I was at my favorite breakfast haunt in Long Beach (Alamitos Bay - "Schooners or Later" for you So Ca local guys) talking to some sailing buddies I've known for years. I've been there a lot lately getting the last of my salt water fixes because at the end of this month I'll be leaving So Ca permenently for eventually Tucson, AZ, with a short lay over in Lake Havasu while our house in Tucson is being built. Anyway, one of the guys had a friend with him and he brought up sail trim controls. The problem I had was the sailor confused the sail trim controls for the main and jib so much as to their form and function that I didn't know what he was talking about. The more he talked, the more insistant he became and he eventually had my underware so twisted up I could not follow what he was saying. He was mixing and matching everything. What finally saved me was I remembered I was there years ago from a sail trim standpoint. I had everything all balled up. What I told him was STOP TALKING!! Then I said, now lets get back to the basics. From there I explained draft depth, draft position, twist and angle of attack and outlined the sail trim controls for the main and jib that control each of those element plus what happens to each when you push or pull them. At the outset, he started to interupt me and throw in misconceptions but after a few more stop talkings he finally listened. This whole thing took less than 10 minutes but the sad part for me was, I don't think he heard a word I said. I could read it in his eyes, which told me he thought I was full of crap!! On the way home, my friend called me on the cell and told me the guy said after you left that your full of crap. See, I knew it.
