Re: [Cal_Boats] My Bottom

To Charlie's point, we have an "old salt" in our club who routinely jumps on other peoples boats, usually rookies, to shows them what their boat can do and will pull off a 2nd or a 3rd his first time on the boat. When we were rookies, this is how naive I was, we had a CS 30 rated at 156 and he was sailing his C&C Redwing 30 at 198, and would beat us soundly on the water every time. Well, I immediately thought his rating must be bogus and was going to challenge it. When I went on the PHRF website and looked at the questions they ask regarding your experience, crew's experience, how often you clean your bottom etc, I quickly realized that this wasn't going anywhere and what was important to win a race. Four years later we were beating him on the water every time although he'd correct over us sometimes, usually when the wind was very light. Those Redwing 30's are scary fast in light air, almost as if they have an electric motor. Paul **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1218822736x1201267884/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID %3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62)

My favorite story about boat speed involves a visit by Greg Fisher to Houston (1990 if I remember correctly) to promote his new sail loft - Fisher Sails. Since I was a dealer for Flying Scot sailboats at the time and regularly ordered Fisher sails for my customers, he agreed to stop by Seabrook Sailing Club and sail with the Flying Scot fleet. He asked to borrow a boat and then asked for the oldest, scruffiest sails that we had so he "wouldn't take any life out of your good sails!" Well, Greg hit the water and we saw nothing but his stern for three races. We had two Texas District Champions and a runner-up in the 12 boats that sailed against him. Needless to say the seminar he gave that evening at our club dinner was "Tactics and boat handling in winning races." During that seminar he said that the NUMBER ONE investment that we could make in our boat and sail inventory was time on the water. His advice was boat on boat short match races and tuning sessions where each skipper took turns being the leeward boat and trying to sail his boat out of the lee of another. He, of course, finished his seminar with all of the reasons why his sails were the best for our boats, but he definitely left his mark on our training schedules and efforts to get out on the water and practice!! Donald Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" PS One of those TX District Champions experimented with hanging a bag with a small leak off the bow of his Flying Scot. In it were long chain polymers that slowly dripped into the water as his boat sailed. He kept time records of sailing back and forth between two fixed marks on the water and his son hung the bags off the bow each time. His times were always better with the bag hanging off the bow -- even when the son tricked him and hung an empty one with nothing in it at all. Classic placebo effect!! "Twenty Years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ........Mark Twain From: "pw… [at] aol.com" <pw… [at] aol.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 7:08:41 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] My Bottom To Charlie's point, we have an "old salt" in our club who routinely jumps on other peoples boats, usually rookies, to shows them what their boat can do and will pull off a 2nd or a 3rd his first time on the boat. When we were rookies, this is how naive I was, we had a CS 30 rated at 156 and he was sailing his C&C Redwing 30 at 198, and would beat us soundly on the water every time. Well, I immediately thought his rating must be bogus and was going to challenge it. When I went on the PHRF website and looked at the questions they ask regarding your experience, crew's experience, how often you clean your bottom etc, I quickly realized that this wasn't going anywhere and what was important to win a race. Four years later we were beating him on the water every time although he'd correct over us sometimes, usually when the wind was very light. Those Redwing 30's are scary fast in light air, almost as if they have an electric motor. Paul A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!

On Feb 28, 2009, at 9:04 AM, Donald Dutton wrote: > > My favorite story about boat speed involves a visit by Greg Fisher > to Houston (1990 if I remember correctly) to promote his new sail > loft - Fisher Sails. Since I was a dealer for Flying Scot sailboats > at the time and regularly ordered Fisher sails for my customers, he > agreed to stop by Seabrook Sailing Club and sail with the Flying > Scot fleet. He asked to borrow a boat and then asked for the > oldest, scruffiest sails that we had so he "wouldn't take any life > out of your good sails!" > > Well, Greg hit the water and we saw nothing but his stern for three > races. We had two Texas District Champions and a runner-up in the > 12 boats that sailed against him. Needless to say the seminar he > gave that evening at our club dinner was "Tactics and boat handling > in winning races." During that seminar he said that the NUMBER ONE > investment that we could make in our boat and sail inventory was > time on the water. His advice was boat on boat short match races > and tuning sessions where each skipper took turns being the leeward > boat and trying to sail his boat out of the lee of another. > Just to add a caveat, we were winning the Balboa Yacht Club 66 Series back in 1985 or so. For the last race, Dave Ullman decided to sail with us. We were using Ullman sails and Dave, who is a terrific sailor and a nice guy, must have decided that he would help us and guarantee the win. You can guess where I'm going, probably. Dave got intrigued with covering another competitor, "Free Enterprise," a custom 41 footer, and sailed us out of the fleet. It cost us the class although we still won overall. I had had a bit of a feud with Balboa YC about something unrelated and the overall trophy that year was an ash tray about 3 inches in diameter. I think the guy who won the class trophy that year had to rent a truck to get it home (just kidding). I'm in BYC once in a while and look at the 66 Series overall trophy in the case. Somehow our name always seems to be turned toward the wall. Sailing with sailmakers can be fun but they don't always have the same agenda you do. All we needed was a third in the last race to win the class that year. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96

some sailmakers joined a local regatta 3 years ago. They borrowed an old Wilderness 18(?). They sorted through the old sail pile. They added a few rocks to the bilge. They jury rigged in some sail adjustments. They kicked everyones tails both on the bouy races and the long distance race. Laughing and having a great time. good techniques and no big-boat-itis. Reggie To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com From: mt… [at] cox.net Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:05:44 -0800 Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] My Bottom and Boat Speed (Paul) On Feb 28, 2009, at 9:04 AM, Donald Dutton wrote: > > My favorite story about boat speed involves a visit by Greg Fisher > to Houston (1990 if I remember correctly) to promote his new sail > loft - Fisher Sails. Since I was a dealer for Flying Scot sailboats > at the time and regularly ordered Fisher sails for my customers, he > agreed to stop by Seabrook Sailing Club and sail with the Flying > Scot fleet. He asked to borrow a boat and then asked for the > oldest, scruffiest sails that we had so he "wouldn't take any life > out of your good sails!" > > Well, Greg hit the water and we saw nothing but his stern for three > races. We had two Texas District Champions and a runner-up in the > 12 boats that sailed against him. Needless to say the seminar he > gave that evening at our club dinner was "Tactics and boat handling > in winning races." During that seminar he said that the NUMBER ONE > investment that we could make in our boat and sail inventory was > time on the water. His advice was boat on boat short match races > and tuning sessions where each skipper took turns being the leeward > boat and trying to sail his boat out of the lee of another. > Just to add a caveat, we were winning the Balboa Yacht Club 66 Series back in 1985 or so. For the last race, Dave Ullman decided to sail with us. We were using Ullman sails and Dave, who is a terrific sailor and a nice guy, must have decided that he would help us and guarantee the win. You can guess where I'm going, probably. Dave got intrigued with covering another competitor, "Free Enterprise," a custom 41 footer, and sailed us out of the fleet. It cost us the class although we still won overall. I had had a bit of a feud with Balboa YC about something unrelated and the overall trophy that year was an ash tray about 3 inches in diameter. I think the guy who won the class trophy that year had to rent a truck to get it home (just kidding). I'm in BYC once in a while and look at the 66 Series overall trophy in the case. Somehow our name always seems to be turned toward the wall. Sailing with sailmakers can be fun but they don't always have the same agenda you do. All we needed was a third in the last race to win the class that year. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96