31 May 2012

Beercan Review

Hi Gang!

Well, we came out of our first beercan with a 2nd place (at BPYC.) We had perfect weather, great winds, all we needed was a little more experience on board, and we would have had the spin up and raced down that 2nd leg.

We had a good time, the new peeps are coming together well. David took some heroic waves working on the foredeck, and was ably assisted by Mary Ellen and Ryan. Made some sail changes look easy; the boat sailed well, even though we were rigged for light air as far as rig tension goes.

I'm of 2 minds about the new format for the beercan races. I like the trapezoidal course, except for one thing. I think it does give a slight advantage to the sprit boats. They sail off the wind a little more efficiently than we do, so we lose the advantage of a leg that goes close to straight downwind. On the other hand, we found how well we can sail upwind with our jib top reacher!

The season is coming along well... We are gelling nicely, now all we have to do is put it all together.

Looking forward to practice Sunday!!

Cheers!


27 May 2012

Practice makes perfect

A note on the word 'perfect.'

Have you ever wondered about the use of the word 'perfect' in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution?
"We The People, of the United States, in order to form a more perfect [emphasis mine] Union, ..."

"More perfect?" How can you get 'more' from 'perfect?'

Actually, at the time, linguistically, perfect meant something along the lines of 'as good as it is going to get, for now, but it can, of course, be made better or get better.'

So you can improve upon perfection.

So our practice on Saturday was perfect. We did great getting sails up and down, got the 'chute flying nicely, jibed, doused, set the jibtop, all kinds of good stuff. Was like we had been sailing quite a bit of the season. Gives me the warm fuzzies. Let's see how we do on race day now. (first race is the NOODs, even though they lied and said they would have PHRF sections, which are now ORR, so that will be fun.)

We'll just have to go out and sail fast.

While we're having fun, a big huzzah! goes out to our friends on Turning Point and Skidmarks for their 1st place finishes in today's Olympic Cup Regattas. Unofficial finishes at this point, but Skidmarks with a 1st and a 3rd, and Turning Point with three 1st Place finishes...

More to come, and see you at the Wednesday night beercan!!

Scott

24 May 2012

B/C Tune-Up Recap




Talk about a lovely day on the water!

Except for the wind shutting off. But at least we made up for that but finishing. I think that was the name of the game Wednesday night; being far enough ahead to finish the race. And we were not ahead by any stretch of the imagination.

We gave up quite a bit of lake to Paradigm Shift at the starting line, and we would not get that back until we were bobbing around at the mark, trying to make the turn for home. Of course, since they were slightly ahead, they were able to pick up that little wind shift and disappear on us. Awesome.

But it was a lovely sail, we had a great time, got some newer peeps out on the water, and started breaking off the rust.




22 May 2012

Race Season up to the Queen's Cup

Hi Gang!!

Long email coming, so grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and take some notes.

Beercans Start Wednesday.

The Beercan Season kicks off with the Beercan TuneUp tomorrow, Wednesday, May 23rd. Maskwa is still down at 31st street. We know that is a bit of a pain in the ass to bike to, and we are only partially sure about how parking will work. 

So we will meet at the 31st Street Harbor for the Beercan tomorrow. For parking you need the code and a harbor pass. There are bike racks, although you can lock your bike inside the dock gates (like we do at BPYC) if you want, too. We'll be coming back to 31st street, since they are keeping the harbor closed (supposedly) till midnight Thursday morning.

Don would like to know if anyone is available to help move the boat from 31st Street to BPYC on Thursday. Not sure of the time, but if you are free part of the day, let us know and we'll schedule when we can.

Practice #1 (Saturday, May 26th):

This Saturday (May 26th,) We'll have our first practice. Originally we had a race scheduled that day, but a good practice session will do us wonders for the regattas to come. Boat call is 0900. We would like to be off the dock fairly soon after that, so that we are not spending the entire day on the water (even though that is a lovely thing.) If you are new to the crew, or new to sailing, the practice sessions will be a great chance to get out and get some real sail/race learning in. Wed night beercans are good for fun, but if you want to get some work in, this is the time to do it. If we can, we will do 2 sessions so that people who work Saturday can come early.

