43 Days Ago

For Greg and Kris, by special request.

43 days ago today was Thursday December 10, and my wife and I were in the middle of our vacation at the Bitter End Yacht Club in the British Virgin Islands. It was a pretty typical day at BEYC... if any day can be typical when every day is different.

Breakfast: Mimosas, tropical fruit and callaloo omelet. Yum. I have this almost every day. I'm in a rut.

Morning: Sailed a Laser on my own all morning over into Gun Creek and Leverick Bay. Practiced lots of tacks and gybes, and reaching at all angles to the wind. Began to appreciate the Classic Laser.

Lunch time: Lost Tillerwoman. Walked past the restaurant back to the room (where I always met her every other day at this time.) She wasn't there. I showered. I waited. I drank rum. I waited some more. I drank some more rum. At 12:45 I left a note in the room saying where I was going and went to look for her. Walked past the restaurant and to the pool where she usually hangs out in the mornings. No Tillerwoman. Asked around and somebody said they had seen her there an hour ago. Walked to restaurant. She was there. She said she had been waiting there for me, and then gone to room to look for me. We must have crossed paths somewhere along the way, maybe even twice? I was feeling mellow (probably because of Laser sailing and/or rum) and didn't shout at her for changing her routine and causing me to walk a couple of miles in the heat of the tropics looking for her on an empty stomach when I could have been chilling out in the restaurant drinking rum grog.

Lunch: They were playing Xmas songs in the background in the restaurant. I joined in with a rousing chorus of "O come let us adore him!" in my best off-key tenor with a British accent. What can I say? I was feeling mellow and was in the Xmas mood. Big old fat American at the next table said to his wife, "Jesus was so nice they nailed him to a tree." He said it loud enough so I could hear. I think it was a rebuke because he thought I was mocking his religion with my awful singing. Considered making loud remark to my wife that they didn't nail Jesus to a tree because he was "nice" but because they thought he was spouting radical ideas that would upset the status quo... Mister Rogers was "nice"... they didn't nail him to a tree. But thought better of it. Had some swordfish and lots of rum grog for lunch. Feeling very mellow.

After lunch: took a nap in a hammock.

Afternoon: went down to the sailing center. The watersports director was hanging Xmas lights everywhere. Took out a Hobie Wave by myself way down the bay. Worked out how to use the hiking straps and was flying a hull. Practiced layline judgment and windward mark roundings. There was something called "Beer Can Racing" on the program for Friday and I wanted to be in form for that.

Pre dinner: went back to room and drank several Dark and Stormies. There was still a helluva lot of rum left. Feeling even more mellow.

Dinner: Rack of lamb, Merlot. Got involved in long conversation with interesting group of people at the next table that degenerated into another of those macho "my thingie's longer than your thingie" stand-offs. Sailors are weird.

And so to bed.

I hope you like it Greg and Kris.

Original Drawing of Sailor in Training for Laser Masters Worlds

Conversation today between myself and my 4-year-old granddaughter.

Emily: Look Grandad, I've drawn you a picture!

Me: That's very nice Emily. Is that me on my boat?

Emily: Yes!

Me: It's very good. That's the water at the bottom?

Emily: Yes!

Me: And then that's me on the boat, and the sails at the top?

Emily: Yes!

Me: How many sails does my boat have?

Emily: Two!

Me: OK. And I like the pattern you drew on this sail.

Emily: Yes, it's a star! Grandma told me you have a star on your sail.

Me: That's right. But why do I have six fingers on one hand?

Emily: Don't be silly Grandad. You only have five fingers. That other line is the rope you hold when you are sailing.

Me: Oh.

I think she may be a bit confused about what a Laser actually looks like but I think it's a good attempt purely from imagination. But then I'm biased.

Her uncle and aunt bought her a child's digital camera for Xmas so perhaps in the summer I will be posting photos she takes of me and my boat. For now, here is a photo I took of her taking a photo of me taking a photo of her...

Screwed

I'm screwed. No escape. No excuses. Totally screwed.

