Fionnlagh

2009 Icebreaker and D5 Championship

2009-05-25T22:46:00.005-06:00

Saturday

I was tired and hoping it would not be windy, while at the same time fearing defeat at the hands of Hannah in light winds. In the morning, races were postponed on shore and I napped. As we were having lunch, the wind picked up and we hurried out after lunch. Full rigs started, radials started, and then things started to calm down. X-class started. Full rigs drifted, radials drifted. I had a great start - moving quickly over the line in clear air closer to the pin while the rest of the fleet bunched up at the boat end in dirty air. My lead was lost for a while as the wind died and puffed on the others. I was patient and focused and saw the shift and adjusted quickly, quietly regaining the lead. I was pulling away when they sent Ian out on the red rib to say that the race was abandoned. Certainly the sensible thing to do, but disappointing. Lesley was willing to keep racing to the mark, but she was unable to gain ground. Another false start, this time I wasn't at the line. The race was abandoned quickly and we spent the rest of the afternoon drifting and playing in the puffs until the race committee abandoned at 3:30.

Perhaps it was a sign?

2008-10-26T21:19:00.003-06:00

Temperature: an optimistic 1 degree Celsius
Wind speed: 20 kph gusting to 40.

Today is the last weekend day in October and that means the last chance to sail the reservoir until May 1. The morning was written off for lack of wind and sub zero temperatures. I arrived at the res early afternoon after sitting in nasty traffic jams and realizing that I forgot my roof rack to take Fionnlagh home afterwards. Definitely not worth going back for it in that traffic. Assembled the dolly, which I have been taking home to avoid theft or vandalism and unloaded the boat. Rigged part way, got dressed up in slightly damp sailing gear, and then tried to finish rigging. I had everything done except the vang and the mast tie down. Strangely, the mast tie down seemed too short. Or was the mast too tall? Hmmm...maybe something is in the mast step? But what? Did Janet drop something in there yesterday? Weird. Is the mast really not in the step? Wear marks are visible on the mast above the top of the tube. Definitely not in right. Wiggle, wiggle. Nothing. What the? So I leave the boom attached and lift the rig off. Remove sunglasses and peer into the mast step. It occurs to me that I left water in the mast step after yesterday's sail and it has been below zero since then. Yup. Ice. I squeeze my hand in but can't reach it. I look in the car for a long stick and come up with only a wrench. Then I realize there is an easy way to get the ice out. I grabbed a water bottle and poured water into the mast step. Then refilled the bottle in the lake (brrrr!) and poured again. The ice floated to the top and I scooped it out. Then I spent five minutes warming my hand back up. I don't think I've ever had ice in the mast step impede my rigging before! Maybe it is too cold to go sailing? Is there enough wind to make it worthwhile? It was not nearly as wild as yesterday but there were some serious gust patches out there. Speed could be found.

Ready to launch. The boat patrol were taking the arms off of the dock as I launched. Hopefully they wouldn't take the dock out. They usually left this one until last and the other docks were still in.

It was a good sail. Although it was cold, it was still a beautiful, sunny day. The reaches were fast, planing in the gusts. It was gusty and shifty like yesterday, but the wind strength was less. I was cautious as I didn't want to fall out of the boat again and I didn't want to capsize. With the sun in my eyes and glaring off the water on port tack, I couldn't see the gusts coming. Still managed to stay upright today. With the spray from planing, I did get wet. I lost feeling in my fingers and toes after about 45 minutes. The last 15 minutes getting back to the dock, my left hand hurt it was so cold.

I arrived at the dock just as the boat patrol was towing it away. Thanks a lot, Janet. The wooden dock was still there, but closed and the ramp jammed up with the grey dock cubes and heaps of driftwood. Not an appealing option. The Opti dock was still there so I sailed over. I've never used the ramp there. It was clear of driftwood so I docked and hopped out to make sure the ramp could be used. It appeared to be long enough. Next hurdle: could I get the dolly over there and get the boat back to the racks?

The dolly fit between the posts on the bike path, but only just. It was quite a long walk. Longer on the way back with Fionnlagh in tow, up the hill. At least I was getting warmed up. I left Fionnlagh on the grass in front of the club and went in for dry clothes.

I felt that I should have some sort of ritual for putting things away after the last sail. I thought about when I might sail next. If Fionnlagh goes to Victoria again this winter, then I should take all of the lines off in preparation for the trailer ride. If not, then I'm just wasting my time. It felt better to take all of the lines off and quite deliberately make sure I didn't lose any of them. Sort of a way of saying goodbye to the season. Even though I want time for other things now, I will miss sailing around the reservoir.

Red Boats Go Faster

2008-07-30T22:52:00.000-06:00

Last night I packed Fionnlagh up on the ASA trailer and sent him off to Kingston (via Halifax). I really felt sad that it would be two weeks before I could sail him again.

Fortunately, Wayne is on call this week and can't sail. He was kind enough to offer me his full-rig. I was pretty excited to see how I would do against the guys in the full rig, but it wasn't to be. Super gusts were rolling through and there were white caps everywhere. Kevin offered me his radial bottom section and I accepted - no sense in sailing horribly overpowered.

Wayne helped me rig and then we went up to make sure race committee had what they needed. By the time I launched, the wind had died down. And it continued to die. Bill sailed by and told me I had the wrong sail! I even thought through how to change it out as quickly as possible - but even that wouldn't be quick. I was stuck with it.

Billowing clouds loomed all around the lake - maybe the wind would be back. And back it was! By the time we started the first race I was glad for the Radial sail again! By the second race I was overpowered with the outhaul, vang, and cunningham cranked. It seemed to me that I wasn't able to get the vang very tight- the lines didn't look as they did on Fionnlagh. Approaching the windward mark, I tacked and my lifejacket was caught on the mainsheet under the boom. I couldn't sheet out fast enough to recover in the heavy wind and over she went. I became convinced that Kevin's bottom section was flawed. He mentioned that he thought the boom was lower on the Radial than on the full-rig. That shouldn't be, but maybe his gooseneck was mounted too low. I righted in a tangle and then flipped right back over. Eventually I got back up - after most people had passed me! I made up ground on the downwind. Lizie's vang was too loose and she was having trouble keeping control. A number of others capsized and I was able to pass them. At the leeward mark I gybed as I rounded. The gybe was late and I was reaching as the sail came across, resulting in another capsize. Lizie yelled encouraging words as she chicken gybed and then roared past. Back up and sheeting in as fast as possible, I knew I had to be good to win this race. I kept the boat flat, sheeting out instead of pinching but being careful not to foot, and tacking on the shifts (and keeping low when doing so!). We still had another lap around 6 and 3. It was close, but I edged her out in the end.

Can we start again, please?

2008-03-22T22:39:00.004-06:00

I began the day mildly sore all over from yesterday's water workout. I also had a headache developing. I was hoping it would disappear, but it actually got worse as the day wore on. Today was cloudy with some sunshine. The wind was very light to begin with, with puffs and shifts and built a bit over the day. It was never consistently all out hiking condition.

The first drill was start and stop on the whistle. I think I was doing better at this than I have in the past. The key was Erin's reminder to bear off a bit before sheeting in and then roll, sheet, flatten and steer to close hauled. The timing is really important. If I flatten after fully sheeting in and steering close hauled, I don't feel I get as much power as if I'm off the wind a bit. I need to spend more time playing with this and practicing to get it right. I think it would be best practiced on a day with light, steady wind. On the downwinds back to the start, we did a bit of gybing on the whistle. Once again, my gybes are in rough shape. I'm too chicken to roll properly and I was catching the mainsheet on the transom frequently. Tomorrow I should work on that if there is some time.

The second drill was lining up on other boats for a start. They split us into two groups. It wasn't clear to me why or how, but about half of the radials were with the full rigs and the other half were with the Bytes. I was with the Bytes and it was a nightmare - although good practice because the same situations occur frequently on the start lines in Alberta. We spent a lot of time waiting for people to get on the line. This was complicated by the fact that there was only one end to the line and the wind was shifting. The main frustration was the people constantly trying to squeeze into tiny holes and ending up in collisions. I was having trouble manouevering through all this. I did not defend my position well, I often ended up sailing backwards, or stalled in the wrong place, or drifting down onto boats. I really lacked focus and the enormous time it took to get every one lined up caused my focus to drift further.

After lunch I was one of the first few back on the water. Dave E, Hannah, and I sailed out to the end of the bay. I tried to use this to relax and focus me and get back into the feel of the boat. Then we all gathered for death circles for a while. With a much larger number of boats than yesterday, it was quite crazy. I was cautious at times and aggressive at other times. Notably, I was not stearing with my body enough and not rolling enough. I really need to focus on that againg. It's becoming almost automatic on windward mark roundings but there are so many other times I need to think about it. I had an interesting moment this afternoon at the windward mark. I was a little too close but managed to wiggle round moving the boat with my body. I'm not sure how, but it seemed to some naturally.

In the afternoon, the split was better with Bytes separated from the rest of us. The first drill was a start line with a race to a line a short distance away. The goal was to accelerate off the start a get in front. Anyone not doing this gets buried in bad air. There were variations on this for hours. Sit on the line, 2 minute starts, mystery starts, pin end boats go and try to squeeze in at boat end. At times I was good at finding a position and I was defending that position at times. It really was mixed afternoon. When I had space below me on the line, and no one rolling me from above, I could accelerate well and get a good start. Drills like this with this number of boats are rare and so I'm glad we spent so much time on this one. It's only practice in these situations that teach you to put it all together.

We wound up the day with some practice races. The Gatekeeper drill. Start, through a gate, round windward mark, round gate, windward, through gate, over the finish and round up. Again, I was really inconsistent. I had a few good starts but lost some ground on the upwind. There was one particularly unhappy upwind where I was pushed to the left by three different sailors. Steve R. was the last one and he pushed us way out past the lay line for the mark. By the time he finally tacked, there was a train of boats heading downwind from the windward mark. Steve headed into them, hoping to find a hole to go through. I followed. Big mistake. We were both on port tack and had no rights. As we approached, the boats bunched up and although I found a hole and crossed in between two boats, I then found myself with a hole too small to cross in front of two more boats. The only way to avoid collision was to head downwind and this I did suddenly, but surprisingly well. I really expected to end up in a collision. Glad to avoid a collision, but in a really horrible situation. pinned with one boat upwind and two downwind, going in the wrong direction. Blah. Even slowing down wouldn't help as there was a whole train of boats behind. The hazards of a short race course. It wasn't possible to go back and round the mark, so I just kept going. I think the only time I could have prevented this situation was when I was heading for Steve on port. I should have ducked instead of tacking, but I didn't see him until it was too late. A question I hope I never need to know the answer to: could I have sailed past the mark on the wrong side and somehow gone round? Would I have to dip the layline on the other side?

This generally wasn't one of my better days, although it did have a few good moments. Mentally, I wasn't in the game today and physically I was a little tired and the headache didn't help. How do I maintain the focus I had yesterday?

No sense of place or time

2008-03-21T21:04:00.000-06:00

Today was spectacular. After a frustrating week at work, I was ready to strangle someone. Since that's not really acceptable, I was looking forward to being aggressive on the water.

We began with 3,5,7 windward leeward tack and gybe drill. My tacks were going well and I was flattening the boat quickly. The gybes felt rusty and need work. I was also overshooting the windward mark a lot.

Then we did the spin drill with a 360 round the middle mark. This was chaotic, but went reasonably well.

Particularly memorable was when we were doing practice starts and short races. I was finding a good position and accelerating well. The only problem was that I was over early most of the time. We had a lot of general recalls, but there were times when I was over early and we just kept going. I think there were also times I thought I was over early but wasn't. In any case, I was accelerating well and maintaining speed over the course. I beat every one in one race, including about 5 full rigs. I was consistently beating the radials and some of the full rigs. I was a little concerned that being over early was an unfair advantage, but the coaches seemed to think I was sailing well and the advantage couldn't be maintained if I wasn't. They were glad to see me being so aggressive as last year I was consistently getting buried. It's partly a matter of the mood I was in today, but it is also due to increased confidence in boat handling and starting. The over early stuff was simply because 10 seconds is longer than I think, and the boat accelerates quicker than I think. Maybe my sense of place and time was thrown off by the fact that yesterday I was in the office in Calgary and this morning I landed in Victoria and was on the water before 11am. I mean, it's a whole different time zone out here!

