LASERS AND OTHERS REST

Now just after we have been told to get plenty of sleep, this stuff about resting comes to the surface.  If you don't get proper rest after strenuous exercise, the muscles will not build in strength and bulk.  If you exercise too close together, the muscle doesn't have enough tiime to rebuild.

So now sleep and rest --- go to the gym occassionally and sailing occasionally.  

Well, how about FUN.   Maybe do what you like.
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LASERS SLEEP

Well, yes, he doesn't look like he is sleeping.  Looks like cold water. Serious guy with watch on mast and one on his left wrsit.  Vang and "ham" on.  That is Evan Lewis who wrote the article in Spring 2011 Laser Sailor on sleep before sailing.  He tells you all about it, but in brief:

What happens when you sleep?   The brain reorganizes and inproves the recent practiced skills.  The muscles rejuvinate and replace glycogen stores.

Without adequate sleep you will get fatigue, irritability, mood changes, poor concentration and lose of patience.

Adults need 7 to 8 hours sleep.  Young and young adults 8 to 10 hours.

Get in the dark, the quiet, the regular routine, no food or exercise just before bed.   At a regatta, look for a good place to sleep.

Check out Evan's web site for more tips and Laser stuff.... http://www.evenlewis.ca/
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THE LASER ELEVEN

The Eleven best ways to top finishes.

1. Nail the start.
2. Hit the shifts.
3. Keep the pedal down. (Keep sailing fasst)
4. Go to the pressure  (wind).
5. Stay out of the corners.
6. On reaches, high in the lulls and low in the puffs.
7. Inside or behind at the marks.
8. Get in the passing lane if behind.
9. Avoid confrontations-- for for speed.
10. Cover on the beat to the finish.
11. Keep track of your goals  --- to win the race or to win a series, etc.
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LASERS START FAST

Well, yes, that is the same picture Tillerman used a few days ago, but Paul Goodison has won enough races that maybe we should pay a little attention to any suggestions he has. Now I happen to have RYA Laser Handbook by Paul Goodison on my coffee table, so I just looked through it for maybe the “best” suggestion.


I settled on STARTING, but before I start copying from the book, I will tell you that in many many pictures the “clear start watch” is around the mast just below the goose neck. It is even there when he is putting the mast and sail in the boat. If you do that, you will need a watch on your left hand, so that you can read time when on port tack. Then you will need both watches running accurate. I would suggest getting perfect time, checking on your wrist first and then punching the mast watch. Then synchronize the mast watch with next signal.. I bet really good sailors have the time right on the button.

Then before the start Paul is “hovering” below the starting line. Close-hauled heading or a little below that with sail at full luff and kicker (vang) off. Just before starting to accelerate he reaches forward and puts the kicker (vang) on for up wind settling. Now quickly “jab” the tiller up wind and hike the boat to windward to turn the boat to below close-hauled course. Flatten the boat, trimming in some and heeling the boat to leeward as you come below close hauled. Sheet in more. Hike hard to flatten the boat and drive it forward. Once the boat is up to speed, trim to block to block and return to close-hauled course. Full concentration now on sailing fast.

Timing, force, direction and rolling all the little things together --- maybe will give you a better start.

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LASERS SAIL FAST

This is old stuf, recently written, but worth thinking about.

The WOW or words of wisdom as long as I had three wins on Sunday. Topics, so you can judge if interested at all--- 1. Windward heel--- 2. Roll tacks --- 3. By the lee sail trim.


Rob was sailing with windward heel whenever he could manage it, and making it pay off—speed and less leeway. The little lee helm that it requires bothered him, but not enough for him to think that it wasn’t working. I have done that before. The results are not spectacular, but a little better speed and height never hurts unless you are going in the wrong direction.

With the windward heel, the upwind side of the boat that is in the water gets rounder and downwind side in the water gets straighter. Now that is the same as the sail, but working in the opposite direction. A foil in the water working upwind and one in the wind pulling forward.

