Thursday, September 10, 2009

MEMORIAL DAY REGATTA

This is out of place. It shoud have been in just ahead of the Wednesday night thing.

Labor Day Regatta report. September 5 and 6, 2009. Lasers were the only ones that got races in because of the light wind. Two races Saturday and Four on Sunday. The other classes did not have any races and just went home after Sunday. They didn’t have any trophy stuff, so we will do something later when the trophy maker catches up with his other work.

Ben Getchell 1-1+1-1-1-1 6 First place. First Youth. First High school sailor.
Alejandro Illera 2-2+2-3-2-4 15 Second Place. First adult.
Rob Krentel 3-3+3-2-3-2 16 Third Place First heavy weight.
Sam Chapin 4-4+4-4-5-5 26 Fourth Place First Golden Oldie
Marc Solal 5-5+6-5-6-6 33 Fifth Place First Frenchman
Seth Behr ns-ns+5-6-4-3 34 Sixth Place First to improve in almost every race.
Craig Yates ns-ns+ns-7-4-ns 43 Seventh Place First in the hearts of the others.

First let me start with Craig Kiwi Yates, high school coach, boat repair artist, etc. We are so happy to see him come and be the seventh boat. He sailed the Kelly boat without all the fancy stuff to adjust. He did a fourth in the third race on Sunday just ahead of Sam and then went home so Sam couldn’t get even. He dropped to the bottom of the list because he missed four of six races. He also made all the motor boat waves on Saturday driving around in the coach boat.

Did you notice that we had two fourth places in third race on Sunday. That is the way the RC reported it and we don’t argue with the RC.

Seth Behr, high school sailor, got out with us on Sunday and marched right up the ladder with a third place in the fourth race. Good work Seth. Seth found the old red Laser (first at LESC-- 35 years ago.) of Ford Matthews in a neighbor’s back yard. He was smart not to buy it, but Sam did get it and trying to get it in shape to sail a little. A lot of work and some expense to get an old soft boat, but historic piece. Vera, ask Jane if she remembers him.

Marc Solal, our big guy, was up in the pack going up wind and losing going down wind or he would have had a good race someplace. The wind will increase Marc. Keep coming.

Rob Krentel beat Alejandro out on Sunday but lost on the two races on Saturday. The duel continues.

Alejandro Illera picked off Rob by one point after six races. Not much of a margin, but then Alejandro has a great patch on the side of his boat and not that big hole.

Ben Getchell put together his light weight, light winds, great tacking, aggressive sailing, good
change of gears, and lots of good luck to sail away with the week end.

Let me make a special note. I was told by observers from shore that Ben’s roll tacks were illegal.— well yes if you read rule 42 in the rule book ,you might think so, but— they match the roll tacks that are in Steve Cockerel’s instructional DVD. Steve was the World Laser Master Champion a few year ago when they had the races in South Korea. His throw away race was a second place with 90 or so boats in the races.

Cabarete in the Dominican Republic teaches similar roll tacks and is training ground for many Olympic Laser sailors. Ari Bashire of Cabarete recently placed well in the Worlds Laser Master Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia and he was not flagged for any 42 rules. The web site publishes all the Protests and Rule 42 calls.

Interesting to look at that. All the rule 42 stuff was for rocking or pumping, not tacking or gybing.

Paul Goodison who won the Olympic gold medal in China and the recent World Laser Championship in Halifax rolls that way and I can show you pictures of him doing it in his instructional book.

The ads for the Cabarete DVD showed roll gybe with boat coming out of gybe with a lot os speed. The Laser blog "Proper Course" called them on it and referred it to the Laser judging committee that reviewed it an said that it was legal because the roll was induced to make the boat turn and it was not the sailors fault that the boat went faster.

In the Athens Olympic DVD that we had at LESC and which has been borrowed and not returned
you could see, if it was to be returned, the gold medal winner Robert Scheidt sailing down wind doing transitions ( broad reach to by the lee and back again) going around waves that he was catching up to and passing. Each turn had a good heel and straighten to make the boat turn and the judge boat following him just follows along.

My conclusion is that currently the Lasers can be radically heeled to induce turning and it is disregarded that it makes the boat go faster.

Another factor that may have come up this weekend is multiple roll tacks without substantial change in wind direction. I was out both days and especially on Sunday the wind was all over the place. I don’t think I have ever seen so many funny big and little shifts and up and downs.

General advice for light wind is to roll tack and rock (repeated rock is forbidden) and then sit quiet and forward and to leeward quietly so not to disturb the wind flow across the sail. The old guy can not roll tack and then get forward and to leeward without wobbling the boat all over the place and then it is time to roll tack again, but he is sitting up on the centerboard behind the mast. Forget it – Ben did a great job of doing all that stuff.

We will just have to get EVEN when the wind comes up a little or a lot.

Now I should tell you about our left handed starting line, the strange mysterious opposing down drafts, the down wind start— but that later.

Informal racing (all boats welcome now that you folks are sailing again) this WEDNESDAY 5 to 7 with second part of "Morning Light" at 7 to 8.

Up coming Portsmouth fleet racing news.

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