the "only way" to get around in Arizona...

But he uses an old Sharpie. He's one of us. A regular guy.

John Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

Martin Luther King said, "I have a dream."

John McCain said, "I have a pen."

"I have a pen." That was the point at which he won the election. Mark my words.

I have a pen too. I have an old Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker that like Senator McCain's pen (and its owner) is also "kind of old". I use it for marking the control lines on my Laser so I can immediately set them to my secret super-fast settings. Every Laser sailor should have one. I keep it in my sailing toolbox. I'm never going to get rid of my Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker, just in case I ever decide to run for president (of the Laser class).

I am Tillerman, and I approve this message.