Sailing on Sunday Racers
I'm sitting here on Sunday eating a piece of pre-Christmas bourbon pumpkin pie at just around the usual race start time and, sadly, although the pie is great, I'd rather be out on the river. If you're out there now, you missed the note that this is a bye week – so is next week FYI. After that, it's full speed ahead to March 15. But for now, this is Bye, Bye to sailing here in town for 2019. All done. Hero, goat, caught the shift, missed the shift, it's all water under the I-5 bridge now, so to speak. As we close out the year, it's time to think back on what worked, what didn't, newbie sailors that came on board and ones we've lost, new ideas like Grow the Sport and SOS Food Drive, and changes to old ones like Pray for Wind. And the new year brings more changes cuz, just like the river, sailing here never stays the same - Ranger 20 Nationals in July, Oregon Offshore is now Pacific NW Offshore, no Offshore bye week for SYSCO, PYC offering a newbie sailor training in March, PRO training from Craig Daniels, and oh so much more – just check out the new Race Book as soon as it comes out in January by signing up with OCSA.
A couple of last notes for my last post of the year:
Our sailing community demonstrated its big heart by donating over 250 lbs of food and $1250 to the Oregon Food Bank on December 15's Sailing on Sundays. Plus, I'll note that McCuddy's little keg of treats was empty by the end of the race so I suspect we'll do even better next year.
PYC has noted that parking for our popular Sunday racing fills up the upper lot and so they've graciously given us a code to use after 11 a.m. to make things easier. The code is: 0370. Please limit its use to the sailing community.
I've had folks mention to me concerns about the SOS committees starting the races at precisely 1:00 in drifting conditions whereas if they had postponed for a bit, the breeze would have come up allowing for better racing rather than just a drift down to 2. As a point of fact, there's no requirement that the committee start the racing at 1:00 wind or no wind. They can postpone or abandon at their discretion. If you have comments to make about this topic so we can come to some recommendations for the upcoming committees, send them to me directly at race.captain@cycportland.org. Our goal is to make SOS fun and rewarding. We have the tools to make changes as needed to accomplish that goal provided we get input and consensus from you, the racers.
Along these same lines, we are considering having a class on why it doesn't pay to be in the center of the river when attempting to drift through the finish line on the north side of buoy 2. (too snarky, too soon...oops, my apologies) In a more positive vein, let's make whatever offerings to the wind gods that are necessary so that the new year's wind pattern is awesome and not like these past few weeks of DFC drift-fests.
That's it – have fantastic upcoming holidays, and we'll see you on the river on January 5.