Quality over Quantity, The Touchy Feely "Ouch!" of Boat Politics, and ' Confirmation'

A case of quality over quantity with one of my all time favourite races which continues to offer sailors many challenges over its' 3 stages and 80 odd nautical miles. I havent done much this season ...due to the boat politics or a personal grudge bombing me off a boat. Talking more then about the touchy feely stuff, no names mentioned apart from yours truly, the soggy bottomed boy- Now no longer soggy actually, as my Musto mpx's kept me bone dry despite my imodest weight being lifted from the rail. This was indeed a nervous moment of bouyancy which if not hanging on, could have resulted in MOB and in a sea running a good swell being pumped and stacked up with a dtrong 4m spring tide ebbing under it, would have possibly been fatal. Day two was nerve wraking then and I was rail meat, first in line for any waves. My compatriot forgot to secure her jacket and got soaked to her knickers in a previous wave to this one. I battened down all my velcro hatches and my almost 30 yo henri L offshore goretex actually kept me dry, and the day before too when it rained. Once again I got let loose on the helm on the preceeding leg to Tobermory, a race which I won in some glory once, it being the first yacht race I had helmed the whole way through. " Who's infront of us" me said, as I weaved my way down the gentle gusts on spinnaker and between cheeky class 4 white sail boats towards the line outside Tob'. " No one. Keep on sailing" came the reply! This time was a lot less certain, but we did all the right things...almost, Now then to the touchy feely stuff and crews, the ones you suffer a little and probably annoy a lot yourself Already there had been a tiff between owner ( who is a little on-the-spectrum) and one well experienced crew. His bidey in though was just plain entitled and not actually with any real entitlement to act like she did. This first little tiff was over the owners somewhat high volume, direct and precise instructions, or maybe a correction and ended in a little tantrum from the crew of not sailing today! Resolved by leaving them alone, both of them are a little challenged it transpired. Knowing that they were both sailors, I gave J the control of start. This prove to be a logical start, speed on the line seconds after the flag came down, clear for wind over the whole fleet, but most likely we firstly were in adverse tide and to exacerbate that, we had longer to sail and had to keep clear of most everyone being windward boat. Anyway I was satisfied we had involved a good crew who had never sailed before, and the boat itself had just been through its first start in many years, and over 20 years for this glorious race Tob Day 1 , to Bunessan day 2 and back day 3. To my chagrin two of the slower boats ( Elizabethan 30, fine design with suspiciously nice looking blue grey laminates) were ahead but we were chonking up towards them and could then avoid the nasty eddy holding them up at Lismore and shoot through the middle line, managing 9 knts surf on stadning waves, SOG though no doubt being less. Onwards, but the big westerly, with a charming HC on CYCA it transpired was probably quite a bit ahead of us having been played a hand of cards or having known to stick to the Mull shore as previous WHW winners have told me, Always stick to the Mull Shore! I reckon the owner involved the crew a lot in trimming the boat and the Sound of Mull's inevitable fickleness. But said lady kept on wanting to do tactics and go over to the fleet of class 2 which had gathered mid sound where the wind was fighting itself, boxing for NW versus SSW direction to flow up and down the sound, and cancelling itself just here near Salen. There was no logic in this, It would be following a largely different class and then possibly being shadowed by them and losing time in fights with them. Also the wind was filling and veering NW on the Mull shore. She just wanted to be a boss and play and became ratty that we didnt include her suggestion I tried to explain the wind was filling but then she just became arrogant and said we thought, in her important opinion, that we should go eastwards and I was in her tone of voice, quite wrong. Anyway, I had otherwise a great day. Disappointed not to get the break away I had hoped for, playing the Mull Shore Card, but feeling I sailed a really good race. When the wind was SSW / SSE we could hold spinnaker and this was bracing, sometimes nervous as the helm was heavy and there was a lot of heel. I wanted to instruct the crew, but felt this was the owners job, to get weight out and use the kicker as I have done in the past, to flatten the main off and on. Underway I started really losing the helm and the owner was really pleased when I asked simply " what do I do?" which involved shaking the turbulence off a few times to allow the upwash over the rudder to re-establish and get attached flow back allowing me to bear away more. Two bodies on the rail would have been ideal though. Confirmation is a thing I used to hate seeing in other people. When they obviously are having a good old ego trip on the helm or trimming and get that used to grind my gears. In part because I wasnt in with the owner enough to get a job, or dare I say helm and in part because I needed experience, or later on, had possibly more experience than others Now I am more chilled about it, but it has lead to a fall out this year with another skipper who really was quite patronising, probably a personal grudge because his wife used to basically flirt with me. Anyway I enjoyed that day with confirmation a lot. It felt like years of experience pay even when you are a little rusty Last year I won my first time out on the helm of the Express so I know I can helm, and especially when other people do the thinking by in large of where we are going. However you do get a good overview from the back of the boat so the wind veering meant we were in an ideal place to take a steal for the day, while other boats were forced to lee by their spinnaker SOG ambitions! This is often the case. A heard under kite wander way off the course in order to cover each other, or are just bloody sheep. Said crew's calls to fall off lacked any logic and I tried to explain, which is what then pisses me off, but I have let it all go. I had a day basking in the sun of my own bloody ego, cut down to size on corrected time as many a helm has encountered! Things deteroiated next day with her. She had said the evening about how the owner was talking to them was unacceptable. Well I found her arrogance a bit annoying, She didnt ask for an explanation of 'the middle tell tales' when trimming just came with an odd response which didnt beckon an explanation, This irritated her and I did explain everntually, but she was irritated. Next day I think I shoved her out the way a bit. They had come late, delaying our exit from the dock and the Westerly, who were serious old fellas, from leaving. This cost us dear as the No 3 wasnt battened so we had to shift it off again. We over tensioned the halyard apparently giving swivel issues which persisted until next day. She not only was late up but her jacket and life jacket were on the cockpit with 2 mins to go to the start, which annoyed the HSE in me, and i got her to move perhaps in a abrupt manner. Things went down hill. She got scarred by the swell made steep by the tide and the bashing we got for 3 hours. My turn to be irritated as we went way too far out and into more sea most likely than needed, while the class 1 and bigger 4 boats chundered along the mystical north shore with its lighthouse, castle, sandy bays and wildness Nothing much got repaired on the touchy feely and to my relief, with the thought of a repeat holiday next year to include this most glorious of races, they said they wanted to follow the race perhaps in their own boat next year. I did tidy up and make coffee post race day three, and the owner had let the two newbies steer and trim the boat by in large, me doing foredeck and enjoying the sunshine and rather stunning views. It had been a big fall out before, which resulted in us splitting up for the 2002- 2004 seasons. I had been angry at a crew for shaking the boom onto my face and alomst breaking my glasses and knocking me out"! Time has healed this and judging by no " dont like how you speak to my crew" and also said owner getting several severe comments about how HE spoke to the two screwy crew, I think reflection was taken. Also I had apologised and my anbriuptness was in part caused by lack of sleep due to a feverish cough which many have had this bloody summer. I enjoyed it all immensely despite the cough, nerve wracking sea day 2, and the BS from said new members of the wee clan. How to speak to crew and other international matters of diplomacy.

