OzOne wrote:
We got so far ahead by having totally superior boatspeed in the
conditions and making absolutely no mistakes.
We did it again on the next two races and totally demoralised the
fleet by the 4th race of a 7 race series...Yep, it was fun :-)

Sounds like a great reward for a lot of hard work.


We'd built a brand new boat for this series using everything we'd
learned on the 3 others of the preceding seasons. Used some
innovations that became de rigeur later.

So you built the boat from scratch? Was this the Skate? What were the
innovations?

... We were totally confident in
the ability of the boat to handle anything we demanded of it and
maintained it to perfection. It was a great few years.

I've never built a boat from scratch but have reworked & refurbished a
number of old one-designs. First, the hull has to be solid & light. It's
amazing how many older small fiberglass boats oilcan like crazy, plus
are a few pounds overweight.

One thing I like about the JY-15s is that they are mostly new and very
strong. Racing some other older boats, it was a contest to see if my
work was strong enough for the heavy days, or if the old unfixed stuff
would break faster than I could fix it.


WE usually flew a kite at every opportunity and used it to put huge
pressure on boats in front in fresh stuff. They knew they had to go
for it to stay in front because we would definately fly it.
Often we didn't need to as they had gone for it when we had already
decided that we wouldn't try it on unless they managed to survive the
first hundred metres or so.

I was crew and the skipper, I regard as absolutely without peer in the
fresh.

Nothing like a good set of reflexes attuned to the particular boat.

I had a steady crew through college and a few years after... he was a
great guy and could concentrate totally on the race like few people I've
sailed with. Our on board racing conversations were usually a "yes" or
"no" and perhaps "got it" or "let's go." Since then I usually have a
bunch of newbies, or in the Lightning we have a nearly-newbie friend and
my wife (excellent crew but not interested in racing any more). It's a
big help when you have somebody to work with who is committed & skilled.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King