A couple of years ago I wrote about Commitment Devices, ways in which you can "lock yourself into a course of action that you might not otherwise choose but that produces a desired result." Like losing weight. Or running a marathon. Or sailing on 100 days in a year. One of the obvious "commitment devices" is to publicize your goal, tell all your friends, write it up on your blog even.

Sometimes you can create a commitment device for yourself unintentionally...

My first post of this year was Crazy Run Grandad. It started off with me boasting about running a 5 mile road race in the snow on New Years Day. Then I started rambling on about joining a running club and which of their programs appealed to me: a 5 mile run every Thursday evening in a local town, a grand prix series of races throughout the year, and even an award for running a race in every New England state in the year. I only expressed vague interest in these programs; and, in any case, this blog is only read by fellow sailors (right?) and you don't care about my running, do you?

I sent off my application to the running club the same day and the membership secretary emailed me a few days later to welcome me to the club and to ask if I could supply any biographical details for the club newsletter. I didn't know what details he wanted so I referred him to Crazy Run Grandad which also had a few random comments on my history with running.

Next think I knew he had sent the link to the club webmaster and he had put up a link to Crazy Run Grandad on the home page of the club website. And I can tell from my Sitemeter stats that people (real runners) are actually coming from the running club website to my post that includes those ramblings on my possible running ambitions this year.

So now I'm screwed. I have revealed my innermost thought on my running goals to my fellow running club members (whom I haven't even met yet.) So now I'm just going to have to at least make an attempt towards going some part of the way to sorts kinda achieving maybe some of them. Bloody commitment devices!

The first problem is that evening 5 mile run series. I looked back at the times of runners in previous years and realized that at my current pace I might well be last in that run every week. They'll all be waiting around to record my finish and I'll be keeping them from their beer and pizza. So I really want to improve my pace up to the point where I'll be huffing and puffing around the course with a few other old geezers in the tail-end pack, and not be totally detached several hundred yards behind everyone else. And the series starts in March so I don't have long.

I was thinking about this on Tuesday morning. I had a running workout planned. But first I had to check what all my friends were doing on Facebook, and read the latest posts on a few dozen sailing blogs, and chat to my Mum on the phone... you know, really important stuff. By the time I was ready to go running it had started to rain. Cold rain. Bone-chilling cold rain.

I hate running in the rain. But I had created a commitment device. So I went off to the local track and ran some mile intervals... in the rain. Then I came back and compared my times to the same workout last year and basked in the warm glow of smug satisfaction that I am faster than I was in this month last year.

So yes I am screwed. But it's a good thing... really... I think.

236 Days Until 2010 Laser Masters Worlds

It's official! I'm in! The email arrived today...

Place Offer for World Laser Masters Championship 2010

Immediate action is required, this offer is time limited to Wed 3rd February 2010

A place has been offered to you at World Laser Masters Championship 2010 if you would like to accept this place please follow the link below, if you cannot attend the event please follow the alternative link which will allow the place to be offered to another sailor.

I'm one of only 18 North American sailors who have been offered places at the 2010 Laser Masters Worlds in England that starts in only 236 days.

My qualifications for being part of this select company are basically...

• I have attended a previous Masters Worlds in the last 5 years
• I got up early enough on the day entries opened to get my name near the top of the list.

I've written before about the byzantine method devised by the North American Laser class to decide who gets first dibs on places at the Masters Worlds. Actually it's tougher this year for average weekend warriors like me because they added a new category in the rankings ahead of us "have been to a Masters Worlds before" crowd. Now they give priority to sailors who have actually won a major Laser Masters championship in the last 5 years. Geeze, what an idea! Ranking people based on talent rather than participation!

Anyway, I guess there were less than 18 former champions who wanted to go and sail in England in September, so now bozos like me can still get in. Actually this is all rather a moot point in that I expect pretty much everyone who wants to go from North America will eventually be awarded a place. Other countries don't take up all their allocated places, so later on in the process these places get reallocated to countries that have more people wanting such places like us.

I see that that guy has a place too. And my friend with the J/30 is near the top of next group to be allocated places. The email dude from the six dudes and a sausage scene has applied to go too. Plus lots of other old friends and familiar names. It's going to be good.

