1 day, 7 races, 13 points

Father's Day. This is a day of rest and relaxation for the normal Dads. For me, it always lands on a Sunday, so that means sailing.

Yesterday was the first day both E-Scows and MC-Scows sailed this year. All I can say is that 7 races in a day is more than this body can handle.

It started with E-Scows and a 10:30 or so start in South wind. We won the start and were first to the windward mark only to find the spinnaker sheet set up under the bow sprit, which dropped us to second, a few hundred yards behind the eventual winner. Race 2 was delayed an hour while the Race Committee shifted the course for a West wind. It went just as swimmingly with an unexpected bow sprit retraction that led to a sea anchor set. We had enough time in this race to recover and win thanks to George's astute choices downwind.

I went home for a quick lunch and watched the wind die completely. So with energy to burn I shoveled dirt for 45 minutes or so until the wind came up. Sails went up at the club so it was time to sail out to the starting line.

MC-Scow race 1 had 6 boats, the largest fleet yet this year. We ended up with 7 for the following races. The boat end was heavily favored. There was quite a scramble for control there. I came out on top but in the mix let a couple boats down the line get ahead. Third at the top mark, but closed on a puff and gained the inside at the mark. From there I defended to the finish and won it.

In race 2 I made a big mistake. I tacked on top of second place on the layline to the windward mark. I hoped to roll him prior to the mark but didn't make it. On rounding he REACHED for at least 5 seconds, maybe 10. That straight sideways motion lost us both the race, and guaranteed we would not get anywhere near the inside at the bottom end. Another boat also caught up making me the outside of the pinwheel at the bottom mark. With no clear air and no lane and no real time to recover, I went from 1st to 4th with no control over my destiny for 3/4 of the race.

Race 3 was equally challenging. I picked the wrong side and rounded deep, maybe fourth. It took a lot of work to get back to second.

Race 4 was interesting. I had this one won coming around the bottom mark. I was second there but headed the right way and in phase on the shifts. I passed for the lead and was already adding up the points in my head. But I tacked 2 boat lengths too soon onto the Starboard layline. I ended up with a boat on my hip preventing my tack back to Port. When I could, I lost that boat and had to shoot the line and do a lot of avoiding. But 5 boats finished in 7 seconds. So pulling out a 2 from that race was a big save. I thought it might be a 5.

Race 5 was unusual. With the wind shifting NW all day, the boat was always favored. But this time it didn't seem right. The wind was picking up to 15 or so and veering SW. I decided on the pin end which ended up very favored. I quickly tacked to Port and layed the mark with traveller all the way down and vang on hard. The lead never evaporated and I finished on a strong win.

So finishes for the day were 2, 1, 1, 4, 2, 2, 1. I think that was pretty good. For the first time this year we had some real challenging MC sailing. Almost all the hot shots were out.

But this morning my old man body was really screaming at me. My hands wouldn't open up. My arms rebelled at being lifted to wash my hair. I have a big bruise on my head (again). Typing this is not comfortable. But on the plus side I lost 5 pounds!

The day finished with a nice hammock nap, a great steak dinner, a boat ride, and a very pleasant evening.

Happy Fathers Day.

What's a Wiz Nut

Emily, Danny, and Emily’s friend Emma built the lift Sunday morning. And I have to say it looks correct! While they were building the lift I was doing other chores. Let’s go with that. Yes.

So here’s how it went. First I suggested that they build the lift near the house and carry it to the lake later. This way they can listen to music (Pandora on streaming wireless!) and be closer to the tools. After some discussion they never made a decision so I simply dropped the large side pieces of the lift in the front yard making the decision for them. After some carting of the pieces to the yard, I opened the box, handed the instructions to Emily and said “Here you go” and left.

“Wait! What do we do?”

“Read. What are the first words of the instructions?”

Emily reads “Step 1…”

So I go over behind the car and start moving the debris pile more out of the way creating parking. It’s a job I can do that is easily interrupted. I figure I have at least until step 3 before I’m called back.

“Dad?”

