Throwback Thursday - Dylan Goes Electric - July 1965

I have just finished reading Elijah Wald's excellent book Dylan Goes Electric. Hard to believe that it's 50 years since Bob Dylan shocked the folk music purists by playing a few songs at the Newport Folk Festival using a band with electric guitars. Oh the humanity!

But it was a big deal at the time. "The Night that Split the Sixties."

The book is a fascinating read. As the blurb on amazon. com tells it....

(The book) explores the cultural, political and historical context of this seminal event that embodies the transformative decade that was the sixties. Wald delves deep into the folk revival, the rise of rock, and the tensions between traditional and groundbreaking music to provide new insights into Dylan’s artistic evolution, his special affinity to blues, his complex relationship to the folk establishment and his sometime mentor Pete Seeger, and the ways he reshaped popular music forever.

As always, there's a lot more to the story than the simple myth that Bob Dylan picked up an electric guitar one July night in Newport in 1965 and changed popular music for ever.



Little did we know at the time, that the same weekend Dylan was in Newport, US President Lyndon Johnson was huddling with his military advisors in Washington, and a few days later he announced his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000, and to more than double the number of men drafted per month - from 17,000 to 35,000.

And of course nobody (apart from the immediate family) took any notice at all that on the last day of July 1965, a couple of newly-weds in England, an aircraft engineer and a science technician, welcomed a baby girl into the world. They called her Joanne but she goes by the name of J.K. Rowling these days.

What does all this have to do with sailing?

Not a lot.

I don't think LBJ and JK were sailors.

But Bob Dylan is (or was.) Check out Snowy Day Laser Sailor Blues which has a photo of Bob Dylan sailing a boat that's not a Laser and some lyrics about Newport.

And for your listening enjoyment - or you can boo if you want to like a lot of yahoos in Newport did - here is the first song in the performance that caused all the brouhaha on July 25 1965.

Well, I try my best 

To be just like I am 

But everybody wants you 

To be just like them

Two Soups

I recently discovered a new (to me) sailing blog and it's already one of my favorites.

Check out RS300 393 - adventures of a boat and her incompetent skipper.

That's the author, Chris Arnell - "looking awesome downwind wearing the camera hat."

I love this guy. He has everything going for him...

• He is British.
• He is a singlehanded racing sailor.
• He sails an RS Sailing singlehander.
• He celebrates his own incompetence.
• He writes with self-deprecating humor

I mean, what's not to like about someone with all those qualities?



His latest post is Not an event report. The RS300 Inlands.

Apparently he was asked to write a report about the RS300 Inlands for Yachts and Yachting magazine and he refused to do so....

OK – let’s be clear about this one. I am NOT writing a Yachts and Yachting report for an RS300 event where I was too far behind to see who won and too busy trying to stay upright to notice what the weather was like or whether the start line was good, bad or indifferent. The only thing I remember is there were never more than 6 boats behind me and even if I knew who they were I’d be accused of cyber-bullying if I mentioned them by name. Nobody needs a defeat by me mentioned in the yachting press.

Sounds fair enough to me. At least he wrote a "not an event report" blog post.

Apparently the RS300s shared a course with the Phantoms whose skippers seemed to Chris to be "elderly, tubby, humourless jerks" and he should know because he admits to being elderly, tubby and humorless himself.



There is an excellent review of the Bed and Breakfast where he stayed, complete with embarrassing revelations about his interactions with the landlady and a complaint about the breakfast. "For £95 I think a rasher of bacon, a fried egg and a chipolata would have made a nice accompaniment to the muesli."

Indeed.

Bacon is essential food for sailors of RS singlehanded classes. Beans, black pudding and fried bread are good for you too.

Chris realizes that a real event report should include a long list of names "probably in the order they rounded some marks." This challenge seems to be beyond Chris so in his "not an event report" he just provides a list of the most popular names in the fleet...

The most common name in the fleet was actually "Chris" as there were 3 of us. Just behind us, with two each, were the Steves, Alastairs, Daves, Marks, Richards and Ians. The poor guys who couldn't even muster a single namesake included Sam, Luke, Tim, Stuart and Mike. But if you sail as well as these folks it probably doesn't matter.

So creative!



Chris seems to suffer from the same problem that often plagues me. The official regatta photographer always seems to shoot me when I don't look like I know what I am doing.

Lardy marble attempts to reach high side of boat

That's Chris in 393. His caption - not mine. He does seem to be a bit obsessed with the Phantom sailors and how "lardy"he is.

