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More Lessons from Log Canoe Racing

August 25th, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.

In a big transition from the Star Worlds… this past weekend we raced with the formidable Silver Heel log canoe in the Oxford Heritage Regatta hosted by the Tred Avon Yacht Club on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Seven boats showed up for the event all filled to the brim with 10 to 15 people slipping and sliding down the boards keeping this giants of skiff sailing upright. I don’t think anybody turned over this weekend, a rarity by log canoe weekend sailing, but that didn’t mean there was a lack of action.

No more can I claim “First Time Log Canoe Racer” like a few of the new sailors on the boat this weekend, but I dare to say that we’re getting a hang of it. Our skipper’s grandfather and family has owned the boat for longer than the entire crew from this weekend has been alive. Berry Kurland has been at the helm learning as much as he’s teaching greenhorn boardmen and women each of the three weekends that I have been on board the boat. We have been learning from each other, learning to trust each other’s understanding of what the boat is capable of, and stretching the boundaries of the traditional college-housemate relationship into a helmsman/tactician-mode. There have been situations that have left scratching our heads wondering how the boat’s weird reactions managed to put us in such ugly positions. There have been more and more situations however, where I can see the tension in Berry’s stance switch to elated energy when he realizes we pulled something off he never thought the boat was capable of. This weekend we sailed across the line 2nd, 1st and 2nd, after time corrections 4th, 2nd and 1st, without a doubt the best weekend the boat has had under Berry’s watch.

We led the entire way around the course one race after being inches from a starting penalty and port-tacking the fleet. We started one race doing zero knots over ground in adverse current and the glassiest hole on the river only to rally back over the course of the three hour race to win the corrected time. We also managed to sail around the wrong side of a local channel marker and have to join three other surprised locals in retiring from a race. We managed to finish ahead of a massive thundering arm of Hurricane Bill, but not get to the dock before the first of six inches of rain started to dump on the fleet. We attempted to tune a new jib, use a freshly epoxied board and fit 14 people into the space of the normal 12 on board the boat. All in a weekend’s fun.

We had a record turn out for our weekend’s invitations. Nearly 20 people clambered down to the Shore to fill the regular 12 positions on board the boat. Creating the positions of “jib-assist,” “staysail douser,” and “14th man” has never been more fun. I think the boat went better overloaded anyway. A little extra waterline never hurt anybody! We had to get a little imaginative with our crew matrix to make sure that everybody had the most fun possible as well as get the most people sailing as possible. Not to mention getting all 20 people into a bunk, air mattress or couch at our jib trimmer’s (and my new fiancee’s) parent’s house (that’s right, Jacqueline and I are getting married!). Somehow we managed to get everybody rested enough to race both days and have some fun in the meantime.

 Many thanks to everybody for getting involved for the regatta, the Schmitz and Snow  households for taking us in and feeding us well, the TAYC for having a nice event, and Berry’s extended family for offering us some grand entertainment and showing the experienced and completely green alike what sailboat racing is supposed to be about!

Back to DC for a few days and then I’m off to Manhasset Bay YC for the Knickerbocker Cup Match Race Regatta this weekend in New York. Stay tuned!

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