Newport in Review -- Part II

Okay… Newport Review Part II. Lolita proved too much a distraction for me … demented, disgusting and ridiculously well-written. It’s a trap, don’t fall into it. So Casey revved up the iPod and on came Counting Crows’ Omaha. Suitable to our destination today!

Let me describe for you the “triangle of death” we employed in that first week of sailing in Newport. We have two inflatable marks, but no tackle. So we used the government marks and plethora of moorings and lobster pot buoys that seemed to suit the wind direction and geography available to us off Newport harbor. Generally we located ourselves between Goat and Rose Island, where the breeze tended to channel through south to north. But one day we found our spot north of the bridge, right off the Naval War College. There a red nun, its green can counterpart across the channel, and a mid-channel green and red can formed an intimidating triangle course. The beat (from red/green can to red nun) was short – maybe three tacks in quick succession could be completed with the outgoing tide. The nun to can reach was very tight, as was the return reach to the bottom mark once we managed to pull out of the gybe (intact). It was very windy that day we discovered this race course. It took us three or four unsuccessful laps and a tantrum of frustration by yours truly before we succeeded in rounding the reach mark. We continued to go round and round, until our flailing survival began to smooth out. In that practice session we drew the attention of several Navy 44s out practicing, much of the Newport Bridge traffic (including Ezra Smith and Tim Healy who commented later to us that they saw us that day), and a Fountain speed boat full of beer swilling tough guys who had to stop and watch us in total awe of our stealthy speed!

Most of our solo practice sessions in Newport consisted of the following regimen. First we would sail out of the harbor under spinnaker which would usually result in a long tight reach across to the Jamestown side. We would douse the kite and head on a long upwind sail out to the ocean. We would concentrate on straight line speed and form. Every day we seem to develop a more sensitive feel for the balance and trim of the boat. As our boat handling improved we would stretch our time in the waves off Beavertail and between Point Judith and Brenton Reef (without a support boat we rarely extended this beyond an hour). Then we would set the chute and gybe our way back into the Bay. In between gybes we worked the boat through the waves and learned how important and effective pumping and weight movement can be. Once we were back in the Bay, we would find our boat handling marks and start working on sets, gybes, drops, and tacks until exhaustion.

Before she left for the Pan Am Games in Rio, Tracy often talked with us about our practice sessions and gave us advice on things to try, working from her memory in the class. Both Zack and John worked on our upwind and downwind techniques during the respective sessions they had with us. Zack introduced us to a great drill called “up-downs.” This involved us heading up from a run to a reach, and then back down to a run, and then back up to a reach over and over again. John taught us about speed and kinetic technique in the waves while running and broad reaching. Our culminating boat handling lessons came from Skip Whyte, the legendary 470 gybe expert. He worked with us on our gybing technique in light to medium air. He taught us to Rock & Roll with the all-important Boogie. All of these boat handling lessons from the few times we had coaching in Newport, combined with our individual drill time, have brought Casey and I a long way in our goal to become 470 boat handling masters. But we are not masters yet. That’s why we are going to San Francisco for some windy Bay action for a week before we spend many hours in the waters off Long Beach in September. We also are determined to have a coach with us for as much of that time as possible. We have already lined up a coach boat for San Francisco (and possibly Long Beach too) … and in that boat we will have Jonas Haggbom from Sweden, 470 coach extraordinaire!