Some of the Phantoms capsized while tacking; their sailors rolling like lardy marbles from the high side to the low side of their boats. I think I’m probably more of a Phantom sailor than an RS300 sailor. It’s a depressing thought.

Chris does remember to report on the prize giving. "We had one."

And in a brilliant conclusion he publishes a photo of the results which are totally illegible.

I like this guy. Go read his blog. Subscribe or follow it or whatever it is you do with blogs.




In his "not an event report" Chris mentions one sailor who has the nickname "Two Soups."  I have no idea why anyone would be called "Two Soups." Perhaps it's something to do with this classic sketch featuring Julie Walters as the waitress?

Hubcap Diamond Star Halo 56th Sail

What a superb day it was for sailing on Sunday!

I hadn't sailed with the Newport frostbite fleet at all in the last couple of winters.  I can't really remember why not. Maybe it gets cold in the winters around here?

Anyway I was already enthusiastic about doing some Laser frostbite racing this winter even before Sunday's racing. I think maybe all the RS Aero sailing I have been doing this summer has made me nostalgic for the Laser scene. Whatever the reason, I signed up with Fleet 413, paid my dues and towed the Laser down to Fort Adams in Newport on Sunday morning.

It was good to meet up with some of my Laser sailing friends that I hadn't seen for a couple of years. Most of them recognized me even with the beard I grew last winter.

There were 44 Lasers on the line so, as per usual for this fleet, the starts were crowded and competitive as were most of the mark roundings and there were plenty of boat to boat interactions around the course. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and there was none of the bad-tempered shouting and cursing that you sometimes experience in big fleets on small courses.

I was feeling pretty mellow myself and whenever a port tacker crossed me when they shouldn't have, I decided to be "very British" about it and just signify my awareness of their infringement with a slight clearing of the throat or sometimes a non-confrontational "Ahem!"  I was quite enjoying this game.

I finished in the mid 20s in the first race which I was quite happy with, having not done any Laser racing in a fleet this competitive for quite a while.

In the second race, I was approaching the windward mark on the starboard tack layline when a very nice lady on port tack crossed a boat to leeward of me, tried to cross me but instead rammed my boat and pushed me head to wind. This did make me a little bit upset so I did let loose a plaintive bleat of "Oh really?"  By the time I got out of irons I was in second to last place and the very nice lady was in last as somehow she managed to capsize while doing her penalty turn. But I did manage to pass a few boats on the next two legs to score a finish in the mid 30s and the very nice lady did apologize to me after the racing and we had a very nice chat while we were hosing off our boats so that was all very nice.

In the third race I did everything wrong.  The wind went left just before the start but I started at the unfavored boat end of the line. The left side of the course was favored all day but I tacked immediately and went over to the right side of the course. All the sailing books say you should never sail to the layline too early but I went all the way to the right of the course and banged the corner.

I think that's a picture of me in this race at the top of the post.

So, having done everything wrong, I arrived at the windward mark in the lead - well actually simultaneously with the leading boat coming from the left side of the course. I guess sailing the whole windward leg in clear air and only doing one tack may have had something to do with it.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

It was very educational sailing with the best sailors in the fleet down the run and watching what they did to sail faster than me down the run and leave me in their wake.  I think I ended up 5th in that race which is totally absolutely awesome for me in this fleet, so that was very nice too.

I was on such a high after that race that the next two races are a bit of a blur in my memory now. I see I scored another mid 20s finish and another mid 30s finish (without benefit of the excuse of being rammed by a very nice lady) and ended up with a final score for the day about in the middle of the fleet.

So, all in all, it was a very good day and I can't wait for next Sunday. To add to the awesomeness of this awesome day, one of the other sailors whom I hadn't seen for a while told me that my beard makes me look younger.

Wow! Bang a gong!

Thank you to my sponsor for my 56th sailing day of 2015, Hubcap Diamond Star Halo who are celebrating 44 years of serving the hubcap diamond star halo community.

Guide to English Pubs

My son is in England this week.

I hope he gets the chance to enjoy a few evenings in typical English pubs.

This map might help him. Each blue dot on the map represents one of the 29,195 pubs in the UK and Ireland. Thanks to Brilliant Maps for this excellent pub-crawling guide.




We dragged this son and his brother away from England when they were only 10 and 8 years old respectively. So they never experienced the dubious pleasure of coming of age in the English pubs like the menfolk of my generation did.

English pubs aren't what they used to be.

There used to be a lot more of them for one thing.

Apparently there were 99,000 pubs in the UK alone in 1905.