Of course last year I was offered a place, but I had to turn it down because one of my sons decided to arrange his wedding for that same week. Can't happen again. All my offshoots are married off now.

Only 236 days to go. I'm excited. Better start thinking about a training plan...

Hermaphrodite Brig

A commenter called Bubbles asked, "Like, Mr. Tillerman, how come you never talks about BRITNEY or LADY GAGA or anyone on this blog?"

Well, I always try to please my readers so here goes...

This is a sailing blog so I did a search on Lady Gaga and Sailing and came up with this little gem on a site called TrueKnowled?e.

Is Lady Gaga a hermaphrodite?

The answer depends on what you meant by "hermaphrodite":

If you meant intersex human being (A person who possesses a partial or complete set of sex organs for both genders. Historically known as hermaphrodites.) then I don't know the answer

If you meant hermaphrodite brig, or brig-schooner, a type of two-masted sailing ship which has square sails on the foremast combined with a schooner rig on the mainmast, the answer is NO.

I couldn't make this shit up.

Happy now, Bubbles?

Positively Balmy

The weather in Newport on Sunday for Laser frostbiting was positively balmy. Well, positively balmy as compared to the previous week. The air temperature was 40 degrees F, the water temperature was 39 F, the winds were 7-10 knots from the ESE and the water was flat.

There was rain in the forecast and I hate getting rain all over my glasses because it makes me even more blind than I usually am. So I wore a light nylon peaked running cap under my winter sailing hat made out of Windstopper fleece with DWR finish and contoured ear band wraps with Elastane trim... the latter hat for warmth and the former hat in what would probably be a vain attempt to keep the rain off my glasses.

My start in the first race was typically awful so I tacked for clear air out to the right side of the fleet. There was a header so I tacked on it. About thirty seconds later there was another header so I tacked again. After a couple of minutes of this I was thinking, "Ahah. I know this. This is lake sailing. Flat water and lots of oscillating shifts. I've done this all my life."

Most of the talent seemed to be drag racing over on the left side of the course so as soon as I had made enough gains in the shifts I headed left to connect with the pack and cross as many of them as I could. I surprised myself by arriving at the windward mark somewhere in the top ten, which was a first for me in this fleet.

And that was pretty much the pattern for the first beat in all the races. I played the shifts in relatively little traffic on the middle right of the course and arrived at the first mark up with the leaders.

It was pretty obvious that it was going to be shifty if you thought about it because some dude had erected this huge mansion on a hill just upwind of our windward mark, totally messing up the wind on our race course. (See picture above, which was obviously not taken in January.) It was a pretty inconsiderate place to put a mansion if you ask me. I think it's something to do with some outfit called the New York Yacht Club, but why the New Yorkers have to have a clubhouse in our little state of Rhode Island is beyond me. Don't they have anywhere to go yachting in New York? In any case I didn't see any of them out yachting in front of their mansion on Sunday.

Where was I? Where am I? Oh yes. The windward mark.

So there was the usual mayhem at the windward mark when ten boats try and occupy the same bit of water that's only got room for three. Much shouting and luffing and even more shouting at the occasional port-tacker who decides it's a wise move to T-bone somebody and knock three boats on to the other tack and generally ruin about ten people's race. All in all it worked out reasonably OK for me; I got away cleanly from the mark in five of the seven races and only had to swear at a port tacker for ruining my race in two of the seven. (Oops, I forgot. I was one of those port tack party crasher guys last week.)

On the runs I generally tried to get out into clear air one side of the course or the other. It amazed me how many of my fellow mid-fleet sailors seemed to like sailing the rhumb line in a crowd of other boats. I'm sure it's faster to separate; or perhaps I'm just an antisocial bastard; or perhaps the guys in the crowd were telling each other dirty jokes? I dunno.

Anyway, having sailed outside the pack I usually arrived at the gate mark in a good position for an inside rounding that I only managed to almost screw up once. I've learned from bitter experience that it's best to call for rights at a leeward mark in plenty of time so that nobody is tempted to believe that they are clear ahead or have an inside overlap. I've always been good at shouting on the race course. I consider it one of my few strengths.

