The Boss

Hi there Tillerman fans. This is Joe the PRO. I'm blogsitting for Tillerman for a few days. He asked me to write about race management.

First thing you need to know as a sailor is that the PRO is boss. (PRO stands for Principal Race Officer. I think you guys in England call this person Officer of the Day or some similar gay ass phrase.) Let me say that again. The PRO is boss.

What does that mean? It means that when I'm running the race committee you don't argue with me or make stupid frigging "suggestions". You know what I mean. Yes YOU. Do NOT sail by the committee boat and point out that the start line is biased. Do you think I don't know that? I can see the frigging wind better than you can. Do NOT tell me that that last sound signal was five seconds late. I didn't pick this frigging race committee crew and you should be grateful there are any sound signals at all. Just concentrate on your sailing and leave running the races to me.

You see if you piss me off I will pay you back. I could call you OCS at the start whether you were or not. Or I could hail you OCS about 30 seconds after the start. Or maybe I will signal an individual recall and hail a few boats as over the line and just forget to hail yours but record you as OCS anyway. Yeehaw. See how you like that. So don't mess with me baby.

Any questions? I thought not. You guys learn fast.

PS. Yes, that is a picture of Jerry Seinfeld in a puffy shirt. I have no idea what that has to do with race management. I don't look like Jerry Seinfeld and I don't wear a puffy shirt. If you want to know what the connection is, ask that Andrew dude who commented on Tillerman's post about blog sitting yesterday. It was his idea. I just don't get it.

Blog Sitter

I will busy for the next three days helping to teach a sailing course for kids. Apparently I agreed to do this during a very confusing telephone conversation.

As I may not have time to post articles on this blog I have asked my friend Joe to "blogsit". Joe is a very well respected race committee volunteer in this area and is much in demand as a Principal Race Officer for all kinds of sailing regattas. He has agreed to write a few posts passing on some advice on effective race management. If you have any questions about race committee work, feel free to pose them to Joe via the comments.

A Prayer of Thanks

Let us give thanks for our daily blog traffic, for the sources of our readers and, on this special day, for the life and work of Saint Darren of Problogger who taught us to be thankful.

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

O Great Google in the sky, we thank you for directing to Proper Course truly three fifths of its blog traffic through the awesome power of search. We thank you too for the trickle of traffic from your archangels yahoo.com and msn.com.

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

We thank you Great Google for your hosting of your blogger servants here on earth who bring us traffic from links on their sites.

For Brother Edward who toils mightily among the heathens of Berkeley. We thank you for his gifts of traffic and pray that you will forgive him for owning a Newport 28.

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

For Sister Carol Anne who brings the blessings of the English language to the peoples of the deserts of New Mexico. We thank you for her gifts of traffic and pray that she may find peace with her crew.

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

Oh Great Google we thank you for Saint Antony of Mercia and his gifts of traffic. We thank you for his blessings of humor and pray that his soul will find clear air on the great Sea of Rutland this weekend.

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

We even thank you for Father Joseph, for his talents of imagery and his gifts of traffic. We marvel daily at his magnificent icons of Laser sailing and his awe-inspiring stained glass windows celebrating the beauty of the female body.

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

And we thank you for OG, the Mother Superior at the mission to the Moreton Bay Penal Colony, who, with the help of her acolyte Johnsee, teaches the joys of sailing to the innocent children of the wretched convicts. We thank you for her gifts of traffic and pray that she will Live, Sail and Die in the true faith.

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

Last but not least we thank you for your humble servant Cardinal Martini and his gifts of traffic to our blog. We pray that you will ease his pain and soothe his anger at Brother Bill and Sister Cindy. We beseech you that you will turn His Eminence away from political ranting and direct his thoughts to blogging about sailing. For verily one of the mysteries of your creation is why Cardinal Martini is ranked as the number one sailing blog in the Gospel According to Technorati when the red-hatted jerk never writes about sailing on his blog at all and if he isn't going to write about sailing why doesn't he get his freaking ass off that list so folk can find real sailing blogs on Technorati?

Lord read my blog and let your links come unto it.

Sailing Gear Blog

Found one!

A few days I posed a question as to whether there were any websites that carried non-biased reviews of sailing gear. Several of the people who responded pointed to Practical Sailor, which carries some product reviews, and others came up with various technical solutions for such a site.

Today I discovered Navagear a blog powered by TypePad and written by Aaron Tinling a self-confessed gear geek. He wrote reviews of sailing hardware and electronics on the site from December 2004 to July 2005 and used categories to enable easy navigation within the site. Sadly Navagear seems to have been dormant for almost a year now.

However, it is the nearest thing to the concept I was imagining. Where do we go from here?

Sailing Romance in Victorian England

Weatherspoon, Esq. (of the Oriana, R.Y.S.). "I say, Tom, what's that little craft with the black velvet flying at the fore, close under the lee-scuppers of the man-of-war?"

