Conference rdvax::grateful

	This month's "Popular Mechanics" (I think that's the one, anyway) has
an article on the design of Stars&Strips, with some nice pictures.  It also
gives the formula for the new class, and shows the new Stars&Stripes against
the 1987, 12 metre Stars&Stripes.

	The first cup race was held in the late 1860s, I believe.  Queen
Victoria was in attendance.  When the race was over, she was told that
the America had won.  When she asked who came in second, she was reportedly
told "Madam, in this race, there is no second place."  The New York Yacht Club
then held the trophy until Dennis Conner lost it to Australia in 1984, and
then he won it back for the San Diago Yacht Club in 1987.  Ted Turner skippered
the defense once or twice during the seventies (in Defiant), though I think
Dennis Conner was his tactitian at the time.

	It would make sense that the Swedish boat was called Tre Kroner, since
that means Three Crowns, and there are three crowns on the Swedish arms.

Mark (who grew up on Narragansett Bay)

    Getting back to a more local scene ... yes Geoff you can easily
    envision a racing boat full of tie-dyed sailors.  With the recent sale
    of our J/36, my former partner (Wags) and I are talking about buying a
    multihull one-design racer-cruiser ... an F-27.  Now all we gotta do is
    come up with the requisite $50K to purchase it ... ;^)
    
    Anyway, the name we've decided on for this boat will be "Stagger Lee". 
    This name has meaning in sailing parlance as well as the obvious
    reference to a song by our favorite band.  Crew shirts will of course
    be tie-dye, and the boat graphics will be the familiar guy in the green
    zoot-suit twirling his pocket watch.
    
    By the way, there is already a very successful racing boat named "Touch
    of Gray" down in Newport.  Needless to say, the owner's a deadhead.
    
    ... Bobbb
    

    As for the America's cup ... I am rooting for the America*3 syndicate,
    simply because, after the untimely demise of Tom Blackaller, Buddy
    Melges is one of the only remaining true sportsmen left in the
    professional racing scene.  
    
    Dennis Connor embarrassed himself, and American racing in general, with
    his obnoxious behavior both during and after the last "defense" ... the
    fiasco that pitted a catamaran against a monohull (kinda like racing a
    greyhound against a beagle).  After beating the New Zealand boat in the
    most lopsided race in history, he had the gall to get up on the stage
    and call his competition "a bunch of losers", and told them to get off
    the stage.
    
    Now that he's in the spot of being the "loser", Melges and Koch are
    extending to him every courtesy of sportsmanship, allowing him to make
    modifications to his boat, even though the rules state that they don't
    have to. 
    
    I'll guarantee that if the roles were reversed, Dennis would not act in
    similar fashion.
    
    As someone who races at a local level, it would be great to see a
    little sportsmanship being brought back to the sport at the
    professional level ... America*3 is the only American syndicate that
    might be able to salvage the prestige of the event.
    
    Go Melges ... go Koch ... kick that scurvy dog Connor into the
    loser's column, where he belongs ...
    
    						... Bobbb
    

    	Hey Bobb, You know when you get that boat I'd like to crew either a 
    race or cruise. I want one myself. At 50K I could kind of dream about 
    getting a used one in some many years, until I added in a few minor
    accessories. I just would like it with sails, couple o' gauges, maybe 
    an autohelm and most definitely a head of some sort. I added all that
    stuff in and it really dimmed my hopes. 
    	But the F-24 comes with sails, a trailer and a small outboard for 
    a mere 30K. Ah ha ha, like I can really afford that. BUt I'm gonna have
    one some day. Yup, I'm gonna sail a tri, they just seem inherently sea-
    worthy as well as fast. 
    	But for the time being it's time to get my little monohull waxed
    and ready in a whole lot of other ways as well. I haven't sailed it
    since that other Bob visited the bay last AuGust.
    
    	My Tri was to be named Terapin Flyer But I'm also leaning toward 
    St. of Circumstance.
    
    	Geoff 

    	Well, I have no new America's Cup news right now, but I'm sure I'll
    have something to write after I read my newest Sailing World.
    	But, I had to make a comment about these F-27s that are so popular
    with Grateful Sailors. In the score board section of said magazine
    there was a small photo that caught my eye (they all catch my eye).
    I recognized Loose Goose, a J-44 and PHRF winner from my trip to
    Halifax. I read the caption that talked about the Ft. Lauderdale to Key
    West race. The final sentence reads;
    
    	"Amongst the multihulls who reveled in the strong following
    breezes, Eric Arens' F-27 "Just Right" was the first boat across the
    line with an elapsed time of 12:40:47, more than one-half hour faster
    than the first monohull, the 81-foot maxi "Congere"."
     
   	Congere, another name from Halifax, first boat across the line in
    that race at 35:05:??. That time nearly halfed the time we took to get
    up there in a 32'er. And the F-27 proved even faster than an 81 foot
    maxi, a truly huge boat if you've ever been near this boat. And the
    budget for that boat is probably as large as its displacement!! 
    	This is when these boats look affordable at 4 times the price of my 
    truck. 
    
    
    	I'll go get some cup news and be back some time this weekend
    Geoff
         

	SAN DIEGO (UPI) - Dennis Conner will sail his aging Stars & Stripes
against yet another new member of the America 3 fleet Saturday when the fourth
and final round-robin of the America's Cup defense trials begins. 

	Facing two newer America 3 boats, Conner must hope that Stars & Stripes
reconfigured stern and his own racing guile will be enough to get him through
the 12-day series and into the finals. 

	If he fails, it will be Bill Koch and Buddy Melges who will compete in
an all-America 3 finals for the honor of defending yachting's most prestigious
prize against the foreign champion in May. 

	``We have to assume Bill and his people have made some improvements,''
Conner said Friday. ``It's all a matter of how much we have been able to
improve in relation to them.'' 

	Conner bounced back in the second round-robin from four straight losses
to win the final two races and hang on to second place in the standings. 

	The standings after the first three rounds have been translated into a
new set of points for the fourth round; two wins for the first place boat, one
for second-place Conner and no points for thie third place boat. 

	Bill Koch announced Friday that his new yacht Kanza, named after an
Indian tribe from his home state of Kansas, will be given the the firstplace
points while his other yacht, America 3, will start from scratch. 

	When America 3 (pronounced America Cubed) debuted at the start of the
third round-robin, Koch gave it the points earned by Defiant so that, like
Kanza, it had a cushion in the early races when the crew is still getting used
to the new vessel. 

	Stars & Stripes will race Kanza Saturday and America 3 when the series
resumes Tuesday. 

	The challengers semifinals featuring Japan, Italy, New Zealand and
France begin Sunday. 

	Conner, who has not been able to afford a new boat since launching
Stars & Stripes more than a year ago, has only beaten America 3 once when the
glassy, light-air conditions were more favorable to Stars & Stripes. 

	In order to bring a little more speed to the race course, Conner has
had to make do with alterations rather than being able to put a new boat in the
water. 

	The stern of of the midnight blue yacht was removed by chainsaw during
the two weeks after the third round-robin and carved out to the open ``scoop''
design found on the transoms of the newer cup yachts. 

	The move removed about 60 pounds of weight, and weight was also removed
from the bow. 

	Not much is known about Kanza since it was only delivered to San Diego
earlier this month, but members of the Conner camp believe it may be designed
for winds on the stronger end of the often unpredictable San Diego spectrum. 

Date: 29 Mar 92 01:35:57 GMT
Lines: 48

	SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- Bill Koch's new yacht Kanza will have to wait for
windier weather to show its stuff after losing to Dennis Conner's Stars &
Stripes in its maiden race Saturday. 

	Stars & Stripes led wire to wire in the modest San Diego winds to win
the first race of the fourth round of the defense trials. 

	Kanza, built to handle the windier end of the San Diego scale, strolled
across the finish line two minutes, 27 seconds behind the rejuvinated Conner. 

	It was the third consecutive win for Conner, who is now tied for first
place but still fighting for a chance to sail in the finals against one of the
two newer America 3 (pronounced America Cubed) also in the field. 

	The winner of the defender finals will meet the winner of the
challenger series that moves into the semifinal stage Sunday. 

	Saturday's conditions were suited to Stars & Stripes, the oldest yacht
in the cup and the only one Conner has been able to afford. 

	The winds started out between eight and 13 knots but began to fade as
the boats approached the halfway point of the race. The seas were smooth,
another factor favoring Stars & Stripes over Kanza, which is said to be
designed with windier conditions in mind as opposed to America 3, Koch's
light-air vessel that will face Conner when racing resumes Tuesday. 

	Conner grabbed an 11-second advantage at the starting gun and flew away
from Kanza, which had only been sailed a few times before Saturday. 

	The start was delayed because Conner was having trouble with a sail,
prompting Kanza to raise a protest flag claiming that Conner had no right to
request a delay because he wasn't ready to race. The protest was to be
officialy filed after Kanza reached its dock and would likely be heard Saturday
night. 

	While Kanza tried to build up some speed on the first leg, Conner
tacked back and forth in front in order to rob helmsman Buddy Melges of a clear
breeze. 

	By the time the wind started to lighten, dropping to a little more than
six knots, Stars & Stripes was leading by more than a minute. 

	Stars & Stripes extended its advantage to two-and-a-half minutes as the
midnight blue yacht rounded the third mark and began the three-leg series of
reaches that are generally the fastest. 

	Although Kanza made up 32 seconds on the first reach to cut the lead to
one minute, 58 seconds, Conner picked up speed on the final two reaches and led
by two minutes, six seconds at the end of the Z-shaped reaching series. 

	Kanza was able to close the gap on the seventh and next-to-last leg
when a strand of kelp wrapped around the rudder of Stars & Stripes. 

	Stars & Stripes navigator Lexi Gahagan spent several minutes hanging
over the side trying to clear the stubborn weed. 

	The wind had dropped to six knots by that time and Kanza did not have
enough speed to catch up. 

              <<< MSCSSE::$1$DUB9:[NOTES$LIBRARY]SAILING.NOTE;3 >>>
                                  -< SAILING >-
================================================================================
Note 1823.62                AC '92: Challenger Trials                   62 of 62
STAR::KENNEY                                         12 lines  29-MAR-1992 19:01
                           -< Results March 29,1992 >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    	New Zeland over Japan by about 1:43 winds light and seas relatively
    flat 2' seas.  New Zeland on last leg started with a spinnaker with a
    rip, it eventually parted and they had to do a fast  change.  The crew
    work was smooth and they lost maybe a boat length or so.


    	Italy over France by 1:24 France made up about 1 minute on the last
    leg.  The coverage focused more on New Zeland Japan.


    Forrest

    Hmm,. a sailing notesfile,.. just the place fo rthis kind of stuff
    one would think...
    
    							/discombobulator
    

     	So ah, Slash, you tring to tell me to get out of here with this??
     I kinda wondered if anyone's paying any attention, but I remember the 
     Whitbread note and no one said a thing untill the author asked if he 
     should bag it. So I figured I'd wait till I got an outcry of GTFOHere.
     Not to mention I've already got two sorta offers for crew since I 
     started this. 
     	So since we love voting, have at it.



     	In the mean time there has been some more racing going on:
     In the challengers races:
    
    	Ville De Paris		over	New Zeland	1:46
    	Il Moro Di Venezia 	over	Nippon		2:06    


    And the next day:

    	New Zeland over Il Moro by 18.5 seconds but it could easily have
    been a blowout.  Il Moro broke 3 or 4 battens on the first windward leg
    and had poor (at best) sail shape.  That was the start of their
    problems late in the race, a crew mistake with a winch override and
    finally a torn genoa.  Through all of this the boats stayed neck and
    neck.  Italy should be happy that they hung tough with all the problems.
     	In the race between Paris and Nippon, Nippon broke a forward rudder
     and all Paris had to do was finish the race. This is the second time 
     Nippon has bagged a race due to stearing problems.


Back in the defender series:

    	Dennis and Stars and Stripes by 45 seconds over America cubed. 
    America cubed had three different helmsmen the starter (sorry keep
    forgetting his name), Bill and Buddy.  To a large degree it looks like
    he who made best choice of the shifts and puffs won out. 
    	America cubed won the start by about 3 boat lengths and was
    windward and towards the favored side.  Dennis got ahead and lead by 23
    second on the first mark built a large lead and gave most of it back. 

And the next race there:

    	Kanza over A3 by 1:13 all the excitement was at the start and part
    way up leg 1.  Kanza had a controlling position at the start, but not by
    much.  Looked really good until Kanza got called over early.  Not a
    Buddy Melges kind of mistake, had commentators wondering if maybe it was
    decided that A3 should win.
    	Kanza caught A3 quickly on leg 1 and forced A3 into a mistake, Bill
    Koch tacked too close.  After the penalty turn was done athe race was 
    effectively over.

    Why not talk about the America's Cup in here ... we talk about
    everything else in here ... ;^)
    
    ... Bobbb
    

    
    agreed with Bobbbb...
    
    it's a file for anything that's of interest to deadheads...  i'm a
    deadhead, and i'm interested (and i probably wouldn't check out the
    sailing file)...  
    
    					da ve

	Yeah, I'm interested.

Mark

Definately interested.  I got to watch part of the Kanza/Stars&Stripes race on 
Sat or Sun and even though Kanza never really challenged, it was still fun to 
watch.  At one point, I think it might actually have been the race between 
Italy and Nippon, there was a torn sail on I think the Italian boat and Gary 
Jobson(Sp?), ESPN commentator (who did a great job on the Whitbread tape I 
have by the way), talked about how it could lead to a blowout of the entire 
sail.  About two minutes later the sail burst just like he said it would, and 
the teamwork involved to put up a replacement and bring down the torn sail was 
great!!  Watching a guy hang out over the side of Stars&Stripes trying to 
remove kelp was pretty neat as well and really helped to show the athleticism 
required to crew on one of those boats.

I wish I had time to watch more, ESPN's coverage is quite good!

Scott

Well, I'm a deadhead (tm - wouldn't you like to be a deadhead too?), and I'm
interested in the Various Shades of Rust, so I'm going to start a topic
about that, OK?

	Many ;^)

- Dave

    Naah Geoff,.. just a hint,...
    
    It dodn't seem like anybody else was interested up until I said
    something,.. but people are so,.. no problem. After all,.. we
    do talk about everything...
    
    No offense meant,. none taken I hope..
    
    Rock on!
    
    							/

     	I'm glad that there is some interest. This stuff can get pretty 
     exciting and it looks like the racing is getting pretty tight. I've 
     never suffered damage, but I have been on a boat that missed first
     by one second.
     	And yesterday I was talking with the owner of that boat about the 
     color of the rust on his keel (and how to keep any more from forming).
     :)

In the defence:

    	Kanza over Stars and stripes by 42 seconds. I don't have much
    details, just results.
    
And the challengers:    
    
    	Nippon over France by 2 minutes.  France hit Nippon before start
    and did penalty trun and is protesting result.  Their claim is that
    Nippon did nothing to avoid the collision.  France has a large hole in
    the bow. I hear Nippon has damage too.

    
    	New Zeland in a come from behind win by about 1 second.  Came down
    to a jibing duel at the end.  It was a great close race it really does
    not get better.  Il Moro hit some kelp on the last leg and was slowed
    by a large margin.  Protest flags were visible when my tape ran out for
    the day.
    
                           

    
    So I was in this bar last night and they had it on the TV..everyone was
    watching.  I guess I don't know if it was live or memorex - it was
    early in the evening.
    
    c

    Keep it coming.
    I can't afford a boat, but I love sailing!

     	Well, I've got no word on what went on with the defender races, but
     I have some info on the challenger races.

     	Italy and France had a strange race and a half. One of the boats 
     was called over early at the start, but some how the race committee
     messed up the signal Italy (Il Moro) went back for a restart, but France
     didn't seem to notice the signal. Somebody kept sailing the race for 
     an hour, I can't figure if it was frace or both boats, but the race 
     committee decided to restart the race. 
     	When the real race was sailed to completion Italy took the race, but
     I don't know the margin.

     	Chris Dickson, driving Nippon, watched his countries' boat sail 
     over the finish line as he worked to complete the race. Again, I 
     didn't get the time difference, but this result more than gives NZ 
     another point. There is simply no way Nippon could get enough points 
     with two more races to compete in the finals for the Louis Vinton 
     Cup. 
     	With two races to be sailed before the final two boats go at it for
     the Louis Vinton Cup, I think the standings are New Zealand and Italy
     on top with 5 points each, France is still a contender with 4 points
     and Nippon is just sailing for the race at hand with only 1 point in
     the series. With two races left Nippon can't accumulate enough points,
     France could concievably top either of the two top boats and those 
     two top boats cannot get over confident and lazy or they could loose 
     out.
     	Three boats, two races, There's tension in San Diego this week.

