Three Laser Sailing Posts

And now for something completely different...

After a week of powerboat posts it's time to get back to the real subject of this blog which is... whatever I want it to be.

Seriously, I need a fix of Laser sailing reading. Maybe you do too. So for your reading pleasure, here are three recent posts about Laser sailing that piqued my interest in the last few days. Each, in their own way, reminds me of a period of my sailing history and holds a lesson for what I should be doing in the future...

Keeping the youth interested... Brent Burrows is pretty young himself - only 16 years old. He's an up-and-coming Laser sailor from the Bahamas. Most of his blog posts are about his own racing and his training sessions. But this post is about an even younger sailor, Pedro, who has been sailing Optimists for a year or so. Brent sees a lot of potential in Pedro and has volunteered to coach him all summer to develop that potential. What a guy!

In my last few years in New Jersey I spent quite a bit of time myself mentoring young sailors but I haven't done any of that since moving to Rhode Island. I should be more like Brent.

Practice Toward Perfection. Jay Livingston has written another classic in his series of posts on the Zen of sailing. His musings on the meditative nature of solo practice remind me of all the days I sailed my Laser alone in 2008. You can overdo this solo practice thing but it certainly has its place. I need to be more like Jay.

Laser Masters Nationals Wrap-Up. Scott Young is a very accomplished sailor. He is a four-time winner of the Mallory Cup and was tied for first place points at last year's Laser Masters North Americans. He recently sailed in the 2010 US Laser Masters in Charleston. Most people would be happy with fifth place at such a tough regatta. (I would be delirious. So delirious that I would probably retire from Laser sailing and take up power-boating.) But Scott sets high standards for himself, and in this post he analyzes what he should have done and what his competitors did to prepare for this championship.

Such things as...

• sail in a competitive home fleet
• do the midwinter Laser circuit in Florida
• experience the local conditions before the regatta
• sail a series of regattas before the championship to be sure of your fitness, equipment and race course management

Certainly in 2007 when I really hit the New England Laser circuit and sailed almost every major local regatta that summer, I saw the impact on my results at the Masters Worlds that October. I should listen to Scott more.


Hmmm. What just happened? I read a few blogs and all of a sudden I'm getting enthusiastic about Laser sailing again. My flirtation with power-boating is over... probably... for now... until the next time.

Powerboat Accident

There is some very sad local news about five young people who had a powerboating accident at the weekend. Apparently two mechanics from a boating business in Portsmouth RI decided to "borrow" a boat from their employer without his knowledge and take three young women for a midnight joy ride. They ended up driving at speed into some low rocks known as Despair Island and flipping the boat which landed upside down on the rocks.

Local fire departments and rescue services were called to the site of the accident at 2am on Sunday morning. Two of the women are dead and the other three people on the boat were injured. The Rhode Island Attorney General's office is investigating.

My condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

More details here.

Top Ten Reasons Why Powerboats Are Better Than Sailboats

This weekend, Tillerwoman and I enjoyed two days of glorious weather, cruising on Long Island Sound with my son and his wife in their new powerboat. I suppose it's a powerboat. It has an engine. Two of them in fact. We pottered up and down the Branford River and along the Connecticut shore and around the Thimble Islands and blasted around on a plane in more open water.

It was fun.

It made me think about All The Ways That My Son's Powerboat Is Better Than My Laser. Which should be the real title for this post. But I like misleading titles. There are lots of them on this blog.

1. It is more social. The four of us had fun hanging out on the water together. It would be fun just sitting on the boat in the slip having a glass of wine and watching the sunset (but we didn't do that this weekend.) Lasers aren't social boats.

2. You can use it even if there is no wind. There is nothing more frustrating than driving hundreds of miles to go to a Laser regatta and then sitting around for three days because there isn't enough wind to sail. It happens. Been there. Done that.

3. It is faster. Apparently their boat can reach Block Island from the New Haven area in about two and a half hours. That's about 70 miles. No way I could do that in a Laser in that time. So you can actually go places. Relatively distant places.

4. Driving fast is exciting.

5. You don't need to bother with all those esoteric skills like tacking and gybing and sailing at 45 degrees from the direction you really want to go. Not to mention how to avoid death rolls and how to do capsize recoveries.

