Palma Roll

People say the Laser is an old design, but there's something new every year in Laser technique.

Have you learned how to do this yet?

The Burning of the Socks

It will soon be time for the Burning of the Socks.

Are you ready for it?

Throwback Thursday - sNIPEOUT...

I went searching through the archives of Proper Course to find something suitable for Throwback Thursday. After all, when you have been writing the same blog for 11 years, some of the earlier posts are positively ancient.

From March 2006, 10 years ago, I found Loaded the Woodcock, some instructions - with illustrations - about how to load a Snipe on a road trailer and what might go wrong, which I thought was somewhat amusing because I had made a very bad translation from the Italian original using what was then called Google Language Tools.

The original was from an Italian blog sNIPEOUT...

Much to my surprise I discovered that sNIPEOUT... is still going strong.

Even better, the author is clearly following this blog and has been reposting some of my RS Aero stories...

A quick check on the RS Aero Class page shows that there don't seem to be many RS Aeros in Italy yet.

Maybe these RS Aero stories on sNIPEOUT...  will change that?

RS Aero News Roundup February 2016

A lot of happenings have been happening in RS Aero World in February...

1. The Batty British
It seems like in England in February it was "a bit windy," as the British would say with their typical love of understatement. But this did not deter the hardy British RS Aero sailors from taking to the water, and as a result we saw some spectacular videos and photos.

It was blowing racoons off rocks in Rutland (as they say there) enabling Martin Hewitt to do this perfect demonstration of how to stand an RS Aero on its bow. (The good bit starts at 1:20)

And it was blowing llamas off logs in Lymington (another local expression) when Peter Barton was captured in this shot showing us all...

• how to hike on a reach
• why the RS Aero tiller is as long as it is
• Peter's total disregard for the local speed limit.

Talking of breaking speed limits, it was nuking nyalas off nut trees in Northampton when Anthony
York aka "Chunky" broke the 20 knot barrier, setting a new RS Aero world speed record.

What will those Batty British do next?



2. The Antipodean Australians
Meanwhile, on the other side of he world, the RS Aero roll-out has been so successful in Australia that it was possible to hold the first RS Aero Australian Nationals at Royal Brighton Yacht Club on Port Phillip Bay on 6/7 Feb. David Rickard, a visiting Aussie from Gurnard Sailing Club on the Isle of Wight UK, won the championship ahead of Brian Case (Royal Geelong YC) and Ron Fergusson (Albert SC) with some great sailing in the 12 boat fleet combining Aero 5 and Aero 7 on a handicap basis.

Hmmm. Must keep an eye on the Australian RS Aero regatta schedule for this time next year. I love Australia and Australians. (I am married to one.)



3. The Amazing Americans
It may be winter in the Northern hemisphere (and I have to confess my RS Aero has not left its cozy winter quarters in my garage this year yet) but there has been plenty of stuff happening on the North American RS Aero scene.

On the Feb 19-21 weekend, those energetic chappies at West Coast Sailing organized three days of RS Aero demos at two different yacht clubs in the San Francisco Bay area.

Check out Peter Weigt's superb photos on Flickr of the demos at Sequoia YC. Judging by their smiles these two sailors seem to have liked the RS Aero! (Photos by Peter Weigt.)

Meanwhile, a little further south in California, RS Aero sailors from the Santa Barbara fleet were training for the RS Aero US Nationals at the Gorge later this year, with a practice session on Lopez Lake, CA.

I see that RS Aeros have also been spotted at various other locations in North America....

Muscle Shoals Sailing Club

Tennessee River, Alabama

Chris McGraw

David Chadwick

and at Carolina Sailing Club
on Jordan Lake North Carolina.

Anthony Corkell 

sailing his RS Aero

in the Portsmouth Handicap fleet 

I realized that things were getting seriously competitive in RS Aero World when two of my fellow members of the Boston RS Aero Fleet headed off to Nonsuch Bay Resort in Antigua in February for some heavy duty off-season race training.

Doesn't it look awful?

