Convolutions

From the Log . . .

This man was well dressed, polite and smart and was most helpful. He sat down in the cabin with us, enjoyed a highball and we talked with him for about 15-20 minutes. He assured me that he was ready and willing to do anything that he could to facilitate our stay in Ensenada and to make it as pleasant as possible. It was a refreshing and unexpected experience and if the remainder of our officials are as kindly as this gentlemen, the trouble with paper work and various regulations certainly will be made easy.

______________________________

I should have added that paragraph from the journal to my previous post, but I just couldn’t pass up the ending of the entry and that start of my post: Clumsy soldiers with a fixed bayonet or two . . . Yikes!

Having a Highball with the immigration man, that is sooooo my grandfather. I think also that it defined an age as well. Greasing the skids with a little liquor, in polite company.

The history of the Landfall II, previously the
Mavourneen Mary, is one steeped in Hollywood, just as is Brigadoon.

Mavourneen Mary (My Darling) was originally built by Boeing for Jane, as in Tarzan and Jane.

But that’s not what this post is about.

My mind is very convoluted. It probably shows up in my writing style. Sailing for me is the antidote. It is not how I started, it’s not what drew me to it, but one day while in college I reflected on why I loved it so much. As I recall, my Tornado crew asked me “what do you find so special about sailing?” during a break in training one day as we were parked just west of the Berkeley Olympic Circle.


Much later in life, I’d experience ‘heaving to’ on a J105 to ‘serve breakfast’, while sailing with one of the OCSC members and her crew, which included 'Chicken Jibe James' in a supporting role.

But that’s another story.

Back in my college days, it was a wonder to me how you could park a Tornado in any wind or sea condition. Sheet the jib on the wrong side, sheet the fully battened main in tight at the leeward end of the traveler, and put both rudders over at their stops. Stick the tiller extension under the jib sheet wire, and you are now a stationary raft (with a 35 ft fully battened storm sail). The forward force of the wind completely balanced any leeward drift or wind drag. Perfectly stable in any wind or sea condition, even a ‘typical’ day in the slot with 4 foot chop, 10 foot swells and 25 knot winds. Somehow ‘heaving to’ any other boat just doesn’t compare to ‘parking’ the Tornado, stretching out on the trampoline and resting your back on the boom.

While other fleets reached back and forth between races, we just found a quiet corner of the race course and parked.

Convolution – it takes nothing for my mind to jump from Tarzan and Jane to Olympic Sailing to a Death Roll.

But as I explained to my crew - When I’m sailing a dinghy on the bay, I’m totally focused. The rest of my life, the world, anything and everything gets left behind, and I’m totally in the moment when sailing. I can remember looking east that day, taking in the sweep of the view from Richmond, Brooks Island, Berkeley, the Oakland hills, to the Bay Bridge, and Treasure Island, and not recognizing what being ashore was like. Totally in the moment on the water.

Here at the computer, typing away, my thoughts swirl and I grasp at the threads of thought that got me to the middle of this post.

What was I thinking?

Oh Yes!

My quest to read Tillerman’s post, from his earliest to his latest, was interrupted this morning when I made the mistake of clicking on his 2006 archive and finding myself in December (without thinking) instead of January. As I read through the December of 2006 posts, starting at the bottom, I found myself skipping through the posts. I just couldn’t read them all. But the ‘Email from Mark Hammett’ post led to ‘Worth Doing Badly’ and eventually to the ‘Ham-it-up! Capri 25 Sailing Round Down’ video.

I read everything, and I was struck by a couple of thoughts.

These thoughts were heightened by Joe Cool’s video of Big Boat Knock Down.

I’ve spent my life sailing on San Francisco Bay; from an El Toro to Brigadoon on the wooden boat axis, a Lido 14 to an Olympic Tornado on the plastic axis. I’ve been from the tip of a bowsprit (yeah, that's me, 'Bowman John' in my younger days) to the ass end of a boomkin. From being dragged across a finish line while holding on to a centerboard, to the top of a mainmast on a schooner. I’ve windsurfed, trapezed, and been a monkey on a foredeck in the St. Francis Big Boat Series on Maxi’s. And yet, I still have much, much more to experience.

One of the many things I have not experienced is a Death Roll on anything larger than a 505 - there is still one of those out there with my name on it. When I put the chute up on a J105, I am ever, ever vigilant.

Perhaps if Mark wants to go come out west and go sailing with me . . .

If you’ve read this blog from the beginning, you’ll recognize that being the ‘Captain’ of an OCSC chartered boat is a relatively new experience for me. I like to say that 90% of my sailing life has been as a crewmember, (maybe 40% as 'bowman' hee hee) not the ‘Captain’.