Geoff

     	There was some news posted about the defender race that went down 
     and it sounds like an exciting and contravesial race. But first you
     need a little understanding about the rule in question. Bobbb please 
     clear up what ever it is I get wrong about this rule. 

     	At the rounding of a mark it is not legal to touch the mark, but 
     you want to sail as close to the mark as possible. When two boats are
     approaching the mark, the rounding rules come into play at a distance 
     of two boat lengths. If, when one of these boats enters the two boat 
     length circle, an inside overlap is established by the trailing boat,
     the leading boat Must give the trailing boat room to round the mark 
     without hitting it. If no overlap is established before the two boat 
     lengths a subsequent overlap does not give any rights to the trailing 
     boat. I think that entering the two boat length circle is defined when
     any part of the leading boat crosses into the circle. Establishment of
     an overlap is done when any part of the trailing boat has reached a point
     abeam (to the side) of any part of the leading boat.  I think that 
     an overlap is nulled when the passing yacht has reached a point where 
     the mast of the passed boat is abeam of the stearing station of the 
     passing boat (Mast Abeam, I'm really confused about this). 

     	This rule was in play at the end of the last windward leg, before 
     the boats would charge down wind to the finish line. As Kanza and S&S
     reached the two boat length circle, the concensus in SAILING: is that
     an overlap was clearly established by S&S. Kanza rounded the mark tight
     givin no room for S&S to round safely. There was a collision between 
     the two boats, but the on the water judges could not establish a fault
     and let it pass. Then at the rounding S&S hit the mark and was called 
     foul. To absolve one's boat of a foul the rules state that you must 
     complete a 270 degree turn (I thought it was a 720). Conner and his 
     tacktician decide the thing to do was pass Kanza, jibe onto starboard, 
     force Kanza to overstand the finish and then pull off their penalty turn
     and hopefully still win the race. S&S got ahead of Kanza, but in the
     Jibe, dropped a chute early and lost boat speed. Kanza sailed by to 
     win the race, but if the call had been more legit at the mark rounding
     the results would probably have been different. 

     Kanza gets the point

Geoff

    I too am confused by this 270-degree turn thing ... it doesn't make
    sense.  In local racing circles, you absolve yourself of a penalty by
    doing a 720 ... i.e. two complete spins of your boat.  A 270 means you
    turn your boat 3/4 turn ... like doing a tack or gybe in the wrong
    direction.
    
    In any event, Connors and his tactician were wrong in their decision. 
    The racing rules clearly state that you must do your penalty turn at
    the earliest possible time that it is safe to do so ... in other words,
    there is no tactic involved.  You cannot wait till it is advantageous
    to your boat and then make your turn.  He might as well have screwed it
    up ... any competent judge would've disqualified him for waiting too
    long anyway.
    
    ... Bobbb
    

    Well,. now you guys have completely lost me,..
    
    and I used to race hobi-cats out of the yacht club I was bumming
    around,. um er working at when I was a kid,..
    
    						/trying_to_hang_in_there
    

    Don't worry 'bout is /mon ... racing rules typically lose all but
    the most experienced of sea lawyers.  They're typically a bit more
    obtuse than tax laws, and just as easy to find loopholes in if you know
    what you're doing ... or to get screwed by if you don't.
    
    ... Bobbb
    
    PS - Do you know why sharks don't eat lawyers ??
    
    	 Professional courtesy ...
    

    Bill Koch should keep his hands on his checkbook and let Buddy Melges
    drive the damn boat ... otherwise the American defense of the Cup is
    gonna be like the Democratic National Convention, with all the
    contenders aiming guns at their own feet !!!
    
    ... Bobbb
    

    Not quite right Geoff ... yesterday's race was between Kanza and
    America*3 ... with Buddy Melges on America*3 and Bill Koch on Kanza. 
    In light air, it was no contest as America*3 pulled to an early lead
    and just continued to stretch it out.  Of course, she also had the
    better sailor at the helm.
    
    Today's race is between Stars & Stripes and Kanza ... and if the wind
    doesn't blow harder, S&S should win easily.  If S&S wins, they'll
    each have won five races.  If Kanza wins, she'll have won six races
    while S&S and America*3 will each have won 4.
    
    Kanza and America*3 are stablemates, and were built for different
    weather conditions ... the former being built to sail best in 10+ knots
    of wind, and the latter being a much lighter boat and optimized for
    very light air (which is more typical in the area where they're
    racing).
    
    I had a discussion last night while watching the race with a sailing
    friend of mine about the possibility that the A*3 boats racing against
    each other ... it's entirely possible that these guys sit around before
    the race and decide who's going to win.  There are tactical advantages
    to having each boat win or lose, depending on where they each are in
    the standings.  For example, it was much to A*3's advantage to win
    yesterday's race, while Kanza had nothing to gain by winning, having
    already secured a spot in the finals.  It's a glaring loophole ...
    when you have different boats owned by the same syndicate being raced
    against each other.  Kinda like back-room politics at a party
    convention ... the winner is pre-determined and then they just go
    through the motions.  One has to wonder, considering the massive early
    lead by A*3 yesterday.
    
    By the way ... the cost of one of those carbon-fiber masts is in the
    neighborhood of $50,000.  A lot of semolians considering how easily
    they break on these fragile racing machines.
    
    ... Bob
    

A cubed is now parked outside the world trade center in Boston for a DECworld 
exhibit.

Geoff

    What's it doing there?????
    
    I wouldn't risk flying my best boat across the land twice!! I just can
    not believe that at this point in the racing they'd risk shiping the
    boat anywhere. I belive there's got to be the real racer in San Diego.
    
    Maybe a proto? Maybe "Jayhawk" painted? 
    
    	The real Boat!?!?!?
    
    Geoff in_disbelief!

    RE: A*3 at DECworld ...
    
    It must be Jayhawk ... the "retired" boat from the A*3 campaign ...
    since the real A*3 is currently racing in San Diego, and Star Trek-like
    transporters haven't been invented yet.
    
    ... Bobbb
    

>          <<< Note 245.41 by CUPTAY::BAILEY "A pirate looks at 40." >>>
>            -< they all look alike except for the sail numbers ... >-
>
>    RE: A*3 at DECworld ...
>    
>    It must be Jayhawk ... the "retired" boat from the A*3 campaign ...
>    since the real A*3 is currently racing in San Diego, and Star Trek-like
>    transporters haven't been invented yet.
>    
>    ... Bobbb


Correct it is the jayhawk, sorry for the mistake:-)

Geoff    

Sounds funny to say this about a sailor, but Messieur Conner must be praying 
for the wind to die down. 8^)

Scott

Apparently some papers actually did take the advise of the wire service's
"editor's note"  below, but I digress, I'm really posting this for all you
would-be salt-heads. Great country where you can't even say DICK in some 
places, huh?

           <<< HYDRA::DISK_NOTES$LIBRARY:[000000]DAVE_BARRY.NOTE;1 >>>
                       -<  Dave Barry - Noted humorist  >-
================================================================================
Note 742.0           It's Best To Ignore The Call Of The Sea             1 reply
DPE::STARR "Red Wine and Whiskey"                    87 lines  20-APR-1992 11:06
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article 120 of clari.feature.dave_barry:
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (Dave Barry)
Subject: IT'S BEST TO IGNORE THE CALL OF THE SEA
Date: 19 Apr 92 00:05:42 GMT

DAVE BARRY
	
	(EDITORS' NOTE: Editors who object to the name of the band ``Big Dick
and the Extenders'' in paragraph 6 of this column, can instead use ``Big
(nickname for Richard) and the Extenders.'')
	There comes a time in a man's life when he hears the call of the sea.
	``Hey, YOU!'' are the sea's exact words.
	If the man has a brain in his head, he will hang up the phone
immediately. That's what I should have done recently when I was called
to sea by my friends Hannah and Paddy, who had rented a sailboat in the
Florida Keys. They love to sail. Their dream is to quit their jobs and
sail around the world, living a life of carefree adventure until their
boat is sunk by an irate whale and they wind up drifting in a tiny raft
and fighting over who gets to eat the sun block. At least that's the way
I see it turning out.
	The only safe way to venture onto the ocean is aboard a cruise ship
the size of a rural school district. Even then you're not safe, because
you might become trapped in your cabin due to bodily expansion. Cruise
ships carry thousands of tons of high-calorie food, and under maritime
law they cannot return to port until all of it has been converted into
passenger fat. So there are at least eight feedings a day. Crew members
often creep into cabins at night and use high-pressure hoses to shoot
cheesecake directly down the throats of sleeping passengers.
	But on cruise ships you rarely find yourself dangling from poles,
which is more than I can say for the sailboat rented by Hannah and
Paddy. The captain was a man named Dan, who used to be a race-car driver
until he had heart trouble and switched from fast cars to sailboats,
which are the slowest form of transportation on Earth with the possible
exception of airline flights that go through O'Hare. Sometimes I suspect
that sailboats never move at all, and the only reason they appear to go
from place to place is continental drift.
	Nevertheless we were having a pleasant day on Captain Dan's boat, the
Jersey Girl, doing busy nautical things like hoisting the main stizzen
and mizzening the aft beam, and meanwhile getting passed by other boats,
seaweed, lobsters, glaciers, etc. The trouble arose when we attempted to
enter a little harbor so we could go to a bar featuring a band headed by
a large man named Richard. This band is called -- really -- ``Big Dick and
the Extenders.'' We were close enough to hear them playing when the
Jersey Girl plowed into what nautical experts call the ``bottom.''
	The problem was an unusually low tide. Helpful people in smaller
boats kept telling us this.
	``It's an unusually low tide!'' they'd shout helpfully as they went
past. They were lucky the Jersey Girl doesn't have a cannon.
	We'd been sitting there for quite a while when Captain Dan suggested,
with a straight face, that if some of us held onto a large pole called
the ``boom'' and swung out over the water, our weight might make the
boat lean over enough to get free. I now realize that this was a prank.
Fun-loving sailboat captains are probably always trying to get people
out on the boom, but most people aren't that stupid.
	We, however, had been substantially refreshed by beverages under a
hot sun, so we actually did it. Four of us climbed up, hung our stomachs
over the boom, kicked off from the side of the boat and NOOOOOO ...
	Picture a giant shish kebab skewer sticking out sideways from a boat
10 feet over the water, except instead of pieces of meat on it, there
are four out-of-shape guys, faces pale and sweating, flabby legs
flailing, ligaments snapping like rifle shots. We instantly became a
tourist attraction. A crowd gathered on shore, laughing and pointing.
Some of them were probably sailboat captains.
	``Look!'' they were probably saying. ``Captain Dan got FOUR of them
out on the boom! A new record!''
	Meanwhile, next to me, Paddy, a middle-aged attorney who is not,
let's be honest, built like an Olympic gymnast, who is in fact built a
lot like a gym, was saying, in an usually high voice, ``We better bring
the boom back now. OK? Now? OK?? WE BETTER BRING THE BOOM BACK NOW!
BRINGTHEBOOMBACKNOW!! I SAID ...''
	``HANG ON!'' Captain Dan was shouting. ``She's about to move!''
	People on shore were now taking pictures.
	``IT'S AN UNUSUALLY LOW TIDE!'' a helpful boater was shouting.
	``Please,'' Paddy was saying, very quietly now.
	``I think she's moving!'' Captain Dan sang out.
	In fact the Jersey Girl was exhibiting no more flotation than central
Nebraska. As I clung to the boom, listening to Paddy whimper, two
thoughts penetrated my pain: (1) He was PAYING for this experience; and
(2) If you have to die, you want it to be for a noble cause. You don't
want it to be for ``Big Dick and the Extenders.''
	It turned out we didn't die. We finally got swung back onto the boat
and began thinking about leading our lives without moving any muscles
ever again. And eventually Captain Dan got the boat unstuck. He needed
the help of a motorboat. I am certain this was also true of Columbus.
	
	(C) 1992 THE MIAMI HERALD
	DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

	Dave Barry has sailed before, he's got an interesing view. 
    Bobbb, would you hang crew on the boom to get off a shoal? :-)
    
    Now if you want to try this stuff yourself, here's a perfect
    oportunity!
    
     Hi, this year I'm starting to look for help early (actually the 
boat is going in late).

     I think a lot of the slow prep. work I've been doing on my boat is 
starting to come together. I hope to launch on May 8 or 9, the 8th is
a Friday and if I can do it then I'd be that much happier. But the launch 
involves many small jobs that do add up to a long day. It's getting to be
nearly a tradition that I make it back home that evening in time to go 
out to a Slipknot show (I think they're in Worc. on the 8th).
     The big thing that I cannot do alone is step the mast. It's not 
incredibly heavy, but a tad awkward at about 29 feet long. Once it's up,
pinned and the shrouds and stays are connected then I do some rough tuning 
out on the mooring and then go for a test sail. 
     So I am entering this note in hopes that someone in this file would 
be willing to lend a hand setting up my boat and then go out for a sail. 
I'm hoping for a nice warm sunny Friday, but that has not been the norm.
If it's stormy I'll probably opt for another day. But right now I'm just
checking to see if there's someone in here who might be willing help 
(and blow off a day of work in early May too). I'll want to leave from 
Northboro fairly early in the AM, 8:00ish.

     Any takers
     Geoff

     I'll be looking to put together a race crew after it's on the water. 

    >> Bobbb, would you hang crew on the boom to get off a shoal? :-)
    
    Yup ... in fact, year before last when I got a little too close to the
    beach down at Race Point in Provincetown (HUGE bummer) I was one of the
    crew hanging off the end of the boom ... those of you who know me will
    realize that I'm eminently qualified for that task as you want as much
    weight out there on the end of that "skewer" as you can get.
    
    It's wicked uncomfortable, and if'n ya lose your balance you're going
    for a swim ... :^(
    
    Didn't work, by the way ... we ended up having to get pulled off by a
    coast guard cutter ... which was it's own Keystone-type comedy, as most
    of those guys don't know which side of a sailboat is supposed to be
    facing up ... (flat side up, pointy end forward !!!)
    
    ... Bobbb
    

    I'd like to see Italy win the Cup ... I think it would be good for the
    sport to move the venue more frequently.  IMO, the Cup races have only
    gotten interesting since Australia won ... breaking the longest winning
    streak in the history of sports (132 years).  And San Diego isn't the
    most exciting venue on the planet ... the wind's too light, and even
    avid sailors like myself get bored watching two boats slowly drift
    around a race course.  A win by Italy would put the venue in the
    Mediterranean next time, where the winds are better and there are more
    than one country that would benefit by having the races conducted
    nearby.  This would stimulate new interest, just as having the venue
    move to Perth did a few years ago ... and that would be good news for
    the sport of sailboat racing.
    
    On the other hand ... Buddy Melges is one of the grand old men of the
    sport, and also one of the few remaining true sportsmen left in the
    professional yacht racing world.  He deserves the honor of being there,
    and it's hard not to root for him ... but I'd still prefer to see the
    venue shift to Europe next time.
    
    ... Bob

I got home from camping yesterday in time to catch the last three legs of 
yesterday's race.  It was quite exciting, especially the last upwind leg, as A3 
was about a boat length behind Italy and had them in a tacking dual - A3 would 
tack, Italy would immediately tack to keep even, and A3 would tack right back.  
They did this well over 20 times, jockying for position.  At the finish, Italy 
held off A3 for a 2-second margin of victory, the closest America's Cup race 
ever.  It was also the first time a non-USA boat has won a Cup race since 
1983 (when the Aussies became the first non-USA team to win the Cup ever). 

Going into today, the best of 7 series is knotted up at 1-1.

Scott

     			JFK memorial, 1992
     		      A view from a foredeck

     	I heard that Saturday's race was mild breezes and a quick course.
     I was only on board for Sunday so I could Slip into Summer on Saturday
     and Sunday's race was no drifter. We didn't exactly get first, but 
     there were many firsts on this boat. It was the first time I've seen
     water breaking over the bow all day long, it was the first time I 
     remember pulling off two jibes before dowsing the chute, it was the 
     first time, since Halifax, that the whole crew was decked in full foul
     weather gear and every bit more comfortable for it and many more I can't
     begin to list. It was honking out there, blowing 25-30 knots with 
     higher gusts. Small craft advisories were in effect when I got 
     yesterday morning to leave for the race. 'Course we're on a 32'er 
     so this isn't a small craft. I've been to Nova Scotia on this boat, 
     I'm not worried about sailing around Boston Harbor in a good blow.
     But the last time I beat to weather in wind like this was Labor day 1990
     which goes down in my history as a very educational experience.

