Race Commentary and Coverage

Watching sport on television can be very frustrating when the director chooses camera angles that miss the important action and the commentary is shallow and ill informed . Sadly this was often the case with the Olympic sailing coverage and the early Americas Cup coverage which often missed important moments such as the boats crossing. And there is the inevitable on air tension between the  golden tonsils of the professional announcer with little knowledge of the sport and the guest expert. The experts are regularly cut off and the director fails to back them up with the right shots.

When it comes to covering sailing, in particular match racing, there is a simple alternative which is to put the commentary and the camera on the umpires boat and hook into the actual commentary by the umpires. This way you cover the action right up close and you see and hear exactly what the judges see and think.

MatchRaceVideoDotCom’s channel on YouTube has done just this with their coverage of the 2008 and 2009 Knickerbocker Cup match races.

Each boat has its own judge who calls the racing rules as it applies to their situation.  “I am port give and tacking” ;”I am entitled to room”. For club racing sailors its a non stop lesson and refresher on the racing rules of sailing especially at the start and mark roundings. It is also a great insight into match racing which for many of us, sailors and non sailors, was the highlight sailing event at the London Olympics. What a shame it has been dropped. .

Here is one of the videos and you can see them all as part of a play list off this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y0FZI1mMkk&feature=bf_prev&list=UL0SB8JRehMUc

Mandatory Helmet Laws - The Consequences.

Laser sailing and riding bikes go together. Cycling is a great way to develop leg and hiking strength, endurance and aerobic fitness. It seems to be the best form of training other than actually getting on your Laser.  Riding a bike is also a really good form of transport especially for short distances around your suburb.

But in  Australia we have compulsory helmet laws. Here you can’t just put on a sun hat, grab a towel, hop on your bike and go to the beach. If you get caught without a helmet there is a fine, if you don't pay the fine they take away your drivers licence and then send the bailiff to seize your possessions.




At first glance our helmet laws might seem right.  Seat belts save lives, they are compulsory and no one objects to them.  

But there has been an unintended consequence.  According to http://www.cyclehelmets.org/
the enforced cycle helmet laws resulted in much less cycling. In Australia falls in cycle use averaged more than 30% and in Canada 28% to 40%.  Much higher levels of abandoning cycling have been recorded among teenagers.

In European countries, cycling is one of the forms of physical exercise most frequently undertaken by children out of school and any reduction in cycling can impact significantly on children's fitness. In all the countries with enforced helmet laws, there is a high level of childhood obesity. On the other hand, in countries with high levels of cycling and low levels of helmet use, childhood obesity is much less of a problem.

Everyday cycling, like walking, is a low-risk activity, and one where the health benefits outweigh the risk of injury by 20:1 or more. The bottom line is that people who cycle regularly live longer, on average, than people who do not, with healthier lives and less illness. (health impacts of mandatory bicycle helmet laws)

Good evidence of the safety of cycling comes from city bike hire schemes worldwide. Up to 2011, the popular schemes in London and Dublin had generated over 8 million cycle journeys with no serious casualties of any kind. This is a very low level of risk and few riders wear helmets.

Helmet laws also kill city hire bikes. Schemes in Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland have all failed to attract much use due to the need to wear a helmet and schemes in Mexico City and Tel Aviv were not allowed to go ahead until their laws had been rescinded or reduced in scope. Other helmet law towns are campaigning for law changes before they will invest in bike hire.

You may be lucky to live in a country with a strong everyday cycling culture and no helmet laws, take care to avoid the mistakes we have made here in Australia.

To know more about the issue check out these advocacy organisations

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/

http://crag.asn.au/

http://helmetfreedom.org/

You can also sign a petition here
http://www.freestylecyclists.org/

The Joy of Sailing at Sailability Middle Harbour

Sally O'Neill Sailing Coordinator

Twice a month on Sunday mornings,  winter, spring, summer, autumn, in sun or drizzle, a group of volunteers and sailors take over the dock outside the Australian Olympic Sailing Team HQ at the Middle Harbour Yacht Club. This is where they launch their Access 303 dinghies.  

Sailability Middle Harbour is right next to MHASC laser club, we share the same entrance to  the harbour. The Sailability sailors are usually coming in from their last sail as we rig for our afternoon Laser races. 

Last Sunday I took my camera onto the dock to capture some shots of the sailors and volunteers and to learn more about it.

Volunteers are trained to help sailors with the greatest care and respect

Sailability Middle Harbour has been going for five years and is supported by Northbridge and North Sydney Rotary Clubs. They have five boats stored at the MHYC with another boat soon to be donated.

At Middle Harbour they sail the Access 303. It is safe and easy to sail by one or two adults.  10 ft long ,4 ft wide with a 3.5 ft draft, the boat is steered with a manual joystick.

Some sailors come in groups which include Sunshine Homes, which provide adult care for those with Downs Syndrom, CROWL a home for intellectually disabled adults and the Celebral Palsey Alliance. DARTS provides transport for wheelchair restricted people.