Beercan #1 is Wednesday the 30th; We'll be back full time at BPYC at that point. 5:30PM boat call, as always; continues until October. Check the blog for the off weeks.

R/C Volunteers

Don is most likely helping out with Race Committee for the Colors Regatta. He could use an extra hand on Saturday, June 2nd. If you are free and would like to smash around in the mark boat, moving racing marks, getting some sun, watching the boats go by, he could use an extra 2 sets of hands. Drop me a line….

Practice #2 (Sunday, Jun 3rd):

Boat Call will be 0900. We'll be fine tuning what will already be a well oiled sailing machine (Or a well sailed oiling machine.) Again, if you are new to the crew, or looking to get some good experience, this will be a great time to come. It will help tremendously if regular crew is here. 

National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta:

This is a Friday/Saturday/Sunday race. You can sign up for 1, 2 or all 3 days. We will give weight to the more experienced crew for these regattas. However, if you come out regularly (beercans, practice, etc…) or are interested in some intense hard sailing, this is the time to be out. This is a national series of regattas, runs about once a month in locations all over the country, and they have some great parties that all crew members can come to.

Waukegan:

We'll be doing the Chicago-Waukegan race Jun 23/24. This is a long distance race; we race Saturday the 23rd from Chicago -Waukegan, and Waukegan-Chicago Sunday the 24th. You can take the train up Saturday night if you can only do Sunday and sleep on the boat (There is no train early enough to leave Sunday morning.) Obviously, if you can only do Saturday, you can take the train back to Chicago that evening.

Queen's Cup:

This is a race we try to do every other year. It goes from Milwaukee to Grand Haven, Michigan (on the years that we race it.) The race starts on Friday night (Jun 29th,) and gets in whenever the wind takes us across the lake. The pre-race fun in Milwaukee is a good time, and the post race party in Grand Haven is great. This is an excellent night race (yes, we race across the lake at night.) You will need to have your own foul weather gear, or borrow some for the race (mid lake temps can be unseasonably cool.. no joke, into the 50s.) Race start is usually around 7pm, so people need to be at the harbor in Milwaukee at 5pm. The Amtrak Hiawatha Express runs from Chicago to Milwaukee ($23,) and from there we can catch a cab to the harbor. We can save on cab fare by all heading up together. There are numerous trains that make the run, it takes about 1:23, but the last train that makes it on time leaves at 3:15PM (from Chicago.)

We will also need a warm body or two to deliver the boat to Milwaukee for the race. We can do this the Wednesday night after the beer can the 27th, or all day Thursday the 28th. We would prefer to go up Wednesday night after the beer can if the weather is looking iffy for Thursday… just to be sure. Let me know if you are interested, and I'll keep you apprised as we get closer. 

Looking ahead:

Mac Delivery, Harbor Spring Regatta, etc…

We will need people to drive up to Mackinac to bring land gear, and to help deliver the boat to Harbor Springs for the Ugotta Regatta, which is the weekend right after Mackinac. Harbor Springs is a great regatta weekend; We usually do very very well, right up until we shoot ourselves in the foot spectacularly. Seriously. You have to be there to believe it. But the race venue is great, the winds are always blowing, and there is fun to be had.

CrewSignUp:

I am working on updating our schedule on the website, so give me a little time with that. Draper kind of screwed up on the Area III website (On the Tri-State, he has the return race starting Saturday, which would be difficult for boats that have not finished yet,) which effects what we have on CSU. I'm going to enter the races manually, so give me a day or two (or 3.. maybe 4.) As of right now, the blog is up to date.

All for now….Cheers!!

Scott

20 May 2012

Out for a sail...

Hi gang!

Well, we got out and got a little sailing in yesterday (and boy, are my arms tired!)

I know I am not the only one with a good case of sunburn. Owie. Nothing like a little high overcast to let you burn. And no sunscreen. And sailing upwind so you don't feel the heat.

Got the rig stretchd out, put some sails up, tacked and did some pole-less kite flying to boot.

So there are a few errors in the schedule that I need to fix, I'll be emailing about that within a few days. As of right now the plan is to not race the Spring Opener and to practice that weekend, and get ready for the NOOD. Once we are past that, it looks like all distance races until Harbor Springs.

So, more to come....

Cheers!

Scott