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Dealing With Male Mid Life Crisis
What a great year, in a great boat and in fantastic company - GBR2833 ‘Rock n Roll II’ Jeremy and Suzanne
It was a midlife crisis I bought myself a B14 but I hadn’t sailed a dingy since the late 90’s, as usual every time I wanted to go out, I couldn’t find a crew, this was until Suzanne said I was either to Sail or Sell the B14 as it hadn’t moved more than twice in 12 months,...
in a moment of madness Suzanne said “can I crew”  I replied “Yes” this was music to my ears not only could I now get onto the water but involve my wife as well,
... for someone who had never sailed before, she took the B14 really well, but ! trying to race a B14 at Porthpean around a short course and with a novice crew wasn’t ideal, so I decided to get a Tasar as well so that Suzanne could learn about “racing”.

Suzanne’s first impression of the Tasar was that it was more difficult to crew, things had to be more precise we had to be smoother, smaller adjustments made a bigger difference, and I was more demanding, however my job had just got 100 times easier.

We continued to sail both boats through 2010 and we upgraded to a newer B14 (GBR753), Suzanne was beginning to enjoy both boats the exhilaration of the B14 blasting off wind and the One design close racing in the Tasar.
We entered the 2010 Tasar Nationals in Torbay and only managed a mid fleet position, this was a real education for Suzanne and I, who hadn’t sailed with more than 8 Tasar’s, our starts let us down which made it very difficult to catch up.

When we returned from the Nationals our Club Tasar racing was really good and we had some really good Club results and close races.  However with the 2011 Tasar Nationals and Worlds coming up, next year would surely be the year to own and race a newer Tasar, I put GBR1463 on the market and started to enquire about the New boats from Mandy @ Signal Locker.

Just as I had decided to get a new Hull, Colin Tait from Scotland put his boat onto the market “GBR2833”  I offered the asking price and arranged a meet in Manchester, and the boat was ready to sail at the weekend and…





WOW what a difference, you still have to point the boat in the right direction but everything was easier and we appeared to be sailing faster, it might all be in the head but even if its in the head it was working, the only thing was the B14 had to go, so that we could focus on the Tasar and 2011.

For us this is just the start with so much to learn, my tactics are shocking, my starts are awful, our tacking was hit and miss, however 2011 was like any sailing season but with an ambition of a top 5 at the nationals, which at the time would have been a major achievement. 
 
Club racing was very competitive, with Steve Mitchell, Stacey Bray, Lionel Rigby and Alan Orton to name a few, but it could be anyone’s race, and we were sailing well but not any different to anyone else, Suzanne was now up to speed but still learning, with very disappointing results at our Tasar open, we knew we had a lot of work to do if I was to achieve my goal of top 5 at the Nationals.

With this in mind I bought a Speed Puck (this isn’t legal and shouldn’t be used for racing), we had already experimented with GPS trackers but you can beat a real time speedo which also tracks, this for me was one of the biggest factors in squeezing that extra bit of a knot out of a Tasar and perhaps give an edge, and its work in progress but its working.

To be able to change the sail or boat trim and see the effect on both speed and heading, you would be amazed what does or doesn’t make a difference and the transition between 5.5kts and 8kts, you can see why these are not class legal.  One observation is that every time you rock or disturb the boat it takes 3 to 4 boat lengths to get it back up to speed, this is where crew work is so important.





With the 2011 Nationals looming and the thought of 30 local Tasar’s at Whitstable, I remembered from when I used to sail in the 90’s the Whitstable fleet was one of the fastest fleets, I just didn’t know what to expect.

Well the forecast wasn’t for the faint hearted, the location was shallow which from previous reports meant that keeping the boat upright would be a key factor in finishing, the welcome and organisation was excellent,  what I was really disappointed with was the lack of Whitstable boats, the dinghy park is full of Tasar’s but only a handful had entered and a brave few actually racing, it was only after talking to some club members that I realised that they wouldn’t normally sail in the forecasted conditions, but after a five and a half hour drive from Cornwall, not sailing wasn’t an option.

