The Road to Master's Midwinters in Florida

Thanks! It sounds like I can definitely leave the dry suit at home. I'll bring my neoprene hikers and spray top and various lycra and poly liners, and also a wetsuit. It hasn't been a brutal winter here so far, but 60 degree water and 80 degree air sounds fantastic!

The Melbourne sailing and racing site (http://www.sail-race.com) has weather links. I like the Marine Forecast at http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/raw/fz/fzus52.kmlb.cwf.mlb.txt. Look at the coastal waters out to 20 NM for the area that you are interested in. Sometimes they break up the forecast to different areas. Right now the Melbourne area is in the area "COASTAL WATERS FROM VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE TO SEBASTIAN
INLET OUT 20 NM" and the Jensen Beach area is "COASTAL WATERS FROM SEBASTIAN INLET TO JUPITER INLET OUT 20 NM". West Palm Beach is just south of Jupiter.

It has been hot on the east coast of Florida for this time of year. I just heard on the TV that Melbourne broke a record yesterday at 87 degrees. We are expecting a cool down this weekend. The temperatures vary as the cold fronts come down and pass.

I wore a spray top when I went sailing last Saturday in Titusville on the Indian River. I get cold when the wind blows on the coolish waters (in the upper 60's). I was just right when the winds piped up to around 10-15 mph.

I would say to take your spray top & maybe your wetsuit just in case a front comes down. You might not need it but if you do you'll be happy.

Cindy
 
It's narrative non-fiction, about a boy who was captured by Shawnee Indians near Cincinnati in 1792. His father, Colonel Oliver Spencer, headed a New Jersey regiment in the American Revolution, so he had the connections to affect a rescue by diplomatic means. Battles, scalpings, burnings, Indian life, frontier life, and even a journey across Lake Erie in a sailboat. I ended up doing a sort of family saga, because that's what told the story best. The working title is HOWLING WILDERNESS: THE INDIAN CAPTIVITY OF OLIVER SPENCER.

This sounds seriously cool. Who are you selling the movie rights to?

You spent 15 yrs on this? How many other books have you written? Is this one you've been working on between other projects or have you been dedicated to this one?

I think I'll save the other 16 questions for beer time after Friday or Saturday's races.
 
This sounds seriously cool. Who are you selling the movie rights to?

You spent 15 yrs on this? How many other books have you written? Is this one you've been working on between other projects or have you been dedicated to this one?

I think I'll save the other 16 questions for beer time after Friday or Saturday's races.

I'm selling the movie rights to the highest bidder!

Actually, it turns out that I "only" spent 12 and a half years on it, calculated from the first date in my notebook, June of '95. I took some time off and wrote a screenplay with some similar material. That needs a total rewrite, but I think I now know how to write a screenplay. I worked with a UCLA film professor on it. Also, in that time, we launched two sons off to college, and sadly, 3 out of 4 of our parents became ill and died. So I've had some detours. Of course, the best detour has been sailing!
Before this book, I researched and wrote a book on the Yoruba people of Africa and got it published, THE AFRICAN MASK. Now I've got about 20 pages done on my next book, which is a fictional story about a 12 year old boy in 1853 Ohio. I'm looking forward to working on it, but when I get back from Florida, I have to spend some time on my house, cleaning, sorting, gardening, and when it gets warm enough, painting.

Enough yapping--time to go get my Laser for the trip. :D
 
Tomorrow is the first big day for me, with the first day of Master's Midweek Madness at the United States Sailing Center, Martin County at Jensen Beach. It's going to be quite breezy at around 20 knots and chance of thunderstorms throughout the two day regatta. I'll do my best. I have sailed in wind that high before, but don't know if I can sustain racing in those conditions for race after race. I'll come in and enjoy the warm air and hopefully sunny skies if it gets to be too much. There's plenty of beer in our cooler! I took my boat over to the center and it is a beautiful place with wide lawns and a sandy beach to launch from. I saw VtGent49 (Al Russell) and also met Sally Sharp and Cindy Taylor. Whatever happens, it is better than Ohio in winter.
 
The wind report is a little less severe today, 16 mph gusting to 22 from the ESE backing to the SE. High of 78 and thunderstorms moving in by 4. We should get some nice racing in by then. Hope I can remember how to rig the boat and not have any stupid traveler tricks, etc. Wish me luck!
 
