Liberty is being free from the things we don't like in order to be slaves of the things we do like.--Ernest Benn

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Working Up a Lather

Lady-at-the-Helm Race, which I refer laconically as LATHeR: So little winds, only about a dozen boats showed up. At the prep signal, the wheel was seized from my grip and I was sent forward to put my beer muscle on the leeward rail. I will not mention the discussions which transpired on board, because what happens on the boat always stays on the boat. I will report what other boats could observe:
  • We were over early. In drifting conditions that's the race.
  • Our spinnaker pole has been restored!
  • Reaching to the 2nd mark, we could not fetch it and so had to temporarily drop the chute.
  • Under four knots of wind in a sea, we cannot tack; we were forced to over-stand and gybe.
  • At the last (leeward) mark we actually managed to slam dunk another boat.
Whenever the crew mutinies and installs Trophy Wife at the helm, usually in super light conditions, my favorite position going to weather is flat on my back on the leeward rail, slightly abaft of the mast. From there it's a comfortable and productive focus on the electronic wind indicator and jib tell-tales. From this vantage point, I can more clearly and more instantly discern changes in the apparent wind angle than anyone else on board. Of course I am in no position to know, whenever I bellow my observations aft, how they are received; or if indeed, they are received.

7 comments:

  1. I'm sorry, did you say something Doc?

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  2. Good ballast is hard to find. Just remember to not snore!!

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  3. Nice view. As Dylan said... You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...

    Hurray for the pole! The spinnaker shall rise again!

    Which reminds me of the time I was at the Olympics and found myself standing next to a tall athlete. I asked, "excuse me, but are you a pole vaulter?" And he replied, "No, I'm Ukrainian. But how did you know my name was Walter?"

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  4. And Contig, 1st rule is what happens on the boat, stays on the boat!

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  5. Exactly! Thanks for explaining "the position" to poor old Buff

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