Wait. Does that map show some "pubs" in France too?

Quelle horreure!

Frankenlaser

You have seen this boat before on this blog. I posted a picture of it under construction back in 2013, when it looked like this...

Maybe I should "upgrade" my Laser in a similar way this winter, fill it up with grandkids and sail it in the 2016 Archipelago Rally?

Vibrating Fish on Friday

Should I Buy a Laser or an RS Aero?

Should I buy a Laser or an RS Aero?

That's the question I have heard a lot this year. And I see someone just posed it on Sailing Anarchy.

Typically it is asked by someone who did some dinghy racing in the past - or maybe some surfing or windsurfing or kite surfing - and now they want a singlehanded dinghy.

They are attracted by all the buzz about the RS Aero and can see that it is an exciting boat to sail.

They know that the Laser is a much older design - not to mention that all the stuff they read about the Laser designer suing the Laser class and the Laser manufacturer doesn't exactly boost their confidence in the long term future of the class - but they do see that there are local Laser fleets and local Laser regattas and so they are confident that if they buy a Laser they will have some other people to race with.

Basically they are trying to choose between this...

and this.

These folk are trying to reconcile the obvious attractions of the RS Aero as a boat, with a wish to have some other people to race with.

What they are really looking for is this...

Of course the picture above is real. It does exist. It was taken at the 2015 RS Aero North Americans at the Columbia River Gorge in July.

But it is also true that, unless you live in Seattle, the fleets of RS Aeros racing at various venues around North America this year haven't been as big as this... yet.

---

So to you people in North America asking yourselves the RS Aero vs Laser question, basically you have 4 choices...

1. Buy a Laser and race it with your local fleet.

2. Buy an RS Aero and just enjoy blasting around on your own in it, preferably somewhere with high winds and surf. I know a number of sailors who are very happy doing this.

3. Buy an RS Aero and be part of a rapidly growing racing scene. Help create the solution you really crave. If there isn't a fleet of RS Aeros near you, persuade a few friends to buy some RS Aeros and start your own fleet. Host a regatta at your sailing club and persuade other RS Aero sailors to come to it. Travel to other RS Aero regattas including the major ones. Race your Aero in handicap races and pursuit races and in any event which will have you.

4. Do all of the above. Buy a Laser and an RS Aero.

Michael O'Brien of the AeroNautic blog

 collecting his new Laser and new RS Aero 

from West Coast Sailing

All in all, I think option 4 is the best choice.

You can never have too many boats.

He who dies with the most toys, 

wins.

Big Sunday - RS Aeros in Big Waves

On the third day of the RS Aerocup in Barcelona last weekend, the racing was cancelled because of strong onshore winds stirring up huge waves in the harbor entrance. It was feared that any boats that capsized while sailing out of the harbor would be quickly smashed into the rocks.

That did not deter six confident RS Aero sailors from going out for a blast in the waves anyway. The videographer SBG Films captured a number of still shots of "Big Sunday." Here is a sample. I think they are probably the best photos so far of RS Aeros sailing in waves.

Click on an image for a larger view!

International RS Aero class manager Peter Barton reported...

With the waves rebounding off the marina wall they were quite irregular with the occasional big one as they combined to double - it felt like free fall a couple of times! I expected some nose dives but only once when I was coming out of a gybe did a wave come over the bow downwind, the bow popped straight up and the water cleared quickly.

For more RS Aero news and pictures check out...

RS Aero Class Association
RS Aero Class Facebook Group

Pursuit and Handicap Racing - Portsmouth Yardstick

Pursuit racing and handicap racing are a bit of a mystery to me. So this post will probably have more questions than answers. I hope, dear reader, you have some answers for me...

I haven't done much pursuit racing and handicap racing in my decades of small boat racing, but this year was different in that I did participate in some pursuit racing at my sailing club, and at the Archipelago Rally a couple of weeks ago, both in my RS Aero.

A pursuit race

Handicap and pursuit races are ways to enable a variety of classes of boats of different speeds to race together fairly. 

In a handicap race the boats all start together, and the elapsed times for them to finish the course are corrected to take into account that some classes of boats are faster than others. The correction is done using a published handicap number for each class known as the Portsmouth Yardstick.

A yardstick - probably not from Portsmouth

In a pursuit race the starts of each class of boat are staggered to allow for those differences in speed. Slower boats start first and faster boats last. The times of the starts are calculated using the same Portsmouth Yardstick system.

You can find out more about the Portsmouth Yardstick System from US Sailing or the Royal Yachting Association.

