Lumpy Water

Oceans and lakes, each have their idiosyncrasies. I appreciate the steady breezes that so often grace the afternoons on salt water, but the lumpy water is a pain in the butt. I just got off the water after four hours of racing off Marblehead under the sponsorship of Eastern Yacht Club with a group of 11 sailors.

The winds went up a down a bit, but we were never left without any for very long – well long enough to change my potential second at a windward mark into a fifth, and a fourth heading for the finish line into a sixth; funny that the good guys just always seem to end up at the top anyway. The last race was set over 90 degrees off of the course for the previous races. And it dished out almost double the maximum pressure we’d played in all day.

This was my first ocean sailing in almost a year and I was please with my ability to keep the Laser moving through the two to three foot swells. I was also catching the swells and accelerating a bit to windward of my close hauled course. But it was clear that to do well I need to invest more time out there in the lumpy water.

I realized another thing about the day; the waves worked my core muscles like I was sitting on an exercise ball. Not a bad thing to remember this winter when we’re ice bound. And lastly there is that pain in the butt. I attribute it to saltwater and lots of sliding in, out, fore and aft.

I’m aiming at the New England Laser Masters in Newport RI in a couple of weeks and I may need to pull the old bicycle trick of adding A&D ointment to the sensitive areas. I tried to think of other possible causes other than salt water rash and decided that it would have been hard for a jelly fish to swim into my hikers and get between me and the deck, never an issue in lake sailing.

Jay Livingston