32nd Americas Cup... "Riveting"?

It's game on with the Americas Cup. The regatta is all tied up at 2-2 which Tillerman points out has only happened once in the last seventy years. That would indicate the 32nd Americas Cup regatta is about as exciting as it gets. In fact, the third race was about as exciting as it gets. According to Scuttleblog, "The third race of the 32nd America’s Cup proved one thing – a yacht race television show can be riveting. Tight start, huge leads, major splits, 3 passes, a horrid leeward mark rounding – all in minimum winds - and a final winner that wasn’t known until mere boat lengths from the finish. This race set many records..." Or if you're a gambler, you can relate to the view on SailJuice that sailboat racing is sometimes a crap shoot... a really exciting crap shoot.

So what's up with the anti-AC sentiment? I can understand apathy from people who can't relate to sailing at all or those who are disgusted by all the money poured into an AC campaign by billionaires looking to boost their egos that much more... The AC Beat Down coverage by SA is typically acerbic and dismissive which shouldn't be surprising really.

Perhaps it's some of both all the way around. Those that want to down play the AC certainly keep close tabs on the goings on... (which is sometimes more entertaining off the water than on...). It certainly isn't a typical regatta when you consider the size and cost of the boats, the marketing engine behind it all, the wrangling of billionaires to enforce their will, etc. But when race time comes and you see the outcome decided my mistakes or wind shifts.... it's something average weekend warrior sailors can relate to. You have to admit, it's better than any of the other yacht racing on TV right now!

The RC is Always Right....

Except when they're wrong and succumb to pressure and personal bias...
Tillerman is at it again with another assignment. Last time, in response to his request for Worst Sailing Mistakes, I posted a story about my Protest Shoe. Overall the response provided many funny stories and a few intense ones. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt (emotionally or physically) in the making of these stories.
This time the assignment is Top Race Committee Screw Ups. First and in general, these (for the most part) volunteers to a great job. We couldn't have fun racing without them. The good ones run a race or regatta in such a way you hardly know they're there. On the other hand... they do occasionally make mistakes.
In a regatta on our local lake, we were racing on Sunday. IIRC, the points were quite close. We were setting up for what was likely the final race of the regatta. The committee put up the course label and the sequence was rolling. We made sure we new the course, studied the wind patterns, kept an eye on our closest competition and determined our starting strategy. As the clock counted down to the start horn, I noticed the RC changed the course. We passed by the committee boat again just to make sure and in now time we were off.
We weren't the first boat around the windward mark so a few boats were in front of us. I looked as though they were heading for the leeward mark... only the next mark of the new course was the gybe mark. There were a couple of boats that also went to the gybe mark but the majority in our fleet missed the course change.
Once off the water, a boat in our class that went the wrong way protested the committee... Can you even do that? They wanted the last race thrown out. The interesting thing was that other fleets had the same course change (although they had more time to react). Some boats in those fleets made the same mistake and missed the gybe mark. No one else protested. They accepted their mistake and the race counted for everyone except our class... How can that be?
We never did hear a reasonable explanation for the toss out... and lost the regatta on their decision. I'm not sure we'll do anything differently next time. If the RC changes the course, you go with it and hope they stick to their guns or restart the sequence if they feel it's necessary.