I come back to find everything exactly as I left it. They are on step 1, but are debating who gets to read the instructions and who has to work. They wanted me to referee. Not a chance. I go back to work.

“Dad?”

I walk back.

Emily is holding up a huge bag of nuts and bolts. “What size is 3/8 inch bolt?” Danny is sitting to the side just upset that Emily gets to read the instructions and he can’t go back to his X Box.

Emma suddenly starts screaming, pointing at the ground, and hoping around on tip toes. “A caterpillar!” She proceeds to tell us her childhood trauma story about a caterpillar (seriously) while we toss the centipede into the lake.

Back to Step 1.

I ask “where’s the tape measure?”

“What tape measure?”

“Seriously” I ask? I intentionally didn’t tell the kids where the tools were. The two large overfilled buckets of tools were sitting just inside the front door for three weeks now, just 4 feet away. They tripped over them repeatedly. They moved them a couple feet to make room for lounging on cushions the night before.

Emily goes to the kitchen drawer and gets the tape measure.

I ripped open the bag of hardware and dumped it on the porch. I sort the various sizes of nuts and bolts into piles.

Emma asks “Why don’t they have them sorted in separate bags with nice labels on them?” Good question.

I show them the difference between a ½ inch bolt and a 3/8, we measure the lengths and finally the honor student trio gets it. Step 1 gets going. Emily reads “Using 4 ½ x 3/8 bolts and wiz nuts attach the lower cross bar to the front of the sides making sure the side with the safety stickers is on the left.”

Emma giggles “Wiz nut.”

Emily asks “Which side is the left?”

Danny asks “What’s a wiz nut?”

I reply “A very smart nut.” I show them the three types of nuts, lock nut, wiz nut, and normal nut. I ask if the understand the types of nuts now. They giggle.

Danny and Emma hold the sides while Emily attaches the cross beam.

I go back to moving a wood pile. On the way there I look back to see one loosely attached side falling down as they were discussing where to find “tightening thingies.” When I’m done moving the pile, I went back to check on the progress. They were up to step three. They obviously found the tools because there was a complete selection of “tightening thingies” laid out including most sizes of wrenches and two different socket drivers. They had worked out a method of who gets to read instructions. And whenever any one of them said “wiz nut” the other two yelled “wiz nut.” I was enjoying watching too much to go do anything else. So I made busy work nearby, just straightening and stuff.

Over the next hour they pretty well set up the whole thing. I helped with the important stuff like attaching the cable to the winch and aligning the bunks. Emma got to read step 8 which was the winch install. It had step 8a through 8g so she ended up doing most of the reading. In the end there were only three leftover parts including a spring. But the instructions said “you will not need this spring in any part of this process.” So Danny wore it on his nose instead. Another leftover was a spare bolt for holding the wheel on. Unfortunately it was larger than the one we needed for the other lift.

Step 8G said “When you are done your hands will look like this.” And there was a picture of really dirty hands. We held up our hands and sure enough they looked like the picture. So we must have done it right.

Lunch interrupted before any more progress was made. And soon Emily and Emma were watching a movie, Danny was playing video games, and I was off to sail. But first Rob Plummer and the Frissora family showed up to collect the E-Scow. That took some time to get rigged and launched.

After sailing I came back to find the new lift almost in place, Danny out on the jetski, and the girls searching for big flat rocks to put under the feet. After putting the MC-Scow on the lift, I help the girls drag the new lift to shore. I used a “tightening thingy” to loosen the leg bolts and adjust the legs. The two strong-like-bull girls and I carried it back in place. Danny brought the big Yamaha in then, a landing and pretty much failed. Both girls had to guide him in.

In the end we have more parking space, a large collection of empty trailers above, and a dock littered with lifts and boats. Both jetskis are in and functional. The old one works well enough after some adjusting of the carburetor. We have wireless working, but the cable between the houses needs to be lifted out of the way attached to the houses.

All in all, we are open for business.

Proud Parent Post 2

Danny's Piano recital June 2010

Proud Parent Post 1

Emily's Tri-M piano recital.