US Sailing and the RYA publish national PY numbers based on information provided by sailing clubs on the times taken by all the boats competing in their handicap races. 

So far so good.

But what should happen if a club finds that the published PY numbers are just not working for them? One class always wins? Or one class always loses?

Should they adjust the national handicap numbers?

There are all sorts of reasons why this might make sense. Maybe the winds are always light at their venue and so one class which does well in light air always wins. Or maybe they sail on a very small lake or river so trapeze and spinnaker classes never really get a chance to "stretch their legs."

Sailing on a very small river in England

I'm not sure what the US Sailing guideline on this is, but the RYA  positively encourages clubs to develop their own club list of handicap numbers. See  60 years of fair racing.

In order for a club to use the scheme to its full potential and meet the main objective of giving fair racing between different classes of boats, a club will need to develop its own list of Portsmouth Numbers (PN’s).  

As a club starts using the scheme it may decide to rely on the national list as this has historically been seen as a list of long established numbers. However, the national list is based on a summation of recommendations from clubs nationwide. The list of national numbers may not be appropriate for every club individually. This is due to a number of factors including the type of boats sailed at each club, the predominant wind trends, tidal factors, size of water etc.  

Because the national list will not suit every club, each individual club should develop its own list of handicap numbers from their race results. A club should do this by periodically carrying out an analysis of their race data. By doing this a club will be able to see if any of the classes/ configurations of boat are over or under performing to the PN they are currently racing on and can adjust the number accordingly.

Hmm!

How would a club produce its own local handicap numbers?

One of the RYA's suggestions is "educated guesswork." Always one of my favorite ways to attack any problem!

Or if you want to get more scientific, the RYA offers a system complete with a spreadsheet, for analyzing all your race results and calculating adjustments to the national PY numbers.

Wow! That sounds like fun!



But wait. Is it really that simple?

What if you have one really good sailor in one class? Should her results distort the handicap numbers for everyone else in her fleet?

A very good sailor

Or what about the opposite situation? What if one class in a club has a lot of novices who always perform below the national average for the class? Should their performance so distort the club handicap for that class that the one good sailor in the fleet can easily win every club race on handicap?

Probably not going to win the handicap race

And how important is it that all the fleets in the club have a chance to win at least one race in a series?

Let's consider a hypothetical situation. A club has 5 active one design fleets. In an 11 race pursuit race series, what if  the number of races won by each of the five classes was...

A - 8

B - 2

C - 1

D - 0

E - 0

Should this data be used to consider some adjustments to start times in the pursuit series next year?

Or is this focus only on the winners not relevant to all the sailors in each class?

And how can we be sure that any adjustments based on such a skewed set of results would be ignoring the "crew skill factor" as RYA calls it?

What if there were more boats in fleet A and some of the best sailors in the club are in this fleet?

Are the sailors in fleets D and E really all raw novices?

And does it matter if they are?

Would the club racing be more fun for everybody, if sailors in fleets D and E had a chance of winning some of the races occasionally?

Once we start going down this path of adjusting handicaps (or pursuit race start times) based on actual performance of sailors in the club, aren't we really handicapping on sailor ability rather than inherent performance of each design of boat? Why not go the whole hog and just give each sailor a personal handicap?



As I said at the start of this post, there are more questions than answers.

Or as some folk say in their Facebook relationship status - "It's complicated."

It's Complicated

What do you think?

RS Aerocup Barcelona

Photo by SBG Films

This last weekend was the RS Aerocup in Barcelona.

They had about 40 sailors - mainly Brits but also a sprinkling of other random Europeans plus one lone American.

Looking at the photo above of one of the RS Aeros sailing in Barcelona, I am beginning to think that maybe my friends and I have been doing it all wrong. It never looks like that when we sail RS Aeros.

Do I need to buy some scuba gear?



It sounds like the sailors in Barcelona also had a good time hitting the tapas bars - and just bars generally - after sailing.

There is some discussion going on in North America about setting up a formal RS Aero class association here. Meanwhile, in the UK they already have an RS Aero class association and it even has a Social Coordinator who was at the RS Aerocup in Barcelona. I am not sure what a Class Social Coordinator does. Are they supposed to choose which tapas bars - and just bars generally - to hit after sailing?

Here are some photos of the social coordinating at Barcelona in full swing.

And here is a picture of the Social Coordinator after a hard night of social coordinating.

What do you think?

Do we need a Social Coordinator for the North American RS Aero Class?

Any volunteers?