6. You get to learn new skills like navigation and docking. I was very impressed how my son actually knew exactly where he was all the time and how to get where he wanted to be. And even more impressed by how he could spin his boat backwards through a sharp turn into his dock using mysterious (to me) combinations of forward and reverse power on his two engines all the while compensating for windage and tidage and ullage and all that kind of thing. Very snazzy.

7. You can sleep on their boat. Actually six people could sleep on the boat if they were really, really, very, very good friends. My son and his wife are starting to plan/dream of overnight trips they could take with their boat. Perhaps even to come and see us.

8. Their boat was incredibly good value. I guess it's the economy. And it is twenty years old. But even so... a total fun machine, two 350 hp engines, a galley, a head, a shower, six berths, stereo, fridge, GPS, etc. etc. etc. All for less than the price of a new Laser. A place to entertain friends. A vehicle for day trips on the water. A place to live in for a week's vacation. Pretty amazing value.

9. You don't get wet. It's impossible to sail a Laser without getting wet. Even if you don't capsize, which you probably will.

10. People... family, friends... will now go and visit my son and his wife so they can have rides on their boat. They will be the most popular people in their social circle. I don't think anyone has ever visited me so they could watch me sail away on my own on my Laser.

Hmmm.

Food for thought.

Maybe I've had this boating thing all wrong for the last thirty years...

Powerboaters Are Sailors Too

Sailors - listen carefully, for you have been misled.

You sailors, you think you are so pure with your devotion to the arcane art of making a boat zig-zag through the water using the wind alone, without resort to the use of a noisy, smelly, engine burning fossil fuels. You sailors, you look down your noses at powerboaters like me. You sailors, you even made sarcastic comments on my posts this week about the simple joys of powerboating.

Oh, you are so superior, you sailors. You don your fancy schmancy sailing clothes and tweak your lines and waggle your tillers and feel so superior to us powerboaters. You join your fancy schmancy yacht clubs and, if you are American, even pay your annual dues to US Sailing to strengthen your identity as sailors.

But I have news for you sailors. US Sailing supports powerboaters too. There is an organization called US Powerboating and... get this... it's part of US Sailing! It even has a few pages on the US Sailing website!

US POWERBOATING is organized to directly address the educational needs of powerboat owners and operators in the United States and is an affiliate of US SAILING, the national governing body for the sport of sailing. Its powerboat courses are offered through participating schools, community programs and clubs. These courses highlight on-the-water training for recreational powerboat operators, rescue boat operators, race support boat officials and instructor candidates, starting at the entry level and progressing into advanced boat handling, cruising, and applied piloting and navigation. The Certification Series of US POWERBOATING has established definitive national standards to validate knowledge and practical skills of operators of sport and cruising powerboats.

Ha! Take that. Powerboaters are sailors too. It's official.

Best Shark Ever

Antolin, in the comments to my last post, asked what is the best shark ever. According to my grandson Aidan (22 months old) the best shark ever is the one in this video. Thursdays wouldn't be complete without Aidan asking to see "shark - Grandad computer." He's not so much into the three little fishies. Until the shark appears he is constantly squealing with glee, "Shark coming! Shark coming!" (It's at about 1:09 if you are as impatient as Aidan.)

Aidan is quite fond of trucks too, so last week I broadened his education by showing him this Awesome Off Road Truck Video. He was fascinated.

You can see where this is heading, can't you? Now that I'm a powerboater I need to show Aidan the Best Powerboat Video Ever.

I know, I know. Antolin is going to say that it's the one that's not here.

But please let me have your nominations anyway...

Best Powerboat Blog on the Planet

After making the decision to become a powerboater, I figured I should do some research to find out some stuff about my new sport. What exactly is a powerboat? Is it the same as a motorboat? How do you drive one? What sort of powerboat should I buy? Basic stuff like that.

Well, if powerboating is is anything like sailing, all the best information and advice will be on blogs, right? That's where the action is. So I did a Google search on "best powerboat blog on the planet".

Hmmm. That's a little disappointing.

Article on 420magazine.com about the fastest hemp boat on the planet. I stole the picture above from this story, but 420magazine.com has... ummm... a different emphasis... not at all about powerboats really.

Post on greenboatblog.com about Sailboat or Powerboat? Hmmm. I don't think I'm going to find much practical advice about how to drive fast in a boat with twin 500hp engines on a site called greenboatblog.

