"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
ups.com...
What happened to the fun of sailing? Why miss a race? Let someone
else
skipper, change jobs, do anything but sit on the dock. It's not about
winning, it's about sailing.


Gary, these people are full of ****e. They know full well that lots of
folks LOVE to race and sail and don't miss a race if they can help it.

You would be describing beginners, not seasoned experts who've been racing
for decades.

They don't look to go home early and race EVERY race hard.

This clearly points up the fact that you don't race, or if so haven't done
it on a regular basis for any period of time. You are dead wrong about
this. After literally hundreds of regattas over the years, I've seen more
top and bottom-end skippers DNS the last race (or sometimes the last two)
when their finishing position is secure, than those who race it despite
their security. How do I know you don't race? Easy--if you'd ever done a
7-race regatta in 90 degree heat in drifter conditions, the very last thing
you want to do is go back out and drift around for another 90 minutes. You
seek out air conditioning and a rum & tonic, not more light air frustration.
And if your finishing position isn't secure, you curse the race committee
for not cancelling the last race. You really are talking out your ass on
this, Bubbles. You're clueless.

I'm hoping
their just trolling, because I'd be sad to hear of someone who sails or
races with that attitude.

This may come as a shock, Bubbles, but Mary Poppins isn't real.

In a series of races, such as the J24 series
here, the heat builds up more and more through each race. Everyone is
trying hard and the last race is no less important than the first
because EVERY race is worth winning. My ex-girlfriend races that
way...and wins. In fact she just won some silver with her new Catalina
30.

Good for her. The last J24 regatta I attended (I crewed for a competent
skipper who always kept his composure in horrible conditions) the first
three races had 36 boats. The last two had 21 and 11 boats, respectively.
The wind was blowing 20 to 25 during the entire two day series, waves were
closely-spaced in the 6-8' range in the afternoons, the temps were in the
40s and 50s, and there was enough broken gear and rigging to fill a large
capacity dumpster by the end of the regatta. We placed third overall, but
were actually happier to just have survived. We competed in the last two
races, but really wished we'd been either at the bottom or at the top so we
could have bagged at least the last race.

As usual, Bubbles, you know not what you blabber about. And somehow you've
sucked Gary into your ignorance as well.

Max