Honourable Binnacle (of the Matilda, R.Y.Y.C.). "Why, from her fore and aft rig and the cut of her mainsail, I should say that she's down from the port of London, but I'll signal the commodore to come and introduce us."

Looks like not a lot has changed in 150 years. John Leech sketch from Punch first published in 1852 via John Leech archive.

For more on this topic see...

• Sailing Romance
  
  
• World's Most Expensive Sail
  
  
• Teenage Testosterone and Bikini Babes

Sailing in the Zone

Thanks to everyone who responded with comments to my post on Why is Sailing so Frustrating? As several of you pointed out in different ways, it's because sailboat racing is so complex and difficult and unpredictable that we love it so much. If it was easy to win all the time it wouldn't be any fun.

Some of you talked about that special feeling of being "in rhythm with the ocean" or of being "in the zone". And that's where I was heading with that post. Some days we are in the zone and everything goes well; and some days we're not. And we never know precisely why.

In the zone. What are other words to describe that feeling? Focused. Relaxed. Confident. Smooth. Competent.

What's the opposite? How do you feel when you're not "in the zone"? Distracted. Tense. Anxious. Clumsy. Outmatched.

Perhaps you have a better way to define it?

I was being a trifle disingenuous in my earlier post in implying that I could never figure out what it is that I am doing mentally or physically to trigger those days when everything goes right on the racecourse. I do have some clues as to what works for me to create one of those rare days of sailing in the zone.

Practice. Oh no, it's not what you wanted to hear, I'm sure. But it is true that if I've spent some time before a regatta just sailing by myself, focusing on boathandling technique, repeating key moves such as tacks and gybes and mark roundings over and over again, there's a better chance that on the day of the racing I will be able to trust my muscle memory to sail the boat and can focus my mind on more important things like timing the start properly and wind strategy.

Go for a Run. This is a weird one. Some of my best races have been after a hard run on the previous day. Or even a moderate run early on the day of the race. I can't explain it except to say that there is something about the feeling of satisfaction and relaxation after a good run that occasionally triggers the "in the zone" experience when sailing. Maybe its the endorphins?

Sail Naked. Well, not exactly. But I have noticed that the less I wear (within reason) the better I sail. My best ever achievement in our North Jersey Sunfish series, when I won a regatta against people I considered much better sailors than me, was on a chilly, damp October day. Most of the competitors were wearing long wetsuits or foul weather gear. I was wearing a shortie wetsuit and no hat. Perhaps all that extra bare skin gave me extra sensitivity to the wind?

In our frostbite Laser series I usually try and stay as warm as possible -- wearing several thermal layers under a drysuit, ski-hat, glove liners and latex gloves, socks inside drysuit latex booties inside hiking boots. I'm not cold but I am clumsy. Several of the top sailors in the series wear wetsuits, will never wear a drysuit in the coldest conditions, saying that by wearing less they feel more in touch with the boat.

Last Sunday I had all three of these triggers working for me. I practiced on the reservoir on Thursday in conditions that turned out to be similar to the racing on Sunday; I went for a 40 minute run on Sunday morning; and, because it was a super-hot day I was sailing in shorts and T-shirt, no shoes, no gloves, no hiking pants. And I did have one of those "in the zone" days.

But, these things don't always work for me. And they probably won't work for you.

So do you have any tips on this topic? How do you get "in the zone"?

United States Naval Academy Sailing Philosophy

Another perspective on sailboat racing, from the United States Naval Academy Sailing Philosophy (emphasis of middle paragraph mine) ...

We teach sailing and seamanship at the naval academy for one purpose: to make competent seamen of our midshipmen, who will then be the naval leaders of the future. We aren't interested in making yachtsmen of them.

We enter races to find an atmosphere which, like combat, stretches ability and endurance to the limit and allows character to emerge which can reach beyond those previous limits for that extra margin required for victory, where decisions must be made instantly and be coupled with competent execution of complex evolutions. Where numerous variables must be integrated to derive tactics and strategy in interaction.

And we send them to sea to learn the fundamental characteristic of the professional seaman: a deepseated sense of humility in the face of nature and her master. But we never lose sight of our objective -- to produce the best possible officer for the fleet, whether he or she is assigned to a surface ship, a submarine or an aircraft.

Captain J.B. Bonds, USN

Quotation from Bluewater Sailing.

Why is Sailing so Frustrating?

Why is sailboat racing such a frustrating sport?

Why is that on some days you can see the wind perfectly, just know without thinking exactly which side of the course to be, can time all the shifts right and are always sailing on the lifted tack; and other days you have no idea what to do strategically and are always going a different way from the fleet leaders?

Why is it that on some days your timing of starts is perfect, you are always in the right place on the start line, sailing fast and crossing the line just as the gun fires; and on other days you are either way back behind the line in the third row or over early?

Why is that on some days your boat speed is excellent and you can sail higher and faster than the opposition; and on other days you are slow and sluggish and unable to point and are wallowing in bad air the whole race?

Why is it that on some days your boathandling is smooth and flawless and on other days you sail like a clumsy elephant with ten thumbs?

