Putting Knowledge to Work...

[Rob R.]

Don,There was no sense in going to work on Friday, so I changed my voicemail and headed to the dock.Took my Catalina 27 out in 10 mph winds, which were great for a while. Then they died to a steady 2 to 5 mph. Sound familiar?I took your tips from the last quiz into consideration, and low and behold, my boat was moving while others were slugging about. It was beautiful.I blew by a sister ship (tall rig, inboard) but realized that she was under reefed headsail (no idea why). The real payoff came when I saw a Pearson who regularly sails right up my tailpipe every weekend. I pointed right at him and ghosted up slowly, passed under him on a port tack, and then bested him so much so that he tacked off and went home. It was beautiful.Thanks so much for your forum - it is a great part of this site! I'm not a racer, but I love to make as much as I can out of my modest boat. Your forum is a great help in this regard.Best Regards, Rob

 

[Don Guillette]

Putting Knowledge To Work

Rob: Glad you like the Forum. I don't consider myself a racer. I do race as crew, when I can find a skipper I'm on the same page with, but a lot of them have a different method of trimming sail than I'm used to. Anyway, actually I consider myself just a cruiser, who like you, wants to get as much performance as he can out of his boat. In my golf game, I'm just a hacker, but I'm trying to improve there also. Never took a lesson, until 3 months ago. The instructor found about 5 things wrong. No wonder I never hit the ball to the same place twice!!