Pleasant Sailing

Sunday racing turned out to be some of the most pleasant sailing there could be. Morning rains and afternoon clouds kept all but the most foolish motor boats off the lake. The wind was North blowing 8-10 with gusts to 12, shifting only slightly, maybe 5 degree shifts as the big ones.

I was late to the start because I was giving away my E-Scow. I actually still get a bit choked up thinking about it. But the family that got it will use it a whole lot more than I do now.

There were 4 races but I had to leave after 3 due to time constraints. For the first time I started to feel the boat perform a little bit for me. It takes a lot of concentration but I'm getting there. It's not habit like in a laser where I can sail by feel while I concentrated on other things. But I could get the speed when I needed to.

In the first two races I tried to mix it up at the start. With only 4 boats it is hard to create a crowded line. But I was able to do it a bit and got a couple nice clean starts. Only a couple bad tacks, one of which forced me to protect the layline to keep the lead. Downwind I tried a few things. I'm not comfortable with where my safe wind lines are yet, where the shadow is from trailing boats. I played a bit trying to put myself in a shadow and feel it on my neck. The wind was so steady that there wasn't going to be much other opportunity ever to do this. I learned some.

Race 1 last windward Brent P tacking dueled me. But he wasn't close enough to really impact the result. Race 2 I won by a clear margin, maybe a minute.

Race 3 I started on the unfavored end alone, and concentrated only on boat speed, decided to one-tack the mark and actually tacked slightly late. I learned that centered traveller is slow, but small movements in it make a big difference. The speed was enough to get me to the top mark first and I held that to the finish.

Leaving race 4 to the other three boats was tough. But I had an extra kid that I had to take home by dinner time. If my mental calculations are good, I'm still in front from a scoring standpoint. but I really need to sail against a few other people to know if I am making progress.

I sure do enjoy this boat though. Downwind is hot and slow, but also my biggest challenge.

My boat!

No sailing

For some reason nobody wanted to sail Sunday about 1:00. I tried to tell them the worst of the front was already through, but they didn't listen.

Of course I also did not go out pleasure sailing. Instead I leveled the boat lift, burned the brush pile, measured out the template for the deck roof trusses, raised the water line out of the mud, and did other odd jobs around the cottage.

I did don the rubber suit and go swimming. I had to in order to level the lift. While I was floating around, the largest bass I ever saw decided to folow me . For anyone wanting to catch it, there is a real steep drop off in front of the point at our place. It, and half a dozen other Bass, lives there, about 15 feet off shore, about 10 feet deep.

In other news, it was award week at school. My son received two awards. The first was for maintaining High Honor Roll for all of Jr. High. The second was from the Music Department as one of two Band Achievement awards.

My daughter was announced as one of two Drum Majors for 2010.

Both kids are "special" to me.

Priorities - Screwing Over Sailing

It's not often that you get to write about how proud as a parent I am of my teenage children's screwing abilities. But this weekend they and many other friends and family screwed 1300 or so deck screws to create our new deck on the cottage. The deck is done. Now we have to see about the roof for it. But that's another story.

The lumber was delivered Friday afternoon and by Saturday we had most of the deck done. Many hands make light work. Of course there were many other saying this weekend like "It's all fun and games until somebody loses a testicle." An building the deck was not the only thing I had to do.

The lake is something like 70 degrees, as long as you stay right at the surface. The air was into the 80's, but unfortunately not really moving. Sailing was scheduled for Sunday and Monday mornings for E-Scows, and afternoons for MC-Scows. In order to screw as much as possible (the pun never gets old), I bailed on the mornings and just sailed afternoons. This was also the first test of the plan to take the MC straight from the lift to the race.

Sunday morning I ate breakfast out with the family (new concept when not sailing in the morning), drove 90 minutes round trip to Lowes for the last deck bits, went to a birthday party until Noon, and then started the MC launch. Having not been sailed since Florida I suspected I needed time to rig and launch. Sure enough launch included pulling out covers and trailing gear from the boat, and tipping it over at the dock to attach a halyard. It was blowing a nice 6-8 from the Northeast and I was itching to go sailing, an itch I hadn't yet been able to properly scratch yet this year.