Emerald Cup: H20 Boa, S20 and Overall Winner

Emerald Cup was a lot of fun this year. Several boats sailed really well and showed great improvement. Eve won a race and nearly trophied (which would have terminated Adam's novice skipper status!). Summerwind had a couple really good races. Pizzazz finished 3rd in the first race on Sunday. Way to go girls! Guano Girl finished 2nd in a race on Saturday and 3rd in the last race on Sunday (which was significant...). One Eyed Jack had a great regatta with three bullets and some other low numbers.
Race two on Saturday was their worst finish. They tossed out a six. That race was also our worst... We were over early and tossed a four. Going into the last race we had seven points to One Eyed Jack's five (not counting the eventual toss outs). We needed to put a couple boats between us.
It was a long race (triangle, windward, leeward) and things were looking pretty good. We were ahead of One Eyed Jack and it looked like we had the possibility of one boat between us but no guarantee. Additionally, we had one boat in front of us. Loose Nuts is ordinarily next to impossible to pass but they were not have a typical regatta. On the last full beat, we converged on the left side of the course. Both of us were on port with Loose Nuts above. We managed to pinch up and force them to tack away. We continued on and played the puffs. The next time we converged we were on starboard and in front.
We maintained our lead on the final run and beat to the finish. Loose Nuts hung on for second. It looked like Guano Girls was clinging to third with One Eyed Jack in hot pursuit. It was close but Guano Girl managed to finish third and in front of One Eyed Jack even after splitting from the fleet's trend up the left side. One Eyed Jack took forth and placed second in the regatta.
Gordon bolted soon after we got off the water to celebrate his wedding anniversary. It was up to Don and me to represent H₂O Boa and collect the hardware. Of course we had to thank the RC. After all the discussion here about Race Committee Mistakes, it was nice to sail a well run regatta! We also expressed our appreciation for the excellent competition. We were rooting for old One Eye. She's been sailing well and we'd love to see here win a regatta. Finally, we know that our Skipper would like to thank his crew...

Foredeck's View on Downwind Leg	Trimmer's View on Downwind Leg

Little League Sailing

There have been a few posts out there in the cyber sailing world about coaching from the sidelines as it were... When kids race solo (or single handed), they're sometimes followed around the course (at various distances...) by a parent. Such support boats shall now be referred to as Mommy Boats. The thoughtful parents follow at a distance. There's no yelling or obnoxious coaching. They're there in case of an emergency (meaning the boat is swamped and the kid has trouble righting the boat type of thing... not a "YOU NEED MORE VANG" emergency). Not all Mommy Boats are as courteous and thoughtful of others... Imagine all of the little league parents being able to following their son or daughter around the field giving direction and "encouragement". Sometimes it's bad enough when they're relegated to the sidelines.

My approach is to be in the same boat... racing together as a team. I'm sure this causes some problems too. There are just some people that should not race together... or hang wall paper together... or ... you get the idea. (For the record, J² and I make a great wall paper hanging team but I know that's one task that has great potential to strain a relationship. Sailing on the other hand... Let's just say we didn't get off to a good start and save it for another post.)

Nope, I'm looking forward to racing and learning with Trev. I hope we have fun and learn about sailing and racing our Lido and see signs of improvement... That's it.

No Lido Racing

Sailing and in particular racing, requires wind. Sometimes there's not enough for racing and you wait... It happens to everyone. Other times there's too much wind. Is that possible or is it a matter of having enough experience to handle the conditions? Are you experienced? Should you have to pass a test or are the conditions you race in the test in and of itself? When we raced in the Columbia Gorge in 2005, the committee observed our collective ability during some practice racing. They used that information to gauge our ability to handle other conditions during the week and postpone racing as they saw fit. I think they did an excellent job.

The wind speed yesterday was still in the upper teens (MPH) in the late afternoon and early evening. That's doable and even fun in a Santana 20. I'm planning to race my Lido 14 with my son this summer in some weekly club races. Last night was our first opportunity now that school is out and other activities are complete. This was not Lido weather...

No body in a Lido wanted to go out. There were a several Lasers and a cat or two but no one was racing. The Lasers were just having fun reaching back and forth and they were screaming! It looked like lots of fun and Trevor was certainly chomping at the bit. He was game to head out even if there was no racing... I'm not sure he knows exactly what he was asking for... We would have been overpowered much of the time and occasionally hit by the monster puffs that were rolling through.

Now this was a bummer. I wanted to go, Trev. certainly wanted to go... but our old Lido wasn't up for it. Everyone recognized this weather was outside the range of a Lido's design. On top of that... the class rules have a 300 lb. minimum crew weight. Dripping wet as we would have likely been last night... Trevor and I come up about 50 lbs short... Not a good combo for heavy air... The anticipation of our first race together will have to wait another week.