Why is it that you can never figure out what it is you are doing mentally or physically to trigger those days when everything goes right on the racecourse?

Why is sailboat racing such a frustrating, rewarding, annoying, satisfying, addictive sport?


Some Days
Laser Sailing at Lake WhippersnapperLearning to Love Light Air
Broken Neck

Other Days
Duck
Rain
Wheeze Uck
Dead Squirrel
More Dumb Mistakes
SlowSailer Racing Association

Reviews of Sailing Gear

One of my readers sent me an email. He is a relatively new sailor and after some complimentary remarks about Proper Course (thanks Matt) he asked whether I was aware of any good websites that include non-commercially biased reviews of sailing gear.

Hmmm. Good question. I'm not aware of such a website. Are you?

One issue is that what sailing gear is best for you depends on what kind of boat you sail and also where you sail. A Laser sailor will need different gear from an Etchells sailor. And what you wear to sail in Schleswig-Holstein in the winter will be different from what you need in Brisbane in the summer.

I don't think any of the non-boat-specific sailing forums such as Sailing Anarchy have much information on sailing gear. However, I don't follow SA all that closely as its threads tend to degenerate into hysteria and abuse so maybe I'm missing the good stuff, if any. I follow a couple of class-specific forums, for Lasers and Sunfish, and occasionally there are threads there on sailing gear. But only for what suits sailors of those boats.

So I started thinking. Could the group of sailing bloggers that read each other's blogs somehow develop a shared base of unbiased reviews of sailing gear?

I'm not sure of the best way to do this but here's one idea. If one of us posted a question such as, "What kinds of sailing watches have you tried, which do you prefer and why?" would you write a comment in reply or a post on your blog to share your knowledge?

Or do you have other suggestions on how to create the kind of knowledge base that Matt seeks?

Laser Sailing at Lake Whippersnapper

On Sunday my son and I raced in the Laser fleet at the small lake club near his home in southern Massachusetts. The winds were 5 to 10 knots out of the SSW though we heard that it was blowing smallish dogs off rusty chains on nearby Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod.

The course for the first race is a two lap windward leeward with a downwind finish. I pull off a decent start near the favored boat end of the line and start working the puffs and shifts up the beat. The Whippersnapper outfoxes me at this game and is leading the fleet at the first windward mark with me following him about seven to ten boatlengths behind. Downwind I can see a puff coming down the left side of the course so favor that side and pull level with him. But then the wind goes soft and shifts right and I execute an ugly gybe and he pulls ahead again. I finally get behind him and sit on his air -- didn't someone write some comments on a blog on how to do this? By the leeward mark I am right on his transom but choose not to pull any risky tricks at the mark rounding as the rest of the fleet has closed the gap in a gust from behind them.

Now the game is on. He covers me closely up the first part of the second beat. Before the races I had asked him who was good in the local fleet and he had pointed out one guy as the local light wind guru. Hmmm - I see that guy behind us digging in to the right side of the course. Does he know something? I look upwind and there is definitely more pressure on the right side but I need to escape this cover. I throw a double tack and the Whippersnapper falls for it it. Now I am heading right and he is heading left. I sail into the gust and it turns out to be a huge righty shift too. I finish the beat with a healthy lead over Local Wind Guru in second place, and hold the lead down the run to the finish.

The second race is a five leg windward leeward, three beats and two runs with an upwind finish near the club. Once again I start near the committee boat just to leeward of most of the fleet. There are some little puffs out to the left but there is also a no-go area on this side marked off with some white buoys. At first the wind is shifting right and the fleet is lifted inside me. But then I reach one of the puffs and it's a nice header so I tack. Still can't cross the fleet and there is more pressure up near the no-go area so I tack and head back left again. Into the gust just short of the first marker buoy, a bigger header, I tack back and cross the fleet. It's a close cross with the Whippersnapper. Tack or Cross? Cross. Thanks son.

I don't know if it is a question of better boatspeed or just having the freedom to play the shifts better from upfront, but from then on I just extend my lead around the course and end up winning the second race too, a healthy distance ahead of some kid with weightlifter's biceps.

After racing I can see that the club members don't quite know what to make of the Tillerman family. Last week the Whippersnapper blew them all away in heavy air. And this week he shows up with this decrepit old grizzled grandfather figure and he beats them too.

Biceps Kid comes over and starts chatting about where we usually sail and Whippersnapper fesses up to his college sailing background.

A woman who was on race committee walks by and tells me that I was so smooth and that my tacks were a pleasure to watch. Blushes. Geeze - I don't think a member of the opposite sex has ever described me as smooth before. I thank her and congratulate her for her excellent race committee work.

One of the Laser sailors walks by with a puzzled look on his face and mutters, "Where did you learn to sail like that?"

"Oh, I've been doing this for a while," I confess... modestly I hope.

Another member of the yacht club stops by. The commodore perhaps? "We're not inviting you here again," he jokes. At least I think he was joking.

Happy Father's Day. Indeed.