One of my friends reported that the all-inclusive option at NonSuch Bay included drinks, gourmet meals and unlimited sailing. Sounds terrible.

Both my friends agreed that Nonsuch Bay would be a superb place to host a Midwinters RS Aero Regatta, but I can't see why anyone would want to go to a place with warm water and free drinks when they could be at home in New England enjoying the character building experience of shoveling snow for days after massive snow falls and relishing that tingling feeling when you wake up to find the temperature is 40 degrees below freezing.

Be that as it may, we in the Boston fleet are busy planning for the 2016 season. Our intrepid east coast RS Aero class leader Eric Aker has sent us a long list of all the things we should be doing to build the class around here and has called a meeting for later this week in order to draw up something rather ominous sounding called an ACTION PLAN.

Actually I have to admit there are some pretty good ideas on his list.

More on that in future posts perhaps.

Watch this space.

Sailing Without My Trousers

There is no doubt that I am beginning to forget things as I get older.

A few months ago I was convinced I had lost my wallet along with all the stuff in it like cash, debit card, credit cards, driving license and really important stuff like my US Sailing Membership Card. I went to all the trouble of calling the liquor store where I thought I might have lost it, notifying the police, notifying my bank and credit card companies, getting a replacement driving license, and of course notifying US Sailing. Then a few weeks later Tillerwoman found my wallet in a drawer in the dining room - a different drawer in the dining room from where I normally put my wallet so I won't forget where I put it.

I must have forgotten which was the drawer where I normally put my wallet so I won't forget where I put it.

When I am blogging I sometimes forget how to spell words like defense, aluminum and analyze.

When I go sailing I sometimes forget to check the tide.



But on the Sunday before last I did something I have never done before.

I forgot to put my trousers on when I went sailing.



The usage of the words "pants" and "trousers" is a bit different in American English and Real English. So let me explain for my three American readers.

In Real English "trousers" are an item of clothing worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately.

In American English this item of clothing is called "pants."

Whereas in Real English "pants" means underwear.

 Pants

Trousers

I didn't go sailing without my pants. I went sailing without my trousers.



No, wait. Those pictures are a little misleading.

When I go sailing in the winter (defined as any time between October and April in these parts) I usually wear three layers, a Gill drysuit and underneath two layers

1. Long thermal underwear - pants.
2. Highly technical "mid layer" sailing clothing from Gill - trousers.

My Gill highly technical mid layer trousers are a few years old. The current equivalent Gill highly technical mid layer trousers are these...

Gill highly technical mid layer trousers

According to the Gill website these trousers have "a smooth technical face fleece with a brushed waffle interior providing excellent stretch and warmth while incorporating wicking and breathable properties." Gill call them "Thermogrid" trousers.

Don't they sound toasty?



Anyway, a couple of Sundays ago I went down to Newport and rigged my Laser and put on all my sailing gear and launched my Laser into the frigid waters of Narragansett Bay. And then on the sail out to the start line I noticed a strange coolness in my nether regions - not to mention a distinct lack of padding in my nether regions - and realized I had forgotten my trousers.

No brushed waffle interior. No smooth technical face fleece.

I have no idea how I forgot to put on my trousers.

I may be getting old.



Of course it wasn't as embarrassing as, say, going out to a restaurant without my trousers. Or even going to the mall without my trousers. Or riding the Underground (subway in American English) without trousers.

No Trousers Day on London Underground

I was wearing my drysuit so none of the other sailors could see I was sailing without my trousers. So I decided to tough it out. What's a bit of cold in the nether regions?



I didn't sail well that day.

I only had one good start and that turned out to be a general recall. (Why does that always happen?)

I seemed slower than the rest of the fleet and was making bad technical and strategic decisions.

I couldn't really blame it on not wearing my trousers.

Or could I? I have heard some women claim that men's brains are not in their heads, but instead they are in a part of the body normally kept warm by trousers.

Maybe some women are right?

---

On Monday last week I went sailing by myself in Newport.

I remembered to put on my trousers.