Lachie Clear

Sailability Middle Harbour costs only $5 per sail or $40 a year. The club welcomes new sailors and volunteers.

The lone sailor is  Lachie Clear. Lachie sails regularly by himself and competed at the Access World Championships in England in 2010

There are 350 local Sailability clubs around the world. Sailability was introduced to Australia in 1991 and there are over fifty groups on the continent.  

President John Taylor (JT) supervises a crane assisted boarding

To find out more about these extraordinary sailing clubs click on these links.

Salability Middle Harbour

Sailability NSW

Sailability Clubs Worldwide

Access Dinghy Foundation

The joy of sailing

Off for another adventure on Sydney Harbour

Cue the ominous music, this is about to go bad

The Gopro waterproof camera has spawned a new sub sub sub genre on youtube - the ‘Gopro laser sailing video.’ There is vision from  mast tops, bows, overhanging sterns, hats and my favourite - off the boom.  Many of these  youtube videos are just raw footage, short and unsatisfying, but every now and again then one turns up that is entertaining, educational, and funny.   

That is not to say that raw footage cannot worthwhile. There is an exceptional four part series of hat-cam videos by Doug Peckover competing in the 2012 Australian Nationals
See them and Brett Beyer’s analysis at
http://www.impropercourse.com/2012/03/brett-beyer-coaching.html

You have to be a Laser sailing tragic to get into them, but hey thats the life we choose.

One of my favourite laser videos is the ‘The Comeback That Wasn’t’ by Fleet Co Club Captain Stuart Streuli. It has music, commentary, drama, comedy or perhaps pathos, all in 6 minutes.

Described as A roller coaster ride of a Laser Fleet 413 frostbite race that looks great, then bad, then OK, then good, then ultimately ends in disappointment.

There is drama at the top mark - ‘cue the ominous music, this is about to go bad’. The breeze is only 8 knots so no one dies.

Two Types of Roll Gybes with Andrew Scrivan

I found the way to unblock the embedding function on this roll gybes video. Yesterday I posted their roll tack video, try this one.

Andrew Scrivan's Laser  demonstrates the two types of roll gybe   Andrew is  a former member of the US sailing team alphagraphics.  

The key points

-flatten the boat before the boom hits the water
-oversheet the main (gybe 2)
-put some vang on (gybe 2)
-use your weight to steer the boat
-smooth fluid movements 

Video produced by Laser XD Sailing 

Some New Instructional VIdeos

Laser XD Sailing have recently published some short instructional videos on YouTube  and on their web site.  They are well produced with real time and slow motion video.  There is another good one on roll gybes, but unfortunately they have blocked the embedding function so you will have to find it via their YouTube account.  Here is one that they have let me publish on roll tacks in light air.

Their web site  looks like it is  still  under construction, but they have some some good beginner/intermediate  information.

This is a sample from their rigging guide.

In medium air, the goal is maximum power. The vang should be tensioned just enough so that it isn't sagging while block to block. Having the mainsheet block to block will create maximum leech tension and power in the sail. As the boat becomes overpowered, begin to tension the vang to reduce power in the sail. 

The draft of the sail should be set just under a full sail, about a hands length at the boom cleat or 15 cm (~6 in). The cunningham should be on just enough to take out the large diagonal creases. As the wind increases, depower the rig with cunningham and vang. The cunningham will pull the draft of the sail forward and reduce the draft slightly. It is important to set the outhaul and cunningham so that the draft isn't less than 10 cm (~4 in).

The traveler must be tight in order to avoid the boom from moving towards the center of the boat. If the boom is still moving towards the center of the boat, tension the vang just enough to help the boom to stay in the correct position.

Laser XD Sailing

Ten things that have changed in Forty Two years

It has been an eventful week. I had my first dinghy race in 42 years and the Tillerman put this blog on his list 3 Best Laser Sailing Blogs on the Planet, in the ‘relative beginner’ category.  

So I’ll stay in character for this post.  

Although  I am racing in the same place, Middle Harbour just off Balmoral Beach,  a lot has changed in 42 years.  This is my Australian Moth rigged at Balmoral circa 1969 note the high tech walking stick mast, pocket-luff sail and hand crafted bamboo battens.

This is what has changed in forty two years.





The shorts have got longer - say no more

The web and google gives us all the unorganised information we could hope for

Boats come from factories  -  my Moth was built in a friends garage with plywood, glue and clamps - note the beautiful, rare and depleted rain forest wood veneer deck

The Laser was invented 40 years ago  - it has taken that long for me to get on one

Moths got foils - next the foiling  Laser

Kids get sailing coaching - even a relative beginner GM can hook into some coaching thanks to the NSW Laser Association 

Weather forecasts are now reliable, you can plan the weeks practice sail around the wind you want - in my case 8 to 12 knots is a lot of fun

Dinghies have dollies

The power boat wash has gone from 10 cm high to 1 metre high - all the more reason not to hit the lay-line early so you have space to chip one in ahead of the inevitable giant wash

Capped teeth - it was always stupid to hold the main-sheet in your mouth when tacking