We also did an interesting partner drill. At the windward mark, one boat was to sail the layline and the other was to tack in to lee-bow that boat. I was partnered with Max and I'm not sure that we got the positioning right even once, but I get the idea. If you are tacking in and can't get on the lay line, leebowing someone is the way to go. It should push you out in front of them and if done outside of 2 boat length circle, gives you the right to push the windward boat up so that you can shoot the mark and take the inside. The downwind leg was about speed control. Generally I was rounding windward better and was faster downwind than Max. I gave him feedback on vang and mainsheet but I still had to sheet in or over steer to slow down. At the downwind mark we were to approach side by side and the outside boat was to slow down enough to pull in behind the inside boat and then hopefully squeeze up coming out of the rounding to get upwind of the inside boat. Very good practice and a great demonstration of just how much this matters. I need to work on rounding tighter. The problem was mostly gybing too late and not approaching the mark close hauled. I need to think back to Noah's drill from the summer and position myself accordingly. On the upwind leg, we were to cross tacks and port tack boat was to duck starboard. This was frustrating as we often went too long on each tack or had interference from other boats. Max capsized at least 4 times during this drill. Usually I was coming out ahead on the crosses. This lead me to try to slow down which meant sloppy sailing. Let the boat heel, the the sheet out, that's all slow. This is a better drill if you have well matched partners.

When I was good, I was really, really good...

2008-02-24T22:59:00.006-07:00

...and when I was bad, I was awful.

Frozen Assets, Day 2
BigWaveDave forecast 15 knots today and I think he was pretty close to the mark. Environment Canada forecast sunshine and 10 degrees and it really felt like they were wrong.

It was a bit windier than I would like on the way out to the start. There actually were waves. Ooops. I should have studied up on wave sailing techniques. I didn't sail very far up the course prior to the start because I felt tired and sleepy and wanted to save energy for the race. These were full hiking, grommet to the boom conditions. I would watch the Laser full rig start to see what the gents thought was the favoured side. Anne said she thought left was favoured. That made sense to me because the wind was coming over land from the NE and the left was not sheltered by the island.

I decided on a midline start because I wanted to go left and avoid crowds or sliding into the pin. This was lining up to be an excellent strategy. Lots of space left, 46 seconds to go. Adjust the controls, 46 seconds to go. Sadly, not lightning fast adjustments but a stopped watch. Argh! No way of knowing when the horn would go as the last signal was at one minute. I reached into position behind the line and watched the other boats. I would trust their timing. Unfortunately, it was already too late. As I checked, the other boats were sheeting in and nearer the line. I sheeted as fast as I could and was clear enough that I didn't get buried in bad air, but I was a boat length or two behind the line at the horn. I was sailing reasonably well mid fleet. I don't recall a lot of the details of the race. I do remember the first downwind leg.

As I approached the gate on Starboard tack, a full rig came in from Starboard on a Port tack heading in front of me. I called starboard. Unbelievably the guy responds by saying that he is trying to get to the other gate. He hits me, not hard, but enough to slow me down slightly. I tell him he still has to obey the rules of the road. He continues interfering and not giving right of way. I steer windward of him and say protest. He says whatever and sails to the other gate. Now a couple of the boats I passed downwind have passed me back. I work it upwind, sheeting to keep the boat flat, hiking hard. On the last downwind I had managed to be neck in neck with 4 other boats. Now a couple of strategic errors. First, I did not check out the position of the gate relative to the finish line in advance. Compounding that, I was outside of two boats for the left gate mark and the finish was a reach left of there. Even worse, there was a boat to windward of me. This is all hunky dory when we are on starboard heading for the gate. As we approach, though, everyone wants to gybe. The trick is that gybing loses you the right of way unless you are inside the two boat length circle. Given the pinwheel, I don't think I was ever within two boat lengths of the mark. I need to study the rules on this situation. the guy inside of me looked as if he was going to gybe. I saw that the angle was just good enough that I could sail by the lee to the finish so I yelled starboard. He didn't gybe. Then we were all round and a gust came through and we are roaring neck in neck to the finish. I'm not sure, because it was impossible to see but I think 2 of the 3 beat me over the line. Why? because the hand the inside which was shorter and when I sailed by the lee, they were in my wind. Blah.

I was determined to make up for that with the second race. I was in serious danger of losing my third place standing from day 1.

more later...
Regatta photos

Frozen Assets Regatta 2008

2008-02-23T21:27:00.003-07:00

2nd
4th
2nd
third from last?
5th

I think that is how I placed today. Won't be sure until the results are posted. There were 10 or 11 radials in the fleet.

The day began with light wind from the east. First start was scheduled for noon. As we sailed out of the bay to the race course, the wind died. The first full rig start was abandoned.

I arrived at the course early enough to sail a fair way towards the windward mark. It seemed that starting mid line and staying left until the gate and then heading right was the way to go. Past the gate, there were lifts on port tack and the wind was stronger on the right because it wasn't sheltered from shore. With the wind this light, I was afraid they would start us and we would end up drifting around. Fortunately, there was enough wind to keep moving. My strategy worked out well. I had a decent start in clear air and found myself pulling away from the others on the upwind leg. I didn't manage to pass Aiden on the downwind, but I was happy to finish second until I found out this was Aiden's first race in a Radial!

In the second race, I was doing reasonably well with a similar strategy. This time, the others were closer and that made it more challenging. I pinched the windward mark, and the shift was not in my favour. I hit it. I decided I just had room to round again before the others came in and I did that instead of doing turns. I'm not sure if this was the best call or if it was even a legal way to clear the penalty, but it worked out okay. One or two boats passed me. The downwind was tight, but I couldn't catch up what I had lost at the mark.

The wind picked up and shifted to the NE for the final three races. We waited around for a bit while they moved the marks. My toes were cold but I was otherwise fine. Not true. I was also hungry. I had half a green pepper, a handful of lettuce, chocolate pudding and a granola bar for lunch. Seemingly not enough. I should have taken the time to eat the apple. Or brought some snacks aboard. As I was jumping and dancing around in my boat to try to warm up, I began to think about what I was wearing. Really just a few millimetres of neoprene with a spray top and shorts on top. And two toques. Yeah, it must be the toques that make me think I'll be warm enough. Yikes! I mean, a few millimetres of rubber. That's like going outside naked on a fat day. In February, no less!

My big problem when the wind changes is that I'm lazy. I know that the favoured side has changed. After race 3, I have seen that success is on the left in the full rigs. This doesn't strike me as logical given the geography so I persist with going right in race 4. It works out very badly for me. Race 4 was really about me tacking badly and not flattening the boat quickly. I also got stuck between some CFSA boats at the start and missed a few good shifts as a result. Note to self - when wind changes, note the new favoured side and get on board!

Race 5 was decent, but I was no longer kicking ass on the downwind and that made the difference between 2nd and 5th. I should have gone by the lee and then reached in, but no one else was and I was too lazy to gybe and take the risk that I would screw up and lose ground. The Strategy Paradox. Gotta risk big to win big. Same with roll tacks in the lighter winds today. I was afraid to really throw my shoulders out because I felt like I would get stuck under the boom and tip. The result was medium roll tacks. Not great, not terrible. Just average. I must get used to taking the risks.

By the way, I am now totally exhausted. In the third race, I was hiking a lot and in the fourth and fifth races, I was hiking full out on the upwind, but not quite planing on the downwind. In the fifth race, I was losing strength and having trouble staying out. Argh! More fitness needed. Way better than last year, especially on arm strength but my abs just aren't up for a 2 hour workout! Oh, I forgot to mention that yesterday I was trying to figure out why my hip flexors were so sore on the long tacking day. I played with position and tried to use different muscles. I came to the conclusion that either the hiking strap was too tight or my calf muscles are too big. So I loosened the strap a couple of inches and that straightened out my legs considerably and I think the hip flexors won't hurt so much now. I certainly felt my abs and quads more today.

I can't wait to see where I am in the standings - no one won more than one race so it is anybody's guess who's in the lead. I expect to be in the top five.

Big Wind?

2008-02-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

The forecast was for 15-25 knots all day today. Fantastic, but I don't want to wear myself out right before the regatta. I was aiming to get to the club by 11am. I got a little busy in the morning and it became clear that noon was a better goal. On the way to catch the bus I realized that I hadn't been to Munroe's yet and this would be my last chance. So I stopped in for a quick look. I was waylaid by a Japanese guy from the hostel. He was really struggling with English so having a conversation was a time consuming thing. It's too bad really that I didn't have more time. Anyway, I probably talked to him for half an hour. I think I made it to the club just after one with a relaxed, heel dragging sort of attitude. I chatted with a few sailors, then took a while to change. I finally made it on the water after 2. The wind was still decent - full hiking. I'm told I missed white caps this morning. It would have been good to do a few screaming reaches. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to work on in higher wind. Tacking and gybing smoothly and keeping the boat flat.

As it turned out, the wind was steadily dying. I did a few reaches in the best of it and then headed upwind out of the bay. Really just wanting to relax, sail, and see the mountains on the horizon. I played with the controls on the way out to work on boat speed a bit. Hard without another boat as a reference. I was working on being one with the boat. Responding to it more quickly, feeling the speed. Outside the bay, the wind seemed even lighter. I just kept going towards Discovery Islands for a while. I wish I had taken a look at a chart. It might have been nice to land on a beach and explore a bit. I recall from cruising last September that you really do need a chart to land this island without hitting something. I didn't want to take any chances with no coach boat and only one other sailboat out.

As the wind died, I played with boat trim a bit - sitting way back in the cockpit and watching the wake smooth out as I moved forward. I need to remember to sit a bit further forward than I have been in light wind. I worked on gybes a bit as I headed back to the bay hoping for more wind. Then a few more starts - I wish I had some video showing and explaining this. As the wind really dropped off, I headed for the dock. I was still a few hundred meters out when the wind died completely. I drifted on my momentum for a while, then pumped the sail for a while, and finally used the rudder to paddle in past the big rock.

All in all, a great day sailing. I wasted the best wind, but I didn't wear myself out. I really enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine, bonding with my boat.

Perfect Conditions

2008-02-21T23:46:00.003-07:00

Last night I watched the Cockerill Upwind DVD and as a result, planned to work on sheeting for mark roundings, roll tacks, and windward heel. I also wanted to work on starting from stopped to get the steps and timing down. I have to say that the wind was absolutely perfect for practicing all of these things. Not too strong, not too light. I started with the roundings and I think I have sped up my sheeting by grabbing the sheet lower down instead of going hand to hand and then pulling right up. I still need to work on timing of the rounding so that I hit the mark tight as I turn upwind. Also need to work on gybing with the rounding a bit more.

Roll tacks are going better. Playing with windward heel, but still don't have a feel for when it helps and when it slows me down. I had a few decent starts. It helps to actually stand up and step above the leeward toe rail to roll the boat. Still, even with a good roll to leeward, I don't always get power coming up. Is that the rate of righting, the angle to the wind, or the sail trim? In just hiking conditions, it took me 5 seconds to go from stop to full speed. In lighter air it took 10. Next time I should remember my wind indicator.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. The Olympic mountains were visible, but not clear and bright. As I came out of the bay, I could see the snow on the mountains to the east. I love sailing in such a beautiful place.

When I was doing the mark roundings, I was actually too hot in full wetsuit and spray top. I wished that I'd skipped the double toque today. Rain and serious wind forecast for tomorrow.

Heel, starts, and skiffs

2008-02-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

The idea was to get an early start today because most people were leaving in the afternoon. In the end, we only made it on the water half an hour earlier. The first drill was one I haven't done before - heeling on the whistle. Michael had us heeling to windward and leeward, upwind and downwind. The point is that we are all lazy about keeping the boat flat at times and this drill really demonstrated how slow that is. The heel affected the steering which resulted in more rudder which slowed the boat. On the downwind, I was reminded of how much heel helps with a gybe. Heel to windward going into it turns the boat, then flatten for the pump, then heel to windward again to straighten up.

On the gybes, I was steering too violently today, but slowed it down later on. As with tacks, I am better at gybing onto port than onto starboard. I need to work on being symmetrical.

