LASERS SAIL A ONE BOAT RACE

This is not the one boat race, but a great gal sailing a 4.7 rig at the Lake Eustis Sailing Club in Florida.

 

The local MC scow group tried to have a Wednesday evening race here at LESC, but only two boats came and they had no race.  If they only had one boat come they should have had a race and then passed the word. 

The folks that didn't come would then know they should have made it.  With no race, those folks would say "I did the right thing.  Stayed home."  

 

They had two boats.  Wow, a match race that they missed.

 

I have done the one boat race a number of times, but not recently.   Our Laser fleet at LESC is in its sixth year and the past winter season (September to May) we had 29 sailors and the year before we had 21 sailors.   This past year we had 163 races.  Fewest boats was four and most 14.  Of the 29 sailors this past year 16 were adults, 13 youth, and 6 women. We are still stuggling to get more out.  We haven't had a one boat race yet, but we will if we have to.

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WRITE IN YOUR NOTES THE GOOD AND THE BAD.

 

A friend told me today that he had been writing down the good and bad things he did during our races.

 

I looked through my primary advice to pick out the most important--- I can't decide.  There are so many things about sailing a Laser that you need to know. 

 

So this is what my friend had for Sunday.  1) Get the vang off before the windward mark. He didn't and got in trouble.  To turn down wind when the wind is up you need to ease the sheet and heel the boat to weather to help the turn,  If you have much vang on this old man tries to get it off before I get to the mark.  You are sailing fast and want to have it off before you reached the mark.

2) Enter the leeward mark wide so you can pass by the leeward mark close enough to touch it and be close hauled. He picked up a boat there because he had been practicing the leeward mark rounding.

 

So help yourself, there is a lot to learn AND TO PRACTICE.

 

Get started again.

This is a picture of the old fellow coming off a plane when he was sitting way back in the boat to get the bow up and mostly planing on the flatter aft section of the hull.  I have moved up a little, but need to get further forward. Old guys move slower.  I should have had more vang on to get  more out of the sail.  That's a problem when people are taking your picture. You see all that dumb stuff.

We had a Sunfish show up at our club and I got Will White's "The Sunfish Book" out to check some of the measurements and then stopped in on the chapter that was an interview with my son David who told him "I am always working the sheet a little bit.  When I slow down I ease it out a little.  Then I trim in and sail a little higher or a little faster.  In general I don't think  pointing pays.  You have to be aware of the boat speed you are losing.  Some guys sail higher and if the wind doesn't shift, when you tack you will come back together.  If you sail into a header you will be ahead when you tack.   If you get lifted then you you where going the wrong way.  Try to foot to the headers."

David has won a lot of races, so it is worth thinking about.

Foot to the headers is all old stuff, but I need to think more about keeping the speed up.  Need to do that in practice so it is automatic during the races.

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LASERS SAIL AROUND THE WORLD

This blog thing is amazing.  My “How to Sail the Laser. Blogspot.com” draws 50 t0 100 hits a day.  They look at a variety of topics extending back several years.  And this is where the most recent visitors are from: 

USA    126

UK        50

Russia 30

Australia 25

Denmark 14

Singapore 13

France   7

Sweden   7

Italy          6

Pakistan   6

LASERS START A NEW YEAR

THIS YEAR LET US GET MORE PEOPLE OUT ON A LASER.

THIS YEAR I WILL CONTINUE TRIPS 3 TIMES A WEEK TO THE GYM. I have done the last 13 months.  It has not been easy, because when it get easy we notch it up a little.  I think it helps, but there is just one of me --so no controls.

THIS YEAR I WILL TRY TO GET MORE SAILING IN DURING THE WEEK.  Pretty soon I will be off to the lake for the first sail of 2013.

THIS YEAR I WILL TRY TO GET AN OCCASIONAL ENTRY IN THIS BLOG.  The old stuff is pretty good.  I just need to read back through it myself.
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LASERS LOOK BACK AT 2012

This year has been bad and good.   Probably check out March 31 on LASERS PRACTICE STARTS.  Check  down to the left for starts and they will all come up.

I will have a resolution for January 1. 2013 --- so check back.        

LASERS LOOK AROUND

                                   A democrat and a republican go for a sail.