# My first race...



## Joel73 (Apr 23, 2007)

This Sunday i will crew in my first regatta. It's Oriental's "Dragons Breath" Regatta. Hope i don't screw up! I had a chance earlier this year to race but couldn't make it so i'm pretty happy that i get another opportunity. The wind is looking kinda weak though... only 5-10 knots. I guess we'll be using the 150?


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

be careful what you wish for... you might end up with more wind than you know what to do with...  Good luck, fair winds...


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## Sabre66 (Feb 3, 2007)

Good luck. Here in the northeast 5-10 means anything from 0-30, so We don't worry about it until the day of the race. 
Last night they called for S-SW 10-15 we ended up with 0-0 and the whole fleet timed out after 2 hours of floating.


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## Joel73 (Apr 23, 2007)

Thanks you guys...
And sure enough... the forecast has changed. Looks like a little more wind now. 



> Last night they called for S-SW 10-15 we ended up with 0-0 and the whole fleet timed out after 2 hours of floating.


























That's hillarious... but probably not for you huh? So does this mean that no one wins? or rather... places first i should say.


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## Sabre66 (Feb 3, 2007)

The whole fleet scores a DNF (Did not finish) Eventually it will get thrown out of the series as they only score the best 6 out of 10.
Light air races are often the most challenging You need to be able to trim well and milk every once of speed from the sails and hull. Much more unforgiving than heavier conditions, and more frustrating.


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## Joel73 (Apr 23, 2007)

We're still waiting on the results be we think we managed to get third in our class! Not bad for the first time around... but of course i wasn't the captain. We did have a screw up at the starting line. We got pushed over by a boat heading up so we crossed the line a couple seconds too early. We had to turn around and start over as everyone else was pulling ahead of us... kinda pissed us off but the guy who pushed us over the line wasn't doing anything illegal according to our captain... those are the breaks i guess. 

oh.. one more thing. The wind was about 5-10mph so we were baking in the sun... slow race!


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## Sabre66 (Feb 3, 2007)

It's common practice to try and push people over early, until the gun they (the leeward boat) can luff up in an effort to take you head to wind or force you over early. You want to be careful about those situations, I usually leave one boat above me and if the leeward boat starts calling for me to head up I can legally reply" no room". It's not really that simple but you get the idea?
Congrats on 3rd how many in your fleet?


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

Joel...did you like it?? was it fun?? its adictive??? like it??? did you?? did you???

Lost the start...don't worry...my son keeps losing his starts and pick it up later...

cool...congratulations...getting ready for the honey moon in Portugal are we?? (G)


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## Joel73 (Apr 23, 2007)

Sabre66 said:


> It's common practice to try and push people over early, until the gun they (the leeward boat) can luff up in an effort to take you head to wind or force you over early. You want to be careful about those situations, I usually leave one boat above me and if the leeward boat starts calling for me to head up I can legally reply" no room". It's not really that simple but you get the idea?
> Congrats on 3rd how many in your fleet?


That's interesting... so in a way, you can basically say "no" and that's legal? That would have been to our benefit because we did have another boat to our starboard and we were being pushed from our port side. We could have just held our ground (ahem... water) and probably not have crossed the line early.

We were racing a Catalina 27 so we were in a cruising class with 5 other boats.  Not that many in our class but i'm still happy with 3rd for my first time. The captain on the otherhand was a little pissed because of the start but he acknowledged that it was his mismanagement of the start that caused it. I forget what our handicap, or rather rating, was. 215 maybe? can't remember.


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## Joel73 (Apr 23, 2007)

Giulietta said:


> Joel...did you like it?? was it fun?? its adictive??? like it??? did you?? did you???
> 
> Lost the start...don't worry...my son keeps losing his starts and pick it up later...
> 
> cool...congratulations...getting ready for the honey moon in Portugal are we?? (G)


Yes... it was fun but i'm a cruiser at heart just like i'm a lover not a fighter! 

BUT... i will definately race again. I'm considering single-handing at the solo regatta but that may depend on how much practice i'll get between now and then. So far, my first single hand on the Pearson 27 we just got was a littl;e overwhelming... mainly because i had a line get jammed. I may try that race anyway even if i finish last... i don't care as long as i finish!!!

There is a small boat race too but i'm not sure when that will be. We have a Dolphin Sr. (kinda like a sunfish on steroids) as well as an O'Day 22 which i've sailed both of those boats for over 20 years now so i may feel more comfortable on those by myself.

Honeymoon? Yes we are well into planning. I'm starting the process for getting my passport this week. We've also been reading a lot. It's overwhelming but we are getting very excited the more we read.

Here's a question for you about Portuguese language. (it's my thread and i'll hijack if i want to!  )

What is the difference between speaking European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese ? Is it more about pronunciation than actual spelling difference?


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

Joel73 said:


> What is the difference between speaking European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese ? Is it more about pronunciation than actual spelling difference?


The Brasilians "murdered" Portuguese language, just like Americans or Australians "murdered" English Language or the Canadians did to French.

Its written the same way with subtle spelling changes, where silent letters and non-influencial letters in words were, omited or removed thru out the times, without afecting to much the sound of the word. (like Colour in English and Color in America, or Tire in US Tyre in UK, center, centre, etc.)

Some say that Portuguese of Brasil has more archaic words, but its not proven.

We all understand each other. Brasilsians almos sing the Portuguese, making their Portuguese easier for an american to learn, whereas Portuguese from Portugal is more "sh" "xxs" "ch", as Marc said, it sounded like half the country was telling the other half to shut up...and is more "gutural".

Both are different from Spanish (which by the way is not an official language, as the language's real name is Castellano, but everyone calls it Spanish), French and Italian, that has more dialects than hair in CD's crack....


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## Sabre66 (Feb 3, 2007)

Joel73 said:


> That's interesting... so in a way, you can basically say "no" and that's legal? That would have been to our benefit because we did have another boat to our starboard and we were being pushed from our port side. We could have just held our ground (ahem... water) and probably not have crossed the line early.
> 
> We were racing a Catalina 27 so we were in a cruising class with 5 other boats.  Not that many in our class but i'm still happy with 3rd for my first time. The captain on the otherhand was a little pissed because of the start but he acknowledged that it was his mismanagement of the start that caused it. I forget what our handicap, or rather rating, was. 215 maybe? can't remember.


213 in the our area. The Cat 27 is a very well established PHRF boat...I think the rating is fair, although they tend to do better in fairly light conditions.
I over-simplified the start....It's very easy to get stuck in that position, we've been there many times. EDIT: If someone is trying to take you up and you have a boat above you that wont/can't head up after you hail for room, then you can tell the leeward" no room" You still have to keep clear as best you can. 
Eventually you develope a 6th sense for where you want to be at the start 
It's all a matter of timeing.


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## tenuki (Feb 11, 2007)

Joel73 said:


> The wind was about 5-10mph so we were baking in the sun... slow race!


man, those kinda races suck, less time for beer afterwards.


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## Joel73 (Apr 23, 2007)

tenuki said:


> man, those kinda races suck, less time for beer afterwards.


Haha... well i don't drink beer (exchange tequila for that.)

This photo gives you an idea of how hot is was by the haze and the lack of wind on the water. It also tells you approx how many of us (all classes) were out there although i couldn't quite get everyone in the frame.


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