Blah, blah, blah

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.