Time flies when you are sailing -- except when there is no wind.
Looking out at the lake, watching raindrops fall on the dogwood and redbud blossoms, I wanted to write a “starter” column for those who are really interested or even just curious about sailing, but who just don’t know how to get started. Each time I thought of a good introduction, I realized that I had “been there-done that” already.
I pulled up and reviewed the archives beginning with the first column I wrote back in May 2000, and I realized that I no longer have any original thoughts. Rather than plagiarize my own stuff, I recommend the following archival entries from my equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls:
The first ten columns from the year 2000 are perhaps my best work. Like the young Hemingway, these entries are crisp, witty, and, like Papa … “dead on.” Everything you really need to know to get started is here, and, again like Papa’s work, timeless.
“What’s in a Name” (July 12, 2000), is my personal favorite and has generated more mail than any of the other columns.
“Gone With the Wind” (August 14, 2000) is perhaps my best technical column and tells you all you really need to know about the one essential ingredient for sailing: the wind.
Finally, to the dozens of inquiries I have received about “How to Get Started” (May 24, 2000), I give the number for Ralph Brush at The Lake Sailing Academy, the premier source of sailing instruction on Smith Mountain Lake.
In 2001, I wrote more columns than John Updyke wrote essays. The most personal column I have ever written was the September 18, 2001 entry “Of Terror, Cancer, and Sailing”, which was preceded by perhaps the most frivolous with the September 7, 2001 entry (“Sailin’ and NASCAR Racin’ ”). There was, of course, a seminal intervening event. Anyone in search of a role model for sailing should read about Tom Morgan in the December 6, 2001 edition. 2002 and 2003 columns had more profiles and many race and regatta reviews, but my favorite of all of those is the April 2, 2002 column about my First (and only) Mate.
So much for this little sail down memory lane. Since this column is addressed to those who are not yet, but might be, sailors, I can tell you that the only regret I have about sailing is that I haven’t done more of it. Smith Mountain Lake is a treasure in many respects, but as a sailing venue, it is ... well, just read the very first column, May 10, 2000.
P. S. The results of the BYRA Spring Series races 3 and 4 last Saturday, sailed with famine-feast winds from 0-15 knots:
Race #3 Race #4
SPINNAKER: White Lightnin White Lightnin
Bandit Bandit
Foot Loose Majic
NON-SPIN A BlackJack BlackJack
Mischief Mischief
Guernica
NON-SPIN B Tiger Eye Little Wing
Little Wing Tiger Eye
Suzette Alarming