Reflections on a Season

This was actually an important season for me I felt a little on the outside of the sport. Kind of a hasbeen. But I had often wise things. Kick the motor in reverse to get the auld 8mR's prop to fold. Hold the main in the centre to keep the kite flying. We gybe on white sails! After an " in at the deep end" two handed with spinnaker, where I warned I was rusty. But he admitted it was the best of all training sessions that season for a 4 mans crew usually no matter! Then more folk came out the woodwork. They too, didnt like the older one designs in town , or were tired with them. The new express fleet is looking up! Also I managed to figure out a cruising chute with snuffer for the first time. Never used on, been on racing boats or white sails. The owner I coach up in sailing and self confidence was delighted ! All in all in stead of feeling rusty, used up, has been, i got some major sense of mastery. 10,000 hours n all. I took a day when I was laid up sick to look at old Americas cup coverage, from the late seventies, through Australia II to Prada becoming the challenger and found I could challenge the skipper's decisions without actually it being trite after seen wisdom ( as they say in Scandinavia) : I can understand the enormous performance expectation angst affected their judgement. But hey, I won the first express race I helmed this year. It is about sinking your shoulders and getting the right information in from the rail. Not going out on the edge of the diamond. They maybe got caught up in micro metereologist and on board MBA consultant's power point summaries, they fucked up on some basics in these races ! That is why they lost, they made mistakes. Boat speed was up and down with the wind speed, every dog had its' day, seen much tougher match racing in IODs. Also I am not letting myself be in the box of ' not as good as he thinks he is' instead, show what you can do, take it seriously, the job in hand. Dont bitch ( i used to, but not often) get on with your job. Focus! Team only has ME if you fuck it all up and put it mack as TAME!

Breaking it Down

I have jumped at the chance of sailing in the fledgling Express fleet we have here in town, with three active this year and possible the club doing another hand-me-down purchase of a fourth next year. Ok, it is only crewing until maybe someone invites me to helm or I get in the woodwork enough to ask politely What though, can I learn about helming and racing from being crew? Well tonight's practice will have a fortuitous wind direction, hugging the coast line and making for two good course possibilities with shortening also possible given the permanent bouys and skerries to round on W-L So then I want to look at line bias, favoured tack , favoured side and maybe wind shifts This means looking at the compass 1. shoot the breeze 2. note compass direction on both tacks 3. See if it varies, look at the land for lifts and knocks and verify. 4. Check the bearing when coming out of each tack after we are near fine in the groove. That is it. Broken down.

Weekend that Was

I have been in the lull before the great vacuum of idleness which I may implode into. I have come to a place where the job is ok, I have been moving forward only very slowly with the job in terms of learning, being hindered by a boss who is wary of me. Sailing wise, I had to jump back in and get going again. My ideal goal is helming practice, but I also have to remember to practice what I have mastered before- so foredeck and mainsail are things I was pleased to get involved with. It is good to be back out in a decent boat, the Albin Express being a nice racing platform akin to the Impala, Laser 28 and Sigma 33. One other thing I need to learn is the bias on the course and where we are at any point in time relative to the average wind direction and indeed speed. It was interesting to read in the 707 class that day 1 leaders played the averages and did nothing outside the box. I had to just look up the old case about the jib top tell tales - it is a bit of a self explained if you think through it. As the top of the jib can be twisted off and fly at a more oblique angle, it shall break first inside with correct trim and the outside shall always fly. Also, fully vindicated on jib-leech tell-tales as they are standard. They should fly 80-100%, once again, top breaking first. Really the same principle as tthe main, and Ståle's boat lacked the top tell tale! I need to look at the chart and reflect!