I even amazed myself by doing some pretty good classic leeward mark roundings, if I do say so myself, and often emerged on a higher track than the boat ahead of me. As a result I could sail the final beats to the finish line in clear air, and even pick off one or two boats that had rounded the other gate mark.

On the other hand, my tactics at the finish were generally dismal. Definitely something I have to work on. I know the theory, but in the heat of the moment I usually fail to appreciate which end of the line is favored and when best to tack or duck to maximize my chances against close opponents. So I think I usually dropped one or two (or three or four) places at the finish. Damn!

Halfway through the afternoon I was feeling so warm that I actually removed my winter sailing hat made out of Windstopper fleece with DWR finish and contoured ear band wraps with Elastane trim. My nemesis, the other guy, sailed over to me between races and we compared notes on our finishes and I was able to ruin his day by telling him that I already had several top ten finishes under my belt. Afterward I did wonder whether it was a good move to PO a guy who carries a six foot chain saw in the back of his truck. He could do some serious damage with that.

I was pretty pleased with my results for the afternoon. I made the top ten in five of the seven races (in a 23 boat fleet) even though apparently I was invisible to the race committee in one of my best finishes and was scored DNF. Oh well, never mind. It's not the results that count. It's the opportunity to get out in the fresh air on a (positively balmy) winter afternoon and do one of the things I love best: race my Laser.

Last week in my post about frostbiting, I Love Winter, I managed (unwittingly) to upset Edward W. Coyne, Anonymous, and the Chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Program. I wonder who will get pissed off about this post? Probably the Commodore of the New York Yacht Club...maybe all the sailors in New York state... quite likely Anonymous again (he's a very sensitive fellow)... and almost certainly the guy who holds all the patents on winter sailing hats made out of Windstopper fleece with DWR finish and contoured ear band wraps with Elastane trim. Hopefully not the guy with the six foot chainsaw.


Still no sign of Larry yet. I expect he's looking round for a good deal on a second-hand Laser.

Sailing Trends

Is sailing in decline? Google Trends thinks so.

Google Trends is a tool that allows you to see how the number of searches on Google for any term is changing over time. As you can see from the top line in the graph above the volume of searches for "sailing" shows a pronounced seasonal variation, but there is also a clear long-term downward trend in the search volume from 2004 through 2009.

Click on either of the boxes above or here to see the actual graphs on Google Trends. Note this graph is for the United States only but the worldwide trend chart is very similar.

Is there any reason to believe that the number of searches for "sailing" is not correlated closely with actual interest in sailing?

I checked out a few other sports, just for comparisons...

Kayaking shows a slight decline, but nothing like as bad as sailing.

Skiing's seasonal peak in 2009 is at about 50% of its 2004 peak, just like sailing.

Golf is pretty steady with maybe a bit of a drop-off in 2009.

And swimming shows a slight long term decline, but with big peaks of interest in the Olympic years.

Of course these charts combine the searches made by people interested in actively participating in these sports and those made by folk who are simply spectators of the sport.

But still... sailing looks pretty sad. Do any of you sailors out there have a rationale to explain this away or, even better, why it's really a good thing?

Where's the rum?

Vote for Clay Johnson

Now is the time for all loyal readers of Proper Course to show your commitment to the sport of sailing by voting Clay Johnson as the US Olympic Committee's Male Athlete of the Month (for December). Vote here.

This isn't a poll between sailors only; it's for athletes of many sports. Come on people, we can't let the guy from "men's bowling" beat a sailor. Which is not to say that I am being condescending or patronizing about men's bowling. I am sure it is a fine sport and the men's bowling athletes deserve our respect for achieving more in men's bowling than I have or ever will...

Where was I? Oh yes, vote for Clay.

If you think you don't know who Clay Johnson is then you haven't been paying attention to what I have been writing here. In August I wrote about how he won the Laser US Nationals and how he was top USA sailor at the Laser Worlds, in December he was second at Sail Melbourne, and even more impressively Clay is one of my 5 Laser Sailing Bloggers to Watch in 2010.