We prepared well on the Thursday evening with a few pints and a late night curry, and off to the noisiest B&B in Whitstable, only to wake to a 20-25kts blow, although not the heaviest of crews (145kg), we like it when it’s windy, and the day didn’t disappoint.

Gearing up for the day we put on a new mast washer and lot of rig tension, we leant several bits to other sailors to ensure goodwill on the water and the sailing was excellent, we launched early, and we found some settings, settled the boat down and set off up the beat two or three times tweeking the settings  (board, fairleads, traveller, mainsheet, kicker) we found a happy settings which felt fast, but free, realising we would not be pointing as high as some of the others we wanted boat speed to get over the steep chop, tackticks didn’t really come into it, boat speed was the key, and in the second race we managed to pickup our first ever Nationals Win, over the event we adopted the same principals, trying to sail the boat as flat and as fast as possible in very challenging conditions,



we didn’t adjust the main outhaul or use the Jib Stick for the event, we did use every wave possible off wind and enjoyed some great sailing.

It must be on every dinghy racers wish list to win a Nationals and we were shocked to win the 2011 Tasar Nationals especially as the fleet hadn’t shrunk from the front, we were especially pleased to beat Malcolm and Fiona who are fantastic Tasar sailors, and who we regard as by far the fastest in the UK, then there is Nathan and James who probably have their eyes on the prize in 2012, and don’t miss out Howard and Barney who are always in the mix at the front, and in a one design boat next year it could be any one of  a dozen mixing it up at the front.

With a spring in our step we returned to Porthpean with what I could only describe as added pressure, although proud to have won, we didn’t feel like we should have, there are much better sailors on the water than us, we were just good on the day, we now realised that with the Tasar Worlds coming up and my target of a top 15, after all looking at the entry there were 15 boats we had no reason to beat, and a further 15 all on a par with us.

We continued to get in as much sailing as possible, we entered and won Falmouth Dinghy week but again it was really windy, we tried to get some sailing in with Malcolm, Steve, Stacey, John and Neil only to find in the lighter/moderate winds Malcolm and Fiona were in a league of their own, we needed to do a lot of work, my problem is that I am still tactically shocking, fast but TACKTICALLY SHOCKING !

For any one who missed the worlds you really missed a treat, if anyone thought the AUS boats would all be unbeatable well, think again they are not that far ahead anymore, on any other week we might have seen a British world champion, they didn’t know how to handle Malcolm and Fiona in the lighter winds and on one day we had a British 1, 2, and 3.

We let ourselves down on the starts on most occasions we were between 25-35 at the first windward marks,
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  we had speed to burn off wind and our worst result was a 19th, our major disappointments were lying 2nd and in putting in a 200 yard tack to cover we dropped back to 10th, and on a couple of occasions 5ths turned into 11ths by making silly tactical mistakes, from which I have learnt alot. We finished 11th overall this could have so easily been in the top 6 but this only makes us keener to go to the 2013 Worlds in Oregon and try again but this time we are looking for a top 10.
Suzanne continued her learning, on one occasion when we tacked just in front of what was then the current world champions, Nicole Douglas pointed out that we were not tacking as well as we might, when ashore Nicole showed Suzanne what we could be doing better, and we spent the lay day ashore polishing the boat and practicing what we had been taught, there not many dinghy classes you can sail where they really fast guys will share their knowledge quite as freely, as with all the AUS crews, if you wanted to know anything you just had to ask…… We were parked next to Chris Parkinson, we didn’t even have to ask, every little detail of the boat was pointed out and noted, BRAIN OVERLOAD !!.
  One thing we have learnt is that all the boats are now being setup the same, but their techniques are all quite different, the end result is very similar, the good guy are just better sailors, and to get better we need to sail in good company and more often and at different locations, next years travelling events will prove to be a good start for us and anyone else who is looking to improve their Tasar sailing.
We are really looking forward to 2012, GBR2833 will be put away and dried out and I have a few little things to do to her, our first event next year will be the Exmoor Beastie, the inlands look like being a great event, with the events list growing on the website 2012 could be another great year to be sailing a Tasar, if not before, see you at the nationals.
GBR 2833 ‘Rock n Roll 'ii
Jeremy and Suzanne
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