It was a very pleasant hour or so of light wind practice.

---

Yesterday I didn't feel like going racing with the Newport Laser fleet.

I can't remember why.

Has my bad experience of sailing without trousers put me off Laser racing?

Am I pining to get back in the RS Aero?

I forget.

What is your most embarrassing moment of forgetfulness?

New Age Junior Sailing

Is this the future of junior sailing?

What do you think?

The Weather is Here - I Wish You Were Beautiful

In the pre-dawn hours on Sunday morning at Proper Course World Headquarters, the temperature fell to almost 40 degrees below freezing. When the sun came up we were treated to this unusual view of "sea smoke" over the bay.

The fleet captain of the Newport Laser fleet cancelled our racing on Sunday because he felt it would be a bit too chilly for racing.

On Monday morning, it was only just below zero degrees Fahrenheit at sunrise and we could see that Mount Hope Bay was covered in ice.

On Wednesday the sailing team from Roger Williams University posted the photo below on their Facebook page, with this comment...

First day of sailing at home last year: March 17.
First day of sailing at home this year: February 17.
And it was awesome!
(Not confirmed, but possibly the earliest start date in the last decade.

Good for them. RWU is on the other side of the bay from us. Proper Course World Headquarters is somewhere on that ridge, a tad to the right of the dinghies.

I went sailing "at home" (i.e. in Rhode Island) on Wednesday too.

I sailed my Laser in Newport along with a friend in his RS Aero.

I was hoping to stage a repeat of this epic photo of the first launch of an RS Aero in New England waters in 2015.

Sadly, although the first splash of the RS Aero in 2016 was almost a month earlier than in 2015, there wasn't enough snow left to re-stage the photo.

So we blasted around Brenton Cove enjoying the balmy 45 degree weather in a chunky 12-17 mph south-westerly.

At least I was blasting around in my Laser. My companion in the RS Aero spent a lot of time doing something more useful like practicing his starts by holding station on buoys and sailing slowly and sailing backwards and other such nonsense that he thinks will help him beat me on the start line at the RS Aero US Nationals in the Gorge this year. Ha!

Life is too short to sail slowly on purpose.

There was another guy out sailing a Laser too. Apparently he likes to come down to Sail Newport one or two afternoons a week for some Laser practice at this time of year, so I may well go sail with him some days over the coming weeks.

It was an exhilarating afternoon. Especially exhilarating when getting splashed in the face by the icy cold water on wild planing reaches. Even more exhilarating when I realized the neck of my drysuit has stretched a bit and the icy cold water was going down my neck. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

And so to the Coddington Brewery for some French onion soup and a pulled pork sandwich with curly fries washed down with a couple of glasses of IPA.

Gratuitous photo of 

pulled pork sandwich with curly fries 

at Coddington Brewery

stolen without permission from Yelp

purely to keep Baydog happy.

I felt a bit achy when I woke up this morning.

I went for a 6 mile run on the East Bay Bike Path this morning.

I think I'll take a nap now.

Happy Birthday

Happy 11th Birthday to Proper Course.

Yes, it's 11 years ago today that I published the first post on this blog, Opening Lines.

I said in that post that it would be "a voyage with no destination and no charts."

I guess I got that bit right.



So, after 11 years of insane ramblings and random rants in 3,153 posts, here we are.

Where are we? I have no idea.

Was it worth it? I had my moments.

Maybe it's time for a change?

Why Do Top Sailors Have Hairy Ears?

I read a lot of blogs and books and watch a lot of videos about sailboat racing.

To be honest, I don't often come across a tip or piece of advice which is totally new and that I haven't heard, in some form, before.

But I did learn something totally new today in this US Sailing Team Sperry (USSTS) video about Brad Funk.



"I make sure that now I don't shave the hairs in my ears. So now they are super long because I can feel the wind shifts better. It's for real... I am going to let these suckers grow so I know when to tack."

The good bit starts at about 1:40.

Sailing Photo Quiz

What is the connection between these three photos?

Clue #1 - this is a sailing blog