Michael has been yelling at me to be more energized in the boat, like a coiled spring, like an explosion for two days. Maddy also commented at the end of the day that I'm quite static in the boat, not responding as much as the others. Last summer I had a similar comment from Noah, when he pointed out that I should be more aggresive with the boat like Braden. I have at times been more dynamic. I think this is mostly a mood thing. Being cold and feeling cautious about falling in probably results in slower movement in the boat. Come to think of it, I had advice from Peter last year to move more in the boat - fore and aft as well is in and out.

I'm having trouble with static starts. When we line up in irons on the line, I have trouble getting the boat to roll to leeward. Often when I flatten, I don't get a lot of power - mostly because the boat is pointed too high after spending too long trying to roll. It works better if I stand up, but I need to smooth it out and figure out the timing so that I'm not late or early off the start.

Today I was feeling frustrated with the number of people that screwed up the starts by trying to squeeze in where there was no room, or rolling in front of people on the line. I need to watch out for that more and be aggressive about defending my spot. The trouble with practice is that you don't protest as there are no consequences and the kids seem to push the rules as a result. Even in a race it is difficult to enforce the rules at the start because there is so much going on that it is often difficult to know what actually happened. It is difficult to focus on lining up and defending at the same time. I need to refresh my memory on the details of the rules at the start.

In the afternoon I was the only non-skiff sailor so I went in the coach boat and watched the 49er, I14, and 29ers for a while. Same principles as the Laser, with the added fun of a jib and a spinnaker. At the end of the afternoon, I hopped in the 49er with Liam Law. Liam very calmly and patiently showed me the ropes, both as crew and as skipper. It was a fun ride - I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime. I do realize that it wouldn't be as fun in less than ideal wind conditions as capsizing in the skiffs can be quite an event.

Less wind - is it possible?

2008-02-17T00:28:00.002-07:00

This morning the water could be described as polished glass. The good news is that the sun was shining. Still, the decision was to go back to the gym in the morning. Blah. Now all of my muscles are sore. I think I would rather have gone running.

The afternoon was good. Enough wind to hike at times. We started with the sausage drill to improve our mark roundings. I think I got more out of it today. Then tacking and gybing on the whistle. I got stuck in bad air at the beginning and fell behind on the upwind. When we turned downwind, I was sailing well and people didn't catch up so the gap widened. I did a couple of roll tacks with what felt like good timing. I need to work on reproducing that every time. I think it would be easier to learn in warm water! It is amazing how much the fear of falling in screws me up. I managed to keep the boat upright today.

We did a few starts and stops. It is important to heel the boat over while sheeting in and also to head the boat in the right direction while leveling. After that we did a long tack out towards Trial Island. Some interesting currents on the way there. A few sailors actually hit rocks. The only damage was Robin's centreboard. He hit a rock hard and the top of the board split off.

To Sail or Not to Sail

2008-02-16T00:08:00.002-07:00

Cadboro Bay was so glassy this morning that the reflections of the houses on the far shore could be seen in the water. And then it started to rain. With no sign of wind coming, the decision was made to send us to the gym.

I'm still not a big fan of gyms. The idea of trudging along on a machine when you could be outside exploring is not at all inspiring. I'm also not a believer that an intense weight workout is a good idea in the midst of an intense camp. I was mildly sore from yesterday and thought a little recovery time would be a good idea. The forecast was for 10 knots in the afternoon, so I wanted to save a bit for that. Maybe that's not intense enough. I'm still chicken about falling in and want all the energy I can get to prevent that. To keep the intensity up without wearing us out, I wish the coaches would do more instruction on race tactics and strategy. I know boat handling is the priority and without that we can't win a race. I think it would be helpful to learn tactics and strategy at the same time, in depth.

I'm also thinking that next winter, if I want to sail, I should go somewhere warmer. Then I won't be afraid of falling in, my toes won't get cold, and I might be able to convince some friends to come along.

In the afternoon the wind picked up and we sailed long enough to complete one drill - sausage drill - before the wind died completely. The drill was about mark rounding, but the course was a reach both ways. I would have preferred to work on a windward/leeward course. I did not do well at rounding close to the mark. I did fairly well at easing the sheet before rounding and keeping speed through the turns.

A New Season Begins - With Light Winds

2008-02-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Victoria for another training camp. Winds <15 km/hr, cloudy and 7 degrees. I'm warm enough on the water except for my toes.

I worked on roll tacking a lot today. Michael pointed out that I'm better at tacking onto port tack than onto Starboard. It has to do with how I'm balancing and anchoring my weight in the boat when I roll. Steve recommended tucking my toes under the toe rail and using the hiking strap as I throw my shoulders out. I've been a bit chicken about doing this because I'm afraid I won't get back in and under the boom fast enough. I was the first one to fall in today as a result of trying. It also highlights the need for new booties. I was planning to look for some here anyway. The neoprene socks/ water shoes combination isn't working for warmth or grip under the toe rail. Hopefully I can get to Bosun's before close Friday night or check out the selection at MEC.

We also worked at stopping and starting a lot today. News to me was that you should have the sail set when starting to maximize the power from the roll. With the vang off, some of the power spills off the leach.

We sailed in the bay for a couple hours in the morning. In the afternoon, the coaches towed us out to find wind. Lesson learned - it isn't good to be too close behind the tow boat. Water funnelled up through the centreboard slot and swamped the cockpit faster than the bailer could drain. Not a big problem except for the fact that the water is COLD. That was a big reason for my frozen toes in the afternoon. We sailed almost to Trial Island and then back to somewhere off Willows and were towed back in from there.

Arrgh! Beaten by the Commodore!

2007-07-28T19:39:00.000-06:00

We are talking about seriously light winds here folks. In the first race, I fell behind on the first upwind leg. Staying ahead of Cameron only because he bumped my boat and had to do a penalty turn. He had been blanketing me and hindering my attempt to catch up with Kevin. I roared past Kevin on the downwind leg by paying attention to the shifts and being very still in my boat. On the last leg, from #2 to the finish line, it got interesting with random puffs that found some sailors and not others. Kevin gained back some ground as I gybed in vain, trying to keep up with the shifts. So it was neck in neck to the finish line. I had the inside position and made sure I headed Kevin up. He didn't take evasive action early and was pushed outside so I made it over the line a few boat lengths ahead. I don't recall exactly where the boats were at the two boat length circle, but I should remember that at the finish, a boat can ask for buoy room. In this case, it wasn't asked for and I think it was because Kevin was too far upwind for it to matter.

In the second race, the barge end was highly favoured at the start (the line was parallel to the wind direction). I got there a little too early, slowed down, and then couldn't get the boat going again for the start. It was a short race to #1 and back so there was no opportunity to make up for lost time.

In the third race, Kevin and I were neck in neck most of the way. He beat me to the upwind mark as he had the windward position for that leg. I passed him on the downwind and was headed to a win by several boat lengths at the finish. I looked back and saw Kevin heading up to windward instead of directly to the line. I knew he was going there because that was where the wind puffs seemed to begin. I thought about heading up also, but decided the extra distance might not be worth it if a puff didn't materialize. Wrong, wrong, wrong. A strong puff came in, hit Kevin first and by the time it reached me, we were crossing the line with Kevin inches ahead. Ouch.

Today was mostly about tactics and strategy. There was also a fair bit of luck involved for all of us. Finally, it seems that Kevin has a bit of an edge in upwind boat speed in the light air. I need to work on that.

Glenmore Sailing Club
Regattas 2007
Mid-Summer - Laser Radial
Back to Regatta

Laser Radial Fleet Summary (no drops)
Points Place Boat
4 1 98117 Kevin Brown
5 2 184626 Kate Easton
10 3 157871 Cameron Bellavie

Race #1 Wind: 0 knots
Ordinal Points Boat
1 1 184626 Kate Easton
2 2 98117 Kevin Brown
DNF 4 157871 Cameron Bellavie

Race #2 Wind: 0 knots
Ordinal Points Boat
1 1 98117 Kevin Brown
2 2 184626 Kate Easton
DNS 3 157871 Cameron Bellavie

Race #3 Wind: 0 knots
Ordinal Points Boat
1 1 98117 Kevin Brown
2 2 184626 Kate Easton
DNS 3 157871 Cameron Bellavie


Laser Radial Fleet Summary (no drops)
	Points	Place	Boat
	4	1	98117 Kevin Brown
	5	2	184626 Kate Easton
	10	3	157871 Cameron Bellavie

Race #1 Wind: 0 knots
	Ordinal	Points	Boat
	1	1	184626 Kate Easton
	2	2	98117 Kevin Brown
	DNF	4	157871 Cameron Bellavie

Race #2 Wind: 0 knots
	Ordinal	Points	Boat
	1	1	98117 Kevin Brown
	2	2	184626 Kate Easton
	DNS	3	157871 Cameron Bellavie

Race #3 Wind: 0 knots
	Ordinal	Points	Boat
	1	1	98117 Kevin Brown
	2	2	184626 Kate Easton
	DNS	3	157871 Cameron Bellavie

*Dropped from Regatta.
s Dropped from Series.
abc Dropped from A,B,or C scoring group.

I am not the Wabajinx!

2007-07-26T12:52:00.001-06:00

Bill Plaxton and I arrived on Thursday night hoping to catch some coaching with Lawrence Lemieux on Friday. The birds woke us at 5am Friday to announce that there was no wind. Lawrence didn't come. Peter hosted a great discussion on what the others had learned from Lawrence on Wednesday and Thursday. Shooting the mark, sailing in waves, and luffing rights were amongst the points discussed.

As I was complaining about the lack of wind EVERY time I come to Wabamun, James Brown pointed out that maybe I'm the jinx. Thankfully, the wind picked up in the afternoon, proving that I am not the jinx. We got in a good training sessionwith Mark Bugiak, paused for dinner and trained some more with Zach Grove. Saturday had me wondering again if I was the jinx. Enough wind for a race and a bit in the morning (course shortened on Race 2). The afternoon was spent reading at the clubhouse. After a wonderful and filling steak dinner, the wind picked up and a bunch of us dragged our full bellies out on the water. On Sunday, I would have abandoned had I been race committee. I think others thought the same, as most of us were late to the start line for Race 3.

Wabamun Sailing Club 2007 Sailweek Regatta
Results are final as of 20:31 on July 23, 2007
OverallRace 1
Wind strength: Force 2-3
Race 2
Wind strength:0-1
Race 3
Wind Strength: 0-1
Race 4
Wind Strength: 0-1

Wabamun

2007-06-03T22:31:00.000-06:00

My first time sailing on Wabamun was supposed to be Saturday. A few drifts of wind brought our hopes up early Saturday morning; however, they had disappeared completely by 10am, the official start time. Red and White stripes up all day. I was informed that Wabamun translates to "looking glass". Why didn't someone tell me this before we drove up? Wabamun was certainly living up to its name. Baking hot all day with glassy water. Of course, a tantalizing breeze came up just as we began to eat lunch and disappeared just as we finished lunch.

Day 2: Up awfully early in hope of catching the morning thermals. The thermals slept in. Shortly after 9am, they began to drift in and we drifted out onto the lake. We all had one race, with the Radials and Bytes the last to start. The wind lasted long enough for us to do the first sausage of the course and then it died. As we drifted towards the reach mark, a boat appeared flying our class flags and the white flag with blue square: shortened course. I finished 9th, inches behind the 8th place boat and perhaps a boat length behind 7th place. I had a very good start. I was out in front and pulling ahead. The trick was that I couldn't tack And then I didn't tack. It seems the others found a slightly more favourable drift of wind. I need to work on the reach. I think with a few small adjustments, I could have caught at least one boat.

2007 Wabamun Sailing Club Open

Laser Radial                        
    Sail no  skipper                  1     Total

  1 182382   Sarah Hornett            1       1.0
  2 1        Melanie Grell            2       2.0
  3 185505   Robin Stubbs             3       3.0
  4 187867   Elisha Allen             4       4.0
  5 188901   Alexa Kenny              5       5.0
  6 178562   Zoe Lewis                6       6.0
  7 189805   Liam Quinlan             7       7.0
  8 187302   Dominque Grell           8       8.0
  9 184626   Kate Easton              9       9.0

More Mistakes

2007-05-30T23:29:00.000-06:00

Wednesday night at Glenmore:
Peter, Kate, Lizzie, Nick and Sean in Radials

Race 1 : (315) not a great start - mid line, not at highly favoured barge end. Was neck in neck with Lizzie for a bit, but pulled ahead on the reach from 1 to 5. Didn't catch Peter.