So off I go sailing for the starting area. Nobody was out so I sailed toward the club. I got half way across the lake and the wind collapsed totally. A quick tow from a friend to the club revealed no sailing due to no wind. I ate, drank, and did the non-sailing part of being a sailor for an hour or so, then sailed home in the late afternoon breeze.

On the way home I tried a few roll tacks. The first attempt put the tiller extension into my pocket, knocking me down and nearly capsizing the boat. OK, back to basics. I need boat time to simply do lots of maneuvers. As of right now I feel like the kid that took all the Jr. Sailing lessons, got onto his first Laser and capsized at the dock.

After I got home I put the MC on the lift which promptly broke. I left it precariously perched over night.

Monday I was alone at the cottage. The lift repair took the better part of three hours to remanufacture a leg. It was pushing 1:00 when I finally got the MC under tow (little or no wind) to the club. The 1:30 start was going to be tight. But the morning sailing at the club went long and they delayed the start until 2:00. But it looked like we really were going to have a race! Finally some local racing in my own boat.

2:00 - pre race sailing against Steve. One lap. Steve walked away from me on speed upwind. I caught him downwind by splitting left, got the inside at the mark and pulled away. After circling back to fall behind a bit we started a small tacking duel. This was great because neither of us had much boat time.

Race 1 - 5 boats, 1 lap. Big lefty right before the start. I port tacked the "fleet" starting with a 5-6 boat length lead. I blew that quickly and struggled to lead at the top mark by 1 length over Brent P. He passed me downwind leading at the bottom mark by 2 lengths. I engaged him 1/2 way up the leg with a 8 or 10 tack duel. I got around him, but lost Bob Meyer to the right. A lot of boat speed work later I caught Bob with 100 yards to go. One race, 1 win.

Race 2 - same 5 boats. Still a left favor and lots of room at the pin. But I read my watch wrong and hit my run 10 seconds early. That meant ducking 2 boats to find a hole mid line on Port. The better air was left though. I "Z" legged it left and ended up pretty far back in third at the top mark. Downwind I quickly split West and found a really cool shot. I think I surged pretty far ahead. Time to go consolidate. Then I blew the jibe and lost it all and came back into the fleet in a pack. I had the inside at the mark but was dead slow. Steve scooted around first, then a pack of us (60% of the fleet is a "pack") demolition derbied it around the mark. I proceeded to sail half the leg with both boards down (very slow, like dragging a foot). Still I managed to hold off the pack to follow Steve into the finish. Steve gets his first win in his recently purchased MC.

Race 3 - square line and wind. Starboard start at the boat well timed. Little wind and less patience. I didn't do well settling in and concentrating. Third at the top, well behind. Brent G led, Brent P second, then me. Brent P hates slow light air downwind. I worked on concentration, speed, smooth rudder work and actually passed Brent P on speed. I take Brent G's transom on Starboard, split right staying higher and faster than him. But I over stand the bottom mark losing any gains. Brent G still 3 lengths ahead at the bottom mark. A few tacks in the motor boat chop and I realize I'm too far back to get around him that way. I see new wind WAY off the the left. The only chance is to go left and hope he splits right keeping on the current wind line. We split, he extends. I'm about 15 lengths back when I finally get the new wind on the left. Direction is not what I needed for an easy win. We come back together within inches of each other just 100 feet short of the line. The last 100 feet is intense. I'm doing all I can to drive down over him and he is doing all he can to drive up under me. Whoever has the lead when we get together will backwind the other just enough to win the race. This time it happened to be me. Race 3, win 2.

Analysis of the day was that I would not hold my own in any big fleet. The starts were dodgy at best. Boat speed was good upwind, very poor downwind. Boat handling was a total fail. Wind reading and tactics were OK. When the two or three other hot shots get sailing, it will be even harder to find a win. I'll take them while I can though.