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.

Waiting for the Fat Lady

I'm sitting in the stands watching the last of the PIA groups on after out PSA class. The kids performed their best show in finals, the only job they had to do. Now we are waiting for the scores.

What an experience for the kids. How many times in their lives will they ever compete for a World Championship and actually be in contention? What an experience for us as parebts too. I say it often: how lucky we are to live vicariously through their experiences. Once they caught their wind after pushing the tons of equipment up hill and out of the arena after the show, their excitement and emotion boiled over. Tears, hugs, speaches, cheers, and more. The experience of coming out of the tunnel to cheers from the higher seeded groups, crowds of people we didn't know congratulating us, was very very cool.

The kids are off to put their uniforms back on for a full retreat. Scores and trophies start at 10 PM. They already earned a finals spot. So they have exceeded any goal we had. If they picked up a point or maybe more, they can pick up some places. I'm nervous.

Some pics and some short video will be posted soon.

I am so proud of my two kids, Emily and Danny. They both performed their best. I can't explain the feeling. Pride is too lame. Great job guys. I love you both.

Group Photo after Semis

Rehearsal Thursday

Half Way Through Day One

It is 5:30. The kids have been up for about 11 hours. They ate, rehearsed for 3 hours, 1/2 hour drive, warmed up for 2 hours, competed, more driving, more eating, more driving, and now they are setting up for 2 more hours of warm up and a competition.

The mood has been good to great. The performance and subsequent feedback led to a real big high. The score and placement, and the fact Hilton beat us with the same judging panel, led to a dip in morale.

A couple hour break and a private chat with Teddy has really shifted everyone back to competition mode.

So much of the first performance was simply experiencing the venue. We had to learn how to maneuver the props and gear dow the 2-story ramp, a very steep ramp. I was pushing the floor. It was more than I could control. The kids did all they could to get the gear down then up. Plus this was the first event where we had to take the floor out unfolded. 20 of us under it like a chinese dragon all the way up and out of the arena.

So we have made excuses, at least us overly competetive parents. Staff has listened to the feedback and is now going tp make the adjustments. The kids say they are now worlds experienced and that is not a valid excuse anymore.

Expectations are back high again. Hilton cannot beat us. 0.7 is an easy amount to pick up with all those excuses. Top four in the semi grouping is the goal.

Kids right now are getting uniforms on, checking out each others sunburns (80 degrees and sunny), taking on liquids, getting rid of liquids, and just hanging. Work starts in about 10 minutes.

Prelims

On our way to the first round. The bus is functional. The kids are in costume. The final run throughs are done.

Now, nobody except the parents seem to be nervous. The kids are acting normal, or as normal as drummers can be. I on the other hand have knots in my stomach.

Scores are already going up at www.wgi.org



Next post in a couple hours