That was a disaster, and I'm bummed. It turns out that I should have been swimming for my exercise all winter, so I would have had an easier time trying to catch my boat as it rapidly swept away from me, even on its side while capsized. I believe that it all started with the wrong size mainsheet. I bought BZZ line but I now believe that it was too big for the blocks and I could barely pull it in. Of course, I didn't discover this until I was almost out to the course. I have one DNF and an unknown number of DNS's. I decided to sail in on the first leg of the first race so that I could get a different mainsheet, but by the time I accomplished land fall, I was too tired to go out again.

Sadly, my boat was talking to me too, telling me she wanted a better skipper. I told her that tomorrow is another day.

More beer!
 
Don't get too discouraged - 2 years ago we had a day where it blew like stink at the midweek madness & I had the most thrilling downwind of my life = all on my way out to the starting area.

Then I capsized 4 times waiting for the 1st start and told myself that if I capsized one more time then I had to go in. 5 minutes into the 1st upwind my tiller extension universal gave out and that was #5 capsize!!

So I slowly sailed back to the sailing center and was VERY glad for an excuse not to go back out!!

I've still not managed to feel comfortable in winds gusting above 20, especially with waves. So I hope you have a little better weather tomorrow & if not at least the midwinters still looks like decent days !!
 
Hang in there Janet. The forecast is looking very tame for the Mid-Winters. Like 80's and winds not to excceed 10 except for maybe Sunday when we are done anyway.
 
Keep your chin up - I went out to the Port of Palm Beach pass and it looked wild out there. Besides your sailing - I just moved here and won't get my new laser till next month. Can't wait to get back out - it's been 15 years since I sailed one in anger:)

Enjoy reading your posts - can you give a regatta report?
 
Well, I can't say how anyone finished, but I can tell you that we started on time around 1 p.m. and they sailed 2 triangle courses, and then 2 windward leewards, for a total of 4 races. We were in the Indian River with the wind from the SE and with only small shifts. During the first race there was quite a downpour but with no lightning, followed by a lull. The wind quickly picked up again. Before the races I measured it with my little wind speed indicator at 6 knots in the lulls and gusting to 15 knots. It really wasn't that bad if you could pull your mainsheet in! There was periodic drizzle, and then finally at 3:30 quite a stroke of lightning that sent everyone scrambling in.

Al Russell suggested to me that I had my sheet threaded backward in the ratchet, but I checked that. If that still turns out to somehow be it, :rolleyes:. I'm going back to my good old rooster line for the rest of the sailing.
 
It's going to be 18-19 mph today. I thinking of not sailing at all. I feel kind of battered. We'll take a nice long walk on an Atlantic beach we found last night and watch the breakers come in.
 
It's going to be 18-19 mph today. I thinking of not sailing at all. I feel kind of battered. We'll take a nice long walk on an Atlantic beach we found last night and watch the breakers come in.

Enjoy your day. No need to get all beat up, but it might not be a bad idea to go out and reach around a little later in the day just to get some "breeze on" time in the boat. After all you are in FL and at least it's warm.

I'll be packing up the boat and gear today and heading down tomorrow afternoon. See you guys on Friday.
 
It turns out that there were only 3 races yesterday. Here's some results.

Masters Midweek Madness

Position Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3
1 Ari Barshi 1 3 4
2 Mike Matan 3 2 2
3 David Frazier 4 7 6
4 Jorge Abreu 2 8 8
5 John MacCausland 8 1 12
6 Brian Raney 11 5 3
7 Fred Abels 5 10 10
8 Gary Orkney 9 15 5
9 Joe van Rossem 10 19 9
10 Rob Koci 6 21 7
11 David Hartman 12 20 13
12 Freddie Sambolin 13 12 15
13 Mike Hecky 14 9 20
14 Rene Bright 19 14 17
15 Ted Morgan 18 13 11
16 Bob Tan 15 18 14
17 Peter Branning 7 4 44/OCS
18 Ryan Eric Minth 44/DNF 6 1
19 Bruce Snelling 17 17 21
20 Henry DeWolf 16 22 25
11 David Hartman 12 20 13
12 Freddie Sambolin 13 12 15
13 Mike Hecky 14 9 20
14 Rene Bright 19 14 17
15 Ted Morgan 18 13 11
16 Bob Tan 15 18 14
17 Peter Branning 7 4 44/OCS
18 Ryan Eric Minth 44/DNF 6 1
19 Bruce Snelling 17 17 21
20 Henry DeWolf 16 22 25
21 Newt Wattis 23 25 18
22 Jack Pearce 21 26 19
23 Eric Robbins 22 16 23
24 Amnon Gitelson 44/DNC 11 16
25 Sally Sharp 20 27 26
26 Finn Hassing 26 28 22
27 George Sechrist 27 29 27
28 Al Russell 29 23 31
29 Bill Mitchell 24 31 29
30 Edward Rickard 32 24 32
31 Mike Taylor 25 34 28
32 Douglas Bargar 28 35 30
33 Richard Leland 30 30 33
34 John Fox 31 36 34
35 Cindy Taylor 33 33 36
36 Marvin Pozefsky 44/DNC 32 35
37 John Weiss 44/ DNC 44DSQ 24
38 David Keane 44/DNC 38 37
39 Hollis Caffee 44/DNF 39 38
40 Gabriel Porzecanski 44/DNC 37 44/DNC
41 Charlie Buller 44/DNC 44/DNC 44/DNC
42 Andrew Buller 44/DNC 44/DNC 44/DNC
43 Janet Rupert 44/DNF 44/DNC 44/DNC
 