Race 2 (315) Over early. Would have been a great start! I ducked the line and then worked really hard to catch people. Caught the boys easily, worked at it and caught Lizzie later. Was gaining on Peter in the last upwind by working hard at adjusting to changes in wind strength and paying attention to my ticklers.

Race 3 (3636) start/finish line an obstruction. Great start. Was kicking butt on the upwind. Pulling ahead of Peter inch by inch. I was close to Bill too. Near the windward mark I tacked. My lifejacket got caught on the boom and I got dumped! Crap! Not only was it freezing but 4 or 5 boats passed me. I got him back up and moving pretty quickly. I then spent the rest of the race trying to catch everyone that passed me when I fell in. I caught Terry (full rig) and Lizzie but I didn't catch Peter. So disappointing! I wanted to see if I could hold or build that lead on the downwind. It is possible to beat him, but I have to have a perfect race. Perfect start, smooth roundings, top boat speed.

Race 4 (6s1s6p) a downwind start. Nasty mark roundings. dinged in the head by Peter's boom. Was ahead of everyone except Seamus and Elliot, then took the last rounding too wide because of a wind shift. Peter got round tight and pulled ahead. Terry came round and prevented me from tacking. This slowed me down and threw me a bit. It took me a little to realize I hadn't put the vang on or gone block to block. In the end, pulled ahead of Terry, Bill got me by a boat length because I had to duck him just before the finish. Peter beat me no problem.

Second radial in every race. I can beat Peter, I just need to visualize the perfect race and sail it.

Outta Control on a Death Roll

2007-05-28T22:36:00.000-06:00

Finally some decent wind! I put work higher on my priority list than sailing today and was an hour late for practice. I should try not to do that again. Somebody needs to set an example for the team. I should show them how to rig faster too.

It was gusty tonight, but not too shifty. We tacked on the whistle for quite some time- Cameron, Dan, and I. I was gaining on them, especially Cameron. Kelsey said that it was because I was tacking smoothly. Dan certainly had me beat on boat speed. I was overpowered and he was wishing he had a full rig. What I need to work on here is remembering to sheet out a little to flatten the boat quickly. Also, when sheeting back in, I tend to want to reach into the boat to grab the sheet. This way I get a good pull in a position where my arms are strong. It is a very bad habit because the boat heels again when I reach in. Not fast. I must work on the overhead pull, maybe in lighter winds to gain strength first.

What goes up must come down.The wind seemed to pick up further for the downwind with some outrageous gusts. This time gybing on the whistle, which, to be honest, scared me. I did the first few successfully. I remembered to do an S turn and steer as the sail comes across. Then on one gybe things got violent. The mainsheet slipped out of my hand. The sheet was tied to the hiking strap but it was too long and the sail went in front of the mast. Fionnlagh rocked wildly, gunwale to gunwale, pitching forward. Death roll. I managed to grab the mainsheet between the cockpit block and the turning block on the boom. I hauled it in and Fionnlagh stopped the Death Roll. I was still wildly out of control. Dan was in front of me Somehow, he came out of his gybe on a reach, and was at about 90 degrees to me. Fionnlagh was surfing straight for Dan. I was trying to regain control but this all happened in a few seconds. After grabbing the mainsheet, the first thing I saw was the port side of Dan's transom and little hope of avoiding a nasty collision. But Fionnlagh came through for me, with his bow leaping into the air, over Dan's rudder. Yes, OVER the rudder. The timing was absolutely perfect. Dan's boat sailed out of the way just in time and his rudder never made contact with Fionnlagh's hull. "Oh my God!" Kelsey was freaking out in the coach boat about how close that was. I had other things to worry about.

You'd think I would learn. A few gybes later, I dropped the mainsheet again. Lucky for Dan he was aft this time. The nearest object was the barge. Wild rolling. At least I was well positioned in the cockpit with inside leg hooked under the hiking strap and outside leg forward with knee bent, facing the boom. Which by this point was waving all over the place. I grabbed the mainsheet and pulled. Wow. No capsize. GUST! Rock and roll. We are surfing! It felt highly unstable. Pull on the rudder. I didn't feel too comfortable heeling to windward to reduce the pull, but it didn't take much. It was very hard to hold. Fionnlagh tended to heel even farther in the gusts, carving through the water. We carried on like this and ran into the bay. I'm not sure I've ever gone that fast on a run. I probably did in Vic, but this felt much wilder.

Kelsey reminded me at the dock that I should take two big pulls going into the gybe and that might smooth things out a bit.

Icebreaker Results

2007-05-27T22:28:00.000-06:00

Preliminary Regatta Results for Fleet = Laser Radial

Sailed:7, Discards:1, To count:6, Ratings:USPN 96.7, Entries:14, Scoring system:IceBreaker Sailing Instructions

Rank	SailNo	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total	Nett
1st	189805	Quinlam, Liam	1.0	2.0	1.0	(9.0)	1.0	2.0	5.0	21.0	12.0
2nd	187302	Grell, Dominiue	2.0	7.0	3.0	6.0	3.0	3.0	(12.0)	36.0	24.0
3rd	185505	Stubbs, Robin	6.0	1.0	5.0	(7.0)	5.0	6.0	4.0	34.0	27.0
4th	184536	Harrison, Luke	9.0	3.0	6.0	1.0	(11.0)	9.0	1.0	40.0	29.0
5th	182363	Weldon, Mike	8.0	6.0	(DNC)	3.0	9.0	1.0	2.0	44.0	29.0
6th	187867	Allen, Elisha	7.0	(8.0)	4.0	8.0	2.0	5.0	8.0	42.0	34.0
7th	1	Grell, Melanie	5.0	10.0	8.0	2.0	7.0	(12.0)	7.0	51.0	39.0
8th	43587	Reichenfeld, Lesley	4.0	9.0	(DNC)	5.0	8.0	7.0	6.0	54.0	39.0
9th	184626	Easton, Kate	3.0	4.0	10.0	4.0	(13.0)	10.0	10.0	54.0	41.0
10th	185531	Saunders, Michael	10.0	5.0	2.0	(12.0)	12.0	8.0	9.0	58.0	46.0
11th	182382	Hornett Sarah	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	10.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	66.0	51.0
12th	178562	Lewis, Zoe	12.0	(15.0 DNF)	7.0	13.0	6.0	13.0	11.0	77.0	62.0
13th	18	Kenny, Alexa	11.0	11.0	11.0	11.0	10.0	11.0	(13.0)	78.0	65.0
14th	177419	Neely, Iain	13.0	12.0	9.0	(14.0)	14.0	14.0	14.0	90.0	76.0

Sail into the sunset

2007-05-22T22:34:00.000-06:00

Light winds. Practiced roll tacks. Must remember to hold mainsheet at chest level and release slightly when leveling. Rolling was good. Kinda fun to throw my shoulders back and watch for the main sail to start falling. Practiced gybes. I'm terrible at gybing in these really light winds. I need tips.

Head to head with Peter

2007-05-19T17:25:00.000-06:00

Get your head in the game. Roll tacks were terrible this morning. I wasn't focussed. I got into it later in the morning as Peter and I sailed up the lake and back to do some speed work.
Keep the blocks in the corner - Peter gained speed in the light winds because his sail was at a better angle. He made sure the blocks were in the corner. As I eased the mainsheet a little to power up, the blocks moved in a couple inches on the traveller. I need to push them back out. Consider a low profile tiller - allows the traveller to be tighter.

2007-05-16T23:22:00.000-06:00

Light, light winds tonight. Late for the start by at least 6 minutes. (52 Port) Passed 2 Bytes (Chris and Elliot). Was catching up to Liz and Kevin, but didn't quite make it. Finished the first race 1 minute behind Liz (4th Radial?).

(4141 Port) Second Race - got a really good start. I sat just behind the line with about 30 seconds to go. At 10 seconds I sheeted in, rolling to leeward and then flattening. The roll could use some work. After we crossed the start, Bill tacked in under me and didn't leave me room to keep clear. I ended up ducking him. I passed on a protest. For the first little while on the upwind, Peter was gradually pulling away. I was neck in neck with Kevin and Lizzie. I pulled ahead before the first mark (#4). I held the lead and built on it on the second trip to mark #1. In the end it was Peter, me, Kevin, Lizzie.

What was the key? Paying attention to the slightest changes in wind. The wind indicator was handy for picking up some serious changes in wind direction. With such light winds, the vane was the only way to tell. Staying still and moving gracefully in the boat (think ballet, may I have this dance, Fionnlagh?). Steering by heeling. Tacking slowly, rolling properly. I did lose some ground on the first leg of the second race because the lifejacket was catching on the mainsheet again. In the lightest air, keeping the sail trim, not baggy. Not pinching on the upwinds. Watching the wind patterns on the lake and using them to decide where to tack. Trying to stay free of the cover of San Juans.

First Wednesday night for the GSC Radial Fleet

2007-05-09T22:57:00.000-06:00

I've been getting psyched up for tonight since Monday when I found out who the competition is this year. Lizzie is back but still getting warmed up as this is only her second night on the water this year. New guy Sean is to be watched but no threat at the moment. The big challenge is that ASA Head Coach Peter has moved over from the Fireball fleet into a Radial. Before I knew he was doing this, my goal was to win Wednesday nights. That is still the goal but it will be even more challenging now. Unless Kelsey is right and Peter's "old man moves" hold him back.

First race is 214214. I got off to a great start, neck in neck with Dave and ahead of Bill. Port end was favoured and I crossed on starboard and then tacked onto port. Peter was matching speed with me but seemed to be headed for Mark #3. Maybe he was playing with the idea of not tacking on headers to see where he ended up. Lizze was late crossing. I found out later that Sean capsized a few times after launching and was to cold to continue. Hopefully we'll see him next week.

The first leg was awesome. I was staying ahead of Bill for quite some time (a feat, considering he has a full rig). Dave and Bill both pulled ahead of me at the first mark. I was well ahead of Peter and Lizzie at this point. On the downwind they made up some ground but didn't catch me. I had a good gybe round #1 and then realized that it might have been better not to gybe and sail by the lee instead. Bill was sailing by the lee and Dave was not. It didn't make much difference in their speed. Around #4 I wasn't as quick sheeting in as I should have been. Still as I began the upwind and Peter approached the mark, I had to say "hurry up, Peter!". And hurry up he did.

In the end, Peter beat me in both races. I'd like to say I was a close second, but I was several boat lengths behind. Generally racing better than last year. I lost it tonight blowing tacks in the higher winds. I didn't handle the variable wind strength very well. In the lighter puffs I wasn't quite rolling enough on the tacks. In the heavier gusts I wasn't getting the boat flat fast enough. Several times I was tipped over enough that water was starting to enter the cockpit. Not fast. I need to work on the mental game. I know how to tack in both conditions, but I get messed up when it's variable. Plus with the water being as cold as it is, I'm still a little chicken on the roll tacks.

Little Bow Reservoir - S.A.L.S.A. camp

2007-04-21T22:46:00.000-06:00

Sunglasses were mandatory for this trip. The glare from endless fields of snow on the way out there was blinding. From the causeway, Glenmore looked frozen solid and covered in snow. The weaselhead was opening up so hopefully it will clear by May 1. I drove past Chestermere to pick up Simon on the way out. Chestermere is liquid but the water level looks low. The drive was about 2.5 hours, including the stop at Chestermere. Very good roads, except the last 1.5 km was muddy and slick.

If you look at the horizon in the pictures, you will see a white line- snow covered hills. The morning was chilly with a decent breeze. I was apprehensive. A new lake, cold weather, shifty winds. Even though this was my 14th day on the water in 2007, it felt like the first. RVYC has become a place that I am comfortable sailing and the prairie winds feel different.

Pirates!