So vote for Clay. We can't let a sailor be beaten for male athlete of the month by the table tennis male athlete. Which is not to say that I am being condescending or patronizing about table tennis male athletes. I am sure it is a fine sport.... Oh, never mind. Just vote for Clay.

Spread the word. Vote now. Poll closes Jan 18.

Update Sunday 7:00 AM: After I posted this plea for votes for Clay he surged into a lead in the poll but overnight he has been overtaken by the wrestler who has our boy pinned on his back 84 votes to 68. Come on all you sailing fans, help the sailor pull off a reversal and take down the wrestler. Note: the use of the term "boy" does not signify disrespect etc. etc. etc.

Update Sunday 6:45 PM: Today Clay caught a huge gust on the right side of the course on the run and surfed into a commanding lead over the wrestler. As of now he is over 60 votes ahead. But sailors we cannot be complacent. If last night is any guide, all the wrestling fans come out at night and vote for their boy. Spread the word. Tell all your sailing friends. Vote for Clay. Clay currently has 42% of the total vote, so if we can just support him on the final lap of the race we may be able to push him over 50% and crush all the other sports. Take that Tiddlywinks!

Update Monday 7:45 AM: Woohoo! Clay has extended his lead over the wrestler overnight and now has over a 100 point margin. But wait, who is this making a splash? The diver plunged long and deep right into third place and is poised on the springboard to take over second from the wrestler. We cannot relax. Come on sailors we can do it. Vote for Clay. Tell all your friends to vote for Clay. Let's push his vote share over 50% and show the world what is the most popular Olympic sport. Take that Pooh Sticks!

Update Monday 5:00 PM. Uh oh! As I feared there has been a huge surge of votes for the diver today and Clay only has a narrow 80 vote lead over him. I expect some diver blogger is behind all this. Shame on him. So, all you sailors, now is the time to Get Out The Vote. Don't let complacency lose this election for us. Phone all your friends. Tweet all your friends. Tell them to vote for Clay, TODAY. Polls close at.... actually I have no idea when polls close but it says they will close some time today. DON'T DELAY. VOTE FOR CLAY.

Update Monday 11:30 PM. Polls are closed. Clay won! Take that Cheese Rolling.

Girls on Keelboats

It seems I unintentionally offended someone...

A few days ago I wrote a post about Laser frostbite sailing in chilly Newport, Rhode Island: I Love Winter. In the introduction to that post I made passing and (typically) flippant references to two regattas in Florida the same weekend where it was unseasonably cool but not quite as chilly. At one Florida event some sailors chose not to sail in the prevailing conditions; at the other Florida regatta, the selection trials for the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics for Women's Keelboat Match Racing, the organizers canceled the last day.

I thought that there was some slight irony and maybe a little humor in the contrast between what was happening in Florida and in Rhode Island.

Not everyone agreed with me.

Dean Brenner, the chairman of the US Olympic sailing program, took objection to how I referred to the Women's Keelboat Match Racing US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics qualifier and wrote to Scuttlebutt to say...

Hey, Mr. Tillerman, the “girls on keelboats” you so quickly (and at least to me, condescendingly) dismissed was (sic) a literal “who’s who” of top female Olympic talent in the USA today, all fighting for spots on our national sailing team and for the three country spots at US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR in two weeks.

I wonder why Dean was moved to write to Scuttlebutt to complain about the frivolous jottings of some random old geezer blogger? Was it because I so "quickly" passed over the mention of this event? Well, I'm sorry if I didn't show these sailors the respect they certainly deserve by providing more information about the Women's Keelboat Match Racing US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Qualifier or listing the names of all the competitors in my post, but that post wasn't really about them. It was about the usual subject of this blog... me.

Did Mr. Brenner think that I don't have respect for top women sailors? If so, he is certainly mistaken. And he obviously doesn't read my blog very much because, when Anna Tunnicliffe (actually the winner of the Women's Keelboat Match Racing US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Qualifier last weekend) was campaigning for and competing in the Olympics, I was regularly writing posts here about her achievements such as Anna Wins Gold and Go Anna!. I would be the first to admit that Anna and the other women keelboat match racers on the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics have already accomplished more in the sport than I have (or ever will.)