     	The only mistake I really made this time was leaving my sea boots
     here at home, I would have been a lot more comfortable at the end 
     of the day if I could have put on dry shoes. When we got to the dock 
     where the boat spent the night it was a very pleasant day and I thought
     about changing into shorts. Fortunately I didn't make that mistake,
     but I did toss my flannel shirt down below, I really don't need it now.
     	As we joined the parade of boats motoring out to the start line, the
     weather gave us some indications of what we were in for for the day. 
     After about 10 minutes of motoring approximately to windward at about 
     5 knots I decided to stash my sunglasses for the day, noting that they
     would become obsolete in a very short time. Not long after that, and 
     fortunately before I got wet, I was getting into my foully bibs and 
     sealing off all but my face, hands and feet from the eminent raining 
     seawater. 
     	By the time we reached the staring line it's really blowing, probably up
     in the 20 knot range. We had some trouble figuring out what the course 
     was, but so did everyone else, so we'll just follow the A and B fleet 
     parade (we turned out to be in C fleet). While Scott and the cockpit crew
     are figuring what course to sail I'm looking around to see what other 
     boats are carrying for sails. In the world of head sails, which is my
     world for this race, a #1 is big, #2 is medium, #3 is small and so on. 
     I can tell nobody is carrying a #3, but all with full height on their 
     main sails I know there not carrying number ones. Yup, it felt like a
     #2 day, good data point we should get one of  those sails one of these 
     days. It's blowing too hard for the #1 and after conferring with the 
     skipper we hoist our #3.
     	We got a bad start, way late, and me and my headsail decision may 
     have been a part of that. I was doing something when we had to tack 
     back to the line and before I knew it the race had begun for our fleet.
     We were way back in the fleet, but only a boat length or so behind our
     most comparable match of boats. But we're behind, with a small headsail
     and we're in this guy's foul air. I recommend a tack away from the bad
     air, but Scott didn't agree. 
     	At one point Scott questioned out loud why we were sailing so much 
     less that the fleet, I commented it resulting from our not having a 
     number two. With this the decision was made to raise our #1 and and reef
     down the main. I got to work on the foredeck setting up the big sail 
     while sea water showered my back. There was a lot of confusion, because
     once I was ready to raise the #1 we didn't have a set of sheets to 
     control it. While we debated how to temporarily use a spinnaker sheet 
     we approached the mark where we set the chute. 
     	That sail change got bagged for setting the chute, which as foredeck 
     dude, is another part of my job. We got ready for a port pole, which 
     was going to be tricky but as we rounded the mark starboard pole got way
     favored. Cool, we'll go up on starboard, easier set up for me. Is every-
     thing set in the cockpit? All set, let's go...... damn, that velcro 
     hooked again. Run up, free the clews, run back to the mast and jump
     the halyard. The chute went up real nice and we're flyin' down wind 
     at about 7.5 knots. The seas are really choppy and I've got to trim
     the sail to keep it full, but there is so much wind it's staying pretty 
     full. 
     	As we watch the fleet in front of us we notice the next mark is a jibe,
     the chutes are staying up and the poles are going from starboard to port.
     Well, guess what my job is? Yup, jibing the pole. It's blowing seriously
     hard and I'm not joe muscle bound. 
(Scott) "Are you ready to jibe the pole Geoff?"
(Me)  	"Hell no, not in this wind but somebody's got to do it!"
     Okay, square off to the wind and twing down my sheets. We square, okay
     let's get the pole down to where I can reach it. Ready to jibe? "Some
     body take my sheet". 
(Lee)	"There's lot's of pressure on this pole"
(Scott)	"You ready on the pole Geoff?"
(Me) 	"I'm working on it and I'm gettin' scared! Okay the pole's off the 
     mast. She's flying free..... okay I've got the sheet........RRRrrrhaaaa,
     Oh Man, I can't push it out to get back on the mast!!"
(Colleen)"You need some help Geoff?"
(Me)	"Yah, I just got to get it on the ring" 
(C)	"Okay, ready push, oh shit!"
     		{you see as the boat is rocking back and forth the chute
     is kind staying in the same place, so it pulls the pole about 5 feet 
     away from the mast and then toward the mast and about two feet beyond.
     I could stop it from going too far, but couldn't push it back out}
(M) 	"Colleen, you're on the wrong side!"
(C)	"Okay, lets get it this time, oh shit {as the pole passes the mast 
     again}, Oh no, I'm going over"
(M)	"No you can't!, here it comes again, lets get it on.........Made!"
(Scott) "Pole's made, okay, jibe ho!" 
     	Okay, the boat has jibed, I'm bleeding from some where, Colleen's 
     bleeding from some where. This maneuver took probably up to 5 minutes,
     when it was done I thought I was going to be sick. I'm looking down 
     at the #1 on deck thinking, "Scott would be upset if got sick on this 
     sail".  Fortunately a good burp was all it took and I was back to 
     trimming the chute. That is the most intense sail handling job I have 
     ever done. We're sailing a port jibe and look at what the fleet is 
     doing up ahead, another jibe. We were fortunate in that by the time 
     we reached the next jibe the wind had lulled to about 20 knots and 
     made for a relatively easy jibe in comparison to the last. We sailed 
     to the next mark and Colleen set up the #1 with sheets while I trimmed 
     chute down wind. 
     	As we rounded the next mark the sail handling was good, but we lost
     a lot of time. We  set the number one and dowsed the chute early. I 
     looked behind my back, off the side of the boat, to see another boat
     keep it's chute up and catch up to us at the mark. By the time we 
     rounded and sheeted in, this other boat was past us and staying there. 
     Almost immediately I set a reef in the main and we stood up better to
     sail to windward. 
     	We've got good speed with this big sail up, but the main is doing lots
     of flogging as we sit up on our ear. As we beat out of the inner harbor
     back out into Mass. bay we're keeping the rail in the water all the time.
     Also, for us crew playing rail meat, it is a continuous shower of sea 
     water. I asked Scott about the smaller headsail and he agreed. He also
     pointed out we could get it up easier on the other tack. We tacked to 
     starboard and I went forward to set the sail. It's way choppy out here 
     and Scott warns me with a "Hold on, Geoff". I look to see the ocean 
     about 12 feet below me and then woosh, my feet are about water level. 
     	I set up the halyard and the prefeeder and we're about ready to go 
     on this end. Colleen set up the lazy sheet and asked how we were going
     to do this. I looked at the situation and made a decision. We're going
     set the #3 inside the #1, then we're going to tack and dowse the #1 on 
     the tack. We're set on the #3, it's up and we're ready to tack. Colleen,
     on halyard asks me when to blow it. I said let it go on "Har't'lee".
(M)	"Okay Scott, tack at will"
(S)	"Ready about, Har't'lee" 
     	The sails tack over, Colleen blows the halyard, Lee and Dave (you knew
     there had to be a Dave on board) sheet in the #3 and I book forward to 
     gather and tie the #1 on deck. This was a perfectly executed sail change
     and I got a lot of satisfaction out it's precision. 
     	With the main still reefed down we're still sailing with our rail
     in the water. We've only got three people to sit on the rail and now 
     one of them has to go low. 
 (S)	"Hey Geoff, this sail's way to leeward of us and dragging in the water,
     you want to do something about that?"
     	I check it out and the #1 is dragging over the rail. So I got a sail
     tie and started working on the clew end of the sail. With my foot against
     the toe rail I feel water above my ankle. I look aftward on the boat and
     the leeward deck is awash with waves nearly washing the cabin top. I 
     finished securing the clew and almost immediately the luff (leading edge 
     of the sail) is washed off the deck by a wave. I am desperately trying
     to pull the sail back on deck and each time I get some up a waves comes
     along and grabs more. Lee is offering me help, but he's the biggest guy
     on the boat, I want his weight on the rail and aft. Finally a wave hooks 
     a big chunk of sail and the stuff I've collected on deck is sliding out 
     through my hands. I let out a desperate cry for help that caught every
     bodies attention. Lee Grabbed the sail and we got more on Deck. Scott
     suggested a tack and once we had enough sail gathered I called for a 
     tack. Lee and I lay on the foredeck as the #3 tacked over our heads. We 
     pulled the sail on deck and then untied it to stash it down below.
     	Now, I finally get to rest. There's no sails left to change to and 
     we're beating up wind. All I have to do now is sit on the rail and be
     the first to take the waves. I noticed Colleen was shivering which is
     a beginning sign of hypothermia. I moved to help shelter her from the 
     wind and water and give her a little body heat too. It helped her and
     it wasn't that bad for me either. 
     	After the next tack Colleen went below to get more insulation. When 
     she was back up on the rail I went below for the same reason. I didn't
     go earlier, because I didn't like the idea of having two of the three 
     rail sitters missing at once. The beat is still chilly and we really can't
     see the finish line. As time and a tack or two go by we can start to make
     out the mark. Now that I'm sitting on the rail and not working the 
     shivers are getting in to me. While I'm sitting on the rail Scott's 
     driving on, looking at the weather that I've only been feeling, 
     commenting that we probably all think we're crazy. We're near the 
     line though, the race is almost over. 
     	I could see a lot of D fleet flags finishing with us and that's 
     a bummer. Silver Fox, a common rival, had long since blown us off, but 
     we were finishing with Wildwood Flower a boat we'll try to beat this 
     year. We also watched Decadence, a boat that beat us up to Halifax last
     year, finish ahead of us probably with Silver Fox. So it doesn't look 
     like we finished in even third, but we finished. There were boats that
     bagged the race and I can't blame them. But it was pretty satisfying to 
     just finish after a race like this. As we crossed the finish line and bore
     off to head home I relaxed and the shivers went away. 
     	The gun was at 10:20 and we finished around 15:50. That's about five
     and a half hours of some of the heaviest racing I've ever done!

     Still salty
     Geoff

    Yabbut Geoff ... did you have fun?
    
    Sunday and Monday were not good days for the inexperienced or faint of
    heart to be out in a sailboat.  We blew off practice on Sunday because
    of the weather.  We did three races yesterday, but less than half the
    boats who were entered showed up at the starting line ... due to the
    weather.  It was ugly out there, with high winds, heavy seas, and cold
    temperatures.  Kinda made me wonder why we were there ... but the races
    were being sponsored by a sail maker so I knew we'd be out there till
    somebody broke something ... and we were.
    
    I was racing with the most experienced crew of people I've ever sailed
    with, and still there were problems.  In the first race, two boats
    dropped out due to equipment failure.  In the third race it was our
    turn, as a poorly timed maneuver resulted in a $2K spinnaker getting
    torn to tatters, and a $500 halyard having to get cut in order to retrieve
    the pieces.  In the meantime, one of our crew suffered a broken hand as
    the flogging sail pieces caught her hand and sucked it through a piece
    of harware that wasn't meant to accomodate human body parts.  We were
    so close to the finish line that we completed the race, then headed in
    to the nearest dock to get her to a hospital.  Meanwhile, two other
    crew members were showing definite signs of hypothermia ...
    
    		... and we call this fun ???
    
    							... Bobbb
    

    	Fortunately we didn't break equipment or bones. But ya' know, I
    still had fun! I would have liked to placed better, I would have liked
    a #2 and we could have used more weight on the rail and more experience
    on the boat. Despite all my fun, I'm damn glad we didn't have another
    race!
    
    	Did you win any of those prized sails to make up for the price of
    the damage? Maybe a second place price of chute repair?
    
    I didn't go sailing Monday
    Geoff

     	To make a very long story, that isn't even finished yet, short enough
     to be read I'll put this in here.
     	The first gun was at 7:00, A fleet start at 7:10, B fleet start at 
     7:20. The rest of the racers started later and had a shorter course. 
     The rest of the boats on our course were rated faster than us so they
     had a short time on the course, unless we beat them. 
     	From Scituate we sailed down the coast toward Plymouth. We watched
     rain storms move over the land and only got a few sprinkles on the 
     water. It got dark, as it will at night, and we tacked. When it's
     dark on the ocean these little phophors glow green when you disturb 
     the water, it's also quite freaky when you flush the head. We had a wicked
     cool shower of green light splashing out at our stern and the coolest
     green contrail from our rudder about 4 feet deep and 20 feet behind us.
     	Then we had to watch out for the A fleet going down wind, then the 
     B fleet rounding the mark with us. First mark rounding we blew it, Scott
     under stood the mark and I set up the pole so that we couldn't tack. 
     We finally made the mark, set the chute and it was up for the next 10
     hours or so. 
     	A long beautiful sail down wind at night!!! Our battery sucks so 
     we have to kill most of our lights. We kept the masthead light on 
     so we could watch the windex and ignited the nav. lights when we got 
     close to other boats. No whales this year, Geoff gets to try for sleep
     at 02:45. 04:00, "Sorry to wake you up with the engine for electrical 
     generation Geoff, but we need you up here to gybe anyway". Okay, we're
     done with the gybe Geoff, you can sleep. 
     	Geoff sleeps, dreams of telling someone about the race, can't remember
     how it finished and realizes in his dream it's because he hasn't finished 
     the race yet. 06:00, time to get up, brew some coffee and go spell 
     someone up topside. Who do I spell? I'll take that chute sheet Lee as 
     soon as I'm done with my coffee. It's light, it's foggy and there are 
     two boats in sight. Silver Fox is behind us and I'm very happy.
     	Sail in the fog, fog, fog, fog! Motors are very audible in these 
     conditions,too bad we can't see the boats, here comes the wake. Wow,
     that's a big I hope it's not coming our way! We're looking for a 
     whistle buoy, no we're listening for it. Why do they call these 
     whistles when they go hoot. We found it, we round it, we set the 
     genny and dowse the chute. 
     	Scott's gotta do something, here Geoff you drive, make us go fast.
     Hey I can't get these tell tales to line up. I make the tales agree 
     as best I can and then on about that compass heading I optimize for 
     speed on the knot meter. About an hour later we're crossing tacks 
     with Silver Fox. Why is it this boat never goes fast until they see 
     us? Suddenly they're out pointing us and sailing faster. We get out of 
     they're bad air and tack off shore toward Scituate. Silver Fox goes in
     toward Boston and we meet up an hour later with Silver Fox about a 
     mile closer to Scituate. Eighty miles into the course we're less than
     a minute apart, 85 miles into the course and they're 86. 
     	Scott's driving now, I'm tired and look for a way to sleep on the 
     the rail. Scott looks at me and says, "we're healing 35 degrees and 
     only doing five knots, get your torso on the side". I find a compromise
     which is my leg over the side of the boat and my head down to my knees.
     It's damn close to a sleeping position until it occurs to me we might 
     need a flatener. Rich says the main is dead so I flatten it, within 15
     minutes it's time to shorten as well. With the sail reefed our speed is
     up, but there is no way we're going to catch that C&C 33. 
     	We finished the race in 19 hours 14 minutes and some number of seconds.
     The command was given to drink beer and then we were asked to fold the 
     sails too. I don't think we won. 
     	I drive home, stopped for a nap before I went out and found myself
     waking up at 3 AM. It was a good race, the weather held out for us 
     we could have done better and I made a few mistakes I will try not to 
     repeat. The biggest mistake I made all weekend was not going sailing
     today. I'll try not to repeat the mistakes I made and I'll make up for
     the worst one next weekend!

     Okay so we'll win next year
     	Geoff

    Goin' to sea with a Tree tomorrow ... sounds like an adventure.
    
    If y'all don't hear from one of us on Monday, call the Coast Guard ...
    tell 'em to look for us somewhere between Nova Scotia and the Azores
    ... ;^)
    
    ... Bobbb
    

re:          <<< Note 245.61 by CUPTAY::BAILEY "A pirate looks at 40." >>>
>                 -< gonna be an innerestin' week-end ... ;^) >-
>
>    Goin' to sea with a Tree tomorrow ... sounds like an adventure.

Geoff S. and I are heading to sea, too!  We're heading to Vineyard Sound,
staying overnight, then back to Buzzard's Bay.  Maybe we'll bump into one
another (hopefully not literally).

have a good time!

adam

    
    
    Yes, on Friday Bobbb, my brother (Bart), myself, and Ken (current owner
    of the boat we were looking at) got together for a sail from Winthrop
    to Salem Harbor.
    
    I am new to sailing so I was looking forward to a day of learning, and
    fun.  Both were had, but more of the former than the latter.
    
    Bobb, Bart and I drove three cars up to the Marblehead side of Salem
    Harbor (West Shore Marina).  There we left two of them and went to
    Bobb's Friend's home to borrow a VHF hand held radio, and a motor.
    
    After that we headed back to Westford to pick up Ken, and headed down    
    to Winthrop.  Well, the boat is not in the best of shape and Bobb was
    seriously recommending that it be prepped before sailing (it hadn't
    been in the water for a year), but alas we had no time to do that with
    the long sail ahead of us.  
    
    But, one thing we did need to do was get charts of Boston Harbor up to
    the Salem Harbor, luckily I called ahead and found out a place in
    Southie that was a chandlery and had directions.  But it took longer
    than expected, and when we got the charts and needed equipment and got
    back to Duplin Marina (Winthrop) it was already 3:00pm and the skies
    were looking fairly ominous.  With the marina backed up with launches,
    the weather report bearing rain and possible thunderstorms, and a wind
    from the Northeast at 14 knots, Bobb did some thinking and recommended
    we abort the sail.  
    
