I've never thought of it before, but sometimes sailing is like mountain biking, where the ride is rough as hell and you hang on for dear life, and sometimes it is like riding along a newly tarmaced highway-smooth as butter. We like to talk about the mountain biking because it makes for great stories, but every once in a while, it sure is nice to ride a buttery highway.
The tarmac was out last night. It glistened from the setting sun, beckoning us to enjoy a steady, solid, gentle easterly. About 14 boats took up the invitation to come out for regular Thursday night Rat racing.
I didn't even bother with hiking pants, which made my sail feel more like a cottage country outing. I forgot my watch, too, so the test of the evening for me was to start with the fleet by watching the boats carefully and staying "bow-out" on the line at the gun.
In the first race, I had a chance to watch one of our true masters, Heinz Gebauer. He, Richard Roberts and I started well and we crossed the fleet as we sailed bow to stern on port. Heinz was leading and to leeward, so I had a front row seat to watch him stretch a one boatlength lead into a six boatlength lead by the end of the port tack stint. Richard was watching, too, and at one point looked back at me and said incredulously, "How does he do that?"
It was hard to tell. His telletales were obviously better placed than Richard's or mine. They flowed perfectly while ours jumped around and didn't tell us much. I expect he has over the years become very sensitive to pressure on the blades and never lets the pressure off. He was not quite block-to-block, where I was. Maybe I should have let up a bit. Mostly, it feels like you are competing against mountains and mountains of time in the boat.
He made the mark ahead of us. Again, on the reaches, he showed why, when sailing on tarmac, he is, at 77 years of age, still tough to beat. However, it was not all about boatspeed this time as Richard passed him on the run to win by taking a better line to the finish. I had to settle for the 3rd.
The second race saw more boats come out to play on the street, so the line was crowded. The key was to get away, and I did, barely. James Belfrage was very aggressive at the pin and came up under me to almost torch me. He had to pinch a bit, and fall away after the gun, so by the time he got going, he was too far to lee to hurt me. The rounding at the top mark was close but the port tack lift that is always there in easterlies (until it's not) helped to push me ahead and clear the starboard layline boats.
The third race was a traffic jam at the start, and I was truly buried and had to tack away from my favoured side. I made the top mark around 6th, and never looked good from there. On the second beat, the left was terrible (this not more than 10 minutes after I told Nic Kim that the left was always the way to go in an easterly) and I sank to the back of the fleet. I did have a nice talk with Elizabeth while there, however, as she charged up the back of me on the reach in her yellow boat. Her boat is very fast in the air we had because it's impeccably cared for but also because, as someone once said, in terms of weight, there's no one in the boat!!
The fourth race got serious. There was a lot of mixing it up and the understanding of where to go was no longer clear. The setting sun was having an effect, and the left became just another place to sail. I was somewhere around 5 or 6, until the last leg, when for some reason I can't tell, everyone went to the boat end for the finish when the pin end clearly gave you the best line and the best pressure. Not one to refuse a gift, I headed toward the pin and passed everyone.
And the fifth was fun. Nic Kim was really suffering with his boatspeed and we talked a bit about it. He got some back in this race but we both went left and the right was better. Three boats from the right crossed us at the top mark. We followed the leader to the bottom and let the three go right again as we went left. I knew the right was better last time, but I didn't think it would last. Nic and I ended up on the port tack layline to the finish bow to bow and half a boatlength apart, squeezing every ounce of speed we could out of our boats. It was a wonderful straight-line test and I feel like I tried out just about every possible method of steering and trim and weight distribution that you can in a 14-foot boat. Man, do you ever get sensitive to what is happening to your boat when you are match racing like that! I could feel every hiccup, every burst of speed, every twitch, and stored what my boat told me in my memory banks. That single port tack told me the reason why those who spend the most time in the boat have the best touch when it matters. We crossed the right-siders and I think I nosed Nic at the line for another bullet.
But the biggest revelation of the night was that I discovered why my roll tacking was so bad. In light air, I pull my hiking strap tight for the downwinds and don't touch it. I mean, why? I don't need it for hiking upwind, right? Well, that's true, but when I roll tack, I need to hit the strap and snap a little hike in to flatten the boat on the new tack. With the strap tight, I barely get my butt over the rail to give the boat the squeeze it needs (5"7" you know). The roll is hardcore at the beginning but ends up feeling-well-kind of flaccid. With the strap lose, I can launch myself over the side more, and give my baby the squeeze she deserves.
Next up, Guelph Lake and the Ontario Masters. See you there.
Rob Koci races in both the Laser Full-Rig and Laser Radial fleets around District 3. Currently, Rob is the District 3 secretary and maintains a frequently updated race diary on D3Laser.com. Rob's home port is St. James Town Sailing Club in Toronto, Ontario.
If you would like to comment on Rob's articles or Race Diary entries, please email
