The universe must have a ripple in it, because there is NO way I should be writing this up. I already have a writing job for the year and this ain’t it! The past Sunday we had a near perfect day for sailing with eight Scots and three San Juan 21’s sharing the starting line. The day taught us many things and some of us were faster learners than others. Things learned were how to sail on lakes, mark entry/exits, how to sail an Olympic course.

How to sail on lakes ….UH…Wake - we were sailing on a tidal river! This is true EXCEPT when the wind blows from the north then all bets are off. The wind on Sunday was to forecast which was 8-12 North – North East, the wind went right as the day went on. Early on it was a connect the dots kind of day, that is get to the puff and do what was necessary. As day wore on the course became decidedly one sided – that it is whoever got to the right first - won. No secret there because there were a couple of EPIC pile-ups at the boat end of the starting line for the last couple of races. At this point you are asking what about lake sailing? What we experienced was very similar to lake sailing, big swings in direction and velocity. Quite simply it is all about getting to and staying in the pressure.

The racing Sunday was delightfully tight, making mark rounding’s crowded. There were big gains to be made with careful consideration given going in and exiting the marks. One lesson that was learned several times – running into things is slow! Also green boats tend to get hit more than other color boats don’t know why that is but it certainly was the case Sunday. Sunday it really paid to leave the lay line into the weather mark as short as possible. It was so shifty, getting on the lay line early was an exercise in futility. That said flexibility was the key, ducking boats or even jibing out when not making the mark was the call. Remember hitting things green is slow. The call for the leeward mark rounding started at - right after the weather mark. Whittemore and Guenther wasted no time getting inside early especially as the right side became more favored later in the day. Also slowing down to let boats inside round was particularly effective with staying in the chase, This is done by either over trimming the spinnaker or just dropping the spin early. The idea here is do NOT round with a boat inside. Once again trying to poach imaginary holes inside green boats and hitting them is slow.

Our PRO Sunday was Jerry Latell. Jerry hates for sailors to be bored, so just for our benefit he threw in a couple of triangles! Olympic courses, that is a triangle – windward – leeward – windward/finish require different skills. Skills like figuring out if you even fly a chute down the first leg, snap jibing at the mark and getting inside at the leeward mark. This all very taxing unless you are Guenther or Whittemore and a full leg a head. So yes the secret to sailing an Olympic Course is be first at the first weather mark and the rest is apparently easy. What was not easy was being Race Committee. What we witnessed as competitors was very competent R.C. work. Jerry and his team did a great job of not chasing the wind swings, setting up on the averages, and getting races off as soon as possible. As competitors we need to savor the moment and hope that Jerry and team are available to give lessons!

This my story and I am sticking to it but if you want to see what I am talking about show up this weekend. Saturday is the Open House Pursuit Race (with Pig Picking Dinner following) and Sunday is Piankatank Spring Series #3. Most importantly the forecast is exactly the same, so all this worthless drivel applies.

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