Ambitions Found

Ambition is now of course, to acheive some learning goals which will take me further to winning more races in future I think this is in three : Boat Handling Starts Wind Patterns , shifts, geographical wind and bends Bias lines and courses and the right side Tidal vectors These are kind of in a logical order Handling, I need a lot more finesse 1) Tacks - coming out correctly - I used to be able to but I guess it is practice 2) Getting into and staying in-the-groove 3) Reacting to fluctutions I think my gybes are good! Just pay attention to final angle. Starts? Nerves, ego, nerves then stress I have to learn how to line up and use burn time. I just find there is a sense of 'shit, I am in the wrong place and going at the wrong speed' It isnt rocket surgery. I think I should just go out and sail up to some marks from different angles on my own first. Then put the clock on it. Then try it with incidental cruising or motor boats milling around Then go and race or group train in a dinghy or something. I keep on putting a bloody threshold of fleet dinghy racing, when there is a lot to learn from any boat I step into! I guess also, first and foremost, an apprecitaion of what I am doing wrong 1) Way too far back from the line. ( knowing where you are!) 2) Often way too ' left ' of the line, getting rolled 3) In danger of being forced high of the line at the boat end 4) sitting dead in what looks like a controlling position but getting sailed circles round 5) Lack of speed 6) thrashing around too much speed 7) NOT KNOWING THE EXACT START TIME! 1) too far back - this is related to No7 !!! It is a dead non man's land of three tacks to get up where you should be but 30 secs to do it all This is cured by an understanding of a) burn time, go! b) Where is advantagous to luff about These both are influenced by variables, most of all wind stregnth. Also 'fleet behaviour' plays in here, as with the Grimstads, they tend to fetch in at speed and round up. This means you can block for both boat and pin end, but you are going to be slower off the start line as they avoid you and go up at speed. So in this case, you want to hunt with the wolves and be very, very aware of a fast burn time from the fetch in, and where to pick a good lane, or slot to charge in on. Maybe that is it, to drop down into a slot infront of other boats rather than choosing a lane In a tighter, better behaved fleet you want to choose that lane, and it will be much nearer a beat than a tight reach. It is then a case of tacking into it, or luffing at a controlling position nearer the pre-line build up, the line behind the line in fleets like the Snipes or Sigma 33s. It is a bit of a risky strategy to try and 'educate the fleet' by standing off near the committee boat in a nice blocking position, because if they charge in on you, they can just duck and dive you. In lighter winds though you can sit in a position around 7 o clock from the CB to the right of the bouy, and bow on it, making a block, and the same can be done in a parallel situaion/ position, to the right of the pin end if you feel that will pay on a bias or going left is gonna pay. In a charging fleet you can either run-with-the-bulls or apply a lhs strategy because a high blocking , or drop-in position is going to be a sitting duck for. On the LHS you can beat on burn time all the way with a bull-charge going on at the boat end. You have to rely though on damn good burn time and allowing for a boat or two to drop on you, hardening up as they reach you, so you cant have a boat under you or too little space to slide along towards the pin. A classic point up from the half way along the line, then you are a third of the way along at the time the charge is on and can either hold on, or bear away sharply to get away from roll overs having forced them to luff. If two or three boats do this, then in fact you educate the fleet ! They meet you and are forced into luffing or diving this 'block vote' as it sweeps towards the line with a good burn time In a bull fleet then you need to determine what your burn time will be: will it be tight reach in along the line and go as near to the line as poss? Or is it going to be reach in, then beat up on a lower line under some 'early looking' boats? So here is a main cause of my weakness. Not quite knowing where I am, having thought out a start tactic, but not being where I want to be because I have paniced and lost sight of where I am. Stay in the Groove There are two things at play here- steering and gear changes For a given sail setting or 'gear' you have a lattitude of steering to follow the wind as it fluctuates, or to press on the jib to hold speed in a lull or after getting knocked by a wave. At some point though you have to forget steering ad get the crew to change gear. For me the big issue is when the wind lulls - I think I need to be able to spot this and get the sails out a little while steering down a tad. The other thing is knocking into waves, and this too needs more sail depth and falling off. Both are a to a large extend unavoidable unless they are spotted 10 secs ahead. A press on the jib alone in a major lull will only stall the boat more, and not bearing off enough in waves, or until you smother the jib with too much press, will also stall you. Gear changes break down like this in order of 1) "global" : Head sail Change or Reef; Shroud and forestay tension 2) Travller : down and up as the wind goes, a rough adjustment 3) Sheeting : in for more wind, out for less - more subtle 4) Backstay: to reduce heeling ( or in light winds to stabilise the rig) 6) Kicker 7) outhaul main / Barber haul jib 7) Cunningham / inhaul main ( jib) I am not talking about involving these in the major course manoevres , but rather while on a beat, a run, a reach IN a dinghy kicker / Gnav takes the role of the back stay, but both are a nice adjustment in the first place because releasing them brings on the power of the leech on the main sail higher up in the sail, where as pulling them on opens and twists the upper half of the sail thus depowering and reducing heel. On a good number of rigs, the back stay will in the first place, when off, take up slack in the rig and thus make for more rake and a tighter forestay. Some boats like a slack set up for light airs when deep sails work. But rake is a major determinating factor for pointing so it must go on once the need for a little speed is over, and it is blowing enough for a true beat. The traveller is often abused in bigger racing boats, it is a very rough control when dumped as it literally 'closes the door' on the slot - you may want to try a seemingly brutal hike on the back stay and kicker, with a small slide of the traveller next time! Steer first, ask questions later - but do ask them rather immediately - Do I also need a gear change ? Do I have enough depth in the front of the jib to allow for this variation in angle? Shall I slip something out liek the kicker? Can I get more wind up in the rig to work by slipping the back stay, or maybe inducing more twist for drive on the traveller? Or is this transient and I can steer through it and up again on the wind. The reverse is easier, as the gust strikes. This is because the boat's own speed is in a negative situation, slower realtive wind speed rather than faster, so it is more obvious if both steering and a gear change are needed. -