2007-04-08T21:42:00.000-06:00

This morning we reached back and forth around two marks to practice roundings. It was a pretty busy course and as a result, I often turned in a bit of a panic to avoid other boats. The winds were super light so avoiding other boats with grace took serious advance planning. Other boats aren't very predictable either. Things I forgot to do:
- turn slowly
- full roll tacks and gybes
- gybe with sail about halfway out for best lift when rolling.
- steer with the body, not the rudder

The second drill was the paper clip drill. Three marks - two upwind, one downwind. Similar practice on mark rounding with extra challenge on the downwind mark as boats entered from two directions.

After a quick lunch we were back out again but the wind was dying. I practiced roll tacks on the way out. Remember to face forward. Turn the tiller hand to grab the rail and the tiller to pull the boat over. It is very hard to level slowly when there is no wind.

When the wind died completely, we played with the boats. Get the stern out of the water, get the bow out of the water, climb the mast, do a 360 race (capsize, turtle, right on the other side), get centreboard out of the water without getting wet. Some of the guys were able to tack the boat standing on the boom at the mast. I should have tried the lamba dance. This is done for more wind. A head stand in front of the mast, facing forward. After this, chaos reigned. Pirates were capsizing boats. People screamed when they saw them coming and again as they fell into the cold water. They tried to sink a laser by having a lot of people sit on the turtled hull. It stayed afloat, but just. Then the crowd boarded a byte with enough weight to sink it to the gunwales. Some of the pirates had the sense to capsize their boats before going after others. Some didn't and their boats sailed slowly around as if ghosts were driving. I herded a few to keep them from heading to the rocks.

The story was that wind was coming. 25 knots in Haro Straight. It was taking a long time coming. At 2:30 we headed in. I was drifting along fishtailing my rudder for propulsion when a 29er came up behind me. The boys were planning to flip me. I got onto the bow and started paddling with my arms. Off like a rocket! The 29er boys gave up. I paddled all the way back to dock. The water is freezing cold. I don't know how the kids played in it for so long.

Fingers crossed for more wind tomorrow.

Blah, blah, blah

2007-04-07T22:31:00.000-06:00

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain. Last time there was wind. Lots of it. Today the water was like glass or, for those on the inside, like Chestermere. Rig but don't change was the call. Be ready if the wind comes, but don't get itchy sitting around in your gear.

We gathered in the sail hanging area. Peter talked about a few things. Brady's experience being rammed at CORK. What to do when on port tack and unsure if you can pass in front of a boat on starboard tack?
1. Cross - Are you feeling lucky? Risk a protest. Most boats won't ram you. It is quicker for them to duck and protest. If it is really close, you might be able to squeak out an extra couple inches by turning around the bow of the starboard tack boat.
2. Duck- This must be decided early - 5 boat lengths away. Ducking will lose you 2 boat lengths. If done right, you can cut that down to 1.5. The idea is to duck early enough so that when you cross the transom of the starboard tack boat you are close hauled and can get a lift from him.
3. Tack - if you lee bow him, this can be an advantage. Also, by sailing up a bit, you can force him to tack away.

Race preparation was also discussed. The usual stuff- eating well, sleeping well, checking your gear, boat, and rig. An interesting discussion on getting in the right frame of mind. Different people have different strategies. Some have music, some talk to others, some keep to themselves. What works for me?

At new lakes I always talk to people. That is mostly to allay fears of Loch Ness Monster type creatures that may reside in the lake. At Glenmore on Wednesday nights, I get there at the last minute, change and rig as quickly as possible. Rigging fast does seem to get me focussed. It helps me to feel confident in high winds to know that I have checked my rig carefully.

I listen to music in the car on the way there. I would like to make a few CDs for this. Geoff recommends slow music like Imagine for light winds, Bob Marley for medium, and Boston for high. Not bad, but I think I'll make my own selections. John Johnson was helping at the last camp, but only certain songs. The key is not to get over hyped and unfocussed. While hiking, I like to sing "Walking that fine line, between the wind and the sea, smoke and the steel, you and me" (Tom Cochrane and Red Rider).

The younger kids were getting wrangy. Lunch time. Excellent soup as usual and an interesting chicken/ avocado wrap. A breath of wind was imagined at the mouth of the bay. Coach Nigel went out in the coach boat to check. He reported back that the water was glassy as far as the eye could see. The other coaches went through the options:
1. Send everyone out and hope that enough wind appeared
2. Go to the museum (the only thing worse than having 20 kids running around the sailing club grounds is...)
3. Go swimming (many are unprepared for this as we aren't talking skinny dipping)
4. Go running (we just ate)

We had no choice. They sent everyone to the change room with instructions to be on the water in 15 minutes. This was a bad idea. The women's change room is grossly undersized and sadly much smaller than the mens. I was the third one through the door and the first one back out changed. It was chaos in there. Neoprene everywhere.

Three Laser guys were on the water when I launched. There was enough wind to drift out of the harbour between the rock and the boats. Fortunately it was a SW wind so no tight tacks required.

There was a lot of slow sailing. Tips:
Remember to sit forward- on the centerboard
Sailing upwind, heel slightly to leeward to allow the sail to drop and stay in position.
Upwind- flatten the sail out in severly light winds to allow the boat to get moving- block to block, snug vang, loosen main about a foot out from corner of transom. Outhaul tight. Cunningham- well now, that's top secret :)

We played around in circles for a while on a triangle course. Great practice for mark roundings. The course was tiny and there were a lot of boats. Getting on the inside definitely pays, but it isn't easy. After sending us out further upwind to work on speed, we were towed back in. The miniscule bit of wind that had propelled us for over an hour was gone.

Good Friday

2007-04-06T22:36:00.000-06:00

Sunshine and wind this morning! Talk of 25 knots but I don't want to believe it. I'm rigged and ready to go at 9:35. The others are not. The 9 am briefing was at 10am. Then on the water by 10:15. We're not to come in for lunch until 1:30. The wind is stronger than yesterday but from the same direction with similar shifts and gusts.

Peter focussed on tacking at the briefing. Back foot over hiking strap. Take the mainsheet to the chest. Turn the rudder slowly. Face forward. Duck. Bring the mainsheet to the block (easing it). Tiller hand to the gunwale. Get across and level the boat. Switch hands on the main and tiller. Sheet in. I worked on this.

The first drill was windward/ leeward tacking and gybing. Must remember to loosen cunningham on the downwind legs. Remember position in boat. Outside foot at the front of the cockpit, knee bent. Inside foot tucked back under the hiking strap. Kinda like being in the blocks on a track. Ready to move forward, backwards, side to side. Shoulders square with the boom.

Then we did this crazy drill with 3 marks. It's like windward/ leeward except that you have to 360 every mark. Deadlier than death circles. Especially at the middle mark - boats entering from two directions.

Today I was hit a lot. Bang! Wham! Bump! The coaches saw enough hits that they were asking if there was anyone who hadn't hit me. Brady, Scott, Geoff, and a few others. The coaches also said the hits they saw were not my fault. True as it is, it reveals a few things. Some of the worst hits I didn't see coming. Like when Scott rammed me port side aft. It's not much consolation that it was his fault. His mainsheet got caught on my boat, turned his boat, and then mine capsized. I climbed over the top, but not quick enough. Fionnlagh turtled. I got wet righting him. The moral of the story is: keep my head out of the boat. If I'd seen him coming I could have yelled "Starboard" and hopefully avoided the whole situation. I didn't see Brady coming either but there were a lot of boats going into a mark rounding and I'd just come out of a tack to starboard. On a happier note, the hits also reveal that I'm not straggling behind the group anymore, that I'm stepping into the fray.

Easter Camp at Royal Vic

2007-04-05T22:16:00.000-06:00

I am seriously travel weary when I get here. Nine flights in two weeks. This is city number 7. The airport was a mess this morning in Calgary. Long weekend travelers. Line-ups at the Park & Jet, huge line at baggage drop, and an enormous line at security. 10 minutes until my flight boards and there is a 40 minute line at security. I march past hundreds of people in search of a place near the front to butt in. There is a young woman traveling alone. No problem. Except for the problem of why she was a good choice. But this is a sailing blog. Not much sleep last night. Maybe 4 hours.

It was a beautiful day for sailing. It was cool in the morning, but probably 5 degrees warmer than the February mornings. I have a new Rooster main to try out. Although it seems quite similar to the original main, I like it better because it is tricolour (blue with red and yellow). The old one was evil red and black. I also have new paddling gloves from MEC. I'm hoping both that they will be warmer and that I will be able to grab lines off the deck with ease.

The wind is coming from the NE. Zoe has a difficult time tacking out of the harbour between the Big Rock and the boats. I'm nervous about it too, but out I go. No problem, just a lot of quick tacks and no room for mistakes. Plus you have to be willing to sail awfully close to the rock.

We started with windward/ leeward work. What did I learn?
- when rounding the windward mark, heel the boat to windward to help with the turn.
- play with the vang on the downwind leg. It's not set right until the leach is flipping slightly when by the lee.

We also practiced starting and stopping.
- to stop quickly: head up and then back the sail briefly. Ensure the vang is loosened before doing this.
- starting- the roll is critical

The wind was just right today. Not too heavy, but enough to be hiking some of the time. I felt like I got the start right once. Sheet in, allowing the boat to heel to leeward. Then flatten to accelerate, sheet in fully and tighten the vang.

After lunch we had a few short races. I was sailing well. I had one really good start. I dodged down the line after the port tackers took my spot and came into a hole with enough speed that I got clear air.

I'm so exhausted that I'm sure I've forgotten many important parts of the day. Finished up with drinks at the clubhouse followed by a late dinner at the Carriage House with some of the coaches. Must sleep.

Frozen Assets Part 2

2007-02-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Radial Fleet

Sailed:6, Discards:1, To count:5, Ratings:USPN, Entries:6, Scoring system:My scoring system
Rank	Fleet	SailNo	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	Radial	182725	Karl Jenson	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	(2.0)	7.0	5.0
2nd	Radial	178861	Robert Berry	3.0	2.0	(8.0 DNC)	2.0	2.0	1.0	18.0	10.0
3rd	Radial	129277	Charlie Simpson	2.0	(7.0 DNS)	2.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	21.0	14.0
4th	Radial	184626	Kate Easton	(7.0 DNF)	7.0 DNS	3.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	28.0	21.0
5th	Radial	185559	Max Brown	(8.0 DNC)	8.0 DNC	4.0	5.0	6.0	6.0	37.0	29.0
6th	Radial	112284	Amanda Hind	(8.0 DNC)	8.0 DNC	8.0 DNC	6.0	5.0	5.0	40.0	32.0

The chart below shows wind speed and direction with the times I was sailing highlighted in red. This is measured at Discovery Island which is between Cadboro Bay and the Straight. Wind conditions in the bay may have been slightly different. RVYC had a wind measurement at the outer edge of the harbour. I can confirm that it registered winds up to 36 knots on Saturday so the bay conditions weren't much different! Interesting to note that the CYA Gold VII (the highest level in the Learn to Sail standard) requires sailing in winds up to 23 knots. I guess everything else is optional! I've only achieved Bronze IV which requires sailing in winds up to 14 knots. Note the charts are easier to see if you double click them. The second chart is temperature. Over my time in Victoria the temperature ranged from 4 to 13 C. No wonder I couln't feel my feet half the time!

WOW - Frozen Assets Regatta Day 1

2007-02-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

Forecast: Gale Warning Continued

For all you non-nautical types a gale means wind speeds over 34 knots (>60 km/hr). My mom gets nervous going out in a keelboat in a small craft warning (>25 knots). Not that I wasn't terrified at the thought of going out in 30+ knots in an itsy, bitsy, very tipsy Laser Radial (sorry Fionn, I do love you).

Skipper's meeting at 11:45am with the first race scheduled to start at 1pm. This meant being on the water by 12:30 at the latest. Between 9 and 10am, I was driving along the coast- Dallas Road, Beach Drive. The idea was to take a good look at the weather coming across the straight. The result was that I watched very big waves crashing violently on the shore, on lighthouses, on islands, and rocks. I also saw 5 windsurfers at Willows screaming along (and falling in). Strangely, this increased my excitement and only made me a little more scared. Maybe I did lose my mind some time back...

