Thursday, April 19, 2012

Improper Course




There's been a thread on the Laser forum the last couple of days about an issue at some Laser fleet in Texas. Sounds like they don't want some guy to sail with them. Knowing nothing about the people or the real issues involved I joined in with a couple of typically sarcastic asinine contributions. I never let ignorance stand in the way of being a wiseass.

Then it emerged that one of the reasons claimed for keeping this guy out of his local Laser fleet is that he has a blog, and he is not prepared to guarantee that he won't write about his experiences sailing with the fleet.

Oh!

This could explain a lot. Is this why hardly anybody would sail with me in Bristol last year? Is this why I always have to practice on my own?

Anyway, Laser sailing is a small world and it was pretty easy to put two and two together and come to what is probably a totally incorrect conclusion as to who my fellow sufferer from blogger discrimination really is. Turns out I have met him a few times over the years.

And he has the most amazing blog which is one of the best resources about Laser sailing I have ever seen. I could study it for hours and hours (and probably will) and learn a gazillion things from it. The oldest post on his blog is dated 1990, which is pretty incredible considering Blogger wasn't launched until 1999.

I like the title of his blog too. Improper Course. Enjoy!

6 comments:

Doc Häagen-Dazs said...

Very enjoyable!

Dan said...

When I blog about my races, there is one competitor that gets upset if I mention them. It doesn't seem to matter what I say, whether it is comments about good sailing or bad. What makes it doubly bad is that a local magazine writer takes my blog and uses parts of it in his magazine articles. The competitor is outfitting a newer larger boat and has been talking trash about how he will do in future races. He won't stand a chance in my blog!

Tillerman said...

I guess if someone felt that strongly I just wouldn't blog about him any more.

O Docker said...

Little time lately to blog or comment on other blogs, but here are a few very random and disjointed thoughts:

- How strange that there is this other blog that is almost in a parallel universe to your's.

- Even stranger that he is in Texas, a place which I have always thought of as a sort of parallel universe to the one I live in.

- I was mesmerized by the hat cam videos he posted of being in an actual race. I have no idea why. Usually, I find that stuff pretty boring. And these were lacking in the usual 'highlight reel' drama - no big wind, huge waves, or capsizes. I found myself looking for the subtle stuff that was keeping him ahead or slowing him down. Even listening to his breathing as a clue to when he felt more stressed or relaxed by the situation was fascinating. Am I too easily entertained?

- I couldn't help think it would be cool to see similar videos of you racing, alongside the blog post you wrote about a race.

- The camera being on his head, it presumably shows where he is looking, and he seemed to be focused mainly in one spot most of the time, rather than keeping up the scan of many different factors that you discussed in a recent post.

- You also recently posted about getting a video cam for monitoring your own progress and I think his videos convinced me that a camera mounted astern (rather than on your head) would me much more helpful.

- I never let ignorance stand in the way of being a wiseass, either. I try to harnass my immense ignorance and turn it to useful purposes.

O Docker said...

Your's should never have an apostrophe.

Tillerman said...

1. Proper Course was of course a blueprint for Improper Course. How could he be improper before I told everyone what was proper?
2. There are Laser sailors everywhere, even in Texas.
3. Yes.
4. It would.
5. Yes.
6. I agree.
7. Harness should never have more than one A.

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