Weekend updates
General Update
My sailing counter remains stuck on five days of sailing so far in 2008.... 3 in January, 1 in February, and 1 in March, plus some race committee duty. No sailing this past weekend.
This past weekend we towed our MacGregor 26 to Elephant Butte Lake on Saturday to put her in storage near the lake. Our plan is to get the motor back from the shop (electrical work), replace the furling genoa, replace a fitting that supports the bimini top, and do some general boat clean up and cosmetic work.
We hadn't heard until Saturday afternoon that Zorro and Dino had actually made it to the lake, and by the time we were done with storing our Mac and grabbing dinner, Dino was already on the way back to El Paso. His plans to do some boat swapping had come as far as getting a Catalina 25 out of the water, but plans to launch the J/24 were blocked by high winds.
Meanwhile, we saw Zorro's car at the Fleet 141 compound and figured he must be there. But knocking on doors and banging on windows and hollering loudly got no response whatsoever; he was sleeping the sleep of the dead. This was a shame, because the winds had moderated to around 8 mph an hour before sunset yet we wound up going to the lake and not sailing. (It would have been way after dark by the time we'd rigged, launched, sailed, and returned our own boat to the mast-up lot.)
Sunday we drove north to Heron Lake to check on the marina and our cabin. The road to the marina was treacherous with eight inches of icy, crusty snow, so I hiked a few blocks. A shady portion of the path to the marina was blocked by more than two feet of snow, but most of the marina piers were clear of snow. The marina and the lake are still locked in perhaps a foot of ice, but water is flowing into the lake from Willow Creek and predictions for this summer look very good. We haven't been able to stay at our cabin so far in the New Year because our water heater burst and hasn't yet been replaced.
The previous weekend, March 8-9, was the Rio Grande Sailing Club Spring Series 1 regatta weekend at Elephant Butte Lake in southern New Mexico.
It was an interesting weekend. We'd arranged for a couple to crew with us, which was good given that Carol Anne was still recovering from a bug and hadn't recovered her energy. But, our crew got yanked at the last minute to help someone else sail. (During the skippers' meeting, a short-handed skipper called the couple who were going to crew for us and told them that Carol Anne and I weren't going to be racing, and that he needed them so that he would be able to race. Later, he apologized and said he'd misunderstood something that someone said at the skippers' meeting. Carol Anne was seriously disappointed; had we known we'd be without that crew we could have tried harder earlier to get crew. But, by this time, we'd already gone to the trouble to launching Black Magic, so we figured we'd go out and at least try to race. )
We had a pretty decent start, with good speed on port tack through a big hole. But, a couple of our competitors, "Zorro" and "Apple Lady", managed to get further upwind before the wind died, and wound up with wind first when it eventually returned, shifted further left; while the wind lasted they got some good separation on everyone else. We wound up finishing close behind the Santana 20, which loves light-air days, but felt pretty good about our sailing, and we were way ahead of "Sutherland's" Etchells.
Sunday we were debating going sailing at all; we had a brand-new sailor who we wanted to take out, but conditions were looking a bit rough for taking out someone who was new to sailing. Winds were blowing into the marina at about 15 to 20 mph, with some stronger gusts. We'd originally showed up very early with the idea of maybe meeting someone to help us try to fix the topping lift, but he was running late and hung over and had to rush on to catch his boat. Two Etchells and a J/24 had to get towed out of the marina by a pontoon boat. We readied sails and I got help turning the boat upwind into the waves, so it could be sailed out, but we weren't ready to go out. It looked like might be done with racing for the weekend and were going to have to wait a few hours for things to calm down enough to take out a new sailor. We were about to leave the marina and grab lunch when we saw something odd... a boat returning to Rock Canyon. An Etchells.
Apple Lady, her husband, and "Penzance" came in with a busted main halyard. Now Apple Lady was boatless, which was a shame on what was shaping up to be a good sailing day, and Carol Anne got the idea of offering them a ride on Black Magic. So, after thinking about it and taking care of some boat stuff, the four of them took Black Magic out. That way, Zorro would have someone to race against and wouldn't just be leading everyone on a parade. (Although Zorro's crew was a bit hung-over, Sutherland was not yet on the course, so Zorro started as the only Etchells and had nothing to worry about, with nothing between him getting bullets and all the other Etchells getting DNC's, with the spring series practically decided on the first weekend. Until...)
Carol Anne and crew got to the start area while Zorro and the A and B fleets were spread out on the first beat, starting, and eventually catching some boats during the first race Sunday. Black Magic had a broken topping lift and bad bearings in the traveler, so the crew had some extra work, and Carol Anne, Penzance, Apple Lady, and her husband had never all sailed together on Black Magic, so getting the sets and jibes working well took a few tries.
For the second race, Black Magic was the victim of a bogus protest at the start but still wound up close on the heels of Constellation, finishing only about a minute behind.
Rules digression -- A J/24 to leeward called for room near the committee boat, which was incorrectly positioned at what should have been the pin end of the line. The race committee error had created a "coffin corner". The J had the right to room under rule 11. However, the J/24 didn't take up the room that he had available to come up, and didn't give Black Magic any time to hail the next boat upwind (Kachina) for room so that Black Magic could in turn give room to the hailing boat.
Had the protesting boat planned things out properly, he could have taken both Black Magic and Kachina over early. (A sudden puff about 40 seconds before the start had left Black Magic and Kachina in a bad position and having to run down the line instead of starting on the right side. Black Magic had nowhere to go, with the hailing boat and committee boat to leeward, Kachina to windward, and Constellation immediately behind. 17.1 did not limit the leeward boat.) However, the complaining boat yelled and flagged protest before giving Black Magic time to respond under rule 16, and without first taking the room he had available to him. So, if there had been a protest hearing, he would have lost the protest.