Anyway, at the skipper's meeting they said they would put the AP flag up. This meant a half hour postponement. Tricky. All of the kids got their gear on anyway, most of the grownups didn't. I was debating but decided to hold off. I wasn't going to be the first one out there anyway! It takes about half an hour to dress, finish rigging and get on the water. They were waiting until the winds were sustained below 25 knots.

We watched Volvo racing videos on YouTube. Then I went and hung with the coaches for a bit and caught up on the should we or shouldn't we go out discussion. Race committee said if it hadn't calmed down by 2pm, they would call it off for the day. Coaches and kids migrated to the junior room. We chattered about boats and partners for doublehanded sailing and Olympic campaigns. At 1:50pm Geoff and Phil were getting restless and wanted to go out. Coach Steve was saying that if they called the race off, we would go out anyway for the practice. Steve then went to see if they had called it yet.

Steve reached the race committee member just as he was walking to the flag pole to raise the A flag to postpone all races until Sunday. The flag was not raised. In fact the AP flag was lowered and the horn blown. We had 45 minutes until the first race. Thanks, Steve!?

Rumor was that most grownups were staying in the bar. Laser sailors are a little looney and it seemed most were going out. Charlie had said he wouldn't. I was missing the GSC AGM and banquet. No sense in being here if I didn't try. Earlier they had said there would be 3 coach boats out. Now they are calling them crash boats. They are willing to have us try and fail. Full gear, just like the Frostbite. Windstopper gloves- although thinner than the sticky work gloves, they are actually warmer when wet. They aren't as warm as my crazy green claws, but the claws are terrible for grabbing lines.

I watched Drew get off the dock to increase my confidence that I could do it without getting blown into the massive rock in the harbour. Here's a photo of the rock (taken on beautiful Friday, not near gale Saturday):

Should I tape the kiss clips on the mainsheet blocks, or would I need to be able to unclip in a hurry? I checked and the three remaining Lasers on the dock had done so. I taped too. I talked to Fionnlagh and then realized I was getting funny looks from Louise. The hardest part is getting in and out of the dock I told her. Then I launched Fionnlagh, put the centreboard in and walked him to the corner of the dock. Brian Berry was coming back in in his full rig. It's too much for me he said. He'd only been out a few minutes. Hmmm... I was in his way so I pushed off and safely made it out of the harbour.

Everyone was reaching slowly back and forth behind the start line, sails flapping violently in the wind. The L flag was up and I couldn't remember what that meant. I reached back and forth as well. The trick was turning around at each end. I had to sheet in and pick up some speed. Even then, as I tacked Fionnlagh often stalled in the wind and the waves and I was stuck drifting backwards in irons. Once, I drifted back towards the committee boat. Ahgg! I grabbed the anchor line to try to avoid hitting the boat and to stop my bow from going between the anchor line and the committee boat. That would have been disastrous. The wind would attempt to capsize me onto the committee boat. My sail would have been shredded trying to sort that out. Somehow I managed to stay out of that trap and my hold on the anchor line provided a pivot to turn my boat so that I could sail off. My stern did bump the committee boat bow before I made it but things could have been much worse.

Boats were capsizing all over the place, especially Fireballs. After what seemed an eternity, they started the full rigs. They may have started the Fireballs first, but I'm not sure what happened to that race. Several of the Fireballs were capsized when the 1 minute horn blew. Radials and Bytes countdown started after the Laser start.
More to tell later.. out of time.

Later... I didn't get off to a great start, but it wasn't too bad. I was managing to tack without going into irons, for the most part. Keeping Fionnlagh level was the tricky bit. Also, I've never sailed upwind in waves like this before. The waves got bigger
I finished 4th of 6 boats today. Only 2 races were held. Forecast- might drop below 25 knots tomorrow.

Day 1 results (other fleets at http://www.rvyc.bc.ca/results/1172618153.htm). Note that DNC means that the boat didn't show up to the starting area. Was it worth my while going out today? Well, I saved 2 points by doing so and the sailing experience - priceless. The bar has been raised, the fear zone is smaller.

Radial Fleet

Sailed:2, Discards:0, To count:2, Entries:6, Scoring system:My scoring system
Rank	Fleet	SailNo	Helm	R1	R2	Total	Nett
1st	Radial	182725	Karl Jenson	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0
2nd	Radial	178861	Robert Berry	3.0	2.0	5.0	5.0
3rd	Radial	129277	Charlie Simpson	2.0	7.0 DNS	9.0	9.0
4th	Radial	184626	Kate Easton	7.0 DNF	7.0 DNS	14.0	14.0
5th	Radial	112284	Amanda Hind	8.0 DNC	8.0 DNC	16.0	16.0
5th	Radial	185559	Max Brown	8.0 DNC	8.0 DNC	16.0	16.0

After the fact, I find Steve Cockerill's tips on Extreme Weather Sailing. His comments do confirm that it is possible to be too light to right the boat. He doesn't mention the effect of large waves along with big wind, which I think really complicates the idea of turning the boat in the water to do a San Francisco roll.
Rooster Sailing: Extreme Weather Sailing

I ain't afraid of no Cadborosaurus!

2007-02-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

It's Friday and the regatta starts tomorrow. The day began with warm sunshine, puffy clouds and light winds. I checked out of Miraloma at 11, picked up the rental car and drove down to Cadboro Bay for lunch. I decided to try Olive Olio's as we hadn't been able to get in there on Monday. Lunch was tasty- cauliflower cheddar soup and salad. I took a quick detour to the beach for some photos. A life sized model of the fearsome Cadborosaurus is on the beach. Caddy is a 5-15 foot serpent sighted in this bay. I don't know if this monster has eaten anyone, but I sure don't want to find out. Imagine meeting this guy in the bay!

That said, I did want to go sailing. My training camp buddies have gone back to Alberta and most of the Royal Vic sailors are at school. Steve said last night that Phil would be coming out around 2pm. It wasn't even 1pm yet, but I decided to get rigged and see if Phil came early. He didn't. I checked my rig and then hopped in to face the sea monster alone. No coach boat, no other dinghys. Small comfort in the whistle tied to my lifejacket. If I really get in trouble it's possible that Steve will hear the whistle. Here's Fionnlagh preparing to get rigged:

I toodled around a bit, a few tacks, a lot of gybes. On the upwind I was working on leveling the boat, pointing, and speed. Then I did a few acceleration drills. After about an hour on the water, Phil joined me. I followed him. He gybed repeatedly downwind and then roll tacked all the way back up. He is roll gybing. I'm working on it. Phil reminded me to sheet in to 45 degrees before the sail comes over. This will help to prevent the mainsheet from getting caught on the transom. I'm gybing better than last summer, but more practice is needed to become consistent. It's still a bit wobbly and scary in high winds. The wind was a bit breezy this afternoon. At times I was planing downwind. At other times there wasn't enough breeze to push the main out on a run.

Then we headed out on starboard tack close hauled to work on boat speed. The wind was just enough that I had to hike out fully most of the time but I could keep the boat level. A few gusts increased the challenge. I was footing and sailed closer to Phil. He reminded me to watch my ticklers to stay close hauled.

We reached in, but it wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be. The wind was dying. We practiced acceleration a couple of times and then it began to hail. Phil reminded me that the key to good acceleration from a stop is to heel the boat well. It was very cold so we went in. Sailing in the hail is not fun. We had to tack between the rocks and the yachts to get to the docks. The wind was dead in patches and I roll tacked to maintain speed. Ooops! Rolled too far and capsized! Managed to stay dry- I climbed over the top and brought him back up. Managed not to drift into the rocks either (see photo of big ass rock below)!

2 hours of practice and I'm worn out! Forecast is for 30 knots tomorrow! Yikes!

Flying on the 470 Trapeze

2007-02-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

Pouring rain, maybe 5 degrees C. AST has gone home, except for me and Zoe. Peter was keen on getting us to try double handed sailing. We had three 470's, eight sailors/coaches, and Maddy for the coach boat. Zoe took her Radial out and Peter borrowed Fionnlagh. Erin and Meri took their 470, Jenn took Phil Round as her crew and I had the good fortune of crewing for Steve. I haven't used a harness since high school in Doug Bell's Laser >>. I haven't run a spinnaker since Revelry in 2002, unless you count Philona's cruising chute. No pole with that. And keel boat spinnakers are different from dinghys.

Victoria Family Day Training - Crash

2007-02-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

Big gusty winds today. Probably 20 knots. Outside Cadboro Bay there were waves and whitecaps. In the morning we did tacking and gybing drills in the bay followed by starting and stopping upwind drills. The we ran down to a mark outside the bay and began tacking upwind towards a mark that none of us could see. (I for one had no idea of even the general area where the mark was supposed to be). I totally forgot to crank the cunningham and was overpowered. The group stopped- at the time I didn't know it was because no one knew where the mark was. I stopped too as I caught up with then. As the coach boat approached, they all started again and I did too.

Steve pointed out I was working way too hard. Cunningham. I trying to yank it in, I stalled the boat. Then I was blown backwards. Steve yelled to ease the vang to power up. Before I could do that I capsized. As I swam to windward the boat was rapidly turtling under the force of the wind on the hull. I arrived at the centreboard just in time to see the last inch of it disappear through the slot. Oops.

Peter tried to help right it by raising one gunwale while I stood on the other but we didn't have enough leverage. I swam to leeward, kicked under the boat and managed to find the board. I kicked it up and grabbed the couple inches that came through the slot. Leverage. I righted the boat and then it came back over on me. Swam to windward, righted again and climbed in. Freezing cold. In the water too long. Luckily, it was lunch time anyway.

The reach back was fabulous- planing most of the way. Tricky tacking upwind to the dock between the yachts and the monster rock. I was shivering.

Key points for the morning:

remember the cunningham when it's windy!
when stalled, power up the sail a bit- ease vang
good point: I remembered not to gybe as a gust hits. Best to be at full speed going into the gybe rather than get flattened by a gust right after the gybe.

Lunch talk
Keep the boat flat! It is an art. The idea is that increased wind power should increase boat speed, not heel. As a gust hits, ease the main so the boat doesn't heel under the force. As the boat speeds up, ease the main back in for more speed.

Work on S turns while gybing
Work on tacking slowly - i.e. less rudder (rudder=brake)

Afternoon
I was on port tack. I saw Zoe a little late, it took me a second to work out that she had the right of way. I thought she was about to tack to stay with the tack-on-the-whistle drill. She didn't tack and I tried to bear off but I was heeled from a gust and I couldn't ease the main without dipping the boom in the water- certain capsize under these conditions. Zoe's mistakes were not pointing high enough and being out of position for the drill. I ran out of time and before I could make the decision to capsize, my bow ended up on her stern, then back in the wate. No damage done. But the section of her mainsheet between the boom and the traveller was wrapped around my bow. This one small line prevented both of us from sailing free. I tried pushing her boat backwards from mine to get the bow out but there was too much force from the wind. Peter and Steve were yelling some instruction but I was focussed on the mainsheet and worried it would slip back further. Zoe capsized with her blades under Fionnlagh. I was still tangled in her mainsheet. I tried to get the pressure off her centreboard. Then Fionnlagh capsized the other way. Zoe cleared her mainsheet while I pushed the hulls apart to try to save the blades. Then we were free. The trick was to right both of the boats without another collision. I got up and out of the way. Zoe took a little longer. Net damage - small chip out of back bottom corner of my board, entire chunk of Zoe's back bottom corner gone. Sorry Zoe, my fault. I owe you a repair.

I found out much later that Steve and Peter were yelling for me to push the rudder and sail backwards out of the tangle. That would have been so much easier. I must work on my backwards sailing skills so that that becomes an intuitive option. Or maybe I should just look out for other boats!

Dear competitors, this photo might help you to recognize us on the race course:

Fionnlagh and Kate go to Sailing Camp

2007-02-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

In spite of a general lack of sleep in the last two nights, I awoke early to the sound of rain. A brief venture outside revealed a total lack of wind. Still, I drove down to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club to meet up with the others and see what the plan for the day would be. When I arrived, people were busy rigging boats. The wind was picking up we were told. And so it was.

When the rain stopped, it was clear that Royal Vic is a beautiful place to sail. A view to the Haro Straight with snow covered mountains in the background. Coach Steve tells us the water temperature is 7C, which is probably quite a bit warmer than Glenmore most of the summer. Not that I was planning on testing the water.