    I'm glad we did.  Even though it meant not sailing, we were better off
    safe than on a boat that was unknown in it seaworthiness, a 2.2 HP
    motor (not enough to combat any form of rough seas on a boat that size
    22' Pearson).  
    
    So alas, the sailing adventures of Treemon will have to wait.  But we
    did stop back at Marblehead and have a few pops before we called it a
    day. 
    
    Epilogue:
    
    Bobb sailed on Saturday in 8-10 foot waves, and one of the boats was
    capsized by a wave (using stupid racing strategies for the conditions
    they were in, they pulled the centerboard to reduce drag on a favorable
    wind direction) and it SANK...  :^|
    
    Yep, glad we played it safe for now...
    
    Tree

    Bobbb, was this another S2?? Who else builds them with center or dagger
    boards?
    
    	Tree, too bad things didn't work out, but the day a boat goes in
    the water is a long one. NOw you've got time to prep it and you can
    get a survey before it goes in (real smart thing to do with a boat 
    you're thinking of buying). And finally, thanks for reminding me to
    keep my board down!
    
    Geoff Who_was_starting_to_think_about_getting_cocky_enough_to_
    	raise_his_board_for_better_speed_down_wind.
    
    	 

    Yup ... it was an S2 just like the one our mutual friend used to own
    (before IT sank) a few years ago.
    
    Raising the centerboard downwind is only a good idea in light wind
    and/or flat seas.  Otherwise, all it takes is a gust of wind to round
    you up, or a wave coming in from slightly different direction, to knock
    you over.  Once you go over, you're top heavy and will not come up. 
    Then, even in calm seas, it's only a matter of time till your cabin
    fills with water and your boat sinks.
    
    BTW - the boat that sank was Little Orphan Annie II ... the original
    Little Orphan Annie also sank about five years ago, in similar
    circumstances.
    
    ... Bobbb
    

    I was down in Geoff Sampson's neck of the ocean this week-end.  Friday
    night we did an overnight race from Marion to Quick's Hole, down to the
    Buzzard's Bay entrance tower and back to Marion ... about 45 miles
    total.  The race started at 7:30 PM and we finished up about 7:45 the
    next morning.
    
    Night racing is so trippy, 'cuz there's these little phosphorescent
    algae-buggers in the water that glow in your boat's wake.  Add to that
    the fact that there were meteor showers (plus you can REALLY see about
    a bazillion stars when you get more than a couple of miles off-shore).
    It was a perfect night to be out on a sailboat ... the rest of the crew
    even let me play some Dead music (for once we were in a perfect setting
    for Space) ... ;^)
    
    After grabbing a couple hours' sleep Saturday morning, we then took a
    leisurely ride down the bay, through Wood's Hole, and down the side of
    Naushon Island to this quiet little harbor known as Tarpaulin Cove.  I
    kept a look-out for ya Geoff, since it was just about the nicest
    sailing day I've seen this summer (both wind and sunshine).  And
    yesterday we came back through Quick's Hole and brought the boat back
    to Padanarum.  Again, no sign of our deadhead friend and his deadhead
    boat ... but then again, it's a big bay.
    
    Geoff, I truly hope you made it out this week-end.  It don't get any
    better than that.
    
    ... Bobbb
    

     > Add to that the fact that there were meteor showers (plus you can
    >  REALLY see about a bazillion stars when you get more than a couple
    > of miles off-shore).
    
    Both the Delta-Aquariads and the Persied showers are active right 
    now.  Saw a few of these over the weekend.  The D-A are peaking
    right about now.  The Persieds are doing a slow build up to a 
    possibly spectacular peak around Aug. 11/12 (the comet they are 
    associated may be returning this year according to one theory)
    Unfortuantely the moon will be full right about then so it will
    wash things out.  Still, I might be taking the next day off to 
    check things out. ;-)
    
    PeterT
    

     Don't you hate it when you write a long reply and then one of the systems
crash.
     Anyway, as I was saying before a node cut me off, I was out this weekend,
but only for a daysail. On a whim last Tuesday I asked an acquaintance from
my ski trip at Jackson Hole (which is more pleasant than Woods Hole), if 
she'd like to go sailing. I'd been inviting her since about the time I got 
the boat in the water and this was the first time our schedules came 
anywhere near close to workable. So I planned for a daysail on Sunday. I'd
have done a daysail on Saturday too, but my truck wouldn't take it as it would
barely shift to third this AM. 
     If I had gone for a weekend, Tarp. Cove would have been my destination.
It's a beautiful place to sleep as long as the wind is not from the east and 
and I'll bet with the sun on Saturday it was a wonderful time and place to 
wake up. I had even planned on sailing to Tarp. on Sunday, but Woods Hole,
in a 22'er, with the current against you, is just not my idea of pleasure 
boating so I'll opt for Robinson hole when I go to Tarp. From Robinson to 
Tarp is not far, but the current in Vinyard Sound would have been against 
us for most of the reasonable daylight hours on Sunday so as it turns out 
I went for lunch in Hadely Harbor. 
     Sunday was a perfect day for sailing my boat, though the clouds were 
beginning to roll in. With a 15 kt southerly wind we were making a pretty 
consistent 6 kts about 30 off the apparent wind. I've been flying my racing 
main ever since the trip with Adam where we tore my cruiser and this wind
was just perfect for that sail and my 110 jib. I could have reefed down, but
with just a flattener on we were able to maintain 25-30 degrees of heal and 
I wasn't realy feeling overpowered. Also, as I had kind of expected, Kelly 
(with some small boat sailing experiencce) had confidence, wasn't overwhelmed 
with fear when we first started to heal, soon got comfortable with it 
and enjoyed the occaisonal splash of water breaking over my bow. It's a pretty 
straight shot off a south or south wester from Mattapoisett to Hadley and
we made it across in about 1.5 hours. 
     We hung out in Hadley Harbor for lunch and then sailed back on the edge
of 7 kts. It was too quick, but thoroughly enjoyable, and when we reached 
Nye Ledge we rounded it like a race mark and beat to weather just for the sake
of sailing. We went a mile or two down into the wind and then surfed back 
home. I'd like tohave set my chute, but it was a little strong to reach with 
it and only 2 people on board. It would have caused a lot of confusion and 
I'd have been doing a lot of it except driving and I just decided, maybe next
time. It was a wonderful day for sailing and I'm sure I would have enjoyed
the whole weekend. 

     Let me know next time you're going to be in the area and I'll watch 
for you Bobbb. I'd really like to find someone else I know sailing in the 
same area. I've got a couple more free whole weekends and then it looks like
I'll be doing lots of racing with Scott in late August and September.

     
Geoff

    You know.,... youz guys start talking this asilor stuff about
    reefing down and what not,.. you really leave the rest of us in
    the dust,.. very little idea what you're trying to say there Geoff,.
    but its fun trying to figure it out anyway :-)
    
    							/Oceanside_sailor
    

    Ya gotta good point /popeye ... to this crowd, reefing down probably
    implies something that's slightly illegal ... ;^)
    
    ... but if'n ya ever do get a boat, you'll hafta learn all this neato
    sailing-stuff terminology, so ya might as well get exposed to it now.
    
    ... Bobbb (who's_still_trying_to_figger_out_what_shiver_me_timbers_
               is_supposed_to_mean)
    

    Yeah Yeah I know I know,..
    
    Thats why I keep reading this note,... hoping I'll learn something.
    I'm always ready to reef down mon :-=)
    				      ^^^^
    					thats me with my moustache
    
    							/sailor_wannabe
    

        I've got my "You've been away too long at sea" shirt on and ready
        to go see Feat tonight.
        
        Great shirt to whitewater raft in too!
        
        _M  ;^0

>           <<< Note 245.72 by CUPTAY::BAILEY "Season of the Winch" >>>
>                         -< avast ye landlubbers ...  >-

>    ... Bobbb (who's_still_trying_to_figger_out_what_shiver_me_timbers_
>               is_supposed_to_mean)
 

"shiver me timbers" (i.e. scare me) more than likely taken from what happens 
when your boat hits a reef or a rock or you all of a sudden hit a really 
strong head wind and the boat (timbers) shake.

That was always my definition anyway...

Geoff   

    gee, and i always thought it was that shivery feeling you get during
    that time period between taking a shot of Captain Morgan's and shouting
    "HAR!"...  :^)
    
    					da ve

    Ahh ... it's obviously an outdated term.  These days when you hit a
    rock it's your WALLET that shivers ...
    
    ... Bobbb
    

    I somehow thought you might be familiar with Geoff's description on
    hitting a reef (not that kind of reef, no, not that one either, neither
    of those work weel under water. Althought you could certainly hit the 
    second reef above water.) 
    	What I want to know is what the hell is Bobby talking about when
    after reefing the main sail he wants to lash the mast? I can see
    lashing the tiller when Auto says "No", but the mast!?
    
    	Maybe you didn't know the term 'cause your spar was aluminum and
    you reef was nice, soft, oren't you relived, sand. Wait, did you fix
    the keel last year? 
    
    Geoff

     First, the one I'm sure everybody wants to know, Reefing. Tucking a 
reef in the main has nothing to do with hiding oat bran rolls in your 
batten pockets, having two reefs in your main does however make the sailing
fun last longer and a flattening reef is not something that knocks you on 
your a$$. Further a roller reefer head sail really has nothing to do with 
preparations to go on tour of the coastal cities by sailboat.
     When you're sailing along and the wind is light you want as much
sail up as possible to catch lots of air. You also want your sail to be 
very full and shaped like a the wing of a slow flying plane so that you 
generate lots of lift. Then as the wind starts to build, for my boat it's
in the mid teen, you want to start pulling all the corners of the sails 
taught so that the air foil (sail) takes on a flatter less powerful shape.
The gofast gadgets to pull on are things like the outhaul, boomvang, 
cunningham and/or increase main halyard tension. When all this stuff is as
tight as you can get it and you're still feeling over powered you can 
start apply the reefs. 
     What is this reef thing? A reef (the kind in the sail) is a couple of 
extra cringles (stainless steel grommets) in the sail so you can pull it flat 
and tight at a point other than full height. The flattener is kinda the first 
reef but it doesn't really shorten the sail much. With a cringle installed 
about 2% up from the foot of the sail at both the tack and clew you can 
attach a reefing line to the clew and use your cunningham at the tack. To 
flatten the sail you pull a lot of tension (harden up) on the cunningham 
and do the same on the reefing line. Now your sail is very flat, but still 
flying at full height.
     Not long after the wind builds to flattening strength it will be time 
to set, tuck, install, apply the first full reef. The first reef is like the 
flattener, but is about 10-15% up the height of the main. Some boats, like
mine, have a cringle in the tack that you pull tight with the cunningham,
while other, usually bigger like the boat I race on, have a ring installed
at the tack which will be slipped over a hook (reefing horn) at the goose
neck on the boom. To set the first reef you have to lower the sail by 
letting out some of the halyard (the line that lifts the sail). Once 
the sail is hooked on the reefing horn, tension the halyard again and bring 
in the reefing line. When the reef clew is down to the the boom you've set
your first reef and can get back to sailing, it is to your advantage to 
also harden up on the boom vang.
     A roller reefing head sail is one that you can shorten (reduce the 
size of) by rolling the sail around the headstay. You need a roller furling
headstay to do this and it inherent to poor sail shape. If you need to shorten 
the head sail you're really better off changing to a smaller headsail. 
     Beyond the third reef you need to put up storm sails, fear for you life, 
pray to anyone who'll listen and you're probably not having as much fun 
as you've had before.

     This looks like only the beginning of the confusion. Anymore questions?

	I knew that.

    Geoff, you've got it all wrong !!!
    
    A roller reefing headsail is one you can shorten by rolling the sail
    around the headstay.
    
    A roller reefing head sail is a boatload of deadheads out for a nice
    leisurely cruise.
    
    			^!^
    			`-'
    
    				... Bobbb-eye the reefing sailor man
    

    Holy Cow Geof,.. I think I understood some of that,..
    
    Is tehre going to be a test to see how we're doing?
    
    And FWIW,.. I may have an explanation for Bobby saying
    lash the mast for you (can you believe it)
    
    It might be wrong,.. but the way I've been thinking of it from the
    song is like,.. the lost sailor really has been "too long at sea"...
    like he's been out there soooo looong that his boat is really tattered
    and the mast is actually broken so he has to lash it...
    
    Lash to me is just like bonding two shafts of wood together with
    a sort of weaving of rope. I'm not sure if "lash" has another/distinct
    definition for sailing....
    
    							/
    

     	I wanted to keep up to date on how we were doing in the Olympics
     on the water, but the news coverage again is thoroughly blind to my 
     favorite sport. We sailed fairly well getting lots of silver, but not
     quite the the amazing performance of last time around with Allison Jolly
     and Lynn Jewell sailing their 470 so fast they could stop, help a 
     capsized competitor and still take the lead. My first boat was a 470,
     so I'm always interested in how that class is doing. 
     	It looks like those on their home water (Spain and France), did 
     very well in getting gold, but the US seems most consistent in getting
     silver. 
     	These results were extracted from :sailing and I'll try to explain 
     the classes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
    		1992 Olympic sailing results from VNS 
    
        Yachting	Soilings
	1. Denmark
	2. USA
	3. Britain
     	------> Soling; a three person keel boat, about 30 feet LOA (length
     over all). 
  
        Flying Dutchman 
	1, Spain 29.70. 
	2, United States 
	3, Denmark, 
     	------> Flying Duthcman: a three person racing dinghy 19'10" LOA.
     Class minimum weight is probabaly something around 350 Lbs. it crries 
     a spinnaker and planes. Usually sailed by three large guys.

	Men's 470 Class 
	1, Spain, 50.00. 
	2, United States 66.70. 
	3, Estonia, 68.70.

	Women's 470 Class 
	1, Spain, 30.70. 
	2, New Zealand, 39.70. 
	3, United States 42.40
     	------> 470; My boat! 15.5' LOA (470 cm), class minimum weight 115Kg
     (254 lbs, the lightest the boat can weigh). Crew weight, with myself on 
     helm and someone of 170lbs for the jib, is more than the weight of the 
     boat. There is a trapeze for the jib hand and when the sails are full,
     someone's hanging on the wire and you're on a plane, there is just no 
     other ride quite like it! Gahd what fun boat to sail!!!!

	Tornado Class 
	1, France, 40.40. 
	2, United States 42.00
	3, Australia 44.40
     	------> Tornado; Super fragile, ultra high performance catamaran, blow
     Hobie's out of the water like a J35 against the boat I race on. A very 
     expensive, becoming rare, boat which is rumored to being replaced in '96
     with an 18' Hobie

	Women's Europe Class 
	1, Norway, 48.70.
	2, Spain, 57.40. 
	3, United States 
     	------> Europe; Like a Finn, but better suited for the weight 
     distribution of women.

	Men's Finn Class 
	1, Spain, 33.40. 
	2, United States 54.70. 
	3, New Zealand,64.70. 
     	------> Finn; A high performance single hander, sort of like a laser

        Men's Boardsailing 
	1, France, 70.70. 
	2, United States 71.70. 
	3, Australia, 98.70. 
    

     
    Women's Sailboard
    1. New Zealand (Barbara Kendall)
    2. China (Xiaodong Zhang)
    3. Netherlands (Dorien De Vries)
    4. France (Maud Herbert)
    5. United States (Lanee Butler
     	------> Sailboard; Yah, it's your basic sailboard, but standard in 
     design to keep things on a same level. Contrary to the average olympic
     sailboat, these boards are not ultra high performance type machines. 
     It's sort of like sticking a big sail on a beginner board, putting 
     an experienced sailor on it and see if they can push it. 
    
    
    Star
    1. United States (Mark Reynolds and Hal H?)
    2. ?
    3. ?
     	------> Star: it's kinda like a Soling, I think it's lighter and one
     of those two carry a chute, the other doesn't.
    

     	I started to write about this, but in way too great detail for anyone 
to read all the way through. So once again, an abridged version for the file.