But, to be safe, Black Magic did a two-turns penalty and so wound up behind Zorro and Constellation instead of in front of them. Still, it was a close enough race to make Zorro nervous. At the leeward mark, Black Magic rounded 53 seconds behind Constellation. (I timed it while watching from shore.) On the final beat, Black Magic gained about 25 seconds, but then lost about 30.
Third race: Unfortunately, the Etchells started just as the Santana 20 and Freedom 21 were finishing. Bad timing. By this time, Sutherland had joined in, so the fleet was back up to three Etchells. Carol Anne's crew saw the B fleet finishing, and actually took advantage of the Santana sort of as a blocker, starting on Cougar of the Lake's hip just a few seconds after the Santana finished! But, LJ's crew didn't seem to see Charlie on the Freedom 21 in time or maybe they didn't even realize Charlie was still racing. So, Carol Anne got a great start, but Zorro didn't.
Zorro made up some ground on a tacking duel, but then Black Magic pulled away. There was a very slight bit of delay for starting the downwind leg, because Black Magic's topping lift was still broken (part of a long list of stuff that needs repair), but the crew were able to improvise and get things working well enough. Zorro's crew were hoping that Constellation would have enough raw boatspeed to roll Black Magic, but that didn't happen. Apple Man faced backward to call puffs and warn Carol Anne whenever Zorro tried to make a move on her wind. Near the finish, Zorro tried taking Black Magic up and forcing them into an extra jibe, hoping that Carol Anne and crew would mess up the jibe. Zorro also tried some vigorous sail pumping, taking over some duties from his exhausted foredeck crew. But, all of that was too little too late, so Black Magic crossed the line ahead of Constellation.
posted by Pat @ 3/17/2008 08:11:00 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
"...Black Magic crossed the line ahead of Constellation."
...and that is a rare enough event to celebrate all night long. Way to go CA!
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Kachina was NO WHERE near Black Magic or Wild Thing when you're correct protest happened. Quit worrying about the rule # this or that and learn how to sail.
Yeah, you have no idea what you are talking about.... I saw that incident, and am laughing my ass off that you have such a warped sense of reality. The other boat was leward, you were windward, you knew they were there and came down on them, and you should have been over early had you not fouled them. Your foul should have caused you to do a 720 and restart. You would have been DSQ'd if that protest would have continued, and several skippers there agree with that. Wake up. You may have taken a class, but you don't have any idea what you are doing!
This comment has been removed by the author.
The poster may have been thinking about some other incident, perhaps during some other race, or be otherwise confused, because the poster's comments don't match the incident that was described in my original post.
The original post was about a race start with a committee boat on the wrong end of the line, which put the leeward-most boat in a bad position.
Because the poster did not give a name, perspective (position, time, specific event observed, background info, etc.), or other specifics about what he or she might have observed, and because he or she made various other mis-statements and errors, it's impossible to make a definitive response to specifics in the posts.
Specific errors, assuming the poster is commenting on the incident described in the original post are as follow:
(1) SM did not come down on SL, (2) there was a boat close to windward of SM, SW, (3) SM did not make a protest, (4) SM did take a penalty "just in case", (5) SL did not complete protest requirements, (6) the poster does not appear to understand limitations on penalties, (7) the reference to theoretical unnamed skippers does not change the rules, (8) the poster does not appear to understand or address the issues of exoneration and circumstances in which boats are unable to give room, (9) the commenter does not address the fundamental error that placed boats in a dangerous situation.
The poster may also wish to discuss the etiquette of protests in a situation like this with knowledgeable sailors.
In discussing an incident on the race course, it's critical to have enough facts to identify the right incident and to know which rules apply and how they interact. To suggest that it's unimportant to know the rules or which ones apply or how they interact in a given case is appallingly ignorant and contrary to the purpose of the rules and Corinthian ideals. Such an attitude of disrespect for the rules would lead to chaos on the race course and danger to boats and crews.
In the world of the internet, an anonymous poster who makes rude, inflammatory comments is called a "troll". Trolls use name calling and emotional, sometimes vitriolic attacks that typically are weak in verifiable facts and sketchy in details.
Unfortunately, the methods that trolls use serve little to advance their cause or any sort of constructive dialog. By not having the guts to name themselves, and to name times, places, and facts, and by not giving a complete and balanced account, and by being all too often immune to any sense of humility or humor, and by making vague, unprovable assertions, trolls tend to be their own worst enemies. They also tend to injure the very causes they support by bringing them into disrepute.
While it may go much too far to say that ordinary, garden-variety trolls have psychopathic or mere anti-social tendencies, it is likely that many trolls have difficulties in expressing their feelings in a socially acceptable manner and in being open to other points of view.
A troll is a bully.
A bully is someone who may have difficulty in understanding or following social norms. For example, a bully who is a sailor might go way too far in trying to use the rules as a weapon, trying to use some of the right of way rules without sufficient regard to other, limiting rules (such as RRS 14 - 17, the Part 2 Section B Limits on Right of Way boats, or to RRS 2, Fair Sailing, or the most fundamental rule of all, Safety).
Bullies don't play by the same rules that most other people try to follow. Therefore, there's no real point in trying to play a game with a bully, whether it's sailing or anything else. The best thing to be done is to exclude bullies from events in which they have difficulty in abiding by the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship.
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