A sailing lesson

Sunday, was Raritan Yacht Club's annual Turkeybowl, a Frostbite series in JY15s. There were 7 crews racing and I was paired up with Eric Leitner, a very accomplished J24 sailor and bloody excellent dinghy sailor. I think, Kelly Robinson, the race organizer figured after my previous week's performance it would better to pair me up with the most experienced sailor. Less likely to go swimming that way.

Each crew did 9 races over a fairly short windward-leeward course. For late December, the weather was beautiful, clear blue skies, not too cold. After the gales of Saturday, the winds were a little on the light side.

We won the day, with Eric helming five races and me four. We won despite my best efforts to scupper us. I managed to hit boats multiple times, twice in one race. Doing penalty 360s put us back in the fleet each time. In addition to this my tiller/mains sheet-handling was less than fluid. Yet with Eric's coaching and trimming we managed to sneak back into second most times.

Last week, I watched as Eric raced ahead in every race. We just couldn't get how he could get the boat moving so much faster. It was humbling. Racing with Eric gave me a glimpse at how to do it. It's a steep hill to climb.

I originally learned to sail the wrong way round. I started on a 40 foot yacht and only came to small boat sailing in the last ten years or so and then not really competitively - More pleasure boating at resorts. Sailing with Eric was like going back to school. Over the course of 4 hours I learned to roll-tack, how to keep the boat flat, correct trim, how to lie in the boat when handling the sheets, how to sail a small boat downwind effectively, mark rounding and above all to get my ass up on the rail when helming. I will of course forget all of this by the next time I get in a boat. Except the ass on the rail bit.

After more than 20 years sailing it's scary how little I know. You get fat and happy in cruising boats.  I know I will never hear the end of it from the Tillerman but you don't really know how to sail until you can race a dinghy well.