     This time I was up in Bobbb's pocket of water and I couldn't find him. 
Our skipper/captain/(the guy who owns the boat!) found his sailing partner 
on a 40' Benateau, but no Bobbb that I could find.  Where were you Bobbb?
This was a wicked perfect, beautiful, warm, strong, but not over powering,
gorgeous weekend to race sailboats. 
     I couldn't make the Kind gig, 'cause the forecast was for rain through 
the morning, big seas and high mid twenties for wind speed. Friday I felt it
imperative that I ride my bike to keep my pace up for the next day and while
riding run through all possible maneuvers and mistakes that could possibly 
happen so as to be prepared. Too bad I'd never seen a spinnaker pole fall 
apart before. 
     Saturday turned out to be a spectacular day for racing. I arrived on 
the boat only seconds before being too late to be excused. The motor was 
running as I stepped on board and the mooring pennant was dropped as soon as
the launch pulled away. We're driving out to the line and half way there,
shortly after setting the main, the diesel shut down. This is less than 
convenient, but fortunately turned out to be merely low fuel that got sloshed
away from the feed when we heeled. Regardless, there isn't enough fuel to 
power to the starting line, we have to set all our sails and start making the 
boat go fast now.
     First thing in the morning, with 4 cups of coffee in me it was not 
too comfortable rolling over 4' swells before my job really came into play. 
So I chowed a piece of bread, felt better and  the races got under way. 
We again felt the lack of a medium sized headsail, but did our best to make
up for it with the small one. It's blowin' way too much for the #1 and we 
can point high with the #3. The spinnaker sets went well, Colleen packs a 
good chute and it was real nice to have only two people who didn't know 
what they were doing as opposed to only two who did. We had practiced our 
jibes so every one had some clue and most of my jibes went well enough that
I didn't feel I made us loose time. Our down wind sailing was better 
refined than it's been in the past and that was comfortable. Our upwind 
sailing was no better than normal and I think it needs some refinement.
     Regardless of our standings, it was a beautiful day for sailing and
I thought we sailed well. I guess well wasn't good enough, 'cause in the 
standings we sucked. 
     The party after the race took some time to get to. I was just not in 
a rush to jump off the boat and we made the party some time later in the 
evening. These type of events don't often hire Slipknot caliber bands and 
though this band was not major mind blowing talent I was very surprised. 
I forget the first song I heard them play, but the I heard notes and thought,
"Sounds like Bertha, but I doubt it". Some of there set list ended up 
including  Bertha, The Weight, Iko->Women Smarter, and as I was across 
the harbor getting my over night stuff when I heard Eyes. I like their play 
list. I met a cute girl there, she commented on my apparent lack of familiarity 
with this sort of scene. I confirmed her evaluation and she soon went on 
her way. Why do I feel like nothing changes. Coming back from the party 
on the launch I got to see a list of finishes for the first race. We're 
second to last, I feel sort of disheartened in a couple respects as I make 
it back to the boat. But it was a great day of sailing just the same. 
     It was a gorgeous night and I sat in the cockpit with an oat bran roll
and a full moon. I'm not used to sitting on the water with so many boats 
around and lights on shore. There was a party on the EasternYC side and they
had another band over there with a descent play list as well. Then they let
off a fireworks display. Well, there's always tomorrow to try for a descent
standing in the final race.

     Sunday was another beautiful day. When everyone in the boat went ashore 
in the morning I stayed on board with a pot of coffee, put in a random Dead 
tape I had, finished my roll from the night before and dug the morning. 
While listening to Cassidy I look around the harbor and off our port side 
is the J-33 "Havoc" with it's battle flag flying. The battle flag is a 
tie-dye peace sign, I thought it was really cool with the sun coming up, 
the wind holding the flag out and good music to back it all. 
     After bringing my overnight stuff ashore again we were all on board 
and ready for one more race. It's a long race today with three windward 
legs and two off the wind. The start was delayed for an hour and it seemed to 
be to our advantage. It looked like another #2 day, but as the start was 
delayed the wind built and several boats changed down to their #3s. It was an
intense start with Wildwood flower taking us up over the line until they 
passed us and Silver Fox who then pushed us up again. I watched Scott's 
transom swing within 3 inches of Silver Fox's starboard bow twice in this 
starting procedure. They all did just what they are supposed to and squashed
our speed to walk over us and leave us in gas. When we could we tacked for 
clear air. I can tell you right now we're not going to win this one, but
our rating is really bogus and we should not be rated faster than Mirage, an 
identical hull & keel.
     We made better speed to windward today because the seas were flatter.
We squashed the T33 from yesterday as we on starboard forced them to tack.
We made the windward mark and set the chute to jibe down wind. This was my
best jibe of the weekend. Ask the cockpit how they did, all I know is the 
foredeck was precision. Bad chute douse, someone tried to bring the sail 
in under the genny sheet. Colleen found a tear in the sail as she was 
packing the chute. Scott patched it with duct tape and when he started 
driving again it had lightened enough to put up the big headsail. I've 
designed my foredeck for a starboard tack sail increase. The sail's on deck
and fed in the starboard groove. take the lazy sheet, lead it for the #1 and 
tie a bowline. Set the sail, tack, douse the mininsail, good change! The sail
change is done, take this small sail off the deck. Soon it's time to set up 
the chute. As Silver Fox is flogging to make up for having tacked 50 feet 
too early last time they tacked, we pull into the mark ready to set our chute. 
We have an inside overlap and they have to give us space. We make the wing
mark and set our chute. 
     The sailing is real nice and all's going well until it's time to jibe. 
I'm working the jibe and I've really got it down to an art now. I get the 
pole off the mast and I trip the sheet end of the pole. As I pulled the trip 
cord the line just sprung off, recoiling toward my face. Oh shit, how do I 
trip the sheet now? Moments later the pole fell off the sheet and I think
something bad has gotten better. I set the pole on the new guy and as I go
to put the pole on the mast, there's no jaw left to hold it on the mast. 
This time rather than saying, "Made!" to announce that it's cool to complete
the jibe I communicate our dilemma with technical accuracy, "Oh shit, were 
fucked!, I got no jaw for my spinnaker pole". We ended up snuffing the chute,
sailing bare headed for a couple minutes, then setting the genny to complete
the race. I felt so bad, 'cause I watched that T33 go from well behind us to 
further in front of us than I had seen all weekend. It was my maneuver that 
fell apart. It wasn't my fault, I didn't do anything wrong (except to not 
have a solution) but I feel so bad about this. 
     We made up some time to windward and  beat the only boat we beat 
the day before. But with the failure of that spinnaker pole and my lack 
of a solution for resolution I can assure you we got 2 second-to-lasts out
of three races. Disheartened at our results I drove home remembering what 
a beautiful weekend it had been for sailing. It was really spectacular and the
races were great! This was so much fun and I really think we sailed better 
than last place. But there was also a time when I thought girls would like
me too. So much for credibility in my calls.

     Great weekend and weather for racing. I really enjoyed the weekend. 
After expecting vertical hell on Friday it was really one of the best 
weekends I've raced yet. I would certainly like to see us place better 
and we probably can, but until our rating is adjusted to something more 
correct we'll never see the bullet. 

     "Now my sails are fillin'
     The wind is willin'
     I'm good as gone again"
Geoff

     	This is the kind of thing I was thinking about when I stared this 
     note. There are these intense races around the world and they are 
     virtually undisclosed in the American news media. But with notes files,
     at least of the last Whitbread, I got this incredible view of the race. 
     Someone had a news feed and it was fascinating. I'm going to have to 
     find a news feed for this cause I just realized this thing is starting 
     this weekend. 
     	Most around the world type yacht races travel from east to west, 
     influenced by prevailing weather. The trip usually runs south in the 
     Atlantic and then east to west in the southern oceans. The race which 
     starts this weekend, "The British Steel Challenge", is to be sailed from
     West to East. 
     	The weather in the southern ocean is heavy. Storm seas are par for 
     the course as the weather spins around that section of the planet 
     unobstructed by any land masses. The shortest course is the one that 
     goes farthest south and the farther south you go the more turbulent 
     the conditions. The weather systems move to the west spinning clock-
     wise around low pressure systems (notice on the weather satellite shots 
     they spin counter-clockwise around lows up hear). In an East to West 
     race the key is to find the north east leading edge of the storm 
     and hitch a ride to Australia. But traveling West to East this course is
     on the weather, sailing to windward, into the wind as much as possible.
     It would seem then to me the strategy would be to sail a southerly 
     course, but this presents the significant danger of hitting an iceberg,
     in a storm, under as much sail as you could carry before the collision. 
     	Weather during the trip down the Atlantic should be interesting this
     time as well. Presently there are two hurricanes out there and one looks
     to be somewhat in the path. I expect one or more of these boats will 
     be steering near the storm to catch a lift.
     	It is dubbed the steel challenge because it is being sailed in 
     identical steel boats. The choice for a steel construction is built 
     around this danger of hitting icebergs coupled with the fact that the 
     boats are expected to be hard on the heavy weather for most of the race.
     However, the first Whitbread race, an East to West race was sailed in
     heavily built boats many of which suffered significant gear failure,
     serious broken boats. After five versions of this race the boats have 
     evolved into extremely light weight craft with more finishing in less 
     time

          I sat down to write this note because of this bullet from Sailing 
     World I was going to transcribe, that's when I realized it's staring 
     this weekend. Since this is getting long, and my sister wants to use
     the phone, I'll put that in another reply as soon as I can.

     	This should be a pretty exciting race! Heavier air than the AC!
     Geoff

    Okay, I still haven't gotten that small article transcribed, but my
    sister just walked in and told me that my uncle told her that...
    	People who don't get seasick are known as Deadheads!!!
    
    Now I've never heard this anywhere else, but hey I thought everyone
    needed to know.
    
    Geoff Always_a_Deadhead_unless_I'm_going_to_Nova_Scotia

Copied from Sailing World without their knowledge or permission or anything 
like that. I hope they don't mind :-)

     	Enviro Watch - Whales and dolphins part of the challenge

     The British Steel Challenge, the unique around the world race between 
10 identical steel yachts slated to begin September 26, includes an informal
study conducted by members of the crew in addition to racing.
     The "Ocean Vigil" is sponsored by two British: Marine Conservation 
Society and Yachting Monthly magazine. One crew member from each boat serves
as a volunteer watch leader. These volunteers use a log book, with 
identification and reporting cards, to note sightings of whales and other 
wildlife as well as traces of pollution. 
     The informal study is being termed a snapshot of the state of the 
oceans; the organizers recognize the difficulty of conducting an environmental
study while also trying to win a race in the open ocean. Yachting Monthly,
creator of the log book, hopes that the study will serve as a prototype for 
similar studies in other sailing events. 
     The British Steel Challenge is an Eight-month east-west circumnavigation 
beginning in Southampton, England, with planned stops in Rio de Janiero,
Hobart, and Cape Town. The 10 skippers and crews paid roughly $26,000
each for the right to compete and each yacht has it's own corporate sponsor. 

    That's great that they're actually doing a study of the oceans at
    the same time!
    
    Maybe now we'll have some idea as to what we're really dealing with!
    
    Not a lot of $$ to risk your life for . . . guess all ya sailors are
    crazy!  :) :) :)
    
    			sparkless

    > That's great that they're actually doing a study of the oceans at
    > the same time!
    
    This Tuesday's Science Times section (I always buy the NYTimes on 
    Tuesdays ;-) had a small article about how shoes were used to 
    track ocean currents.  It seems a ship from Korea (where many 
    shoes are made) lost 5 or so containers in heavy seas, all 
    containing shoes.  A year or so later these shoes have started
    showing up on shores along the west coast, generally supporting 
    prevailing notions of Pacific ocean currents.  Scientists also 
    expect some to show up in Hawaii, and later along the Eastern
    Asian coasts.  The sneakers were wearable after a little cleaning.
    However, they weren't tied together so people had to swap single
    shoes to find a pair that fit ;-)
    
    PeterT

     Looks like this guy lives near by and has some scoop on the race too.
I gotta say to have my company pay for a spot on one of thes boats and give 
me the time to sail it would be quite the amazing experience. Should be 
interesting to see how they do.

Geoff


SAC::CSOONE::BARKER "@UCG,ex UBO,NEW,REO,RES,SBP,UC" 37 lines   1-OCT-1992 04:38
                     -< A few of the paying voluteers... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The crew of British Steel II..

Skipper - Richard Tudor, 32 year old sailmaker.

Crew -  Company Director ( Aged 46 )
        Builder ( 29 )
      	Training Consultant ( 45 )
	Trading Standards Officer ( 31 ) 
	Fisherman ( 29 )
	Chartered Surveyor ( 36 )
	Management Consultant ( 52 )
	Company Director ( 48 )
	Company Director ( 43 )
	Electrical Engineer ( 48 )
	Company Director ( 44 )

	The last two places are taken by crew who only do one of the 4 legs.
	These slots are open, on some boats, to employees or representatives
	of the Sponsor.

	The other crews are very similar, though on average, a little younger.
	Other professions represented include Plastic Surgery, Students,
	Teachers, Lorry Drivers, a good scattering of computer people,
	a vet and a Journalist from the Daily Telegraph.

	I have seen the boats close up, and they bear little resemblance to
	Whitbread boats. They are solidly built, with small deep cockpits and
	big strong equipment. The mast is fairly short and thick by racing
	standards. Down below, there are several small cabins, to help keep it 
	dry and warm, but there are no unnecessary comforts at all.

	After 5 days, the boats are very spread out, with 40 miles between the
	front and back boats

	Chris

		

     Well, this is nothing like the daily updates we got on the Whitbread, but
it sounds like a well matched race if a boat can fall from 1st to 9th back
to first again. The sailing at this point sounds comfortable, but it doesn't
appear they are sailing anywhere near as fast as boats designed to go the 
other way.


TRUCKS::KERVILL_G                                    31 lines  11-OCT-1992 04:59
                              -< Update 9 Oct 92 >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copied without permission from Southern Evening Echo (Southampton England)
Friday 9 October 1992


"Turtles and whales ahoy"

"Southanpton skipper Ian MacGillivray on board the British Steel Challenge yacht
Pride of Teeside has reported seeing a wealth of wildlife as the fleet crosses 
the Atlantic.

"Last night the Pride of Teeside crew, who lost their promising first lead a few
days ago, and are now in ninth place out of ten yachts, saw turtles swimming
nearby.

"And as the Ocean Vigil Wildlife programme gathers momentum, crew members on 
the fourth place boat Group 4 have logged a school of sperm whales.

"With 3,136 miles voyage to Rio de Janeiro on leg one. British Steel II has 
edged back into the lead. The yachts are expected to arrive in Rio at the end
of October.

"Interspray, the yacht sponsered by Southampton firm International Paints was
today lying in second place.

"The crew reported enjoying a fantastic sail overnight, after light winds made 
for a frustrating day."


				end of report		

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. How can one get excited about a trans-oceanic
sail race when the most exciting thing the racers themselves have to report is 
a couple of turtles swimming by?

:-)

    Well, If I had some source of news it's great watching the lead shuffle
    back and fourth. I'm sure that on the boat that lost 8 places and then 
    took them back things have been very exciting. They are sailing across 
    the equator area right now and that section of ocean is  lulled in 
    a permanent high that is known as the dulldrums. 
    	There is something amazing about sailing with wildlife in sight. I
    had to do an emergency sail change one night and we were surrounded by
    a pod of humpback whales. There was something spectacular yet spooky 
    about this. I imagine that to be out sailing with a group of rare/
    endangered whales I'd personally be very excited. 
    	Then of course they'll reach the weather zone someday when they'll
    be beating into a storm of 50-60 knots, waves washing the steel deck
    leaving behind a sheet of ice in the sub zero C temperatures. Then just
    surviving really makes you happy. 
    
    	And ask Da ve if he'd be excited to see a turtle? But I really
    don't think that was a turtle, I didn't think they live around here. 
    
    It'll get better if I can get more news

I was really joshin' ya, Geoff. I do think its a neat race, really...

    Yah, I saw the smiley face as I looked up over the reply screen. 
    Then I had to quick, ligthen up. 
    
    I do wish I had more info on itthough.
    

     It sounds like the first boats are arriving and the fleet should only 
be a few days out. This first leg was probably one of the easier ones.
The next leg will be into the weather around Cape Horn to a port in Tasmania.
It's spring in the south around the horn and the ice pack is maybe starting 
to melt. But just 'cause there's big chunks of ice floating around doesn't
mean it's warm. This next leg is going to be some wicked cold sailing! 


SAC::CSOONE::BARKER "@UCG,ex UBO,NEW,REO,RES,SBP,UC" 15 lines  26-OCT-1992 05:05
                      -< British Steel II first to Rio. >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first yacht, British Steel II has just arrived in Rio. They were a few hours
ahead of Interspray and Heath Assured. The pack are still about 400 miles away,
with the last boat, Commercial Union, on its own 1000 miles back.

There were no serious incidents on any of the boats, although one of the British
Steel crew lost the end of his thumb.

The boats are restricted to only set of sails for the whole race, and, for some
reason, they are not carrying sewing machines. One of the yachts tore their kite
from top to bottom and had to hand stitch the whole thing, which took them 
several days.

More news as the others arrive,

Chris



--------

     I Also read an article about how these boats were designed for the race. 
So that the boats are not overwhelming to inexperienced sailors they designed 
the boats around Lewmar's largest handle cracked winch (as opposed to one 
driven by a pedastal grinder like on the big AC boats). From the largest 
winch the amount of sail load it could carry was determined. Then displacement 
which could be driven by that sail load was determined and I think weighed
out to 37 tons (I could be wrong on this firgure, but it's not out of sight
for a 67 foot sttel cutter). Interesting formula.
     

