Frostbiting
Okay, not 110 news but I was invited to go sailing yesterday with the Jones boys. Oakley the 3rd we all know as crew of the Wharf Rat and his dad, Oakley Jr. who owns a 210 and has been a great moral supporter of Fleet 54 as well as stand in race committee volunteer. They have a spot in the Courageous Sailing Center frostbite series which is sailed in Rhodes 19's. This is my and Josh's old stomping grounds as we both taught sailing there for a number of years. Some things have changed. A lot hasn't.
The day was really cold, around freezing, but fun. It is a pretty good crowd up there wuth Joh Murphy, previous 110 National Champ crew, steering a boat. Steve Clancy, John's skipper during those nationals, with a boat. I met David Robinson, Russell's brother, for the first time who is now forever known as "Just Dave" as compared to "F&*ckin Russell". Nice guy who I think would be good to have a beer or two with pouring over rigging systems, boat prep and the like, him being an engineer. There were some other familiar faces to me like Mark Lindsay and a couple others. On the whole, a good group of sailors.
The sailing was interesting. We found pretty quickly that boat speed was not an issue. All the tools were there and we would be able to outrun, outpoint, out anything anyone in a straight line if we needed to. Oakley Jr. was steering well, making her go, and showed great trust in what Oakley III and I were doing on the course, with his input at all times, of course. So, what it came down to was smarts which we had some of but not all the time. Beyond that there is the whole "sailing under a city" deal. The first start showed what must have been a 40 degree shift to the left which was unfortunate as we had decided to start at the boat end. There was also an incident with the start pin which was on the keel, then on the rudder, still on the rudder. The leaders were rounding when we finally got it off so we cruised around for a little bit before the next start. Oh well.
We never really discussed how the decision making would go on the day but it became a day of group decisions which was fine because the communication was quite good and calm. If I was being looked upon as tactician for the day these are the things I learned, or would have changed. We did not realise the extremity of the "current" out there. With the rain earlier in the week the gates to the Charles were open and the draining river was gushing out of the harbor. We could have pushed the starts harder and been on the line better. I also lost the plot downwind as the day went on, letting people inside us into more pressure and letting them have the inside advantage as the mark. We should have been more agressive downwind and just plain more aware. Just winginng the jib and pointing at the mark was not working and we never changed our behavior.
So, another day of sailing in the books. It is always a pleasure sailing with the Jones's and yesterday was no exception. I also came away, I think, a little bit smarter which reminds me that it is important to go sailing, even if it's a community sailing fleet of Rhodes 19's. I just looked at the scored which were respectable, I guess. They show us as not finishing the first race, which is wrong. I would like to see our real tally but don't really care that much. I learned some things and really enjoyed that beer after sailing around in the cold for the day. Thanks Oakleys.
The day was really cold, around freezing, but fun. It is a pretty good crowd up there wuth Joh Murphy, previous 110 National Champ crew, steering a boat. Steve Clancy, John's skipper during those nationals, with a boat. I met David Robinson, Russell's brother, for the first time who is now forever known as "Just Dave" as compared to "F&*ckin Russell". Nice guy who I think would be good to have a beer or two with pouring over rigging systems, boat prep and the like, him being an engineer. There were some other familiar faces to me like Mark Lindsay and a couple others. On the whole, a good group of sailors.
The sailing was interesting. We found pretty quickly that boat speed was not an issue. All the tools were there and we would be able to outrun, outpoint, out anything anyone in a straight line if we needed to. Oakley Jr. was steering well, making her go, and showed great trust in what Oakley III and I were doing on the course, with his input at all times, of course. So, what it came down to was smarts which we had some of but not all the time. Beyond that there is the whole "sailing under a city" deal. The first start showed what must have been a 40 degree shift to the left which was unfortunate as we had decided to start at the boat end. There was also an incident with the start pin which was on the keel, then on the rudder, still on the rudder. The leaders were rounding when we finally got it off so we cruised around for a little bit before the next start. Oh well.
We never really discussed how the decision making would go on the day but it became a day of group decisions which was fine because the communication was quite good and calm. If I was being looked upon as tactician for the day these are the things I learned, or would have changed. We did not realise the extremity of the "current" out there. With the rain earlier in the week the gates to the Charles were open and the draining river was gushing out of the harbor. We could have pushed the starts harder and been on the line better. I also lost the plot downwind as the day went on, letting people inside us into more pressure and letting them have the inside advantage as the mark. We should have been more agressive downwind and just plain more aware. Just winginng the jib and pointing at the mark was not working and we never changed our behavior.
So, another day of sailing in the books. It is always a pleasure sailing with the Jones's and yesterday was no exception. I also came away, I think, a little bit smarter which reminds me that it is important to go sailing, even if it's a community sailing fleet of Rhodes 19's. I just looked at the scored which were respectable, I guess. They show us as not finishing the first race, which is wrong. I would like to see our real tally but don't really care that much. I learned some things and really enjoyed that beer after sailing around in the cold for the day. Thanks Oakleys.
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