Charlie, This thread has been interesting. I was wondering, since you mentioned Old Dominion, if you ran across Greg Cutter, professor at ODU who was an active member of this list and is a serious racer? He and I have raced together, in the past and recently Double-handed Down the Bay races and have had a good time. We stay in touch.
As a data point, I started racing as crew in Cruising One Design boats in the winter of 1994/95 in Annapolis. Never looked back; it was like crack cocaine for me. I crewed every opportunity that I got, all year long, every weekend and any other racing that I could attach myself to. Graduated from crew to owing my own boat in the early 80’s. Interesting story there; I crewed on my friend’s father’s Sparkman & Stevens alumni 60’, Brigadoon against her sister-ship, Running Tide in an AYC Fall Series. I was assigned to the only 3-speed grinder for the jib. It was very heavy air. I probably weighted about 145 lbs at the time. Me and the other grunt were responsible for the first and second gear in-haul, after which we were completely exhausted and a second couple jumped in and finished off the tack in the fine gear. I would stagger back to the high side and wouldn’t even know where we were. I remember looking back to the after-guard and having a revelation: I’d rather be a big frog (my own boat) on a small boat than a small frog in a big pond… I crewed or captained on other non-One Design boats, back in the day on One-tonners and the like but I just never cared for handicap racing. One design was pretty simple: if my competitor was going faster than me, I was doing something wrong. And vice versa. Crewed for a good number of famous names in Annapolis, around the buoys and off-shore. Did that for 35 years. Stopped because I had earned the respect of my peers and the racing was getting to be like the same old black-and-white movie over and over again. The start. The mark roundings. Set the ‘ chute. Take down the ‘chute. The finish. And primarily because given my intensity on the course, I was either going to have an aneurysm or be beaten to death with winch handles by my crew. Probably the latter. When I met my soon-to-be wife, I informed her that sailing/racing was my life. If she wasn’t onboard with that, well fine. She said that she liked sailing (if I had a dollar for all my girlfriends who said that and then tried to get me to take up golf, I’d have a Hinckley…) and that she wanter to learn how to sail. I said that the absolute best way to learn to sail was crew on a race boat. She quickly responded that she wanted to crew for me. I told her that our relationship would have a half-life of two weeks. I put her on my old crew’s race boat and things worked out for the best. So, for me there is not a better way to be able to sail well and comfortably than having racing chops in your quiver. I’m still not really a cruiser. I can’t anchor to save myself. Regards, Dave Godwin 1982 C&C 37 - Ronin 1998 Mast & Mallet Thomas Point 34 - Katana > On Jan 30, 2021, at 5:06 PM, cenelson via CnC-List <[email protected]> > wrote: > > +1 on why race Chuck. All your points are valid and they match my own reasons > for doing it—plus a few more. > > I got into sailing late in life and had a terrific mentor who was a champion > sailor at Old Dominion in college. So I learned what it took to get a boat to > maximize its potential—all in PHRF racing. Plus he found crew. > > I found two additional reasons why I race: > > 1) I wanted to earn the respect of the sailors I raced against, most of whom > knew a lot more than I about sailing and racing. I thought it would be cool > to compete with what I thought were the best sailors, at least locally. > > 2) I found I enjoyed the competition, the thrill of a good start, catching > someone to windward or keeping them behind me downwind, etc. among friends > was fun! Of course, I was more often behind, than ahead, blew the start, was > Lee bowed and left in the gas of other boats and finished DFL! Back at the > dock, we commiserated among the crew but often our competitors would come by > and congratulate us about a good move even in defeat! > > After many years, I am usually mid-fleet but with enough top finishes to make > up for the boat costs and troubles and difficulty of finding and keeping > crew. > > I still love being “...in the game...” and as long as I do, I will race (and > sail) on! > > Charlie Nelson > Water Phantom > > > > Sent from the all new Aol app for iOS > <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aol-news-email-weather-video/id646100661> > > On Saturday, January 30, 2021, 1:31 PM, CHARLES SCHEAFFER via CnC-List > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Why race? > > If you consider the benefits of racing; learning to sail better, getting a > boat to perform at it's highest efficiency, learning how to trim sails > properly, learning to use the tide and currents, learning a few racing rules > and signal flags, learning how to develop and manage crew members, building a > team, etc. I enjoyed the challenge and personal growth that came with it > and I'm grateful for all the people I met along the journey. > > Racing has a stigma about it that diehard cruisers avoid at all costs. Cost > being the most important. Risk of collision and risk of breakage is another. > Next is prep time. Next is learning new skills associated with learning the > start sequence, flag signals, racing rules, etc. > > I followed the cautious route learning to race my boat. I crewed on some > racing boats and learned the start sequence and how to get round the course > and then had some experienced racers coach me aboard my boat on a couple > races. It made the greatest difference to have their experience and skills > to make the races safe and I would encourage any yachtclub to foster that > program of coaching cruisers in a few races. I was lucky and found some > really good guys to help me learn. My mentors were soft spoken experts who > were firm but never raised their voices, so all my pickup crew members had > total respect for their wisdom and we prepped the bottom and I had good sails > and we did very well. > > Why do others race? How did you learn? > > Chuck Scheaffer Resolute 1989 C&C 34R Pasadena Md > > > Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with > the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > <https://www.paypal.me/stumurray>Thanks - Stu > Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with > the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