We began with windward/leeward tacking/gybing practice. I felt rusty and the wind was picking up. Hiking required most of the time. I'm more confident gybing now than I was before Hastings. Roll tacks are terrible again but that is likely due to fear of the new waters.

Next drill was starts. Two minute countdown with the expectation that we would sit on the line and sheet in with 10 seconds to go. Later variation of this drill was two minute countdown with the start anytime in the last 30 seconds. This forced us to sit near the line early. I'm still having trouble with getting to the line at the right time. Too late, too early and over before the start. I also need to work on accelerating quickly from a stop. The coaches said no vang when sitting, a little vang just before the start. Sheet in, allow the boat to heel and balance it for acceleration. Then go all out on the vang and block to block on the main. It sounds so simple but I'm not executing quickly and smoothly.

The next drill was about improving boat speed. All on starboard tack we reached out of the bay. We were then divided into groups: Bytes, Lasers, and Radials. Three Radials. We pulled even with each other and took off when the coaches said go. I fell behind quite quickly. It was comfortable full hiking conditions with gusts above that level. My difficulty is in handling the gusts and keeping the boat level. The coaches were asking us to steer the gusts to keep the boat level instead of dumping the sail. This was not the whole story as I found out back on land. The idea is to punch the rudder quickly to level the boat and then return to even helm. I was luffing to wind which also levels the boat, but it's slow. The other piece that I didn't know was that dumping the sail is okay to avoid stalling in a gust, provided the dump is short and I sheet in again within a few seconds. When tired and scared, the tendency is to leave the sheet out, then I end up steering to the sail trim which puts me on a close reach instead of close hauled as I should be. Way off course.

I think we were on the water for a bit over 2 hours in the morning and another hour in the afternoon. Following the afternoon session, we joined the Royal Vic team for a tactics talk. I learned a lot about the effects of the wind shadow. Most surprising was that tacking past the transom of another boat should give a lift- making ducking more attractive in certain circumstances. We also talked about lee-bow effect and how it is important to tack out of that situation. If covered on a tack, it can be best to foot away to clear air.

Okay, that's enough techie talk for now.. or is it? All that close hauled sailing was answered with an equal distance of fast reaching. I learned a lot there too. Sit further back in the boat, keep shoulders square to the boom, position feet so that I can shift forward or aft as needed. The big difference was holding the tiller extension at the U-joint with the extension vertical for better control. So much easier on the arms and Peter said I have stopped stearing like a drunk! The gusts were fantastic and several times I thought the boat would take flight. Super fast planing is awesome and I am managing to keep the fear under control and smile a bit more on the water.

4 more days of camp to go.

Fionnlagh's Road Trip

2007-02-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

Peter MacDougall came by this morning and we carried Fionnlagh out of the basement and onto the ASA trailer. I need stronger arms as I was struggling to lift the stern over the top of the stairs. I think I've lost a bit of strength since the end of the season.

Peter is taking Fionnlagh and 5 others to Victoria. I'll be joining them on Feb 15 for the ASA family day weekend training camp at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. I'm hoping to stay for the Frozen Assets regatta, but tempted to return for the GSC AGM and Annual Banquet. If there is a Radial fleet and a decent forecast, I'll stay for the regatta.

Stay tuned for training tales.

The Ferocious Frostbite Regatta

2006-09-16T18:07:00.000-06:00

It's a wild, wooley weekend here in Calgary. Last night it rained and it snowed and then rained again. I expected to wake to a white wonderland but fortunately, the snow didn't stay on the ground east of Scott Hill. The temperature hovered near zero and the trees swayed this way and that way in the wind.

This called for all the gear: full wetsuit with shorty wetsuit on top, neoprene socks, water shoes, polar fleeze, rain pants, water resistant windbreaker, windstopper gloves, toque, and of course the ever insulating life jacket.

Sail West 2006 Tied for First!

2006-08-05T20:52:00.000-06:00

After the first day of the regatta, I'm tied for first place! Very exciting! With 25 Radials, this is the largest fleet I've ever raced in. The wind was exceedingly light and shifty today, resulting in several postponements. Several times, we began the start sequence only to have the AP flag go up with one minute to go. Collective groans.

Chestermere was a great place to be in May (although very cold) but now it is proving to be less than ideal for sailing. The big challenge for this regatta will be keeping the daggerboard and rudder free of weeds.

If you build it, they will come

2006-07-26T21:23:00.000-06:00

Tonight a fleet of Radials appeared on the reservoir! Liz has a brand new sail and mast section and plans to come regularly. Two other guys may come again but one will go for the full rig next time.

The winds were light and most of the full rigs pulled ahead of us easily. Chris was trying out his new laser and was sometimes within reach of the radials. I was ahead of him for a good deal of the time, but I think he beat me to the finish line most of the time.

In the first race I had a decent start and was sailing well upwind. I lost a bit of ground at the windward mark (3) because I made a tactical error a couple of tacks before the mark which allowed Chris to get the inside. I rounded right beside him but he was a little shakey coming out of the turn and I had to wiggle suddenly to avoid hitting his transom.

Who invited this family?

2006-06-30T22:56:00.000-06:00

It was youth and family night at the sailing club. I went down to check it out. They had the BBQ going and quite a lot of young kids around. One of the parents was taking a Byte out. Another Laser sailor dropped by indicating that he was joining the club and will be racing on Wednesday night. He has both rigs but will probably use the full rig in winds up to 25 km/hr. He hasn't done much Laser sailing before but has sailed many other boats. Hopefully this will give me an advantage in the race on Wednesday night. There wasn't any interest in taking Elvira out, so I went out on my own with Fionnlagh.

The wind was fairly steady and moderate so I decided on roll tacking practice. First, an unspoken race with the Byte was in order. We started near the barge on the same tack at about the same speed and headed for mark 3. Some of the time I was matching the Byte for speed and some of the time I was faster. I didn't really pull ahead until the wind picked up. I could have tightened the outhaul to keep the boat flat but I hiked out instead. I was really pushing it- trying to hike straight legged and needing to be all the way out to keep the boat flat. This effort gave me more speed than the Byte and I pulled ahead. I did a decent mark rounding- releasing the vang somewhat just before the turn. On the downwind leg the Byte started catching up to me. I altered the sail position a bit as it didn't seem that I was on a dead run and that didn't help. Then I changed course a bit, scooched forward and heeled the boat a bit. That worked and I pulled away from the Byte, passing the barge well ahead of him. I was up for another round, but it looked like he had to head back in to check on his kids in the Optis.

Probably just as well as I needed to really work on roll tacks. I headed back up the lake tacking frequently. In general, I find it difficult to heel the boat to windward. I don't think I'm heavy enough. Certainly there is some positioning to be learned as it is tricky to put all your weight to windward and not fall in. The other thing I'll have to watch out for is leveling the boat. At my weight, it is difficult to bring the boat level quickly enough to provide acceleration. I'm sure at some wind strengths I won't be able to right it at all. Over the half hour I did become more comfortable roll tacking. I wasn't always successfull in accelerating, but at least I didn't lose speed on the tacks. The other thing I need to figure out is how to get the tiller extension past the mainsheet without moving the rudder. Ideally, a roll tack can be executed without using the rudder at all.

I finished off the evening with some jibing practice. I was mostly successfull at jibing without getting the mainsheet caught on the transom. The winds were light, so it was relatively easy. I'll need to work on jibing in higher winds and then learn to roll jibe.

As the wind died, I realized that someone had invited the entire mosquito family to the lake. They began biting me every few minutes on the water. I was sorry I hadn't thought to bring bug spray after Wednesday's experience. I had to wait for another boat to pull out of the water before I could bring Fionnlagh ashore. It was like some one rang the dinner bell for the mosquitos. I had five biting me all at once. I pulled Fionnlagh out as quickly as I could. I thought I would derig really quickly to get away from the skeeters, but it was so bad that I ran to the car for a wind breaker to keep them off my arms. I didn't have anything to cover my legs below the knees but they didn't seem to be biting there as much.

I tried wearing knee pads tonight to prevent further bruising on my knees from bashing the boat. They weren't ideal knee pads as they are intended for rollerblading and have a hard cap. This makes for a slippery situation when kneeling on the dock or the deck. While on the water, they seemed to be quite effective. They do look ridiculous, but then so do the bruises on my knees!

Pirates on the West Nile?

2006-06-28T23:21:00.000-06:00

Fionnlagh's third go at Wednesday night racing. Scorching hot today so no wet suit required. I was late getting there and consequently about a minute late for the start. Kevin Brown helped me get Fionnlagh off the dolly and we both beach started at about the same time. He was sailing full rig and passed me before we reached the first mark. After that, the first race was mostly a write off. I got mixed up with the San Juan fleet and those big guys steal a lot of wind. There wasn't much wind to go around tonight so I skipped the last two marks and headed for the start line for the second race.

I got a decent, but not great start on the second race.

The third race was probably one of my best races yet in terms of relative boat speed. I made two strategic errors that put me back in my usual position. At the start, the port end of the line was highly favoured as the wind had shifted since the line was set and it was closer to mark 1. We were all working to that end of the line. To make things more interesting, the wind was picking up as we were counting down to start so our estimates of when we would arrive at the pin end of the start line were a little skewed. There were two lasers sailing along the line on starboard tack, hoping to head up and cross as the horn went off. I tacked in just below them on starboard tack. The last time I looked at my watch there were 8 seconds to go. I was figuring that the two boats above me would head up over the line and I would head up immediately after, just inside the pin. Unfortunately, the boat above me reached the pin just before the horn. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to force him over the line early, so I didn't call it. Instead, I forced him past the pin, preventing him from jibing immediately. Then I jibed and headed up over the line ahead of him. As I confirmed at the clubhouse later, I did have the right to push him over early and should have called "UP" to indicate that I wanted to head up. This would have been a significant advantage for me as he would be over early and have to restart. I'm not really sure if there would have been time or room for me to cross before the pin anyway, but if I'd known the rules, I could have pushed him over sooner. There were a few boats that were messed up in this start. Someone was recalled, someone else was prevented from heading up. The result was that Kevin, Chuck, and I were behind the others and I was ahead of Kevin and Chuck. I maintained my lead rounding mark 1. I was doing a bit better with the roll tacks. On the downwind leg, I was really worried they would catch me as they both had the full rig. I squished forward in the boat and saw that Bill was healing his boat to windward. I did the same to reduce the waterline and get the sail higher up. It seemed to work. As we approached mark 4, I was still ahead but faced with a new challenge. The San Juans were reaching towards the same mark for their race. I'm still working on how to jibe and sheet in quickly on a mark rounding so adding figuring out right of way with the biggest boats on the reservoir made me very jumpy. I managed to navigate through and sheet in quite quickly using two hands (just wave the tiller extension up and down while sheeting with alternating hands). The trouble was a big San Juan was in front of me, just upwind stealing my air. When I looked back, it seemed the other two were catching up to me.

Wednesday Night Racing - Part 2

2006-06-21T23:11:00.000-06:00

There is very little wind when I arrive at the reservoir. There are storm clouds to the north and that makes me nervous about going out. Was that thunder or someone moving a boat? I don't see any lightning but hte lack of wind is just the calm before the storm. Even though Logan Campbell's accident was a power line, not lightning, it makes me keenly aware that electricity and masts can change your life in an instant.

Most of the others are on their way to the starting barge already. Eight minutes until the Fireball warning. I push off, concerned that I won't get there on time for the Laser start. Also concerned that I won't be able to get back in fast enough if I see lightning. There is so little wind that I can't tell whether to run or beat. My cheering section hasn't arrived yet. I look to the shore for a sign of the wind direction but the boat patrol flag is limp.

Driftwood Regatta - Day 2

2006-06-18T21:51:00.000-06:00

The day begins at 05:45. Yes, I know the race doesn't start until 09:30 and it doesn't take me THAT long to get rigged but I have no choice in this matter. My knees hurt. My fingers hurt. Something aches every time I move. The last thing I feel like doing today is sailing. But sail I must. Clearly sleeping all day isn't going to be any fun.