Story from the UK Daily Mail about a man dying in a powerboat crash... and his parents saw it happen. Yikes! That's not the kind of stuff I need to read when I'm all enthusiastic about my new sport.

So where are all the powerboat bloggers? What is the best powerboat blog on the planet?

Help please...

Solace and the Dark Side

Last Wednesday I went sailing in my Laser. It was as perfect an afternoon's sailing as one could possibly imagine. Ideal weather. Just me and my little boat scooting around Upper Narragansett Bay on an early summer afternoon. Antolin, the sailing potter, summed up the feeling of a day like that much better than I could in his recent post Solace.

I have several sources of precious solace but none better than the solace found on the water, out there where nothing is but the sea, you and the vessel you burden. Yeah, the grand cathedral of creation receiving one more hungry soul. Her face changes all the time but mother ocean is always there for us. Her winds a whisper or a scream, her watery skin calm or agitated, her, always present in all her unabated glory. In her I find solace. Tiller in hand, I ride her surface. Feeling the wave under my vessel, the winds in the sail, the perennial motion of her substance. Absorbed in this environment solace presents itself. I lose myself in the moment, however long the moment lasts.

And yet...

Something is missing...

Captain JP has the answer. Sailors you have been misled.

Why should we put up with despondently drifting in the calm? Why should we take hours to get anywhere? Why do we have to bother with things called "tacks" and "gybes"?

I want to blast around at 20 knots. I want to go places fast. I want to create a huge wake. I want to hear the roar of the engines. I want to go power-boating.

Today my son called us for Mother's Day. He suggested that he and his wife would come and visit us next weekend.

"No, no, no," I said, "We will come and stay with you. I want a ride on your power boat."

And that's the plan.

Next weekend, Tillerman goes over to the dark side.

The Future is Over

Thanks to everyone who participated in the April group writing project in which I asked you to contemplate Sailing in the Second Space Age. Or, in other words, to share some speculation about what sailing will be like in the years 2025 to 2035 when we expect human beings will be landing on asteroids, Martian moons, and perhaps even Mars itself.

Many of you commented that this was a tough subject to tackle. I tend to agree. I couldn't really come up with a good post on the subject myself unless you count Top Ten Thoughts That Went Through My Mind As I Tried To Think of Something To Write For The April Group Writing Project.

So I do appreciate all of you that managed to come up with some very creative ideas on the topic...

Beachcomber is the only sailing blogger I know whose profile picture was actually taken from outer space. So it was not surprising that he gave us a space age article about sailing the solar wind in Race for Z-Prix Heats Up! May 4 2034.

The Bursledon Blogger gave us a Back to the Sailing Future dream or fantasy or drug-induced ramble. I'm not sure which. It seems to have something to do with the 1970's, a decade whose popular culture is thankfully almost a total blank in my mind.

Adam Turinas wrote a very well thought out piece touching on the technology used for engines in sailboats, communications and navigation technology, the information available to racing sailors, the aesthetics of sailboats and the skills required of sailors. Lighter, more efficient, smarter and a lot simpler.

My2fish, offered a wild series of predictions about the possible consequences of "global schwarming." Sharks with laser beams on their heads to fight pirates, the death of frostbiting, the Great Lakes as the "new Cape Cod", and the continuing popularity of the Sunfish in sunfish sailing: 2025 and beyond.

Captain JP submitted an hilarious piece of science fiction sports writing in America's Cup 2028.

Sam Chapin went beyond the clouds to write about where he will be sailing in 15 years and why LASER GUY STOPS WEARING HIS LIFE JACKET.

Jos Spijkerman let his imagination run wild in speculating about how the Racing Rules of Sailing might change in the next 25 years in Transcriptburst > 2034-10-21-14:03:09-LTW-RRS-P17-Mech12-v-Harder^2.

The author of Master of None, offered a post on the future rise of commercial sailing vessels in April 2025: Cargo Cat Debut Heralds Second Age of Sail.

SailSox contributed Looking Backwards at Sailing which describes a very positive, and quite believable future for our sport.

On the other hand Zen wrote a very pessimistic future in Fresh from Japan in which he describes various scenarios of polluted oceans and all-virtual sailing.

