Howdy PoppaBob,
Saturday was my third day (of four) working with the regatta committee of the 2013 Laser National Sailing Championship, hosted by chance, here in Santa Cruz this year.
As you may know and remember, lasers are a cat rigged dinghy, measuring almost 14′, sailed by youths and Olympians alike, and remembered fondly as a boat that is quite impossible to keep upright for a Mizell. The regatta has more than 100 entrants, split into full a full rig fleet (~36 racers) and two radial rig fleets (a smaller sail for women and scrawny men).
The races started Thursday and of the dozen already run, several have been held in bay winds reaching almost 30 knots. That particular race included 25 retired boats, two demasted rigs and plenty of capsizes and exhausted sailors.
I serve as the diligent on water radio log man and note taker. After three days I’ve finally found my groove and have learned my job consists less of oogling the boats and more of listening and frantic legible writing. Today I learned that my notes are the linchpin of race management success, of the “if its not documented, it never happened” mantra. And several disputes have come down to my notes and interpretation thereof. It’s quite the weight, but easy enough.
I’ll settle atop the club signal boat for the final races tomorrow and look forward to perfecting my note taking strategies before the event concludes; after which I’ll be headed up to San Francisco to begin helping the Americas Cup television crew.
The summer of sailing is well along up here!