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Cheers - Bryan
Free online celestial navigation course from Vanderbilt Univ
- Thread starter Gamayun
- Start date
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Thanks!
I ran into Jeff Berman the other day at our "favorite retail store." Jeff was active in SSS for several years and was (I think) our first "Race Information Officer."
Jeff uses a combination approach where he takes the sights with a sextant but uses software for the reductions. This is faster and much less prone to error. If the GPS system is unavailable but you still have laptop batteries, it seems like a good way to go.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
I ran into Jeff Berman the other day at our "favorite retail store." Jeff was active in SSS for several years and was (I think) our first "Race Information Officer."
Jeff uses a combination approach where he takes the sights with a sextant but uses software for the reductions. This is faster and much less prone to error. If the GPS system is unavailable but you still have laptop batteries, it seems like a good way to go.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
Depends on how you define RIO. Back in the 1980s I'd get the results from the PRO over the phone, sit down at the typewriter (I suspect some won't know what that was), format them into a list, then run down to the print shop (I suspect some won't know about Kinkos) and make enough copies for the envelopes my wife was addressing at home. By Sunday night, for Saturday races, I'd be back down at the P.O. (I suspect some won't know what that means) dropping bundles of stamped (I suspect some won't know about stamps) envelopes in the slot. SSSers had their "official" final results by Wednesday. Oh, and I'd write up a brief description of the race, add any SSS officers' columns, and even sometimes include a comic strip or cartoon I'd clipped out of a newspaper (I suspect some won't know about paper print). The "newsletter' was usually about 2 or 3 pages in length and only took one stamp (see above). ;-) Pat B.
Wow, Pat! But I still bet that you're not as old as I. "Kinkos"...a johnny come lately. My wife and i have even been talking about buying a new typewriter (can't free her from the fear of her laptop). The only thing that has saved me is a Brother Printer that doesn't require new ink cartridges every time I come home from the West Coast and haven't used the printer for 3 months! Someone is making a fortune....but then, look at the price of stamps and parcel post these days.
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
That is a pretty funny little paragraph, Pat. When I was at Cal in the 70s Kinkos charged 2¢/copy (I'll bet there are people who don't recognize that symbol:¢). Remember mimeograph copies! I have all your SSS newsletters in a file here. What a labor of love.
Actually before Kinkos we'd usually wait for the results to be published in the "SF Chron's" "Sailboat Race Results space in the Sports Section. Anybody remember when newspapers reigned supreme when it came to info? Kimball Livingston was the "Chron's Sailing Reporter and also published articles about racing, sailors, and generally what was going on in the SF Bay Sailing World. There are old yellowed Livingston articles about early SSS races, including the Singlehanded Farallones and Transpacs. Well, make that sort of faded greenish throw up color since the old "Sporting Green" paper fades that way. Oh, and it crumbles, especially if left in the light for a few years.
As Race Director at the Sausalito Cruising Club in the 1970s I'd type up and mail in results and they'd be published about Wednesday for weekend races. In those days the SCC was the racing hotspot in Marin County, with over 60 boats on line for their Tuesday Nite Beer Cans and a more for their Winter Series. A 30+ footer was a "big" boat. Lots of Cal 20s, Gladiators, Coronado 25s (my boat), Ranger 26s, Columbia 26s, Tritons, and those Albergs.
With the other beer can and YRA races Kimball was kept busy. But not busy enough to write one of the all time best books about sailing/racing on SF Bay.
As Race Director at the Sausalito Cruising Club in the 1970s I'd type up and mail in results and they'd be published about Wednesday for weekend races. In those days the SCC was the racing hotspot in Marin County, with over 60 boats on line for their Tuesday Nite Beer Cans and a more for their Winter Series. A 30+ footer was a "big" boat. Lots of Cal 20s, Gladiators, Coronado 25s (my boat), Ranger 26s, Columbia 26s, Tritons, and those Albergs.
With the other beer can and YRA races Kimball was kept busy. But not busy enough to write one of the all time best books about sailing/racing on SF Bay.
I bought my Coronado 25 in 1971 with a colleague as our first "big" boat on SF Bay. He quickly tired of all the bother and sold his half to me at a discount. Luckily it didn't kill me since I was strictly lake a sailor. I did learn how to sail on SF Bay and the nearby Pacific Ocean on "CIBOLA" though. The weather helm was impossible, even after I moved the mast step forward a few inches. We couldn't move it too far since the deck mounted mast sat on the "main beam" which was already so depressed we rigged a support under it, which effectively cut off the head and forepeak access. Long, low boom, no side decks, tender as an eggshell, leaked everywhere. But, an amazing amount of cabin space for it's size, including a full under the cockpit quarter berth. It was a "no galley" model so the port cabin seat ran from the main bulkhead to the stern.
I won my first SSS trophies in it, as well as tieing for the GGYC's Seaweed Soup Trophy (they gave the bowl to the other boat because it had "more competition). We'd have as many as 18 Coronado 25s on the line for YRA Summer Races. The rumor was there were over a hundred scattered around the SF Bay area - according to the dealer's info.
In the next year's GGYC Seaweed Regatta we were leading our division again, until the Saturday when I made a "left turn" into the path of an oncoming Columbia Challenger. We were heeled sharply (as usual) on starboard when it hit us right between the cabin windows. The bow sliced down from the cabin top to the waterline in a clear cut "V". We quickly stuffed some cushions and towels into the bottom of the "V" and motored back to the mariina. The Challenger suffered $100 of damage, including new paint.
The insurance company totaled the boat and paid me off. Then they gave the boat back to me. I donated it to the Boy Scouts, who gave me a tax deduction and then wanted me to empty out the boat, including sails, outboard, blocks, etc. before they took it. So, I sold off the sails, equipment, and motor and bought a Newport 30. End of "CIBOLA" story.
I won my first SSS trophies in it, as well as tieing for the GGYC's Seaweed Soup Trophy (they gave the bowl to the other boat because it had "more competition). We'd have as many as 18 Coronado 25s on the line for YRA Summer Races. The rumor was there were over a hundred scattered around the SF Bay area - according to the dealer's info.
In the next year's GGYC Seaweed Regatta we were leading our division again, until the Saturday when I made a "left turn" into the path of an oncoming Columbia Challenger. We were heeled sharply (as usual) on starboard when it hit us right between the cabin windows. The bow sliced down from the cabin top to the waterline in a clear cut "V". We quickly stuffed some cushions and towels into the bottom of the "V" and motored back to the mariina. The Challenger suffered $100 of damage, including new paint.
The insurance company totaled the boat and paid me off. Then they gave the boat back to me. I donated it to the Boy Scouts, who gave me a tax deduction and then wanted me to empty out the boat, including sails, outboard, blocks, etc. before they took it. So, I sold off the sails, equipment, and motor and bought a Newport 30. End of "CIBOLA" story.