Of Sea Dogs and Lost Ambitions

Been a long time ship mates. I really pulled myself back from sailing 6 years ago. But there were returns! A couple of classic regattas and suddenly a Melges regatta on my home waters coaxed me out, the former being enjoyable and sociable, the latter being painful sailing but a good social. I did get coaxed into using the boat I share, and actually overnighting on it. It is a wreck in the cabin, but wow, did we enjoy ourselves We had the weather with us and each other's good company. With little over a meter under the waterline, she allowed us to sneak around the local skerries and sharp inlets, and find our way into a lost harbour. Then there was sailing home with an easterly building, and being able to hold the boat goose winged by steering and no need for the sprit boom we dont have! It was a very small morcel of learning, but it was a satisfying nip ontop of the experience I have amassed and the attitude that one is always learning the boat. I had also taken a family I know out, and their blomstering young, tall, elegant daughter took very well to sailing. I had reefed the boat down as it was blowing yeah, around 6, and it behaved itself. She was a natural, and could just understand the angles for gybing. Post relationship, I took up an offer to crew on a nice Halberg Rassay- ended up coaching her. And having some good little tours in waters new. Then there was the classic 8m cruise. Completing my pilotage ticket west towards the next town in what turned out to be, pretty much the best weekend of weather the whole year! Learning, about cruising and putting text book and a lot of what other people did when I was a kid or without responsibility. The mellow feeling of those cruises with Linda, and those with Mick n Danny. The feeling of things falling into place from my father's time, and the lost time when he could have been teaching me.

Lost Land Lubber

Suddenly it appears to me that I have fallen out of love with sailing.

The whole thing suddenly seems like a wife I adored and worshipped for many years, through my stumbling young adult years and into my middle age, there she was with a smile most often as the diamonds danced on the bay, raising a lightness of mind and spirit in me.

But now she seems a joy from the past and a little complicated and awkward for the future. Like a wife who gives you less attention now because here career has taken over. Like you have come back from the magical island surrounded by playful waters, back to fast land with those memories behind you.

The season is also behind me. I mean I did very little sailing, but I kind of also felt very very accomplished and mature and able to take everything in my stride and enjoy it. Like a last romantic holiday with a worn out relationship perhaps, we played breifly on some warm summer days.

I have the share of a boat, but I just dont have the enthusiasm to go sail her in waters which are now quiet and lack company or promise in particular as autumnal weather rushes in with mists and torrential rain.

Maybe this is a trial separation after a final fling. A roll under the sheets which satisfied neither partner completely but kind of put a nice enough full stop on the whole affaire? 

I have been here before and it has been about 'another day at the office' which is the time to give up for that season. But maybe this will be that famous year out ahead which I have never quite taken since 1993.

Jaded and a little kind of done for what I can afford right now, with other priorities and a new careeer to set course into. That is probably all, because unlike any lover over time, sailing does not get angry with you, it does not get so grey and faded, it does not loose it's excitement. The wind blows, the boats heel and the the wake rushes aft.

I will be back. This is not adieu my lover, this is au revoir!