I have just about completed a 2-week holiday at the cottage. I have been out on the Sandpiper several times. Three times with my wife on the bow and twice with my 18 year old daughter at the helm.

I sailed solo for about 4-1/2 hours in a brisk breeze. The 'piper sails well if I can keep her relatively flat and keep the transom out of the water. She performs like a dinghy! To accomplish this, I found myself sitting with my bum on the side-deck, my knees over the coaming and reaching for my graphite golf club tiller extension. I am considering hiking straps to make it easier to climb back into the cockpit to tack.

Recent rigging modifications seem to be working extremely well. So, I am into a new generation of engineering. But, I am also running out of season.

My 13-year old daughter (just back from summer camp and all tuned-up) was at the helm and I got to pull the strings. After the start, we crossed tacks with the Hobie until we were out of the bay. I opted to go left, the Hobie went right and we never saw them again. We held third until the turn and passed a Mirror to finish in 3rd. The Bombardier, a mother-daughter team, was in irons for most of the upwind leg but caught a breeze to finish in first place.

posted December 05, 2003 12:16 AM            

Keeping the weight forward works really well.
When I'm crewing on a Shark I never come into the cockpit. I'm on the side deck with feet hanging over the side. When we tack I dive over the cabin top under the boom because if I moved back the stern drags. We easily gain a boat length or two over boats who do not do this every time we tack.

In a smaller boat like a Laser try standing on the bow in front of the mast. The boat really moves!! You can steer by healing the hull to windward or leward. This trick is best tried in lighter air. When the wind picks up you begin to submarine and eventually you'll broach and capsize. (To the amusement of all watching.)

Your right whited; a few female crew on the rail is a beautiful sight. On a larger boat it's a great place to get acquainted. Maybe it should be called the "Meet Rail".

posted December 08, 2003 06:57 PM            

I'm crewing on a great boat now. We all realize that our high performance sailing days are over but we all just love to be out there sailing. Because all of us have various commitments (business trips, etc.) the crew bank is large but there always seems to be enough people in town to get the boat out for a weekly race. The experience levels are vast from veteran sailors of 40 years or more to those who have been sailing only a few years. The key is we all know the other crews' level of skill and accept it. If we improve our spinnaker set thats what counts; not our actual position in the fleet. We all come back from a race feeling great.

We're often pleasantly surpried on how well some of the crew combinations work. On one evening race my wife helmed (so the heavy weights could manage the sheets). I don't think the crew realized that she was a one time provincial Laser champion so were amazed at how adept she was at manouvering the boat around marks and other boats. (Years of racing in fleets of 70 boats will do that to you.)

So; don't give up on racing guys. It's great fun! Just be a bit choosey about who you sail with.

I have often toyed with the idea of trailing my CL16 down to Calgary to get in some one-design racing action on Glenmore reservoir.

Now that I've heard what you have to say about it, I'm having second thoughts. Can you maybe elaborate on what kind of racing you did and why you quit? I'm pretty sure that others on the forum would be interested as well. Thanks.