LASER BLOGGER LOOKS AT THE NUMBERS

When the "blogger" goes in to add a post, there is a little spot that says  "STATS".    Surprise --- here is the STATS from a couple of weeks ago.

Views so far today      66
Views yesterday         100
Views last month         2,406
Views all time              50,180

From
USA      197
UK          56
France    28
Canada   20
Australia   19
Germany  16
Netherlands15
Russia       15
New Zealand 11
Mexico      10

What they look at...
LIFE COACH - chapter 3       17
LASER STUFF   6-5  2010      14
LASERS TAKE A DRINK       13
LASERS UPWIND IN WAVES   13
LASERS AND THE SCOWS       12
LASER SAIL THE WALLY          12
LASERS HAVE EXERCISE AND FUN  9

Source     Some from  Proper Course blog and most from Google.   Google  "Laser and some activity" and it may land you in an old post.

LASERS AND THE BIG START

 I watched a recent MC Scow race with 45 boats in the start. I was watching from just above the windward mark. The wind was up a little with a few white caps, some of the guys doubled up on the boats and one boat turned over on the way up to windward.

At the first rounding of the windward mark, the first boat came in on port tack with about a 2 boat lead on the first starboard boat and the second boat also coming in from port just squeezed by. Then the confusion really set in. About half the fleet on port and half on starboard. The starboard guys that couldn’t lay the line were in real trouble. Port tackers dodging trying to find a hole to get through.

I am thinking that the bigger the fleet, the more important the START.

I have an old book by Manfred Curry. He was an American MD living in Germany and wrote the first book about sailboat racing. That was in 1925 and in written in German. That was a long time ago. Two years before I was born. My copy in English was published in 1933, the third edition.

The first half of the book is theory and the second half is racing. He describes the “safe leeward position” and among other things getting the good start. He says that if you are not over the line twice in ten starts you are not trying hard enough. Well, maybe --- that depends on the race, the competitors, your standing, how many more races in the series, etc. I have 27 posts on STARTING. Go way down on the left side of this blog and click on STARTING and they will all line up for you.

Wonders of the computer world.

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LASERS TACKLE EXERCISE AND FUN

I love to tackle the fun question because you can read about sailing smart and fast in all the books--- but FUN is a different problem.

The January 2012 "Vitality Magazine" has an article "5 ways to have fun in Fitness".  ( Yes, it often is both Hard and Boring.)

1.  Let music move you.  Get the portable stuff and tune into something with the right rhythm.

2.  Get out in the cold.  Ice skate.  Winter walk.

3.  Get your game on.  Play tag with the kids.  Adult league sports.

4. Energize your environment.  Pictures in the stairwell and even music.  Skip the elevator.

5. Socialize as you exercise.  Nothing like working out with others.  Walking group.  Fitness class.


OK.  Now join the Laser Fleet and do 3 and 5.  If you are up North maybe add 2. and frostbite.
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LASERS AND THE SCOWS

WHEN THE WIND IS LIGHT, sail the Laser like a scow.   Heel to leeward to reduce wetted surface and sit forward.  Head the boat lower (bow down) to keep the boat moving.  Close reaching if needed. 

Downwind stay away from dead down wind. Do transitions from by the lee to broad reach at almost 90 degrees.  You will be sailing faster and getting downwind sooner.  Keep big windward heel to get sail up higher where there is more wind.

Attached below is performance sheet from small keel boat that shows the larger tacking angle going up wind in lighter air and the larger gybing angle going downwind in the lighter air.   I circled the fast VMG's .

LASERS TAKE A DRINK

The Fall 2011 “Laser Sailor” Quarterly Magazine has an article on effect of caffeine on exercise by Evan Lewis... Caffeine causes release of adrenaline which increases energy, reduces fatigue, and enhances mental alertness. The effect is in 15 to 30 minutes and lasts around three hours with difference due to body size and Tolerance.


Test done with cyclists and runners showed that caffeine in levels from 3 to 9 mg /kg increases time to muscle fatigue. Caffeine from coffee doesn’t seem to do the same. Probably due to other compounds in the coffee.

Now an ideal Laser sailor at 170 pounds (about 77 Kg.) would need 231 mg caffeine to get up to 3mg/kg. 12 ounce Coke has 35 mg so that is 6.6 cans. We will need some other way. An energy drink called Bing 120 mg caffeine in 12 ounce can, so you could do that with 2 cans, but look out because there are several other larger amounts of maybe stimulating things listed on the can. Monster Energy drink has 2500 mg of “energy compounds” listed along with caffeine, but doesn’t say how much caffeine.

The two ounce gels at the gym have 140 mg of caffeine. That maybe the stuff. Warning on the bottle -- don’t take more than two a day.

“5 Hour Energy” (2 ounce) has 1870 energy blend including caffeine, but no note about how much caffeine. I bought a little bottle and took a sip. Hardly any, but got so shaky that I threw the rest away.

While the studies apparently were double blind with some contestants getting caffeine and some not and no one knew which were which until after it was all over. I didn’t see any attempt to see what continued high doses would do. That is the question of Tolerance which I capitalized in the first paragraph. I have been on and off caffeine a bunch of times in the past many years and whenever I come back on, I get a big kick from a little and after a while it settles back.

Probably you want to get stronger by sailing and exercise and not by drinking this stuff. If you do use it, do it regularly and be sure to continue it with your sailing. Be careful. All the bottles say not to be taken by children or pregnant women or if you are taking other caffeine products.

Not much help I know!
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LASERS GET THEIR PENCILS OUT.

Reported in the Fall "Laser sailor", Peter Seidenberg at the San Francisco Masters after seven races he felt he was doing poorly.  Problem with the tides.  He studied the tables more closely and made notes on his deck.  Next day, four first and a second.  You need to know what the tide is doing.  

The other notes you might make on the deck are the wind shifts before the race, when you are using a compass.   Don't try to make the notes later-- hard enough to keep your head out of the boat when you are using a compass. Get out early and make your notes and figure an average so you can always tell if you are going right or left.

A lot of good folks don't use a compass.  Ask me about that if you like and we can touch on it.
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LASERS SAIL WITH GOLDIE HAWN

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ove  ing

I love to send this sort of thing to you.

Goldie Hawn’s “10 Mindful Minutes”, a book written with Wendy Holden, is about Goldie’s “Hawn Foundation” promoting social and emotional learning programs in elementary schools called MindUP.

Goldie suggests this for children and adults. Let me greatly simplify it for you. For five minutes twice a day, close your eyes and think only of your breathing. You run the breathing. Abdominal and chest. In and Out. Don’t think of anything else. Usually your bottom brain does this, now you run it.

Do this just twice a day and “just as daily exercise leads to physical fitness, engaging in mindful exercise on a regular basis improves your mind fitness. Working memory is an important feature of mindfulness. Not only does it safe guard against emotional and mental reaction, but provides a mental workshop to ensure quick-and-considered decisions and action plans. Building mind fitness with mindful training may help anyone who must maintain peak performance in the face of extremely stressful circumstances.” THERE YOU ARE LASER SAILORS.

This reminds me of an interview I read of Robert Scheidt, who, before the race, after his boat was prepared for racing, he went off by himself to prepare mentally for the boat race.

In addition to the mindful breathing (meditation) 2X a day Goldie’s group of scientists suggest Optimism, Happiness, Gratitude, Ex- anger, Manage Sadness, Control Fear, Develop Empathy, Show Kindness, and do hree random acts of kindness daily.

OK Goldie—come and join our fleet. We will love it.



PS If you want to help yourself and your children with all these things – get the book—lots of games and details.

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