Sunday, April 8, 2018

_______________________ OYC ENDURANCE RACE ______________________

Today I raced in the Onerahi Yacht Club Endurance Race. This race closes the Summer season of racing at the OYC. There were 16 yachts of a wide variety participating in this handicap race - various catamarans, Lasers, Ok, 470, Jolly Boats, Flying Fifteens, and a variety of other sailing dinghies. The race started at 10.30am this morning and finished at 4.30pm this afternoon. I raced without a stop for 6 hours. At around 3pm I lost my concentration and capsized when gybing. I took on a few mouthfuls of salt water and lost my hat - but never mind because I won this 6 hour marathon race on handicap. I am now off to bed. I think I may sleep for a week.


15 comments:

Dan Gurney said...

Congratulations, Alden! You earned your nap!

Alden Smith said...

Thanks Dan. It was good to win a race even if I had to sail for 6 hours to do it. It was also pleasing that the strengthening of the mast and the reattachment of the goose neck held up to a whole day of gybing. It is also good to get a nice long competitive time on the water which helps to give a really good insight into how you are sailing the boat and how you can improve your boat handling. The downside is that at my age the recovery time for such a length of time on the water is longer!

George A said...

Well done Alden! Glad that the gooseneck repair stood up to the gybes!

Alden Smith said...

Thanks George. I completed 24 laps of the course which included 24 gybes. So I had plenty of practise gybing sensibly. I managed to gybe each time without having the boom slam hard on a side stay or be stopped short in too hard a manner by the mainsheet with all the leverage on the goose neck that that entails. I also slackened the vang off a bit when sailing downwind which took some of the compression loading off the goose neck.

Paul Mullings said...

Three Cheers...

Alden Smith said...

Thanks Paul. We now have a months rest and then it's into the Winter Series - can't wait.

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Whoo hoo.. bet you ached the next morning... :o))

Alden Smith said...

Quite right Steve, and the muscles are still aching - but it was all worth the ache.

George A said...

Alden: I use a "stick" muscle roller to relieve trigger points, snarled muscle fibers, etc. after ice skating:

http://agingskater.blogspot.com/2018/03/givin-old-man-stick.html

Haven't tried this after sailing a windy series but I think it should work. It's best to use a stick or a foam roller immediately after ceasing the activity in question or else most of the benefit is lost.

Alden Smith said...

George, I had never seen or heard of a 'stick' muscle roller until today. I think I could make one of these - large wooden beads or small balls threaded on a length of dowel!

Overall tiredness, rather than specific muscle tiredness is the post sailing effect on my body - that and bruising (only if I capsize and manage to hit myself hard on something) and damage to the skin on my hands (I now use sailing gloves).

One of the big dangers for use old buggers is getting hit on the head by the boom (a direct hit by a gybing boom would most likely kill me). I notice a growing number of Zephyr and OK dinghy sailors who are wearing light weight crash helmets to protect themselves - not a silly idea.

Alden Smith said...

..... one of the reasons for overall body (muscle) tiredness rather than specific areas of muscle problems is that I use protective inserts in my sailing suit. I have pads which velcro onto the inside of the suit in the thigh and calf muscle areas. Because the pads spread the load it means that I can hike out for much longer periods of time reasonably comfortably and eliminates any damaging compression areas. The elimination of these compression areas means that the only load I feel is on my back, but the position I hike in doesn't make this onerous at all. The calf pads are actually sold as shin pads but I use them as calf pads and they really do make a difference. The only things I could add (including a crash helmet) would be knee pads which would be of benefit in light weather when time is spent kneeling in the cockpit. Of course kitted up with all this gear would mean that I might be mistaken for someone going off to play American Gridiron football!! but at my age it's a case of 'Needs Must' !

Ben said...

Well done Alden!Congratulations.
If you can't win a short race simply do a long one :-) 65+ people perform better anyway in the long run.

Alden Smith said...

Thanks Ben. Conditions were a bit gnarly at times but us old buggers have had a lifetimes practise of hunkering down and keeping on going - at 66 years old the future will continue to be a case of practising just this strategy!

Bursledon Blogger said...

Congratulation

Alden Smith said...

Thanks Max - not as exciting as doubling Cape Horn, but just as wet.