Mark Hammett’s email is gold. It does not matter what you sail. It matters that you sail. To expose sailors to the sport, to help them along the way - Mark Hammett and Tillerman ROCK! - To introduce a crew to a death roll, albeit accidentally, capture it on video and offer it up to the world. Way to go Mark.

So what if armchair sailors can’t help but reveal their own ignorance to the world through comments on blogs about Mark’s Capri 25 experiences or Tillerman’s sunfish experiences.

Whether you come into the sailing world on the deck of a ship or the deck of a sunfish, the important thing is to experience the joy of the wind, waves and water.

An extremely important lesson I’ve learned through my OCSC crewlist experiences is that of being ‘skipper of record’. At OCSC, crews typically pool their money to charter a boat from the fleet. The fleet has everything from J24’s to a Caliber 40 to a Mahe 36.

While everybody typically shares the cost, only one individual can be the one solely financially and morally liable for the outing. The concept of ‘Captain’ is an important one. In the final analysis, the Captain is the final authority, and has the final responsibility.

For that day, on that boat.

People handle it differently.

My grandfather was known as 'skipper', and he took Landfall II around the world.

I'll be 'Captain' John, Bowman John, Crewman John, Foredeck John, or any other position on any boat and just love being on the wind, waves and water. I've been a 'Tillerman' with me, myself, and I as crew.

OCSC is very effective in training, they’ve created a set of rules and guidelines, and a stair step approach to certification. I challenged the certification process at the BBC level, and vaulted to the top of the stairs in one leap to avoid the cost associated with all the training. I've come to realize that it's doable, but not advisable.

There is a fellow member of OCSC that I sometimes refer to (affectionately) as ‘Chicken Jibe James’, the chicken jibe being one of the skills that OCSC teaches their BC and BBC students. It’s even described in Wikipedia as an alternative to jibing - just after Wikipedia presents the Dangers (worth a review).

James is good at it and practices it. He practices all the things he’s learned at OCSC. He’s done 100+ charters. He provides everyone he sails with the opportunity to practice the skills as well. It’s a little dull and rigid for most, and as far as I know he isn't spinnaker certified, so he doesn't fly it, but there is something there.

I sometimes think that if I sailed with James, more, I’d learn everything that OCSC teaches in BC and BBC, including the responsibilities of being ‘Captain’, which is something I kind of took for granted, thinking that experience on the water is what being ‘Captain’ is all about.

That it would translate from experience. - WRONG!

It’s one of the reasons I’m reading Chapman cover to cover, and attempting to read the total of Tillerman’s blogs. There is always something to learn about sailing. A lifetime is not enough.

I watched Mark’s video over and over again. Pausing and then restarting at the most dangerous moments during the Death Roll and Woman Overboard.

There was a fellow (Mark?) on the starboard side who looked like disappeared in the video, only to reappear on the new windward side. When I saw the video for the first time I couldn’t imagine how he didn’t get knocked overboard. It finally dawned on me that he crossed prior to the uncontrolled jibe. He crossed the traveler, then made his way to the new windward side around the mainsheet as ‘windward’ became ‘leeward’ – instantly.

The beauty of the video is you can go through it again and again, see each crew member at each location, and study how they reacted and what sort of challenge they were confronted with. I love that Mark is willing to make his video available to clubs and training centers.

I’ve been in every possible position, and in the last year, that of ‘Captain’.

Tillerman is focused on laser sailing (when not running marathons or playing with his grandchild). There is nothing wrong with that, he’s ‘Captain’ of his Laser, if something goes wrong, he is the only one to shoulder the responsibility, just as the Captain of a Capri 25 is the only one who can shoulder the responsibility of that craft – whether or not he/she is helmsman/woman.

There was a year in the heyday of the west coast dinghy sailing decade. During that year of the 70’s we lost several sailors. One, I think it was a Finn sailor, who died racing in Monterey Bay, when struck by the boom. It was said that he was dead before he hit the water.

This is a convoluted post. Mark’s video was a convoluted jibe (and MOB recovery).

I am totally focused when sailing. My experiences over the last year have challenged my focus. Not so much challenged my confidence, but the experiences have pointed out the value in a humble nature. In a way, I’m searching for the humble nature in my larger than life grandfather through his journal.

There have been so many times when I’ve returned to the dock, the boat is put away, and everyone relaxing in the club house. The crew is thinking, and saying “That was GREAT!”, and I’m thinking “Whew! Cheated death again”, and sobered at the innocence of the souls that were in my care.

It’s difficult when ‘Captain’ of a sailing vessel. There is so much that you have to keep track of. Things can happen in the blink of an eye, and you stand alone to bear the responsibility. You can not take that lightly.

Whether you are on a Laser, a Capri 25, or a tall ship.