PTSail.org

6/26

PTSA News and Upcoming Events

Tomorrow [June 6] is the Classic Mariners Regatta and although it is not our race,
people who show up at the 9:30 skipper's meeting might be able to get a ride. The meeting will be at the cupola house at Point Hudson.

There will be a series end/series begin meeting for the general membership
Thursday, June 11 6PM at Sirens. There will be another e - mail next week.

From Dan Newland

Hey guys

I was at the PTYC board meeting last night and brought up the possibility of using the club for a post Friday night race pizza party. They agreed that it was a great idea and would agree to cover it with the club as the sponsor so PTSA would have free use of the club for the evening but they do need to have a $50 security deposit (or $2 per person, whichever is greater) and we would need to be sure to clean it up afterwards. Future parties would require a PTYC member to be a sponsor (like me) and be present but would rent it at less than half the normal amount for groups of $125 then the normal security deposit. So maybe a year end party? And if alcohol is served, a $10 liquor license is required for the event.

So if you want to do this, we need to start discussing when to do this and about how many folks would be involved. And since we are always looking for more racers, maybe we should invite the PTYC to come to it? Or here's a whacky idea, maybe I do some calls and invite the yacht club members to race that Friday so we can really mix it up?

Also, what happened to the racing clinics? Last year, Stig gave a really good talk and several people said it was a great idea and wanted to do a lot more of these evening classes.

Dan Newland

Race to Sequim Bay

Race will be on June 13th and 14th, with a 0900 start in PT Bay on the 13th. On the 14th we are planning bouy races in Sequim Bay, with a start to be announced at the skippers meeting on Sat nite in the marina yacht club room.

Thanks PTSA

To those who made tonight's Dick Rose Rules Presentation, thank you for showing up and donating money to the Port Townsend High School Sailing Team. We have an enthusiastic group of kids that are becoming really good sailors. They are having fun and your donations make it all possible.

To those who couldn't make it - you really missed out! It was super-informative!

A few things I wanted to share with the PTSA members and PTHSST members.

First, if you do not read Sailing World, Dick has written an article going over the new rules changes in each of the last three editions. I highly suggest reading them. I have a copy of each edition if anyone wants to borrow them.

Second, check out the UK Halsey Rules quiz. This is an excellent interactive website that is a very useful tool in learning the rules. Here is the link. It only takes 1 minute to register. http://www.ukhalsey.com/

RulesQuiz/

quiz_list.asp

Thanks,
Erik Coburn
Assistant Coach, Port Townsend High School Sailing Team
720.635.0205

Many thanks to Sirens and Uptown Dental for hosting our meetings. Thank you Kris and Steve.

Photography and Website by:

Elizabeth Becker

Seaport Photography

Port Townsend, WA

SeaportPhoto.com

Morning Star Stands Down

Click here for enlarged view.

After careful consideration by Gussie, Morning Star and crew remained in port for the May 20 evening race.

Comings & Goings

Steve Scharf has just returned from bike tour through unknown regions.

Linda Newland is off to Boston for a board meeting of the National Women's Sailing Assoc. Linda is a world-class sailor who has competed in the Singlehanded San Francisco to Japan and San Francisco to Hawai`i Races.

Jon Eden has moved to Bozeman but is still maintaining the website until the presumptive webmaster, Dan Newland, takes over the helm.

Kris Nelson resigned from the board after being appointed to fill the unexpired term of Brent Butler. While Kris's valued service on the board will be severely missed, Siren's remains PTSA's unofficial clubhouse.

Scott Walker is being visited by his son Nate who lives and skis in Bozeman.

My Turn #1

Dan Newland has started a blog where all of the PTSA members can come together to discuss with one another their issues, aspirations, and observations. Click here to enter into the PTSA blogosphere.