Merrily, not to steal your thunder, but for those of you who are keeping up, the scores are available at www.usscmc.org, in the regattas section you can find the updated results. That withstanding, numbers are one thing, but I much prefer to hear the actual sailor's impression of the event.

Thank you Merrily, I've enjoyed your reports, keep em coming!
 
Thanks for the results Merrily
Very interesting is to see, Rene (Laser 181606) is from my state. Tell him it is very well excused now he not has visited the official meeting of the NRW active Radial Laserites at the Lake Bevertal (Club: RSCB) last Saturday. Juergen K. did manage the really interesting meeting there.

Merrily, Rene is a very experienced official Laser coach here at GER, perhaps he gives some lessons extra for you. The LooserLu already competed against Rene (but Rene has been much to fast for me...) and drank severall pints of beer with him at the nice clubhouse of RSCB (Perhaps he remembers me from April 2006, Lake Bevertal, Regatta Bergischer Regenschirm ...)

Cheers
LooserLu
 
Well, I'm doing just fine with the beer drinking, Lu, and having a nice time otherwise. The weather is supposed to be sunny from here out, a little cool tomorrow and warming every day after. Lighter air too that I should be able to manage. I'll try to say hi to your acquaintance. :)
 
OK, it's official. I'm an idiot. Al Russell (Vtgent49) convinced me that I had my mainsheet threaded backward, and that's why I couldn't pull the sheet in. !@#$%!

Had a great day with a short warm up sail, with the mainsheet correctly threaded. We also went to Ron Jon's at Coco Beach and I bought some long sleeve rash guards. You can never have too many of those. We have a room over looking the Indian River. We are headed out to find some food. Life is good.
 
G'day!

I'm glad you're having fun in FLA. I just went on my first sail out here at Terrigal AUS. It would be fun to blog about all this here (ok maybe not on Merrily's Florida thread), but I only have access to a public computer at the venue. Perhaps from time to time.

I did get my charter boat organized yesterday so I was able to go out for a practice sail today in gorgeous conditions. About 8-15 kts (gusty) with 5 foot swell. Good size to get the hang of waves again without being overpowered. Catching waves is like eating a bag of Doritos; it's hard to stop. 'I wanna catch just one more but I'll end up on the beach I'm out of water'. When you get on a big roller that has probably traveled a thousand miles from some typhoon somewhere and the sail luffs as you drop off the face; it's a beautiful thing.

I can sail here for the next week!

No worries, mates! (all this said with a southern US accent)
 
Michelle, you can spice up my MM thread anytime with talk of Doritos and waves, in your southern US accent, mate!

Well if it's not one thing, it's another. Today the weather prediction is for light air--6 to 7 mph. I'll use my standard rig for sure. That kind of air is not so fun for us, but there is a skim boarding contest at Indialantic this weekend and light air is best for that. A youth Laser sailor from my club is in that contest. Good luck, Ty!

Schedule for today, registration and continental breakfast from 9 to 11:30. Skippers meeting at noon. First warning at one. Refreshments onshore and derigging by 5:30. Dinner at Melbourne YC at 6:30. David Hartman (old fart) says they have never run out of beer.
 