My 80 year old roll tacks are working better and I thought I was picking up a little on each. It may have been the wind shifts, but…. Turn up slowly into the wind and burn off your speed going in the upwind direction trimming in the sail and roll the boat hard to the new leeside as you turn to the new close-hauled heading or just past it. Ease out some sail, so when you rock the boat back up, you can pull in some sail to pump you forward. You should be putting half the side deck under water when you roll. As soon as you are back up level check the tell tales for fast up wind sailing. With a good roll I think you can take advantage of small shifts and avoid the lay line, till late.

If you think you need better roll tacks, then practice some. Buddy Melges STARTS his practice sessions with 50 tacks. If you can’t come to sail other days than race days, come early or stay late and do some extra practice. If you are practicing before the race be sure to hang near the starting line so you don’t miss the races.

Downwind I got away from Rob several times with careful sail trim by the lee. When you are by the lee, the mast keeps the trailing edge of the wind over the sail straight and makes it faster in light wind and more under control in heavier wind.

Now to trim the sail, get a little vang on but not enough to take all the twist out of the sail. Trim the sail in so that the bottom of the leach flutters a little. Hopefully the full sail at the twisted top will keep the thing from gybing. This is a little like the curl in the windward edge of the spinnaker when you are trimming it, or the luff in the jib when you ease it a little. Now ease the sheet a little so it won’t gybe with a little wind shift and then ease again to be sure you are right on the edge. Rob and Alejandro sail with the sail far out and maybe stalled part of the time. Do that is an airplane and you will fall out of the sky. Then don’t sail dead downwind. Off on some kind of broad reach. Tacking downwind or when the folks one the coast are working waves, I think they just do transitions from by the lee to broad reach and then back again to catch the next wave.

Then in that third race Rob and Patrick went around the leeward mark together with me close behind (a three boat race). They were covering each other and let me go off to the left alone and the three of us came together at the finish. The RC gave me second place, but it could have been anybody. I tried to shoot the line, but don’t know if that helped. It can give you and extra foot or so. (Finish at the downwind end of the line and go head to wind just before crossing the line.)
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LASERS LOSE A RACE COMMITTEE

The white haired lady on the right is gone and that has complicated the life of some of the rest of us.
I have 5 or 6  entries planned so I may be able to get back to that soon.  But maybe a little more personal stuff first.

MARJORIE THOMES CHAPIN died March 3, 2011 at age of 81. She was born April 12, 1929 and grew up in Mohawk New York, attended from the University of Rochester School of Nursing, Rochester, New York, where she graduated as class Marshall. She served as Assistant Nursing Instructor there for three years.


She married Dr. Samuel Chapin in New York City March 17, 1956. They have 3 sons and 6 grandchildren. They lived in Springfield, Illinois for 30 years, where Marjorie was a member of the Junior League, board member of Planned Parenthood, League of Women Voters, and the Springfield Youth Hockey Association. She is a member of the Springfield Youth Hockey Hall of Fame. She returned to college at University of Illinois in Springfield earning a BA in Literature and a Masters in English Literature. In Springfield she worked for the Area Agency on Aging as Nursing Home Ombudsman for the 12 Counties in Central Illinois.

The Chapins sailed from Island Bay Yacht Club in Springfield in Snipes and Thistle Sailboats and after retirement in 1987, they moved to Key West where they raced a J-24 sailboat. In Key West Marjorie was President of the Key West Garden Club, founding member of the Key West Botanical Garden, board member of the Florida Keys Audubon Society, board member of the Key West Friends of the Library, a Florida Keys Master Gardener, active in the Key West Power Squadron and the Key West Sailing Club.

The Chapins moved to Eustis, Florida in 2005 to escape the hurricanes. She was active in the Lake Eustis Sailing Club, Lake County Master Gardener, a Eustis Library volunteer, the Computer Club, several book clubs, the Harris Chain Power Squadron, the Eustis Historical society, the Trout Lake Nature Center, and supporter of the Bay Street Players and the Ice House Theater.

She is predeceased by her parents, 2 brothers, Frank and Paul, and one sister Marceline Vanderwood.

No services will be held at Marjorie’s request. She is to be buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois.