Surprise's Log Day Sailer 11750

(Letter to Jim Wells 4/29/03

(Letter to Jim Wells 4/29/03 regarding 2003 Southwestern regionals at Cross Lake Louisiana)
Hi Jim,
I'm sending this note from my folks' place in AR. We had really light winds, NE on Saturday morning. They started the first race and ended up abandoning it before the first mark rounding. The winds filled in from the NW a little in the afternoon, but got very, very shifty. We had a beat the first leg, we rounded the mark just behind Andy Katz and Sammy Trahan in Andy's boat. They tryed to fly the 'chute, we didn't, and we passed them; the wind had shifted to a close reach. Then we hit a bad, bad patch of air and they passed us...We ended up reaching, beating, the rest of the race, never caught up with them, although we were right on their transom at the last mark rounding. They beat us by three minutes at the finish! We were second ahead of Lloyd and Manuel (only four boats, alas.)

We went back to the dock and proceeded to drink too much that night. They had a great band. Sammy was lusting after the lead singer... By the way, expect to get a bit of crap from him about Buckwheat the next time you see him...

The next day we had more wind coming from the SE; probably 5-10kts. Andy pretty much walked away with it, and we made some bad moves. We ended up second again. I did almost pull a "Russell Coutts" on Andy. We were running down wind, overlapped, both on starboard, with Andy to weather. The wind veered and I chose to gybe. Andy did not, and they slowly pulled ahead of us. As soon as they were clear ahead, I luffed up and almost rolled them to weather.

The third race we did a little worse and ended up third, behind Lloyd. We were last for a bit, but passed Manuel at a leeward mark rounding with some excellent spinnaker takedown work.
The last race we couldn't catch Andy again. He said it was because of Sammy's tactics, which I have no doubt is true, but his boat is a bit faster than mine upwind. Downwind, I think we have a chance. If it hadn't been for Sammy I might have beaten him once. We were almost third, but on the last leg, we were running downwind and a J/24 was coming up to round the turning mark. Our finish was to leeward of that. I tohught we were screwed and that the J/24 would luff us up. We were less than a boat length form Lloyd's transom, and the J24 passed in between. I Gybed and went below the J/24 and managed to gain some speed while Lloyd was blanketed by the 24. We were just able to squeak across the line before Lloyd.

So we got second. Andy was first and is the new Regional Champion!

regards,
Bob

Great winds tonight! I thought

Great winds tonight! I thought the winds were around 15-20 from the SE, but the Clear Lake second outflow channel had this (which I don't believe):

Date	Time	Speed	Dir
04/23/2003	18:15	10	129
04/23/2003	18:30	11	133
04/23/2003	18:45	9.9	136
04/23/2003	19:00	9.9	132

The course looked like this:

We were screaming down the last leg under spinnaker, we got up to 7.5 knots on the last run. Some of the data said we got up to 8.7 knots on the reach home. I'm not sure if that's accurate data since there were also some inaccurate 40 and 60 kt data points interpersed in the data set. In any event - a fun time, although the sky was overcast, and rain had threatened all day.

Kemah Bridge: 10mph, SE JSC:

Kemah Bridge: 10mph, SE
JSC: 8 peak 14
Eagle Point: 15 knots from SE, gusts to 18

Kemah Bridge: 14mph, SE JSC:

Kemah Bridge: 14mph, SE
JSC: 17pk24mph, 134
Eagle Point, 17 gust 24kts, SE

The winds at 12:33pm: Kemah

The winds at 12:33pm:
Kemah Bridge:  17mph from the ESE.
JSC:               20 peaking to 26 from 115.
Eagle Point:     16kts gust to 20 from ESE

Winds were SSW, 12-15mph. There

Winds were SSW, 12-15mph. There were five boats including Surprise. 1 Thistle, 1 Sweet sixteen, 1 Vanguard-15, 1 Lido-14. We won, although we were 3+ minutes behind the thistle, and 50 seconds behind the V-15.

Local time (CDT)	wind (mph)	wind dir.
18:15	7.4	215
18:30	13	231
18:45	7.7	220
19:00	8.4	196

Winds at Eagle point now

Winds at Eagle point now 20kts gusting to 25. Winds at Kemah at 15mph, jsc 17mph peak to 24...man.

Winds at the Kemah bridge

Winds at the Kemah bridge are now 10 mph. JSC is 7 peak to 14. Eagle Point is 15kts gusting to 21. Looks like the sea breeze is filling in.

David Paul of KHOU reported

David Paul of KHOU reported this morning that it would be windy 15-20mph with gusts above 20. So far, the winds at JSC and Kemah bridge are light - 2mph at JSC and 5mph at Kemah. Eagle Point reports 10 gusting to 13 kts. Surprise is in tow and we will see how things play out today.