Or was it the use of that word "girls" that provoked the complaint? Of course I know it's not politically correct in some quarters to refer to women over a certain age as "girls". It is seen by some sensitive folk as condescending or patronizing. But I plead not guilty to using the term "girls" inappropriately in this context as there are precedents for the use of that word to refer to these top women keelboat match racers.

Check out for example this newsletter from the US J/22 Class where, in an article about the 2007 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (won by Sally Barkow), several of the competitors in interviews refer to their fellow team-members and other competitors as "girls".

Or how about this interview with Anna Tunnicliffe, posted on the US Sailing website no less, in which Anna was asked about the transitions from single-handed sailing to sailing with a crew, and in her reply she said, "I really like match racing because I really enjoy hanging out with the girls who I sail with." (My emphasis.)

So if these top women keelboat match racers refer to each other as "girls" I really don't think anyone should object if others occasionally use the same term when writing about them. In any case, I wish the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, and especially the "girls on keelboats", all the best in their preparations for the 2012 Olympics. I hope none of the lady match racers were offended by my breezy and playful reference to them; it certainly doesn't reflect any lack of respect for their abilities and accomplishments.

I thought I would make amends (if indeed amends are needed) by listing here the names of the nine ladies in the top three teams who won places on the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics for Women's Keelboat Match Racing last weekend. It took me a while to find the names...

Mr. Brenner's email named a few of the competitors in the trials but not specifically the winners. The list of members of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics on the US Sailing website only shows last year's team as far as I can see, and the press release of the results of the qualifier on the US Sailing website only has the skippers' names.

I finally took the nine names from the list on the US Sailing website of the US entries at the Miami OCR (also up for grabs at the event last weekend) even though there was an obvious mistake in at least one lady's name. I hope this list of the US "girls on keelboats" sailing team is correct...

Anna Tunnicliffe-Funk
Molly O'Bryan Vendemoer
Debbie Capozzi
Genny Tulloch
Alice Manard
Karina Vogen Shelton
Sally Barkow
Katie Pettibone
Nicole Breault

Go USSTAGWKMR!

5 Laser Sailing Bloggers to Watch in 2010

Clay Johnson is on a quest to represent the United States in the Laser class at the 2012 Olympic Games. They say that some people are great sailors but can't write well about the sport; others are wonderful writers but only mediocre sailors. Clay is that rare individual who is both a top sailor and a good writer. You can follow the ups and downs of his Olympic campaign at Clay Johnson Sailing.



Ashley Brunning from Australia is also focused on winning a place at the Olympics in 2012. As well as writing about his training and regattas he shares with us some occasionally humorous details about his international travels and frank insights into his efforts to secure funding and cope with injuries. Follow him at Ashley Brunning - 2012.





Brent Burrows of the Bahamas only recently moved into the Laser class. His enthusiasm for the sport of sailing, and for Laser sailing in particular, shine through on his blog. His recent trip to Florida for the Orange Bowl Regatta taught him that he has a long way to go before reaching the level of Clay and Ash. But he's only 16 and we might just be following his Olympic campaign a few years down the road. Check out his writing -- and his videos -- at SailFast13©.




Sam Chapin says he is an old guy who has sailed Lasers for a few years, does it locally, and encourages others to join him. It seems that his blog started as a way to pass on to a larger audience the tips he had been sending in emails to his local fleet at Lake Eustis in Florida. In a year he has assembled a treasure trove of practical Laser sailing advice, mainly of value to beginners and the average club sailor. I hope he keeps on telling us all How to Sail the Laser.





Jay Livingston is another older guy (or Master as we euphemistically call ourselves in the Laser class.) His Laser Sailing Notes are reflective and philosophical. I often find myself being stimulated and inspired by his musings on such diverse subjects as fitness, mental attitude, equipment and practice. I'm hoping for more of the same in 2010.


So that's my "five Laser sailing bloggers to watch in 2010."

Are there any others you would add to the list?