     And! While I was reading that same magazine, I found out that the second
"Vendee Globe Challenge" is starting on November 22! 
     The Globe challenge is a race sponsored, or first proposed by the French
yacht designer, builder, and single hand racer, Phillip Jeanot. The French 
are big in the single hand circuit besides just being big in the sailing 
circuit. The race is a single handed, non-stop, unassisted dash from France
to France, east to west around Antarctica. The first race was a few years 
ago while the Whitbread was running. Both fleets were in the area of Cape 
Horn at the same time. The winning Globe boat took 109days ?? hours:??:??,
the Whitbread winner accumulated 128 &??. 
     These Single hand boats are designed to fly! The only American in the 
first race was Mike Plant in Duracell, talking at a boat show he told me his 
fastest speed was 32 knots! I was wicked psyched the day I got my boat up 
to 9.24! These boats are designed with water ballast they can move from side 
to side to help hold the sails up going up wind. But sailing off the wind 
they spill some number of thousand pounds of water and surf like a bandit!
     For the single hand nature of the beast there are usually several 
auto helms on board. In some of these races, competitors have had to 
stop because as many as all six auto helms had failed. They are also designed 
with 2 or 3 roller furling headsails each on a triangle inside the next 
larger one. This way if a head sail change is required, up or down, just
unroll the new sail and roll up the old one. There's probably some 
performance trade off in having these sails rolled on a stay all the time, 
but the ease of doing a sail change while in a storm in the middle of the 
ocean is probably well worth it. I'm sure these boats carry an an asymmetrical 
spinnaker on a bow sprit as well, since they are racing and the design rule 
is open class (minimum of restrictions) 60 footer. 
     Another design feature which is catching on is the dual rudder 
configuration. Apparently the dual rudders steer with less applied force 
and when the boat is healing high one of the two rudders is directly in the 
water as opposed to being lifted out at an angle as a single straight hung
rudder would be. The less steering force is less applied force against the 
forward motion of the boat as well as less strain on the steering mechanism 
and whatever auto helm might be being used. 
     There's a photo of Plant's new boat, "Coyote" and this thing looks radical!
The beam (Width) looks to be about 14-16 feet with a total thickness (not a
common measurement) of about 7 or 8 feet from keel bolts to cabin top. At
somewhere near 60 feet over all this thing looks like, as Bobbb described it,
a 60 foot wind surfer. The keel is a 13 foot blade with a huge bulb of lead
attached to the bottom. It is mentioned that he expects a 15 percent increase
in performance over Duracell which if he pushed that boat to 32 Kts, he's going
to be pushing the 40 kt envelope this time around. 
     Races like this seem to me a much truer test of sailor and boat than the
America's Cup.

    	The report from Chris Baker is that the 4th, 5th & 6th place boat
    finished the first leg of the steel challenge, I think on Tuesday,
    with a spread of 80 second between them. That is some pretty close
    racing!
    
    	The next leg, around Cape Horn to Hobart, Tasmania starts on Nov.
    15.
    
    Geoff

     This is sort of unusual in these events, but it does seem the boat is 
well back from all the other similar boats. Though as I think about it, when
the Whitbread boats were in Punta Del Este the Russian skipper committed 
suicide. I much prefer sailing on a boat where we can laugh at our mistakes
and just try to get better. Like, I look at the pictures of us sailing in the 
JFK and I see an over trimmed chute in every frame. I seem to be the only one
to whom it stands out, but I was trimmin' chute. Nobody wanted to kill 
me for it, I think our biggest complaint of the day was, "We need a #2".
Anyway, all the Steel Challenge boats have finished the first leg, next leg 
goes around Cape Horn, some of the most intense on the planet.

Geoff


                       -< Mutiny on 'Commercial Union' >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commercial Union Assurance,the last of the yachts crept into Rio last night,
 9 days behind the leaders and 6 days behind the 9th place boat.

The crew have been unhappy about their skipper since before the start and the day
before they arrived in Rio, they sent a telex to the race organizers, whilst the
skipper was asleep, asking them to replace him before the next leg.

Will Sutherland, the skipper, resigned after the boat crossed the finishing line
and slipped away in a dinghy before they docked. He has been replaced by John
Merryweather, a 27 year old with 60,000 miles of experience behind him.

Some cruel person pointed out that Commercial Unions advertising slogan
'We are behind you all the way' seems particularly appropriate now.

Chris

     	Mike Plant is missing! I wrote a few notes back that the Globe 
Challenge was starting up this month, I do believe it is scheduled to start
on the 22nd. I also wrote about Mike Plant and how radical his new boat was.
I've read in the paper over the last two days that a search is in progress to 
try and locate him. 
     The report is that the Canadian Coast Guard received a weak EPRIB signal
on Oct. 27. The signal was too week to pin point and they didn't know to notify
the US coast guard because the transmitter number had not been registered.  
     Mike Plant has sailed singlehanded around the world three times. His 
fourth place finish in the last BOC was in the 132 day and was fast enough 
to set a US record for singlehanded circumnavigation. In the previous Globe 
Challenge I believe his finish was 5th and he was the only American in that
race. He was raised in the mid west and amongst other things he taught 
survival courses for wilderness survival. This could come in handy if he's 
floating around in a life raft. I don't know when he took up sailing, but
he has been residing in Jamestown, Rhode Island when he isn't sailing. 
     If he is not found this would be a tragic loss of top notch American 
sailor. There are not many American sailors who make single handed passages
and fewer who compete in the top ranks. 
     I visited his boat, "Duracell" at a boat show a little over a year ago. 
He responded to my questions asking for comparisons to Hurricane Bob that
the winds were mild compared to what he's raced in. He mentioned that he 
suffered more damage at the start of the last BOC than he did in the hurricane.
He had to start that race with a hole in his starboard bow and sail a port 
tack for a couple days. He could not repair the damage until he could tack and 
lift the hole out of the water, bilge pumps were running for a long time. 
Of all the questions I asked him, his most excited response was to my 
question about peak speed. His eyes lit up and he told me he had peaked at
32 knots. 
     If he is gone, he certainly went in his element.

It would be a tragic loss
Geoff

    This weekend saw many events besides a great ski trip. Sunday was the 
    start of the Vedeee Globe challenge, the Race Mik Plant was expected to 
    run, win. The coast gaurd agreed to restart the search for The Missing
    Mike Plant. The day they announced the resumption of the search Was
    also Mike 42nd birthday. And on the news last night, which I just
    happened to catch, I heard tha MIkes 60'er Cayote was located,
    capsized, drifting off the coast of England. 
    	This is verging on very sad, but a glimmer of hope esists in a
    piece of missing equipment from the boat. The life raft was not found
    on Cayote. The Coast gaurd had put the search on hold as it is standard
    practise to search for no more tha 6 days. They agreed to resume the
    search in light of Mikes reputation and proven ability to survive
    brutal hardships at sea. I hope they keep looking for his raft!
    
    Geoff

I read in the globe this morning that his boat was located 460 miles southeast
of ireland... very rough seas prevented a rescue attempt... i guess they will
try today to get it.  

btw, it was spotted by a liberian tanker passing by...

if that guy survive, i will be truely amazed.

    Last night on the news they talked with the family, who live here in
    Minnesota.  The family is very happy about this news and their hopes
    are high because of his survival skills.  They think he could be in an
    air pocket in the boat still alive.  Hopefully they can get to the boat
    soon.
    
    :-)
    Scott G

    ... bet he's alive...

             <<< UNIFIX::$1$DUA14:[NOTES$LIBRARY]SAILING.NOTE;1 >>>
                                  -< SAILING >-
================================================================================
Note 1963.19                Mike Plant missing at sea                   19 of 19
EPS::SAMUELSON                                        2 lines  25-NOV-1992 13:35
                             -< Not good news... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I just received a call...  They have reached Mike's boat.  The life
    raft was inflated and attached to the boat.  Mike was not aboard.

    	There's more dismal news about the race in which Mike was supposed
    to compete. I don't remember if I read it in Sailing or the paper,
    probably sailing. Three of the competitors have returned to the
    starting line, this is the only place which they can recieve outside
    help. One of those returning was a favored to win and has had such a
    bad problem with delamination (though I don't know what it is that
    delaminated, probably the hull) that he is not expected to reenter the
    race.
    	The race has also claimed another life. An English competitor, I
    don't remember his name, was reovered near his sinking yacht. He was
    wearing a survival suit and I think there was a raft inflated. The word
    was that it appeared he was preparing to abandon ship when he recieved
    a fatal head wond. 
    	This is not agood sign. This is the mellow, slow part of the race. 
    The real weather kicks up around the southern 40s lattitude. In that
    region, a 30 knot blow is moderate, comfortable, shake out that reef
    kinda weather. 
    
    
    	I have no news what's happening in the steel challenge.
    
    Geoff

    	I'm at home right now throwing stuff together to launch my boat
    tomorrow. I had pretty much planned on doing this myself but just now
    got the idea that a helping hand wouldn't hurt. So I thought I'd throw
    out the idea while people were still around and see if anyone wanted to
    take tomorrow off and help me launch my boat. I'll be honest and tell 
    you it's a long day, but I usually get a couple hours of sailing in and 
    back in time for Slipknot that night. 
    
    	Any body out there want to take tomorrow off and help me launch my
    boat? It's way south so I wouldn't expect northern DECheads to be
    interested. 	
    
    	I'll check back here later but if you really want to call me at
    508-393-7405.  
        Geoff

    	I'm not sure how may Grateful sailors are left out there now that
    Bobbb, Scott W and Tree are gone, but the big news in sailing is that 
    the Whitbread starts this coming Saturday, September 25th. This is a
    fully crewed, five stop, race around the world. In the past it was
    raced with a few Maxis (about 80 feet) and then a fleet of smaller
    boats making up several classes. Tired of waiting in port for the slow 
    boats to finish the course The Maxi people praposed that a faster
    second fleet be added and the rest excluded. Thus, this race introduces 
    the Whitbread 60 class, a light weight, water ballasted, short handed,
    speedster of about 60 feet in length.
    	The W60 rule was written to seriously compromise these boats so the
    big High buck Maxis would still win. But these boats are so fast it is
    expected some will romp on the maxis in the southern ocean. The
    distance sailed will be just short of 32 thousand miles. The 60s are
    low price compared to the Maxis and this year there are actually 2 US 
    entire (never happend before). 
    	Since we were talking about the Mayflower, the head and tall ships
    a minute ago I had to say this. These Maxis are seriously enormous with 
    rigs (All Ketches this year) towering in the tall ship range (A good 3
    x taller than the MF). I think the Mayflower was less than 60 feet
    also. This is seriously different sailing technology. This is the
    premire Maxi event. THere's no other crewed race to compare with this 
    event. 
    	What does this  have to do with Grateful? well, notice the
    coincidental timing of the Rex Bennifit and the Maxi event. They even
    sound alike. You were wondering about Rex? He's a sailor, got lost once
    and they wrote a song about him :-). No honestly it's just a mind
    blowing event and the Dead are a mind blowing group. They'll probably 
    blow out a few spinnakers too.
    
    Geoff  (so I've got strange hobbies, racing is cool)

     I was able to find a little on the race so far. The first leg is from 
the Solent in England to Punta del Este, Uragway. The race started in a 
moderately strong Northwest wind sending the boats off in reaching conditions. 

     This year's event has 5 maxis, all ketches. Three of these boats are 
new for the race and launched in '92 (Merit Cup, La Poste & New Zealand 
Endevour). Both of the other Maxis raced in the last Whitbread, Fortuna was
a lightweight sloop, made some single day coverage record, but placed 6th 
or 7th overall. Fortuna is now a heavier Ketch, same hull converted. 
Uragway Natural is a salvaged hull from the last race. In the last race 
the boat that is UN raced as "Martella OF" which dropped it's keel, 17 tons,
after rounding Cape horn and in a matter of 15 seconds was upside down. 
(The crew was aware of problems with the keel, living on deck for several
days as a result, and updating the race comittee of their position when 
it fell off. The crew was picked up by two competitors within 4 hours and now 
the salvaged hull is Uragway Natural.) Of these boat a gut feeling favorite 
of mine is New Zealand Endevour after the performance of Steinlager 2 in 
the last race.
     After the start of the race Fortuna lost her mizzen mast (It's mizzen 
now :-D) when some support failed while off the coast of France. This Mizzen
wing mast was proclaimed as radiacal being a rotating mast, 105 feet tall. 

     I don't have much word on the nine W60 in the race accept that one boat,
"Brooksfield" has turned toward France for a new rudder. I believe this boat 
in the only W60 not designed by Bruce Farr. These boats have moveable water 
ballast equivelent to 30 crew members which can be loaded aboard when on 
the wind and jetisoned when running and unecessary. The combination of the 
huge ballast and large powerful rigs makes these boats hot competition for 
the maxis. 

Currently NZ Endevour leads the Maxis, and the fleet, with Tokio, skippered
by Chris Dickson, leading the 60s. 

    	Somewhere out in the Atlantic the Whitbread race continues. 
    As the weekend apraoched the W60 Tokio had pulled out into the lead with 
    the maxi NZ Endevour falling behind. The W60s are fast in heavy
    air, but compromised in the light stuff. This will show in the Doldrums
    around the equator and maybe some light air over the weekend. At the
    end of the weekend NZ Endevour had pulled back ahead of Tokio by about 
    25 miles, leaving them 4012 miles to the end of the leg on Sunday
    afternoon. 
    	The maxi Merit Cup had been down to 6th place, but regained a lot
    of ground over the weekend and on Sunday had reached 3rd.
    	Fortuna has indeed withdrawn after loosing theire mizzen mast. 
    Rather than try to get a new rig at the next stop the financial backer
    decided that a slow boat would be bad publicity and pulled the
    financial cork out of that campain. By the time the boat had returned 
    to England they had also lost their main mast as well. I can't help but
    wonder how much care the crew took sailing that boat after the sponser
    backed out so early in the race. 
    
    	That's were things in the whitbread stood on Sunday night. But 
    let me tell you about Saturday in Mass. Bay!!! Wowwww!
    
     

