Wither the amateurs?

Yesterday was the annual Norfolk Yacht and Country Labor Day regatta, a fixture on the lower Bay sailing calendar since there's been dinghy racing on the Chesapeake. Moths have been racing in this regatta for over 7 decades. The class winner in the Hampton One-design class is awarded a perpetual trophy, the Governor's Cup, that also dates back at least 60 years. We Susan and I showed up with our classic moths, we found Walt and George (who had driven up from Greenville.) A small fleet of four, but we knew gas prices were high and some of the regulars had either relocated (Mark to South Carolina) or had other pressing items on their plate (Greg was gearing up to organize the Nationals in just two more weeks.)  At any rate we had a great time. The breeze fluctuated around 7 knots, never dropping below 4 and building to around 11-12 by the last race. There was an ebb tide that added just the right amount of current to make calling laylines interesting. The committee got off seven races on a windward-leeward course situated just off the club. The larger boats had to sail out to the channel off ODU and managed fewer races and more current. On the inside course we had a blast. We even traded boats between races, with a junior instructor from the club in the mark set boat jumping into the fray for three races (he sailed Try-Umph, then Aftermath, then Walt's Europe.)

Walt had to bail out a bit early so only sailed 6 races and Susan sat out two races and the scoring was both by sail number and by helmsman so the results are somewhat muddled but we had a blast. I ended up with 6 bullets and a second. My boat did pretty well with 6 firsts and a 4th. George finished one race first in my boat (and I got second in Lumpy). Aftermath also took a first, with me at the helm. I suppose it usually is all about the driver, but that's pretty well accepted.

So was there anything unusual about the day? You betcha! On the last weekend of the summer, with beautiful weather of sunny skies, 90 degrees and a perfect breeze for anyone (even green fleet Opti kids,) there were only the Moths and the Hamptons racing (and only 6 Hampton O-Ds at that.) There were NO junior sailors. It was only a year or two back when this regatta had hordes of Optis from both Norfolk and Hampton. In years past we actually enjoyed sailing in and around the Optis as they made comments about how "cool" our moths were. The older juniors at the club race 420s and CJs. In fact, the club boasts about 30 Optis and 30 double handed trainers on a floating dock just ready to sail. Not a single one was launched yesterday.  When I asked the junior instructor where the kids were on this perfect regatta day I got a couple of replies..."It's cooler to go stand-up paddleboarding down in Duck (on the Outer Banks),"  and "They didn't know about the regatta," and "The good Opti kids only race the major regattas now-a-days and couldn't be bothered with this little race."  I thought how sad. If the hot-shots are gone what a great opportunity this was for the kids that usually inhabit the back end of the fleet and for the green fleet's novices.  But perhaps the back end of the fleet has given up sailing. Maybe the back 80% of the fleet has given up sailing. If only the top competitors compete and those top kids don't show, what happens? To paraphrase Bertolt Brecht, What if they gave a regatta and nobody came?

This lack of juniors racing and the decline in participation in small boat sailing in general may be common as we move deeper and deeper into the virtual world (Susan commented that the kids don't sail real boats anymore, because "there's an app for that..."). But surely if the base is not growing, and in reality is probably shrinking, how can that possibly be good for the top? Reference the gnashing and grinding of teeth after the USA failed to medal in Weymouth.  Maybe it's the culture of if you don't perform at the top, it's not worth playing the game. I did like the Nike commercial about "Finding your greatness" aired during the London games. Let's only hope that "your greatness" will be understood to mean "not the world's greatness."  If the bulk of the fleet gives up sailing it may be because the boat is boring. Not so with the moth! Witness the record turn-out at the last worlds. On a related note I saw that Anja continues to document the entire moth fleet. Her pictures of Campione are so much more inclusive of the fleet when compared to those of Thierry who concentrates on the pointy end. Yep, I'm still mothing and hope to be at Hayling Island in 2014. Hawaii is out just because of the calendar. Teaching school frees up the summer months but demands that I stay focused from mid-August to June.

Waterlust

I just viewed the video posted by Anthony and put together by the Waterlust.org folks out of the University of Miami. The short film shot with GoPro cameras is really well done and I'm looking forward to the April piece titled "Lift" about mothing (I suppose!)

Below is just a snippet showing Bora with his patented water walk.

Happy Xmas

The 2nd day of Christmas and it's John Lennon's turn...

Hope all is well in the moth world.

Merry Christmas!

Judy Garland sings.

Merry Christmas!

