Season Champion's Clinic

Today was a glorious day to be out on the water. Derek DeCouteau, last year's season champion, walked us through how he sets up the boat in the various wind conditions. One of the things I like about our fleet is that if you have a question about the boat all you need to do is ask. If you got nothing else from his talk, remember to use the lower back stay as a throttle in the light to medium wind we sail in on Budd Inlet. Pull it on to power up and ease it to de-power, but don't forget to get it off as you head down wind or you'll join our order of the mangled mast. Joseph Donnette helped with the demonstrations of the various controls by setting up his boat at the dock.

We had a large group for the shore talk. So many in fact, the floating dock at Westbay Marina was at the limit with the water near the top of the dock. I think Derek's advice was good to look at the Tuning Guides for North and Quantum and the technical articles on the Star web site. these are links to the various sites where the information can be found.

After the shore talk 12 boats went out in ideal conditions for a sailing clinic. The winds were about 4 knots from the north, with occasional puffs up to 6 knots. Perfect for trying out our lower back stay throttles. Derek and Bill put us through down speed tacking and gybing drills, and it was a bit like herding cats trying to get us all in line for the start of the tacking drills, but they got it done.

Thank you Derek for putting this on for us. I know it will help us all as we get ready for the Black Star Regatta next week. Those of you that didn't make it to the clinic, watch out!!!

Fun Scenario 2

What do you think of this one.

The Intended answers from US Sailing are:
1. Yellow breaks Rule 10.
2. Blue breaks no rule
3. Yellow is not exonerated for breaking Rule 10 because she does not do her turns in accordance with Rule 44.2.

The explanation given by US Sailing is that Yellow must first get well clear and then do two uninterrupted turns. If this were to occur in one of our races I do not believe I would be compelled to protest Yellow unless there was some sort of advantage gained. In the scenario shown I see no advantage to Yellow. It is not always easy to anticipate what others are going to do in a race and as the boat doing the turns you are required to keep clear of others and if that obligation requires you to sail clear I'm satisfied if you interrupt the turns to keep clear. If the turns were done as shown in the absence of other boats then I would protest.