If you were wondering about the origin of the photo to the left of Dan Newland and friends, so was I and here is the poignant story in an email from Dan:

Hi Jon

I see now what you meant about the Internet never forgetting. I saw the picture you had of Homer, Elvis, me and Peepers the Wonder Sparrow! That was pretty funny! I know Lasitude 38 got that picture awhile back. The hood ornament was the sparrow I rescued as a baby and raised into a great little pet. He was amazing. He loved to take naps in our hair or collar of our shirt, leaning against you and just being more like a puppy than a bird, all this from a "wild" bird. He was fully flighted and could (and did) fly outside but he didn't like it. He got outside once but scared himself. He died about a year and a half ago at the age of 5 and we still mourn him. While a dog or cat can't stay on you all the time, he could since he was free to fly in the house almost all the time being so little. Perhaps that explained why we loved him so much, he wanted to be with us all the time and would have slept in the bed had we let him.

So when Latitude needed a picture, John Riise came by the house to get a picture and the bird being loose, landed on my head (a favorite place for some reason). John absolutely had to have that in the picture! It was great!

Dan

And, as if all of the above was not great enough, in the words of the late Paul Harvey, "Here is the rest of the story":

" We actually tried to take him to a bird rescue but they don't take sparrows since they were introduced from England in the 1700's to control insects. The flip side is that being an introduced species, it is not illegal to keep them.
Attached is another picture Linda took when I was snoozing and the cat climbed up to a nice, warm, soft spot (my stomach).

Click here for enlarged view.

The bird knowing a good thing when he saw it, landed on my head and also started taking a snooze. I did wake up when the cat jumped on me, then nodded off again only to have the bird wake me once more when he landed on my head but we all went back to sleep until Linda started walking around with the camera I was told. The cat woke up but I guess the bird and I stayed out for the duration. The cat was pretty good with the bird. She wasn't all cuddly with him but she was the one that found him pushed out of a nest (we suppose because she can't climb) and brought him to us unharmed so she was OK with her little brother."

When I created this space for us to hold forth in, I had no idea that I would be the first guest. I am resigning from the board as of May 25. It was either Zoloft or getting into the sunshine, so I am moving to Bozeman. Thank all for you allowing me this brief period of service.

Jon Eden

Point Wilson Winds

Rants & Raves

Got cutoff out there during the last race or some one helped you out, this is the place to share it--and hopefully head off a formal complaint process. Email me your story at JonEden@yahoo.com

My Turn #2

Hi Jon

You asked for us to submit articles for the newsletter and I am here to make you regret those words.
Attached is a crew practice plan I did for this Thursday that you may want to publish in the newsletter for other boats to start thinking about. Having spent a LOT of wasted time going out and just doing some sailing with a few tacks and gybes thrown in, I really believe a plan allows you to get the most out of the time you spend out on the water. Well, if you are really trying to coach. But it does take some work on the part of the "coach". I coached some boats with John Bertram awhile back and those were pretty good teams already, now we have a much more diverse group with no time in twitchy light boats. Since I am starting from scratch with a crew that is pretty much beginner to intermediate with 1-2 "rockstars", I had to switch hats from boat owner/helmsman to coach. It has been interesting and a lot of fun. Frustrating at times also but for the most part, it has been fun.

Another thing I am trying is to break the boat into teams. The foredeck, mast and halyards (sewer) are the Foredeck Team, then there is the Cockpit Team. These guys should work with a lot of autonomy. Then I switch them around so everyone gets experience in almost every area of the boat. I have the most experienced team leader teach the rest of his team so that there are teachers within each team and I am not the only one coaching. I think the team appreciates it and the speed at which they are learning is just amazing!

Another major teaching tool is our "debriefs". After each race, we have a debrief to talk about anything they had problems with, questions they had or where we did really well or badly. And they can go over the problem/solution with the rest of the crew. Oh, Hell, here is the crew teamwork document, it spells it out. These two files are probably a lot more stuff than you want to print but we really need to help others that are out there and in doing so, help ourselves and have more fun.

I have several other files like these, too. Like our practice plan for our first practice, crew teamwork, spinnaker and vang control and ...I forgot what else.
As I said, the real kick has been two things. One is how shockingly quickly everyone is catching on. And two, how much everyone is enjoying the whole experience. I think everyone on our crew is well on their way to being a SUPER CREW for any boat. And should they ever start racing their own boat, they will really understand every position n the boat. And just remember that the first time these guys sailed together was Race #1! Think how far they have come! They are already doing floater drops, gybe-sets, inside-outs, outside-ins, tack sets..that is so cool!

Dan