     Of the 6 Boston Garden shows I only made 5, I didn't order for the
Saturday show. This isn't because I'm cheap (I have a convenient excuse),
but because the last race of the season was scheduled for that day. The race
was postponed for a week due to ethnic holidays so Robyn and I took my 
little boat out in beautiful weather with about 17 knots of wind and mostly
flat seas. What a gorgeous day it was, but in no way did it compare to the day 
of our last race in 1993.
     This past Saturday, October 2, 1993 was a nice sunny day, it might even
have been a little breezy on land. On the water however, it was sheer mind 
blowing intensity! Was the sun out? I don't know, but I don't think that 
was rain pouring over my head. This may well have been the heaviest weather 
I've ever sailed in! This was big like I've not seen big before. 
     We showed up at the dock around 10:00 AM and Dave was just getting 
ready to go up the mast and install the second jib halyard, just repaired 
after breaking in the last race. We need that second halyard today as we're 
sure to be changing headsails with the forecast for winds from the South 
at 20-30 knots. This should be interesting, we normally race with 6 crew 
members and today we've only got 5. When the wind starts getting close 
to 20 we usually want more than the 6 crew simply to hold the boat flat, 
but today we're short handed and it's some of the better crew that's 
missing. I was driving as we headed out toward the starting line and after 
setting only the main we were sailing faster than the motor can push us. 
An interesting complication is tossed in to add to the fun today, our Loran 
isn't working so navigation to day is all by dead reckoning. 
     Now with Scott driving we're sailing around at the start and the wind
is at least brisk, probably in the high teens. Robyn is getting used to the
main sheet and traveler on this boat while the navigator confirms the course 
for today's race. Once it's plotted on a chart I look it over to asses what 
sails we'll need for what leg. I have a lot to do running the foredeck and 
we are sure to be doing sail changes today. I know the small jib will be
needed up wind, but the question is around the down wind start, do we go 
with the chute or pole out the big jib? This is the last race of the 
season, we're in the running for a trophy in this series so we have to 
race hard. In the final 15 minutes before our start I've got the small jib, 
in bag ready to go up when needed and I've got the spinnaker ready to go up 
at the start. (My mind is doing the wimp-out thinking it's going to be a 
difficult set and maybe over powering). Five minutes before our start the A 
fleet starts, all under spinnaker, all over powered and some broaching. 
Scott observes this, points it out to me and calls for the heavy #1 instead 
of the spinnaker. The foredeck runs to change strategy. We got the heavy #1 
out and I set it up to go up in the starboard luff groove (a decision I didn't 
really think about and it cost some ease of handling at the end of the leg). 
We finally got the sail up no more than 20 seconds before the gun and we 
take off over the line, kind of late but actually within the running in 
our fleet. 
     We're off on the first leg starting with both main and jib on starboard 
tack. It's tough to see how the jib is drawing from in the cockpit so I
was asked what I could see and I could see it was blanketed by the main. 
"Okay, let's get it out on the pole." No sooner had I poled out our jib 
when I hear, "Larry's got his chute up,,,,,There goes Kenny, sorry Geoff, 
let's get ours up". Scott points the boat a little higher to get behind 
our competition and blanket their wind when our chute goes up. This allows 
me to put the jib back on a starboard tack and free the pole for use on the 
spinnaker. I'm all the way forward, seas are up to about 4 feet now and it's
a pretty wild ride as I connect all the lines to raise the spinnaker. The 
wind has been building and it's up in the mid 20s now and when I'm ready 
up front I look back to the cockpit to make sure all is set back there. The 
view across the cockpit is spectacular with a working crew oblivious to 
the huge wave building behind the boat and I see everyone rise up over my 
head as we surf down the next wave. I call for some prefeed on the guy and 
it pulls a little of the sail out exposing it to the wind. I grabbed the 
cloth to keep it from getting all pulled out before the set and then I 
unfastened the velcro that held the rest of the sail in. We're ready to 
go up on the chute, I let go and run back to jump the halyard. By the 
time I got back to the mast the entire sail had been pulled out of the 
bag and was dragging in the water. We did a very quick recovery fishing 
the sail out of the water and after a short debate on weather to repack 
the chute to set it again we left everything connected and set it out of 
Dave's arms. As if it's not bad enough that we're short handed to begin 
with, setting the chute out of Dave's arms leaves Dave occupied being a 
spinnaker bag and we're down one more. I've got to jump the halyard so 
I take the untended sheet and stick it in a cleat. All Set? Okay, We're 
going up!
     Now the chute's set. Check the halyard, it's at full hoist, good. Look 
around, jib, down. 
     "Scott, you want the genny out o' the way?" 
     "Yah" 
     "Robyn, starboard genny halyard"
     The wind is approaching the 30 knot range and I've got a bundle of 
literally thousands of dollars worth of plastic and kevlar coming down on me,
only attached at 2 corners of a triangle. This is normally no big deal but 
I've never done it in 30 knots of wind and I usually have somebody to fold 
at the back while I do the front. I have to secure this on deck and not 
let it blow away. While I'm tying sail to the deck, very disorganized and
not good for the next set, I look to port and see a tear in the spinnaker. 
I announce it, describe it and the decision is made to dowse it. Now the 
bad fold comes into play with our short handed state. Dave who's been flying 
the spinnaker (first time I've ever seen that incidentally) has to jump 
the halyard while I guide the sail into the prefeeder. Without major 
incident we got the sail up and started getting the spinnaker down. The 
spinnaker started coming down before I was ready and the halyard was half 
way out before I got to trip open the shackle on the guy and let it fly. 
As soon as I realized what was missing I opened the shackle and the rest 
of the peel went fine as far as I could tell, I had my front of the boat 
job to do. We took some comfort when we saw both our successful spinnaker 
flying competitors broach. What wasn't comfortable was that they were still 
ahead and we were closing on the first mark. 
     Sailing at this point was fine, but we're about to turn the boat into 
the wind and sail back to almost where we came from, just a little more 
directly into the wind which has built to almost 30 knots with frequent 
higher gusts. We need to set the small jib before we turn up wind and 
thanks to my lack of planning the empty luff groove is on the side that's 
behind the set sail. This doesn't allow our `change on a tack' maneuver 
so well refined over the past few years. This wasn't really bad since 
we had plenty of time to work (Hell we got the chute down five minutes 
ago, I'm bored!-). Switcho-changeo, attach the now unused spin. sheet 
to the present jib, take the regular lead to the new jib and squeeze the 
new sail between the lifeline and the present sail. We seemed to be 
having a hard time getting the sail snagged on something on the way up. 
We couldn't find the problem and we're closing on the mark fast. Robyn 
saw the batten in the lifeline and that got the sail up. 
     We're going to harden up around the mark and just shoot right to 
windward into wind that will be over 40 knots across the deck at times. I
have to gather the large jib coming down and fasten it to the deck while 
everybody else makes the boat go fast. The wind at this point was only about 
high twenties across the deck and there was a reaching leg about 4 miles 
into the course where I saw potential to use a big sail again. I left the
sail on deck and tried to tie it so it would stay on board with high winds 
over the bow whenever it wasn't buried in a wave. By the end of the day 
we must have had 17 billion sail ties on that thing trying to hold it on 
deck. Never ever leave a sail on deck in gale force conditions!
     As we drove up what was to be the leg of eternity the wind continued 
to build to it's maximum strength of the day. Now that we're heading up wind 
I get to take a break from the foredeck and sit on the rail for a minute 
or two. But, after three it was back up to pull a reef on the main. Usually 
we'll do a flattener first, but we just pulled a whole reef this time without
hesitation. Scott has only once before used the second reef on this main, 
but he had the foresight to tie the lead and on the next tack we had 
pulled down the second reef which he feels is only for survival sailing. 
     There's something more comfortable about this boat at a 45 degree heel
than my little trailerable keel boat. Still, with short, steep, 5 foot 
waves coming at us from various forward directions this was a one of the most 
awe inspiring displays of nature which I have ever played in!!!!!!!!
     I spent a lot of this beat (this is where it gets its name) on and off 
the rail tying down the sail I never should have left on deck. I got to play
in the fun zone where at the very point of the boat I struggled to get a 
sail tie around a piece of sail that had blown loose. With my arm wrapped 
around the pulpit to hold on I tied the sail as three times we scooped a 
wave with the bow and I felt the force of the water on my back. I've still 
got the bow littered with stuff that should have been out of there a long 
time ago so once I'm done with the sail the walk back isn't the clearest. 
     For most of the beat when I wasn't tying sail to the deck or reefing 
the main I got to sit on the rail at the first place to get hit by the 
waves. I had a great view as the boat would rise high on one wave and then
go crashing through the heart of the next one about 10 feet below me, water
atomizing and in our slipstream almost constant rainbows. Thick, heavy, 
bigger than any rainstorm water was soaking the main and jib easily 10 
feet off the deck.  There on the rail, when I got a chance to relax, I 
let my mind drift and dream. I dreamed that the race was over and we were 
out of this heavy seaway and that I was warm.
     But then I'd look to the other side to see the top lifeline completely 
submerged under water and think, "Hmmm, nothing to even lean on over there 
if you Wanted to get sick". I recall a spectacular view of stanchions spraying
wake out as they sink under the surface of the ocean water. These things 
are a foot and a half tall on the edge of a boat that's 11 feet wide and 
10,000 lbs.. And this is no one time dip, they're under during most of the 
beat and a lot of the reaching (well sorta)  legs. 
     Okay somewhere in about now we got a default third place simply for 
finishing because we could see another B fleet boat going in with no sails up. 
Scott saw them motoring in and commented casually about how it was better 
to happen there than on this boat because we don't have enough fuel to 
motor in. It turns out that Wildwood Flower lost her mast at about half 
way up. Long before we saw this I had been to the low side for something 
and grabbed the shrouds to hold on to. The shrouds were basically dangling 
because the force of the wind on the rig was so big that, with our minimum 
racing sail area up the windward shrouds were stretched at an abnormally 
high tension. What's the tensile strength of stainless steel?
     About the time we saw this we were closing in on the second mark. Wildwood
was out near the third, they must have been going fast! As we sail the reach
between the marks the conditions were very puffy and I went back to see what 
I could do with the main sail. Robyn's been running the main so far, I 
figured she might like a rest and I've got a slightly more experienced hand 
at playing the main in puffy conditions. This was nice, it gave the waves 
three people to hit before reaching me and it put my back to the sun adding
appreciable warmth. Now that I'm on main sail Robyn got to do tying of the 
jib to the deck. When the jib was lying on the high side she hoisted the 
sail on deck spilling all the water that was in it on her feet (She said it
was more like half the ocean and it was in her lap, but her rain pants are 
more water proof than expected). Now the one thing that might have given her 
away as a relative novice to the sport was the way she wore her jacket so 
casually unzipped at the collar and faced the raging storm while she tied 
the sail to the deck. One more wave and she learned a lesson I have so 
many times, that Mass. Bay water is darn chilly this time of year, 
especially on your chest. 
     Once I was on the main sail I had a view into the cabin of the boat.
I could see water pouring over the windows and I thought about what windows 
might be open. "Hey Scott, is your head (toilet) window open?" "Yup". Some 
puffs hit us and I had to wait to play the main. As I waited for an 
opportunity to go down and close the hatch I saw inside as a wave washed 
over the bow and water poured in the partly open forward hatches. When I 
finally got a chance to close all the hatches there was water everywhere!
Puddles in the shelf of the V-bearth, wet sails in the main cabin, 5 inch 
deep water in the head, man, water was everywhere. I looked for a bilge 
pump handle. No time for that, gotta go play the main.
     We did our best to catch our nearest competitor and in that effort 
helped him beat us across the line. We had sailed high toward what should 
have been the direction of the mark. "Slapstick" is sailing lower than us.
With the Loran non-functional we started sailing back to the wrong mark 
because we were chasing the other boat. This then forced us into playing 
chase with a similar speed boat. The wind's still blowing, but the seas feel
a little flatter. Even if we can't catch him, on the other side of that 
line is the end of the race. Despite that our performance vs. our rating 
was @&^$(*#-( the end of the race meant the sail home in protected water. 
Relief is in sight and we didn't loose our mast. 
     So we crossed the line 20 seconds after Slapstick and we owe them 
something like 15 seconds per mile. That corrects to almost 4 minutes behind
Slapstick on this 15 mile course and the results now also show us 20 
minutes behind the first place boat. So much for sailing like racers.
Somehow we could catch Slapstick after finishing and knowing they have 
an anemometer on board I asked what they recorded for wind speed. Their 
report was 40 knots and another boat back at the dock recorded 43 knots 
apparent. I wish we could race competitively, but just living through a 
race like that holds some satisfaction. Back at the dock we stuffed the 
ripped spinnaker into its bag for a trip to the sail maker and when folding 
the big jib we found a tear in that as well. Good thing it's the end of 
the season, we need to repair sails and Wildwood Flower has to get a new mast. 
     A down right intense day! Simply mind blowing. I am very confident that
I have never sailed in winds that high before. It was a lot of fun and it's
this type of weather where you really appreciate foul weather gear. Holding 
on as I and the bow are getting submerged under another wave is really 
exciting. I just feel like I shouldn't be such a wimp and I should have 
set the chute earlier!!! That's really where we lost the race, we really 
closed the gap on Slapstick on every windward leg.


     Truly awe inspiring, I'm overwhelmed with the magnitude of the day!!!

    better you than me!!!! does sound awesome, though...
    rfb

          <<< UNIFIX::DISK$BANYON_ALT:[NOTES$LIBRARY]SAILING.NOTE;1 >>>
                                  -< SAILING >-
================================================================================
Note 2083.29              Whitbread Race Results 93/94                  29 of 29
PIHIA::ARLINGTON                                    179 lines  25-OCT-1993 19:40
                -< Update from 20 - Oct just after the finish >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                 WHITBREAD ROUND THE WORLD RACE 1993-1994
                ==========================================
                          FOR THE HEINEKEN TROPHY
                         =========================


RACE NEWS - Date: 20 Oct 1993;  Time: 09:36 GMT;
------------------------------------------------
October 20, 1993


NEW ZEALAND ENDEAVOU R AND TOKIO WIN HEINEKEN LEG TROPHIES

Merit cup finishes to take second place in the maxi division

New Zealand Endeavour covered the 5938 mile leg in 24 days, 7
hours, 19 minutes, 2 seconds beating Steinlager 2's 1989-90
first leg record of 25 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes, 27 seconds by
1 day, 13 hours, 27 minutes and 25 seconds. Tokio's time of 24
days, 10 hours, 28 minutes, 21 seconds was also inside  the time.

RACE NEWS - Date: 20 Oct 1993;  Time: 16:30 GMT;
------------------------------------------------

October 20, l993.  Leg l, Day 24, Press Bulletin No.28

FIRST SEVEN BOATS FINISH LEG ONE -- NZ
ENDEAVOUR AND TOKIO WIN HEINEKEN LEG TROPHIES

Seven boats have finished the first leg of the 32,000 mile
Whitbread Round The World Race for the Heineken Trophy.  The
winning Maxi, New Zealand Endeavour, skippered by Grant Dalton,
arrived at l9:49:02 GMT [l6:49 local] breaking the Leg One
record set by Steinlager 2 by l day, l3 hours, 27 minutes and 25
seconds.  New Zealand Endeavour covered the 5,938 mile leg in 24
days, 7 hours, l9 minutes, 2 seconds.

Three hours later, the Japanese-New Zealand Whitbread 60, Tokio,
skippered by Chris Dickson arrived, winning the Heineken Trophy
for the W60 division.  The second Whitbread 60, Galicia 93
Pescanova, skippered by Javier de la Gandara did not arrive
until 09:00:42 GMT [06:00 local] giving Dickson an ll-hour lead
to take into the second leg.

Dalton does not have quite as comfortable a margin over the
second-placed Maxi, Merit Cup [Pierre Fehlmann, SUI] which
finished at 04:ll:39 GMT [0l:ll local], nine hours after New
Zealand Endeavour.

Galicia 93 Pescanova was followed by Yamaha [Ross Field, NZ/JPN]
one hour later, then Winston [Dennis Conner/Brad Butterworth,
US] came in one hour and a half after that.  Winston arrived
with no main sail up, having broken the boom the night before.
The boat had been caught in a squall and was knocked flat,
blowing out the masthead spinnaker, bending the boom and ripping
the main sail.  The same squall hit Yamaha with very nearly
serious consequences.  "We were dropping the masthead spinnaker
when the masthead backstay tensioner broke.  The rig fell
forward with all its weight on the runners which were slack at
the time," said Field. "Fortunately, Joey Allen cut the halyard,
letting the spinnaker go.  We survived that squall but Winston
didn't."

Galicia 93 Pescanova overtook Yamaha in the last 24 hours.  "We
got more wind offshore and were able to overtake," said de la
Gandara.  "But it was a very close race.  Tokio were lucky in
the doldrums, they were only about 2 miles away from us, but
they got the wind first and got into a  different weather
pattern.  We couldn't catch them."

All three skippers said that Tokio had sailed a really good race
although they were determined not to let her get away.
"The boats are so close in speed that different legs will be won
by different boats," said Butterworth.  "We just hope to be one
of those boats."  Dennis Conner said he was undaunted by Tokio's
l3 hour lead over them.  "A lot will happen in the Southern
Ocean.  In the last race Fisher & Paykel had a 20-hour lead over
Steinlager 2 on the second leg, but Steinlager went on to win."
"After the doldrums, we must have made up at least ll hours on
Winston and Galicia," said Field.  "These boats are so fast that
I think we will see big gains and losses because the boats can
get into different weather systems."

Intrum Justitia skippered by Roger Nilson, finished at l5:l0:49
GMT.  La Poste [Daniel Malle, FRA] is expected in late tonight
local time.  The next group, Brooksfield Guido Maisto, ITA] and
Dolphin & Youth [Matt Humphries, GB] are due tomorrow morning.

                   "Cast adrift in a most tacky sport"
                   (Yacht racing not for just anyone)

                             by Dave Barry

    [Copied from the (Concord, NH) Sunday Monitor, June 26, 1994]

I don't wish to boast, but recently I was on the crew of one of the yachts
in the prestigious Whitbread round-the-world yacht race.

     Okay, if you want to get picky, I was not, technically, "on the crew."
A more accurate statement is that I was "constantly in the way of the crew."
But I WAS on the yacht, and it was an experience that will remain with me
for the rest of my life in the form of chronic butt soreness, caused by 
"tacking."  (More on this later.)

     For the benefit of those of you who do not keep up with international
yacht racing, I should explain that the Whitbread is a grueling nine-month
race in which hardy yachtspersons sail around the world, relying only
upon their skill, the wind, and humongous sums of money from corporate
sponsers.  One of these sponsors, a major beer manufacturer, arranged for 
me to be a passenger on one of the yachts; a public-relations person for 
this company expressed the hope that I would mention the beer by name in 
this column, but of course that would violate my journalistic ethics.

     The Whitbread is the world's toughest sailing race.  The 14 yachts
competing this year will travel a total of 32,000 miles, a distance that -
to give you some perspective - is equal to 253,440,000 Heineken bottles
placed end-to-end.  The 10-person crews race under brutal conditions: at 
sea for weeks at a time, sometimes battling 50-foot waves, constantly cold
and wet, rarely getting more than a few hours' sleep, jammed together 
aboard Spartan racing boats that lack even primitive casino facilities.

