Finn North American Master's Championships

[bamamick]

I am sailing in it in the ancient Teel. Don't have time to really fill you in as of yet. I had the lower rudder pintles tear off of the boat on the second beat of the first race in about 15 knots of breeze. Had to be towed in, which I can tell you is not any fun at all without a rudder and in 15-18 knots of wind. Spent all morning fitting new pieces salvaged from an old Vanguard rudder, then sailed three races in 15-18 knots of breeze. My hands hurt. Everything hurts. I did beat some boats today, but the old boat and her driver are definitely off the pace. Those two years that I took off from Finn sailing are staring at me right now.

Anyway, there were supposed to be five boats with aluminum rigs but only two of us showed up. Makes a big difference, I am told, though I am not good enough to know for sure.

Gotta go eat now. I will post more when I have time. Supposed to be two races tomorrow and one on Saturday.

Mickey Lake

[rbgarr]

Anyway, there were supposed to be five boats with aluminum rigs but only two of us showed up. Makes a big difference, I am told, though I am not good enough to know for sure.

A good difference?

[Concordia...41]

Mickey -

I think your stories and experiences are great. Keep us posted!

- M

[bamamick]

Dave, the carbon rigs with the high tech sails, matched with the latest hull designs and rigging most certainly do make a big difference compared with a 1970 Teel with aluminum rig and dacron sail, but I will never really know how much of a difference because of all the little things I can't do.

When you sail in these fleets you had better leave your ego at the beach and just sail as best as you can. We've got guys who are sailing in the teens right now with multiple national championships in other classes sitting on their mantlepieces. Most of these guys have either sailed Finns or Lasers all of their lives, while some of us just recently got into the class for the chance to sail a singlehanded boat against good competition. For someone like me, who spent his entire life sailing keelboats, every day is a learning experience.

Right now my biggest problem (the list of problems is very long) is that I am getting blasted off the line. I am getting good starts, but my speed is way off the pace and I am losing about half of what I lose over the course of the race in the first couple hundred yards. Today I am going to just try and foot like crazy and see what happens. It's not like I have a lot to lose, points-wise. So far I am losing a lot off of the start, gaining somewhat off the wind, and then losing a wee bit more on every upwind leg where the mast/sail combination puts me at a disadvantage.

The toughest part about this is the ego thing. I once considered myself a pretty good sailor, but over the last ten years, as the Star fleet died and we all shifted to other things, I have been left in the dust by my friends who adapted earlier and with more enthusiasm. Now when we sit around and talk after the races it is VERY tough not being a part of the conversation because I am at the back of the fleet. I made this bed, though. I was the one who wanted to get back in a Finn even with the antique that I've got, and I have to man up and just sail her hard and have fun with it.

Ms. Margo: thank you. I also enjoy your races in 'Sarah'. I would love to make a trip over there and see her sometime.

Mickey Lake

[bamamick]

Too dang tired to type :).

I beat a couple of boats today. Broke the outhaul and the hiking strap retainer so that I could never find the straps with my feet. Wound up hooking the traveler bar and hanging on to the sheet. One race left to go. As it stands right now I will beat the other guy with the aluminum rig and win some sort of prize. I rather think that my prize will be not to have to get into a Finn on Sunday :).

Honestly though, when I got home awhile ago I was watching the news and on BBCA they were interviewing the head of a German manufacturing company dealing with the shrinking economy. She was saying that they were very afraid of what is coming in the second half of 2009. Well, if things go really badly things like these regattas will be a distant memory for many of us. We've got guys here racing from California, Oregon, New York, eastern Canada, Denmark, and the UK, as well as our locals from Texas to Florida. It is really a treat to get to sail like this and with these guys. I think that I am going to go out and really enjoy myself tomorrow.

Mickey Lake

[rbgarr]

Well done! Any chance to take/post photos of any of the boats, even if only taken on land? It would be interesting to see how they are rigged, etc.

[bamamick]

Dave, there is a pro photographer covering this thing. I will try and find out the web address and link it.

Mickey Lake

[adampet]

Congrats Mickey,
I went looking for the Finn NA Masters and found all sorts of info.The pictures are fun. Mickey is #871.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3334693643_21438eb2e3.jpg

more info as I get it .

Adam

[adampet]

Results are here http://www.fairhopeyachtclub.com/Regattas/FinnNAMasters09/FinnRaces1-7.pdf

Pictures are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/fairhopeyachtclub/sets/72157614916597090/

There are a few boats with AL registrations on shore, but I don't know which belongs to Mickey. There may be pictures of Mickey, but I don't know what he looks like! :)

The Finn is one of those boats that I want to get a chance to sail sometime. Maybe after I've spent the summer in a Laser.

Mickey, what's the cutoff for Master, Grand master and Grand Grand? 40, 50 and 60?

Adam

[bamamick]

I got another 23rd today to finish it up. There are no photos of me in there that I can see (thankfully). I am sort of camera shy. Whoever took those must not have been paying attention, because the girl running the CRSA booth was a real cutie. It's a shame they didn't get some photos of her instead of concentrating on stinky beer drinking Finnsters.

We did have two locals in the top four with Lou Nady in 2nd and Michael Mark in 4th so I have really good people to practice against and learn from. Other than the rudder tearing off the boat she held up pretty well. I have a few kinks to work out but she is sailable. One thing that I HAVE to do is get a new dolly. This thing that I've got will put you in the hospital trying to haul a 300 pound boat through sand.

All in all the regatta has to be one of the best I have ever been to. The people at FYC treated us like royalty, fed us like we needed to be fed, and basically went out of their way to make sure that they got their well deserved high marks on the critique sheet. I gave them two thumbs way up.

I just took a shower and am drinking a tall glass of ice tea. And trying my best not to fall asleep here at 4:30 pm.

Adampet, you nailed the categories. I am 50.5 so I am a Grand Master. We had as many guys race in the over 60 category as there was competing in the 40-50 age group, and when I sailed last summer at Cazenovia there were guys in their 80's out there.

One more thing: this was a good fleet and Darrell Peck lived up to his nickname (the Dominator). The guy was uncanny good. I wish that I could get close enough to guys like him to learn from them.

Mickey Lake

[rbgarr]

Crsa?

[bamamick]

Coral Reef Sailing Apparel. They come to a lot of major events for classes like the M24, Snipe, Star, J/24, etc. with shirts, jackets, and vests embroidered with the class logo. They also sell Douglas Gill foul weather gear, pfd's, and other sailing stuff. It's a pretty nice thing to have sitting in the parking lot. I broke down today and bought a golf shirt with the Finn class logo on it.

Mickey Lake