We got in two races today with conditions in the 8 mph range--not much hiking but we kept moving. There were shifty lakelike conditions--frequent but small civilized shifts. The Indian River is beautiful with plenty of dolphin and sea birds and the occasional manatee. I don't know who's ahead, but I can name a few a the back of the fleet. ;) I'm doing a little better than 2 years ago when I first sailed the event. We had a nice BBQ at Melbourne YC and now I'm headed for an early bedtime. Night, y'all.
 
Looks like wind similar to yesterday, and it is beautifully sunny already, so their promise of warmer weather looks to be true. :D

I think I have a boat speed problem, since I couldn't keep up with Rob B on the way to the race course yesterday, so I have to think about that. Is it trim? Need to polish the hull? It's too late for that. I do have a second set of blades. I'll give them a try cause my old ones look a little battered and need to be smoothed.
 
My shoulder hurt today, so it made me wary. At my age it takes a long time for an injury to heal. I sailed the first race without any real trouble, (except for my performance, of course). At the finish line I was in front of maybe ten boats, got over-excited and tacked short of the lay line. When I tried to tack back, I got in irons, and boat after boat passed me. I finished in front of two boats. :(. I did a little better in the second race, but in the last leg, Al Russell tacked in front of me, and I learned later it was an oh !@#$ moment for him, ;) because he knew that it meant he was doing badly. It turned out that Al’s vang was jammed somehow and that really hurt his performance. I hit the finish line better in the second race and ended up 55 out of 64. After that I sailed in and washed and packed my gear. I’d had enough and wanted to avoid injury. I’d like to get some coaching before doing another event like this. Of course, I did much better than two years ago when I was a new sailor first doing the event. There were two more races after I sailed in, and I hear that the wind picked up for race four of the day. This evening, Melbourne YC put on a great banquet meal with unlimited beer and plenty, plenty of giveaways. Thanks MYC! Tomorrow we spend the day on Melbourne Beach watching Ty Cruickshank in a skim board competition. Sounds like a great way to wrap up the vacation. Racing begins at 11 and wraps up at 2 (ish?) tomorrow, so they could get in two more races.
 
Hey Janet. It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the results link. It's glass out there right now, but they are calling for 10 out of the SSE. We'll see.
 
Hey Janet. It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the results link. It's glass out there right now, but they are calling for 10 out of the SSE. We'll see.

You too! They sailed 3 races today on trapezoid shaped courses. The wind built until there were whitecaps and it gusted to 25. Lot’s of people went over. It suited Rob B, as he took a 5th in one race and an 11th in another, to finish 13th in the regatta. Way to go, Rob!

Gouvernail’s friend Bill Mitchell wants everyone to know that he was near the head of the pack in the third race until he capsized. I witnessed it from the causeway, so it is true.

I’m happy with my decision to not sail. My left ankle swelled for some reason and I’m soaking it in the motel trash can while I type.

Thanks to Melbourne YC, which put on a great regatta in every way!
 
Merrily,

I'm not at all being judgemental or berating so I don't want you to take this question the wrong way.

Why is it you have travelled all those miles to sit on shore when the main motivation for travelling was to sail? I understand you aren't confident in those types of conditions and from the sound of it are pretty dinged up physically, but again, why?

It seems to me that going down to Florida and racing in those conditions though intimidating (for sure, no doubt) would give you more confidence and lead you to being more comfortable.

Again, not trying to be a prick, just curious.

Dan

btw, great thread, I've enjoyed reading it.
 
Makes sense, I can understand that.

Besides, nice vacation from those Ohio winters. Similar to my Iowa winters.

I can tell you that sunday's conditions were not for folks who were the least bit timid. Janet did herself a BIG favor by staying ashore. Melbourne is probably one of the best places to hang out at an event when you can't be on the water. I'm sure the spectating was fun.

I think everyone should know their limitations. IMHO a large event like a midwinters or NA's is not the type of event someone should learn heavy air laser sailing. Even some guys that switched down to radial rigs were struggling. Also, there is a 20 minute rule at these events that states, "if you do not finish within 20 minutes of the first place finisher you will be scored DNF." I saw some folks out there that probably did not make the time limit. That makes life hard on the RC and other competitors not to mention the poor sole that gets beat all around the course for a DNF.

I put a focus on heavy air practice before this event. If you see my threads they all focus on heavy air boat handling. I got humiliated at a big air NA event in 2006 and vowed never to let that happen again, (at least at a race).

To me it is actually more fun to watch or be on the RC than to get beat to a pulp and finish DFL.
 

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