     Please note that I, personally, did not sail around the entire world.
I sailed in an exhibition race off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, where 
the competitors had stopped to prepare for the final leg of the Whitbread,
across the Atlantic to England.  The yacht I was on is the Yamaha, named
after its Japanese corporate sponsor, Steinway.

     No, that was a joke, and I sincerely hope that it does not cause some
public-relations person to commit suicide.  The Yamaha is sponsored by 
Yamaha, a company that manufactures fine pianos and outboard motors via
what I assume are two completely different processes.

     Most of the Yamaha's crew members come from New Zealand; they speak
a language that is similar to English, except that the only time you can
understand them is when they say a very bad word that I will represent 
here as "fudge" (not its real name).

     The crew members say this word a lot, and I don't blame them, because
sailboat racing is hard.  The entire boat is covered with a complex 
intertwined mass of nautical items such as winches, pulleys, lines, booms,
halyards, leewards, mizzens, stanchions, forecastles, starboards, 
Heinekens, etc.  In order to make the sailboat do anything, crew members
have to yank on every single one of these items until their hands bleed.
Getting a racing sailboat to turn right requires about the same amount of
labor as building a three-bedroom house.

     And the boat has to turn a LOT.  This is because, in sailboat racing,
you never sail directly toward your intended destination; instead, you
zigzag constantly back and forth, with the boat leaning way over to one
side, then way over to the other, like a person who has consumed too much
Heineken.  This is called "tacking," and it serves an important nautical
purpose; namely, to fling the guest civilian passengers into the ocean
where they would be eaten by squid.

     At least that SEEMED to be the purpose.  There were four of us 
civilians on the Yamaha - Gerry, Lucy, Bob and I.  Oour job was to always
sit on the high side of the boat.  Basically we were human ballast.  So 
when the boat was leaning way over to the left, we'd be clinging for our
lives to the right side, feeling as though we were on the edge of a cliff;
then, suddenly, a voice would shout "Tacking!" and all these New Zealanders
would start pulling on things, and the boat would start leaning sharply 
to the right, and we civilians would try to get over to the left side, 
scrabbling on our butts like pudgy four-legged crabs, wincing and flinching
and trying desperately to avoid flapping sails and big ropes snaking
wildly around the deck and heavy objects whooshing past our heads and 
New Zealanders racing all around us yelling "FUDGE!"

     And of course as soon as we got to the other side, the voice would
shout:  "Tacking!"

     We tacked like maniacs.  I estimate that the Yamaha traveled 237
nautical miles without ever leaving a patch of water the size of a squash
court.  Back and forth, over and over, scrabbled the pudgy flinching 
crabs.  After an hour of this, I knew I was going to need a butt transplant.
But I felt good, because I could sense, from the excited way the New 
Zealanders were talking ("FUDGEFUDGEFUDGE!") that we were doing well.

     "Are we winning?" I asked Bob, between tacks.

     "The race hasn't started yet," he replied.

     So it was a long afternoon out there.  But it was exciting, and we
might - thanks to a strong performance by the ballast - actually have 
won the race.  There was no way to tell.  All I know is, I was very glad
to get back on land and be able to walk erect and try to heal my bruised
and battered body via a time-tested medical remedy.  Involving Heineken.

     	Pretty good racing in Marblehead this weekend

     We planned to make the first set of Slipknot on Friday, but by the
time we got everything set for our early departure there wasn't going to 
be much of a set to catch. The trip to Marblehead often took longer than 
expected so I set the alarm for 05:00 to be out of the house by 06:00. 
     Route 129 is labeled until you reach Swampscot. This made our early 
departure worthwhile. We had good parking when we reached Eastern Yacht
Club, grabbed food beer and foul weather gear and headed for the launch. 
We found another crew member, Toni, on the launch so we hopped on that one 
for a quick ride out to the boat. It was nice not to be rushed like a few 
years ago when I didn't make it on the boat until the mooring pennant had 
already been cast off. 
     We motored out to the starting line drinking coffee and discussing who 
would do what. It was no surprise to me, I've been on the boat for 4 years
and always run the bow. But this time Robyn got the mast which took half
the job I normally do out of my hands. That was great, I really think I did
a better job without having to be in two places and do two jobs. I got help 
in the spinnaker sets, with Robyn jumping the halyard I could stay put and 
clean up the bow. When the chute was up and the jib came down Robyn 
gathered the leach while I pulled the luff down. Then I'd pull the spinnaker
bag off the pulpit and hand it back to Robyn to stow down below. My job was 
a lot easier and I didn't have to ask for help from people who were doing 
something else. Once the chute was up and the jib secured on deck I could 
take over the spinnaker trim and concentrate on it (mostly). When I called 
for adjustments on the pole there were people there to do it. Robyn was 
moving around a lot, and never missed a beat. I'd call to check the twings, 
she'd done them, check the outhaul and cunningham, she'd taken care of them, 
everything was covered and nothing was late. 
     Having full crew of seven, organized and working their jobs really paid 
off for our results. Our first start was a little in the gas but we sailed 
away from the fleet into clean air. I don't think we had more weight than 
normal, but it was broken into smaller pieces. This kept more weight on 
the rail and we powered up the beat stronger than we have in the past. Our
tacks were fast, like a real racing crew, and by the time we reached the 
first windward mark we were in the front of the fleet. A lot of the speed 
in our tacks came from making very sure to clear the jib past all the 
rigging and then, more significantly, Robyn grabbing the clew and hauling 
it back so that winch grinder had half the work already done. As we bore off
and made our first spinnaker set we were third or fourth around the mark and
the organized crew set the chute fast and flawlessly. We didn't loose 
anything in that rounding and I finally got a chance to trim this new extra 
large hot pink spinnaker in some reasonable air. 
     With an attentive crew on the pole, when the jibe mark came up it went 
almost as clean as our tacks. The pole came down to shoulder height for me 
and Scott steered square to the wind. After adjusting the pole height Robyn 
went to attend to the twings and I handed the sheet over to Dave. Cleanly I
got the pole off the mast, disconnected from the guy, across the bow and 
back on to the new guy. Finally I set the pole back on the mast, call out
"Made!" and the new sheet comes forward to me to start trimming again. The 
chute never collapsed and we kept chugging down the course to the next mark. 
     Scott is so used to having to think for some particular members of the 
crew, who was now replaced, that he forgot to think about where he was going. 
The jib went up clean and the chute came down as we rounded the mark. My 
job on the foredeck is pretty easy here and I was able to see that the 
halyard had not been released, and was able to take care of that without 
much yelling. Scott suddenly realized that he'd forgotten to turn up wind
and was still on a beam reach. We headed up and did a great job of taking 
back our fourth position at the next windward mark. 
     Sandra had done a very quick job of packing the chute and I was impressed. 
But when I got it up for the next set I found that the clews and head had 
not been fastened to the bag with their velcro hooks. It made my set up take 
a few minutes longer, but I had enough time and we set perfectly as we 
rounded the mark. This was a beautiful sight. As we approached the mark I'd 
unfasten the velcro, but hold all the lines so the chute wouldn't get dragged 
out of the bag too early. The cockpit crew had setup all the lines back there
and as the bow would pass the mark I'd call out, "Get it up" or something 
like that. When I saw the chute was all the way up I'd call for pole back 
as I pulled the guy through the pole. We sailed as fast as we could down wind
defending our position while trying to take away from the boats up front, 
by getting behind them and shadowing their wind. This leg would finish the 
race and we crossed as the forth boat. 
     In the second race that day our organization fell apart. We still fared 
well, but no one was doing their job and everyone was doing someone else's. 
We lucked out by being in a good position before the wind died and would go 
on to capitalize on our fourth, just barely holding off Silver Fox when the 
race was shortened because there was no longer any wind. On the way back in 
we all discussed and agreed that our organization had fallen apart and we
paid for it in the results. The overall results however would show us in 
third position for the regatta and this was our best showing in this one ever. 
     With a good place in the standings, we all knew that keeping our 
organization together for the third (and we expected final) race on Sunday
was going to be key to holding our position. There was excitement around the 
mooring basin on Sunday as by 09:00 the breeze had filled and we were looking
for the forecasted build to 20 knots. 
     Off shore the wind died and we drifted around the starting line for a few 
hours waiting for the breeze to fill. By 12:30 the breeze filled in to 4 knots 
from due south, 180 degrees. It quickly built after the first fleet crossed 
the line and Scott asked me if we should reef before we set the jib up. With 
8 minutes to our start I said we test it first and see how it feels. No problem 
what so ever and after passing behind the barging crowd at the committee boat 
end of the starting line we ended up with a good start and a big hole of 
clean air. We powered up the beat at nearly 6 knots, gaining on some an 
holding our ground on others. The wind had built well and by the time we set 
the spinnaker it was filling stronger than I'd had it before. I played the 
chute aggressively trying to project it as far out as possible without 
letting it collapse. The boat did a little rocking as the swells built and 
it was pretty cool to hear we were pushing the mid 6 knot range and look 
down to see the bow wave bubbling up and almost onto the deck. We rounded 
the leeward mark in third and had finished setting the jib just in time for 
the rounding. The chute came down and this time Scott didn't forget to turn 
up wind. That smooth rounding and our fast tacks held us in the same position 
for the next rounding. We had a little trouble getting the spinnaker out of 
the bag at first but because I was able to stay forward I was right there to 
clean up the jam and get the chute out of the bag. Another hot run with enough 
wind in the chute to need someone cranking the winch when I'd trim in the 
chute. I heard comments including, "Speed's 6.8" and nobody was gaining on us. 
We crossed in 4th and this was good enough to hold on to that third overall 
standing. 
     But the race had been shortened so that the race committee could run 
another quick race. We were getting tired and hadn't counted on this race.
We had kept our mistakes to a minimum, but that wouldn't last through this 
last race. As you'd guess we started, we raced and we set the chute, but 
here the problems began. The second to last tack up the beat was shorter 
than I expected and I didn't get to set up the chute when I wanted. I rushed 
to do this in the last tack while reaching around the jib. I forgot to attach 
my pole-up and that cost us time at the set. The chute had been packed in 
a rush and when it came out it was twisted and wouldn't unwind. We had to 
pull the chute down, unwind it and set it again. We recovered nicely from 
this twist without damaging the sail, but we lost a lot of time. By the 
time we had the spinnaker set three boats must have gotten by us. Before 
I had much time at all on the sheet it was time to jibe. Because I had not 
connected the topping lift in the first place it became wrapped around some of 
the rigging and after the jibe it just got worse. I wanted the pole higher
and further back, but the topping lift tangle wouldn't allow this. Three 
times I had the chute backing through the fortriangle forcing Scott to 
change course so that it wouldn't end up wrapped around the head stay. 
     We made a great move at the jibe mark, getting an inside overlap 
on two boats, but the wind had shifted enough that we needed to set the jib. 
In all the confusion the jib sheet got set on tight so it made raising the 
jib not so easy. It made for another delay at our rounding and then we were 
too close to the wind for the spinnaker guy to release. Again Scott had to 
alter course and then I tripped the guy free. What a terrible mess that run 
turned out to be. 
     The last beat was through sloppy seas and it really killed our speed. 
We'd get up in the high 5s and then a few waves in succession and we'd be 
back down low. The favored speed tack wasn't the favored course tack. At 
the end of the beat we had to make short tack to make the mark. We waited 
too long to do this and when we tacked over to port were soon forced back 
by a starboard tacker. Our speed was completely burned off and we couldn't 
accelerate. We got forced up by a leeward boat slowing us further and finally
bobbed across the line with three other boats in a messy jumble. 
     That last race killed our standings. We corrected to somewhere around 
7 or 8 and ended up 5th overall for the weekend. We didn't expect the fourth 
race and it really killed us. The large combination of errors didn't do 
anything to help our results and I can't help but believe that one thing 
led to another causing errors due to previous errors. It was, however, a lot 
of fun racing all weekend and we had our best showing ever in the PHRF 
New England Championships. 

Gee, sounds like it's race week up in 'Head ;-)  I must admit, it seems
like I know some of the words here, but I lose some of the meaning trying
to figure out which sail is which.  But congratulations anyway!  Sounds
like you guys are getting things together (apparently too together
at times for Scott who's not expecting it to be so ;-) but need just a
bit more staying power, as I'm sure fatigue was contributing to mistakes
in that last, unexpected race.  

Clear skies and a strong wind...
PeterT

     		Mattapoisett to Maine,

     		Delivery to Salem.

     Some people have been heard to say that I mistreated my family when 
they came out to be at my wedding. I think that might be half right, as 
far as my siblings are concerned. Jennifer had an idea of what to expect, 
Beth was not so prepared. But they had both agreed to help out on our 
delivery of our boat from Mattapoisett, through the canal, then 50 miles 
across Cape Cod and Massachusetts Bays to leave it in Salem so we could 
leave for Maine on our Honeymoon from Salem. 
     The abuse of my sisters came on the first day. To make this delivery 
schedule work they both took red-eye flights from either Seattle or San 
Francisco arriving in Logan at about 9:30 AM. I was kind of hoping at least 
one of them had slept on the flight over, but it didn't really turn out that 
way. After they got into town we spent the next 5 or 6 hours driving around 
the eastern half of Massachusetts, with a 75 minute break at the house for 
showers, arriving in Mattapoisett aroud 5:30 ish. After loading up the boat,
and having some dinner inland, we set out for the Cape Cod Canal at around 
7:30 PM.
     The plan involved entering the Canal at about 8:30 when the current 
went favorable. This schedule would put us getting out the west end of 
the canal at around 10:00-10:30 PM. With a fair wind we'd then be able to 
sail to P-Town and arrive near 1:00-1:30 AM, we could motor and arrive 
closer to 3:AM, or find a mooring at the end of the Canal and sail the 50 
miles to Salem entirely the next day. The Canal itself was easy and just 
a mellow Motor trip, but entrance was long and riddled with dangers un 
seen. It began as we started looking for the lighted buoys marking the 
entrance. As we motored up in no wind, making close to 6 knots, I do 
the best I can to drive toward the next red light I can make out. I'm 
doing okay and cruising comfortably when Jennifer askes about SOmething 
in front of us. It sinks in when Robyn remarks with alarm that Jennifer 
\has a very good point. I look into the darkness and see a Large outline 
of an even blacker mass than the darkness around it, shoulders standing 
15 feet off the surface of the water and a top that is the light which 
is not lit. In a burst of self preservation and a realization the this danger 
is extraordinarly real, I heaved the helm hard over to Port, swinging the 
tiller past and through where Jennifer was sitting. It wasn't exactly polite
of me to so immedeately push her out of the way like that but it was 
necessary and excused. 
     From that point on Robyn took up watch at the bow pulput with a 
flashlight and a watchful eye forward as we continued our way up toward 
the canal. Many of the Markers were surprisingly difficult to see. Robyn 
consumed three sets of batteries and we picked our way in discussing where 
various shadows where and what they might be, danger or background. 
Flahlights are worthless and its nights like these that have convinced me 
of this. We've since bought a spotlight that plugs into our boat battery.
     Once into the canal the trip was pretty easy and pleasant, with the 
far end of the canal offering the closing pieces of adventure to the evening.
As we approached the end of the canal I turned on the VHF to monitor traffic 
information, or had I been monitoring it and I happened to hear something 
going on. I heard some comments about "I'll be starting through as soon as 
the pilot is aboard". I know this means a large commercial vessel is on it's 
way into the canal. In light of the time, my sisters amount of sleep in the
last 24 hours and the distance we have to go for a good anchorage, we decided 
to pull up in the refuge harbor at the end of the canal. We pulled in there 
to find that there were no moorings availible any time, they were all slips 
around 17 feet wide and we're 19'1" in our normal sailing configuration. So 
back out into the canal we go with a fuel barge entering and anticipating 
some choppy waves as we enter Cape Cod Bay. Well, Robyn and I anticipated 
some choppy seas, but Beth and Jennifer were not so prepared. As we reached 
the chop the two awoke with two concerns, can that boat see us and are these 
seas too large for this little boat. After some discussion, due, in Robyn's 
and my minds the lack of good anchorage just outside the canal, and to Beth 
and Jennifer the fact that we'd die if we continued further, we decided to 
fold up one ama and go back to try those slips again. Now comes the part 
that I felt was most dangerous, executing a 180 degree about face in chop, 
significant current and the confines of the canal while a large vessel with 
no way of stopping is coming in our direction. Well I pulled it off, three 
point style and Robyn and I folded up our port Ama. 
     Back into the Marina we go and begin to try to figure out where and how 
to tye up. We woke the harbor master the first time we came in and the second 
time he shown a big spot light on us and then directed us to a slip. It was 
a dock end so we were able to open the port Ama up again. After we were all 
set we finally got to go for sleep a little after 1:00AM.