Joe Rouse gave us some excellent advice in The Tillerman Time Space Continuum. What Will Sailing Be Like In The Future (2025)?

Greg told us of his own plans for the sailing he and his wife Kris will be doing In the Year 2025.

Some_day_soling thinks that Maybe Sailing and Mars are Equally as Awesome.

David Anderson doesn't see a lot of change coming to Sailing in 2025.

O Docker gave us a typically zany Glimpse Into The Future.

And Andrew educated us with some Laser Maths.

Finally, Peconic Puffin spent the whole month contemplating his response and composing his post, and eventually stunned the sailing world on the last day of April with his radical answer to the question What Will Windsurfing Be Like In The Future?

Phew. I'm all futured out. I think I'll take a nap now.

Shape Up RI

Last Sunday I ran in the Cox Providence Rhode Races Shape Up RI Half Marathon.

I think I did it because it was the half marathon with the longest sponsor name I could find. Reminded me of the fun I had a couple of years thinking up spoof sponsor names for my sailing outings such as my Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Marker 68th Sail and my Oglebay Norton Flue Gas Desulfurization 69th Sail.

No seriously. The real reason was that it was just down the road in the capital city of our little state and I've got this crazy idea that I want to do several half marathons this year. I thought that if this one went OK I could probably do a few more over the coming months. Seems like a more healthy way to keep fit than spending six months training for a full marathon and then spending the next six months recovering from it and swearing I will never do another one... until I do. Like I did in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

It was a fun course starting in downtown Providence and winding through various residential neighborhoods into the town of Pawtucket... which is almost as good a place to use in the first line of a limerick as Nantucket. The organizers had cleverly arranged the course so that there was much more uphill running than downhill running, just like the Run the Reservoir race in March. No really. All the uphills were long gradual inclines and all the downhills were steep. Which is better than the alternative... I guess. So we did spend a lot longer running up hills than down. And the good news was that I felt strong enough to maintain my pace on the hills.

There was a pretty good turnout of spectators to cheer us along. It seemed like a lot of the local people who lived along the route had put some deck chairs on the sidewalk in front of their houses and settled in for the duration to watch us all slogging along. Some of the little kids held out their hands to 'high five' the runners. Some people had signs saying things like 'Go Mom'. One guy had a sign saying, 'No one has ever drowned in sweat'. As a prolific sweater I couldn't resist shouting out as I pounded past him, "I'm working on it!"

After looking at the pace I had run in other shorter distance races this year, factoring in the temperature on race day, multiplying by the old geezer factor, and adding allowances for undertraining, overweightness and general wimpiness, I figured that I should shoot for an 11 minute per mile pace. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was easily able to maintain a slightly faster pace and was about 90 seconds ahead of my target time at the 10 mile mark. Then I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that I was totally knackered (technical running term) and gave back those 90 seconds in the last 3 miles. I finished in a time that represented exactly an 11 minute pace averaged over the whole race. Exactly. To the second. Really. I have no idea what that proves.

I then went home and did nothing all Sunday afternoon. I didn't do much on Monday either. I did a gentle 3 mile run on Tuesday, went Laser sailing on Wednesday, and then did a 5 mile road race on Thursday evening. As I suspected, I did recover much faster from a half than I used to after a full marathon. I'm ready to do another. Maybe not straight way. But in a few weeks perhaps.

I know. It's really hard to write about running in a way that others will find interesting. Sometimes I get fired up about things that others don't seem to much care about. This might have been more gripping, too, if I'd kept it under two million words.

I think I'll go to bed now.

What Next?

What a weird week...

It started with the sad news from Elephant Butte Lake of a sailor apparently lost in a freak accident.

Also...

I ran a half marathon...

Greece is melting down...

My son bought a powerboat...

The Gulf Coast is drowning in oil...

The New York stock market is apparently out of control...

Britain is heading back to the 1970's era of hung parliaments and minority governments....

And I didn't write a blog post all week. I have no idea why not. I did do lots of bloggable stuff. Even went sailing. Weird...

To cap it off, this evening around 7pm Tillerwoman and I were watering her vegetable garden... when HMS Bounty sailed past our house. Not the Mel Gibson/ Antony Hopkins Bounty. The Trevor Howard/ Marlon Brando one.

It's not every day that you see Bounty sail past your house.

What next?

I think I'm going to go to bed now.