Monday, June 6, 2011

Happenings

Last Saturday, June 4, was my first day helping to run the sailboat races this summer. About ten or a dozen people are involved running the races. We have a large power boat from which we signal starts and race courses to the sailors. Two smaller power boats are used to place marks for them to sail around, at directions and distances we think will give good racing under conditions at the time. When they finish the race, we also record the finishes. We generally leave shore sometime between 11:00 and 11:30. The racing takes place from 12:30 until sometime around 4:00 (depending on how well the wind holds). Then we go ashore, and usually spend an hour or so relaxing on the porch of the yacht club. So it makes for a pretty comfortable day — with enough time before and after to attend to at least some errands or projects.

Membership dues in the club aren't cheap, but I stay on largely because I think it's good for me to have something to get me out of the house and interacting with other people.
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2 comments:

Mister Ed said...

I had always assumed that sailboat racing involved the same course each time at each location - not that I know much about sail racing - I am a confirmed landlubber!

From your description I get the impression that each time is different - like golf tourneys change tee and hole locations. That sounds like it would be fun for the sailors as well as challenging.

Your part seems like it would be OK in good weather, but 4-plus hours on a boat in rough seas would not appeal to me at all!!

June 9, 2011 at 7:35 PM
naturgesetz said...

It has evolved over the years.

In the 1950's the marks that racers had to sail around were either government navigation buoys or marks in a fixed location that the yacht clubs put in place every year. So the race committee would try to figure out what sequence of marks would give the best racing. The most competitive racing is when boats have to go upwind, which they can't do directly, so they have to zig-zag, and figure out how to get the most speed out of their boats. It's much trickier than sailing downwind.

Since the 1980's we've been using inflatable tetrahedrons which can be put anywhere. So we go out to the racing area, see which way the wind is coming from, and send a boat upwind to set a windward mark in place at what we think is a good distance for the strength of the wind. And another boat stays with us and puts marks in place for the start and finish of the race.

Rough seas are less pleasant than calm ones, but most of the time we're paying attention to the races. If we aren't starting boats or recording their finishes, we're keeping an eye on the wind, because if it shifts more than 10 or 15 degrees, we'll want to shift a mark so they'll have a good upwind leg of the course.

A couple of people have joined the committee and found they were too subject to seasickness to continue, but most of us are okay physically even in the rough weather.

June 9, 2011 at 8:00 PM

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