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Spreading the love

2K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  travlin-easy 
#1 ·
A woman has asked to crew for me during Wednesday night races.
Then she asked to bring a friend.

I'm normally averse to crew on my boat, but I wanted to help her learn.
In the end, it went reasonably well, and they were both grateful for the opportunity, and enjoyed themselves.

I still don't want regular crew, but I'm glad they learned something and had a good time.
 
#3 ·
Bubblehead... I've been, like you, rather averse to the idea of having crew. I feel it a challenge, or more of a challenge to do it, short handed, or single handed. However, my better judgement says that I have lots to learn from a fresh perspective. I try to relearn through them, while helping them learn everything. Sometimes they shock you.

Example. I had a guy who, in all honesty, I don't think will ever stick with sailing. He took ASA 101, and 103, bought a boat (22 foot starwind, nice boat)... and asked if he could crew for me. I said SURE!

He raced with me 2 times, and we don't always run our symmetrical spin (courses are odd sometimes), but on the second race we did. It was just 3 of us on the boat, so we were short, and I had him doing spinnaker trimming (light air)... HE SHOCKED ME!!! while he was just miserable at trimming the genoa, he picked right up on spin trimming, and knew it inside and out, like he'd been doing it his whole life! Pole angles, pole height, trim/ease.. right on it. We WALKED past the fleet while he was trimming downwind. I tried to learn all I could from him at that point.

YOU NEVER KNOW!

My steady crew, as I have 1... so we sailed a lot just double handed, was right out of ASA 101, and 103 as well. He bought a starwind 22, and 1 year later upgraded to an Oday 26... then he started to crew for me on the first race of the season in early June, winds were 20+... we arrived on the course reefed mainsail only doing hullspeed. The rest of the race was EPIC! I put him on the tiller THAT DAY, and I played crew (I'm faster at keeping us on our feet)... and we had a blast. He's been sailing with me since. He's a great sailor just 2 years later, and honestly I'd crew for him any day of the week.

So give it a try for a bit... Lord knows we could use more sailors, and better put sailors that know what they are doing. We all learn faster from people who have been doing it.
 
#5 ·
Let's see you invite a female on board she invites her friend. I kind think this starting to sound like something my teenage mind invented when I first thought of getting a boat! After all isn't that what sailing is supposed to be or was I mislead by my by my teenage mind? After all it never got me in trouble before! :)

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
#8 ·
How do I say this tactfully... Certainly, she is attractive but she's not my type and I doubt I was attractive to her. In any case, romance wasn't the purpose of the trip.

I give her high marks for actually paying attention, staying on task and learning. I've had so many people ask for lessons, but when we get out there, it's really about me sailing the boat while the "student" lounges around and chats about anything BUT how to sail.

Multiply the aggravation factor X100 when they do this on my Wednesday race night. These people are on my "anger installment plan" with compound interest.
 
#9 ·
You realize that many here believe yours to be a "1st world problem," or put rather differently, would love to have YOUR problem.

That being said, Bubblehead, I DO actually get your meaning. I've had many people offer to crew for me, but once aboard became passengers. The problem is compounded when the passenger thinks they are crew, since they are unaware what sailing is, and could not even grasp the chess that is racing.

Heck I've had fellow club racers crew with me that were unaware of the minutia of changes required to race at the podium level even in our small club when they "crewed" for me.

Having said that, and knowing that when I single hand my S2 in a race, tactically I can gain tremendous ground on my competitors, but I have to admit that presently I cannot do things fast, or efficiently enough to compete against my club members who sail 2-4 people up on similar boats. For that reason I am hoping to develop a regular crew of at least 2 others besides myself. I am also perfectly fine with either of those 2 being helmsman, while I work out crew duties with one other for spin launches and douses.
 
#10 ·
Yes, I know that any problems related to a recreational boat is a 1st world problem. I live in the 1st world, so I make no apologies for dealing with those problems.

Sailing is pretty much my only outlet. It's an outlet that I barely get to exercise enough, as it is.
My boat is my sanctuary. It's where I go to put work and all of society's trivialities behind me, and to get my sanity break so that I can function in polite society.
When people step onboard, and $h!t in my sanctuary, and turn my outlet into a source of angst and frustration, I don't raise my voice or lecture or otherwise attempt to correct them, but I do make haste for land and I put them ashore as quickly as possible, and they are never invited back. It's pointless to try and explain. These people rarely understand courtesy or protocol, and I'm not equipped with the patience and skills to teach them.

I know I sound like a misanthrope at times, but I actually do have select group of people that I call friends, that I trust to sail with.
It's a small group, and our schedules don't often line up, so I'm out there on my own.
 
#11 ·
To each his own. My idea of Wednesday Night Races (AKA Beer Can Races) is a bit more informal. This is where the racing is less serious. People pick up crew and lots of first-timers try it to see what's up. On any given night you might have a nucleus of "real" crew and a boat load of some sailors and some newbies. It's all about having fun. So yes, take out the people you have fun with. The regular (weekend) races are more serious, and crew have a higher standard. In eithor case, I agree that you should sail with the people who make you smile.

I do have a thought about single-handing on races. I like to single-hand because, well, I just like being on the boat alone. I used to race my 40 footer single-handed, but I don't anymore. I found that I was not able to maneuver in close quarters at the start and rounding marks. I also became uncomfortable in quick tacking in crossing situations. It wasn't that I couldn't make the maneuvers, it's just that close quarter work required a quickness that usually worked, but not always. For example: on one tack I hung up the jib sheet on the hatch up forward. That NEVER happens, but it did that day. Slopppyness on my part. Normally not a problem, either quick tack or walk up to the foredeck or fiddle with it. But, because I was rounding with another boat, I had to swing way clear to keep out of their way. It got me to thinking that it wasn't fair to other boats that I might present a liability to thier safety. So sometimes I go out and race (we're all buddies) but I stay off the start and keep clear of others at the marks and close crossing. It makes it different in that I give up a lot of ground, but I enjoy moving the boat through the course. It's not really racing, though. I would feel differently if I were racing a smaller boat. I also expect that other people will look at this differently. Your boat, your choice.
 
#12 ·
The Beer Can Follies and many other similar events are good reasons why this old codger doesn't race. I watched the Star's and Lightning's bang into each other at the Thursday evening races at Havre de Grace as I sailed past up the channel and wondered to myself, why in the Hell do these guys do this. I kinda equated it to the old time stock car races I saw when I was a kid, going around a dirt track and banging into each other till the race ended. It was like a Last Man Standing kinda thing.

Back to your regularly scheduled station, ;)

Gary :cool:
 
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