Based on the standings yesterday, I only need to beat Michael Leitch in 4 races today to not be last. I beat him twice yesterday. I beat him once because he capsized before the start and couldn't get his international canoe up again. The second time I beat him, he was actually in the race. To the uneducated observer, it would appear that he beat me; however, in X-class, times are corrected based on a handicapp system to account for the expected performance of the different boats in the wind conditions for that race.

The forecast is for winds at 20 km/h, dropping in the afternoon. It sounds so innocent. Some might imagine a steady wind from the west at the ideal velocity. Translate that forecast to Glenmore Reservoir and you have winds anywhere between zero and thirty kilometers per hour with persistently inconsistent shifts, mostly from the W-NW with the exception of certain spots on the lake where the wind will come from the E-SE. In fact, the winds on Glenmore are so fickle that they actually stop for an early lunch on sunny days and by the time the sailors have paddled in to the dock for their lunch, the winds are on the way back out.

I was hoping for lighter winds than forecast and it seemed to be picking up as we waited for the other classes to start. I got off an okay start this time, sailing slowly along the line and then heading up seconds before the gun. Of course, this meant that I wasn't quite at max speed over the line and I ended up leeward of the others. The wind was dropping. I sat with most of my weight forward of the cockpit, eased the main to gain some power, kept a bit of vang on to bend the mast, made sure the cunningham was off, and eased the outhaul (but not too much). I kept to the middle of the lake where the wind was usually strongest. I was losing ground on the tacks as the other radials were roll-tacking smoothly and I was making clumsy attempts at it. I gained some ground after rounding the windward mark. After rounding number 6 I set a wide course for the windward mark, noting that it was in the wind shadow of the shore and a sharp turn could stop me dead. I gained on the others approaching the mark as they lost speed before rounding. The wind was shifting and dying.

Race Results (Regattas 2006, Driftwood, X-Class)

Regatta Photos
Thanks, Doug!

More Regatta Photos
Thanks, Brian!

Driftwood Regatta

2006-06-17T21:07:00.000-06:00

One of my competitors, Luke, said the water was so muddy it was like sailing in Nestle Quik. I had to clear logs off the boat ramp to get started this morning and there was a lot of debris in the water from the recent downpours. Only 3 Radials registered for the race so they put us in X-class racing with a Byte, a Taser, and an International Canoe.

I got off to a bad start in the first race, crossing the start line just after everyone else.

Regatta Photos (Saturday)
Thanks, Nollind!

Coaching Night on Glenmore

2006-06-06T00:14:00.000-06:00

There are a lot of things to get good at when it comes to sailing a Laser. For me, the first step is getting to the reservoir on time. Tonight I managed this for the first time this season. I left work at the right time. I biked home in a record 30 minutes. I made a sandwich, changed, gathered my gear, and was in the car within ten minutes. I made it to the reservoir by 6pm.

Practice officially starts at 6:30pm. Had I begun rigging right away, I would have been on the water on time. I wanted to ask Peter to show me how he recommends handling the tiller on a tack before he went out on the water so I jogged over to ask him.

He explained: Sitting on starboard side, mainsheet in right hand, tiller in the left. Push the tiller away to slowly begin the tack. Wait for the sail to come over and switch to port side as the sail catches the wind. Keep the main in tight, don't switch hands on the tiller- keep it behind my back. For practice, steer that way for a while. Then switch hands. Sounds simple. But he also said my tiller extension is probably about six inches too long for me. I should not do anything about that until I spend more time sailing fully hiked out and get a feel for how long I really want it.

Lesson over, I rigged the boat in a record 25 minutes, hampered by increasing wind. It's painfully difficult to tie a bowline in your outhaul while the wind is putting tension on it. Ditto for the cunningham. It didn't help that I kept screwing up the rabbit hole and missing the knot. Weird. Last summer I could do that knot with my eyes closed. I need to go to Glenmore Sailboats and get some clips so that I don't have to go through all this knot tieing every time. Not that I won't practice the knots, it's more that I want to save some time rigging. The wind was onshore so I led Fionnlagh down the ramp bow first. This meant that I was guaranteed to get my feet wet and muddy as I tied him to the dock.

I was much quicker than usual getting the rudder on and the daggerboard in. I was very happy with my graceful departure. Tiller extension pulled all the way forward, mainsheet in hand I untied the painter, placed it under the cunningham and outhaul lines, pushed the bow off slightly, grabbed the tiller extension, and I was off. Granted, the main was not trimmed but that turned out to be a good thing. The wind was picking up and white caps were starting to form. I yanked on the vang, then the outhaul and the cunningham. I looked at the sail and then really pulled on the outhaul. I wanted that sail as flat as could be. I didn't go too tight on the vang as I could see I would be overpowered and letting the main out instead of trying to sail block to block. Having the vang on super tight would only ensure that I get a solid whack to the head with the boom when tacking.

The other 3 were zipping around the sailing school dock close to Mark 5. I headed straight out to join them. Letting the main out I could keep the boat flat, hiking out all the way for the gusts. I was moving incredibly fast with spray coming over the bow. It felt sweet and frightening all at once.

Then a really big gust hit. I let out the main a bit and then steered up to try to keep the boom out of the water. I'm not sure quite what pushed me past the point of no return but I found myself falling. I don't really remember exactly what happened. I remember looking down and thinking my feet were going to land on the sail and the boom. Maybe they did but I don't think I went in the water at this point. Somehow I managed to climb over the top and grab the daggerboard and pull it back down before it fell out. In hindsight it may have been smarter to swim around. By climbing over the top, I pulled the high side over too far so that I was in danger of turtling. The wind may have done this anyway. The dagger board was too high up for me to stand on it now so I lowered myself down and stood on the lower gunwale and pulled on the daggerboard. Fionnlagh didn't move much at all except he slowly began pointing to windward. I suspected the mast was stuck in the mud. The water level is still extremely low and I was quite near the spot where the SJ21 stuck in the bottom last Wednesday.

I was starting to feel desparate- really hanging out far from the daggerboard- when Fionnlagh finally started to come up. I wasn't able to climb up on the daggerboard as he came up so I had to drop into the water. I had a brief moment of worry that Fionnlagh would sail off without me. Fortunately, the mainsheet was all the way out and Fionnlagh's bow was to the wind. I always find it difficult to climb back in. It helps that Laser decks are much closer to the water than most. On the first pull my lifejacket caught on the gunwale. More carefull on the second pull, I got the jacket over the edge, grabbed the hiking strap, and pulled, kicked, and wriggled my way back in. Good thing Bill told me to tie the tail of the mainsheet to the hiking strap. That was all that was holding it in the boat. I grabbed the tiller extension and began sheeting in. As Peter came round in the coach boat I began picking up speed. The mud at the top of the mast confirmed my suspicions.

Peter calls out some position adjustments- I can sit further back now. Spill the wind from the sail to keep the boat flat so that I'm not fully hiked out when the gusts hit. I'm feeling not too badly about how things are going. But ahead of me all I can see are the other 3 Lasers. They appear to be mooning me in turn with their big white bottoms (the boats, not the sailors, the sailors are either climbing or swimming). I know I will have to tack, and I really don't feel like it. Peter tells me to head for the orange ball in the water and go around it. I quickly forget about the ball because I stall on the tack. I sheet in, nearly capsize, get going, and try the tack again. I think I inadvertently passed the orange ball on the correct side. Peter is then telling me to run. I ease the main and begin bearing off and it's like I kicked a horse. Instant speed. The boat begins to rock from side to side. I look at the daggerboard: it is already all the way down. I'm still on a reach and want to run. If I ease the main, the boom will dip in the water. If it dips too much I could go into a death roll. When the gusts hit and the boat heels I hike out fully and it's not enough. I wrestle with the tiller extension and head up a bit. I want to ease the boom vang to get the boom higher above the water but I would need a third arm. Hanging on to the tiller and sheet and shifting my weight for gusts is all I can handle. I play this wobbly game for a while- head up, ease the sheet, head down until the boom is almost in the water, head up. Eventually after wiggling over a lot of water I'm close to a run. I'm also closing in on Swirly Winds point.

Peter advises that I don't try to jibe in these conditions. No kidding. I get my main sheet stuck on the transom every time. I'm not sure if Peter noticed that I avoided jibing for the entire icebreaker regatta, facilitated by the fact that the windward mark was always a gate. I feel so unskilled in this boat. I have no trouble jibing a Bavaria 32 or a Commodore 15. So it's back to the wrestling match. I have to head up and sheet in to tack (aka chicken jibe). I make it around. After skimming quickly over a lot of water on a reach I'm close to the others again. On a port tack. I'm not feeling confident about my ability to avoid them, especially given that they might capsize at any moment. (It seems there is always someone in the water tonight). With a few out of control wiggles, I make it through the traffic.

I am scared out of my mind. After going through the traffic, I understand that I am not in control out here. I'm just surviving. The wind is picking up. Practicing starts sounds dangerous for me. I head into the bay where there is a teeny bit less wind. My arms are starting to get tired and I doubt that I could pull myself back into the boat if I capsized again. I head for the dock- choosing the plastic one over the wooden one as it is less likely to do damage in these winds. As I approach the wind picks up. I head back out to the edge of the bay. To be honest, I'm now afraid to dock. It takes practice to learn how quickly the boat slows down when head to wind. I reach back and forth in the bay for a while. The wind seems to be picking up more. My arms are tired, I'm scared. I'm not practicing with the others, I'm just surviving. There is no reason to be out here. I head into the dock.

First Regatta, Last Place

2006-05-28T22:49:00.000-06:00

Saturday, May 27, 2006 Icebreaker Regatta

2006-05-27T21:58:00.000-06:00

Fionnlagh's first race, first regatta, first time at Chestermere. Although Kate has done all of these things before, it was in a stable Martin 16 or Commodore 15, not a tippy Laser.

Fionnlagh's First Sail

2006-05-07T19:18:00.000-06:00

Yesterday John helped me carry Fionnlagh out of the basement, onto the car, and then off the car into the rack at the reservoir. It was extremely windy and gusty and as it is only May, the water is still freezing cold. The idea of taking a brand new boat out in conditions like that was frightening. There's always a chance that something will break or I will rig something wrong and it's safer to test those things in more moderate wind conditions. So we went to the playground with Kaiden while Lisa took care of Cassie. The wind died down later in the afternoon but I didn't have time to go out and still make it to the theatre in the evening.

Today is clubhouse cleanup day. Knowing that the wind is often lighter in the morning, I decided to take Fionnlagh out before helping with the cleanup. Rigging for the first time took longer than expected.

Fionnlagh

2009 Icebreaker and D5 Championship

Perhaps it was a sign?

Red Boats Go Faster

Can we start again, please?

No sense of place or time

When I was good, I was really, really good...

Frozen Assets Regatta 2008

Big Wind?

Perfect Conditions

Heel, starts, and skiffs

Less wind - is it possible?

To Sail or Not to Sail

A New Season Begins - With Light Winds

Arrgh! Beaten by the Commodore!

Glenmore Sailing ClubRegattas 2007Mid-Summer - Laser Radial

Laser Radial Fleet Summary (no drops)

Race #1 Wind: 0 knots

Race #2 Wind: 0 knots

Race #3 Wind: 0 knots

I am not the Wabajinx!

Wabamun

Laser Radial

More Mistakes

Outta Control on a Death Roll

Icebreaker Results

Sail into the sunset

Head to head with Peter

First Wednesday night for the GSC Radial Fleet

Little Bow Reservoir - S.A.L.S.A. camp

Pirates!

Blah, blah, blah

Good Friday

Easter Camp at Royal Vic

Frozen Assets Part 2

Radial Fleet

WOW - Frozen Assets Regatta Day 1

Radial Fleet

I ain't afraid of no Cadborosaurus!

Flying on the 470 Trapeze

Victoria Family Day Training - Crash

Fionnlagh and Kate go to Sailing Camp

Fionnlagh's Road Trip

The Ferocious Frostbite Regatta

Sail West 2006 Tied for First!

If you build it, they will come

Who invited this family?

Pirates on the West Nile?

Wednesday Night Racing - Part 2

Driftwood Regatta - Day 2

Driftwood Regatta

Coaching Night on Glenmore

First Regatta, Last Place

Saturday, May 27, 2006 Icebreaker Regatta

Fionnlagh's First Sail

Glenmore Sailing Club
Regattas 2007
Mid-Summer - Laser Radial