BUTTERFLYER DOES J/24 CIRCUIT STOP

By Pam

I’m the Butterfly fleet captain so why am I writing about other boats and venues on the Butterfly website? I happen to be a believer in learning from a variety of experiences and I also happen to be a believer in sharing what I learn. I’m having adventures, networking, and meeting and learning from others. But let’s not forget that where I go, a person or two hears about White Rock Lake and the Butterfly fleet.

The Butterfly fleet is the first fleet I’ve sailed in where I’m not intimidated and I feel free to learn and ask questions I’ve never really known the answer to or fully understood. There are others like me. Word will spread and little by little, people will stop asking what a Butterfly is. Even a few wise Laser sailors now see the benefits of sailing a Butterfly in winter.

I was supposed to sail a J/80 this weekend but weighed too little and was bumped and then I was going to sail on a J/24, Bad Moon, but weighed too much and got bumped and was put on CodeBlue. Turns out Bad Moon sort of had a crane dropped on it on the way to the lake so the crew (minus me and shorthanded) sailed on a borrowed J/24, Conga Line. Somewhere soon you will be able to see a YouTube video of Conga Line being T-boned by AyeBoat from the vantage point of AyeBoat’s mounted stern camera. Rather good footage. The broadside mooning was also good footage but probably won’t make YouTube.

My boat, CodeBlue, wasn’t in camera range though when our foredeck girl went over the side with her foot wrapped in a line as we dragged her downwind with it blowing about 25 to 30. She had her boot half off when some very calm and determined crew work had her back on the boat in no time with the skipper commenting that she’d have to work a lot harder than that if she wanted off his boat. She finished the race, followed by two more in some rather harsh conditions even though she was soaked through and so cold her hands barely worked. That girl is hard core, awesome!

So what did I learn? Oddly enough, I learned that I know more than I thought. I watched other boats and could tell whether they were pointing or footing and why. I understood one lead boat’s tactic of overstanding the turning mark in traffic and watched him foot into the mark, give people dirty air, and pass several boats on the rounding. I watched a lead boat leave the pack, sail a header to get in bigger breeze and pass two to three boats that were clear ahead in decent breeze and take a second place finish. I found myself saying Burton taught me that and he said Bruce taught him and then Doug taught me that and oh, I learned that one the hard way. I was quietly verbalizing some of the stuff I was seeing and one of the crew members remarked that I was right on the money with most of what I was seeing even though he was missing some of it. Pretty cool. It was nice to slow things down and not have to manage helm or sails and just watch, learn and realize how much I already understood.

Afterwards, I found myself in conversation with a couple of the lead skippers and was able to ask them why they did this or that. They are able to see so much more on the race course than me and I was surprised at how far ahead they were looking and planning.

As for the networking, Chris Rousseau, a crew member on Bad Moon/Conga Line, owns http://www.regattatech.com/ and will be doing our online registration for the Wrangle Regatta this year. I would strongly encourage other clubs and fleets to give his service a shot. It’s very affordable and easy to use and registrants have the option to pay online with a credit card or simply register online and then pay later at the regatta. You can also instantly see who is registered. That’s my shameless plug for RegattaTech because I happened to be in the right place at the right time this weekend so the Butterfly fleet is getting a very good deal on our online registration.