Met with Dave Lindsay yesterday,

Met with Dave Lindsay yesterday, I plan to take him out on the water for a short time tomorrow before the races so he can look at the sails and see what he wants to do. He pulled up the design on his computer and we talked about it. A lot of his discussion was over my head, so I hope he takes a good look at the sail since I have a lot to learn about describing the shape.

Here's some great photos from

Here's some great photos from the Day Sailer Midwinters, taken by Carey Hawkins of CJFocus photography

Apparently no one else was

Apparently no one else was able to launch either - The races were cancelled. My crew, Joe, and I went out to the dock about 5pm and measured the winds. I saw 17 mph peaking to 24. The tide was very low - perhaps 2 feet down. Hopefully the conditions will be better next week.

Today the lake level is

Today the lake level is very low. I don't know if we will be able to launch. When I looked at the launch ramp at Harris County Park this morning the water was too far down to use it. Unless the wind lays down (currently 19mph at the Kemah bridge), and the lake level rises it looks doubtful for us today.

Last Saturday I did a

Last Saturday I did a rigging demonstration for the CLSC class, and afterwards I towed Surprise home for some work. I put new tubing on the guy hooks, and I came up with a good fix for the planking that was falling out. I had thought of doing a netting fix since it would be lighter, but instead, I found a way to reattach the planks. The problem was that the wood screws that held the planking to the fiberglass hull liner had pulled out and weren't holding anymore. I took some drywall screw inserts (those plastic things you use when you want to insert a screw into a drywall), and used them.
Easy.
Cake.
Pie.
Why didn't I think of it years ago? It was too simple and easy a fix to have any right being pleased about, but I thought of it all by myself, it worked, and it was cheap. I'm sure other DSer's have thought of it before.

I called Dave Lindsey, but

I called Dave Lindsey, but he had something important came up that took him out of pocket, so I left a message.

Found the web site that

Found the web site that has the Kemah bridge wind gauge on it. It's run by the Harris County Office of Emergency Management and TX DOT. At the other end of the lake, JSC's building 30 has a wind gauge.

Winds today on the bridge have been high: 20 mph earlier, now showing 17mph. I hope they calm down about 3-4 mph. A southern wind would be nice. The good thing about a norther is that the water near the start won't be so choppy. It will be low, but not choppy.

Winds at JSC have been 20's peaking to 30. What Joy. I always wanted to break a mast the first race of a season. Both I and the winds need to calm down.

PRESEASON REFRESHER COURSE: To best

PRESEASON REFRESHER COURSE:

To best prepare yourself for the sailing season try these quick exercises:

1. Buy a case of beer, sit with it in a very warm place for a few hours, then drink it.


2. Apply sunscreen to your face in streaks and sit in front of a sun lamp for 2 hours.


3. Sit on a bench with large metal fixtures cutting into your legs, stare straight up into the sun for two hours - for a more advanced workout: invite 4 friends to come over and yell at you the whole time.


4. Go out and get very drunk, sleep 4 hours, then stand on a rocking chair for 6 hours.


5. Go to bank and withdraw $1,000 - then light it on fire.


6. Sit in front of a commercial fan and have someone throw large buckets of salt water on you.


7. Repeat number 6 in jeans and a sweatshirt and /or repeat number 6 with head turned sideways to ensure water lodging fully into ear drum.


8. Cut limb off nearby tree, tie ropes to it, stand on rocking chair with tree limb and ropes - hold them over your head for 3 hours... at 5 minute intervals drop on your head - more advanced version: have friends yell at you in 6 minute intervals.


9. Set your wrist watch to 5-minute repeating counts ... let it go off all day long.


10. Pour cold water in your lap and give yourself a wedgie, now alternate between sitting and running around bent over.


11. Tie ropes between 2 trees - push your body against them as hard as you can for 6 consecutive hours - don't stop for pain or bruising.


12. Place sandpaper on your stairs, crawl up and down on your knees for several hours.


13. Make 12 sandwiches on white bread with bad meat and cram them into a bread bag - eat one a day for 12 consecutive days... make sure the last one is peanut butter and jelly if preparing for Race Week.


14. Tie ropes to rear bumper of friend's car, hold on tightly, but allow rope to slip through fingers as car drives away - TIP: works best with nylon fiber ropes, lengths in excess of 50'.


15. Upon completion of previous 14 drills - sit down and drink 14 Mt Gay rum drinks, any flavor.

Spoke today with Dave Lindsey

Spoke today with Dave Lindsey of Cameron Sails. He's willing to make me a new set of sails for Surprise, then I'll take the oldest set of Norths and move them to Endeavour. He wants to ride the boat for a few minutes next Wednesday before the races to look at how the sails shape.

The Regatta Season is starting

The Regatta Season is starting up. I've registered in the Holiday in Dixie regatta as well as the Arlington Yacht Club Regatta.