dougking opined:
There are some skills in cruising that are not needed in racing, but
anyone who thinks racing doesn't develop a full set of seamanship
skills has simply not payed attention.


Doug,
I would maybe be inclined to agree with you in concept *IF* you were
talking about frequent open ocean racers. But if you think the big boat
racers on Long Island Sound who mostly have never been on the ocean
(except maybe the Block Island race, if that could count) are
automatically better sailors than guys that spend significant time ocean
voyaging...
From what I've observed, I wouldn't trust even sailing on the Sound
with many of those racers unless they were relagated to rail ballast.
Not saying I'm as experienced or even as good as many of them, but many
(certainly not all) I've observed while sailing are quite a few bricks
short of house with tempers like a longshoreman who's told his pay is
getting reduced. They are dangerous, arrogant, they take way too many
chances, and they will not necessarily follow the rules if they think
they can get away with it and that's just barely scratching the surface.
Judgment is, in my opinion, at least as important as skill and I'm not
just talking about judging the racecourse. In addition, races there in
the main regattas usually call the race in any kind of inclement
weather, so they do not get that experience. I think your comment above
was just too general to properly make your point.

Red