I don't know if anyone ever noticed this, but the weather in New England can be unpredictable. We were expecting pouring rain last night, and planning for an alternate activity, a chalk talk on team racing to be given by our own Sharon High School Sailing Coach Gary Werden along with some of his very experienced team or ex-team members. Instead, there wasn't a drop of rain so we had a very nice night out on the water. The Lasers sailed five races, and I think the Sunfish did four.
The wind was light, but very doable - not a drifter. It was one of those times when keeping body movements in the boat slow and subtle is so important. Any jerky movement flutters the sail, and causes waves and turbulence in the water sapping energy and speed from the boat in just a few seconds. With the light wind it then seems to take forever to get the boat back up to speed. But when you do get the boat going properly upwind, the apparent wind is increased, and you feel like you're really moving along. It's very satisfying.
Speaking of apparent wind, see more on the subject of subtle body movement in boats on Gary's blog, apparentwind.blogspot.com. Check out his April 9, 2009 post, 'Action Through Inaction,' by clicking on the following link: http://apparentwind.blogspot.com/2009/04/action-through-inaction.html.
The forecast for the Saturday Laser/Sunfish sailing tomorrow at 3 PM is looking good - NE wind at 9, temp 71, but who knows what that means. We will have some snacks of some sort on the beach when sailing is finished at 5 PM. See you there.
Eric
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