Try-Foil weights

After MARKLA posted the weights (estimated) for his Slino design, I thought I'd come up with comparable weights for Try-Foil. The boat, built in 2007-08 has undergone a number of modification and has been generally stored outside (but under the cover of a tarp.) Weights were measured by the bathroom scale method (stand on digital scale with and without holding various components and find the difference in the weighings.) Repeat a few times to get consistent results. I figure a max error of +/- 1 pound

Hull, paint, gantry (and foam non-skid, mainsheet blocks, take-up bungees, wand pivot block) 33 lbs (compare with Slino's 26 lbs)
Wings, tramps (and foam flotation, vang and cunny floppy blocks) 23 lbs (compare with Slino's 22 lbs)
Foils, tiller (M2 mainfoil & strut, homebuilt rudder assembly) 14 lbs (compare with Slino's 19 lbs)
Rigging, standing, running, mast, sail (and boom) 18.5 lbs (compare with Slino's 29 lbs.)

Slino total (est)  43.33 kg = 95.53 lbs
Try-Foil total (measured) 88.5 lbs = 40.14 kg

I believe that's a true total. I'm not sure why the large discrepancy in the weight of the rig. I'm using a standard fat Burville mast and KA sail. The boom is a large section carbon tube (the same I use for the outer rack tubes) and was built be Ted Vandussen. Standing rigging is 3/32" wire rope. Spreader and prodder are home-built. The two primary vang purchases are some Sailing Bits thimbles. It would be interesting to see how these numbers compare with others (either production or home builds.)

Archival records

After the latest low-riding event in Rye, I got to thinking about the old days. Then today while clearing out some old files I came across a couple of clippings from an old (very old?!?) Yachts and Yachting.  Year was probably in the mid 70's, a time when I had built a Stockholm Sprite and a Mistral. I was attracted to the Mistral because of its advertised ability to effectively carry heavier helm (14 stone.)

Yep, I'm a dyed in the wool home-builder.  Those sailing production boats might never know the joy of flying your own creation...unless you're John, Amac or Cookie.

HPDO

Well, I've finally caught my breath long enough to post about last weekend's HPDO. Yes, after some long nights I did manage to sleeve and repair the rear rack bar and drive up to make the regatta. The weekend saw light breezes, except for a bit before the first race Saturday, and after the last race on Sunday (go figure...)  All the racing was held in low-riding conditions, and some in near windless drifting just fast enough to counter the tidal current.

See pic of a typical start here http://www.photoboatgallery.net/p317630384/e3c35e3b0

Results are here:http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=478  Peter won and I finished 2nd. If I didn't have a breakdown prior to Sunday's two hour delayed start, I probably would have won, but Peter again showed the ability to string together finishes with non-lettered scores, even though he did get a TLE in the first race. The conditions were challenging for the RC as well, with a large sailing yacht drifting into the anchored RC boat mid-way through Saturday's last race causing the finish to be moved to the weather mark (and sending folks who didn't score the finish as per the rules: always finish from the direction of the last mark.) I had thought the old "button-hook" finish was well by the wayside, but not according to the folks who were recording the placings. At any rate, it didn't affect the final results.

Both Matt and Anthony bailed on Sunday's racing (Anthony literally when finding water incursion after Saturday's low-riding) leaving the 2nd day's competition to Peter, me, Bill and Spencer.  I thought I'd be smart and use a wooden rudder sans horizontal for the light winds on Sunday. Actually, it worked fine for the three hours we spent waiting for the first gun only to have a G10 gudgeon shear off thirty seconds before the start. I was towed in by Dave Ellis (former sailing master of St. Pete YC and the founder of the classic moth mid-winters series.) I did manage to make the next race with the original rudder. I'll probably re-build the wooden one with a beefier gudgeon for use in the future.

Overall, the event was fun. The hospitality by Peter and Adrianne was outstanding. The dinner Saturday night was scrumptious (and I won a $50 gift certificate to APS for my story-telling.) The beer by Heineken was plentiful and cold. The photography by Photoboat.com resulted in some great shots (primarily of Matt before the racing on Saturday.) The drive was long (and not something a 57 year old guy should pull off by himself,) but won't stop me from attending next year.

See Matt flying high here: http://www.photoboatgallery.net/p317630384/e2529bf68

And contrary to Matt's opinion as he was watching me low-riding faster and deeper than he could, I don't think it was because of the design of the Hungry Beaver as a "fat bottomed girl" but rather because of the tucked pin-tail that my boat has. Bill Beaver based his Hungry Beaver on Mark Thorpe's Hungry Tiger, the last low rider to win a worlds. So maybe the BR, the M2, and the Assassin all have more transom drag in low-riding conditions.  So here's to Queen and Emma's original Fat Bottomed Girl.