Colorado Laser State Championships

by Pam

Doug and I headed north to cooler temperatures this past weekend to compete in the Colorado Laser State Championships in Grand Lake, Colorado. While there we connected with Jim Young and dropped off a carload of Butterfly trophies for the Single Handed Butterfly Nationals being held in Longmont, Colorado in September.

This was Doug’s show and I was along for the ride. Doug gave a clinic on Friday and then raced on Saturday and Sunday. The clinic was well received and there were two full days of racing with the race committee getting in 7 good races. Doug took 2^nd and John Miller, a fellow from Kansas who Doug has been loosely mentoring, took 1^st. John sailed extremely well and went home feeling quite good about the weekend and Doug was thrilled to see how good he’s gotten.

I raced double-handed with my brother on Saturday and by Sunday we’d been in the 50 degree water at least twice each and had righted the boat both the traditional jump on the centerboard way and the way Doug recommended which was to pull the boat over on you, turtle the boat and bring the sail all the way through a 360 degree rotation. The 360 roll was surprisingly efficient. Staying on the boat would have been better though. One word of caution. When pulling the boat over on you, it’s probably a good idea to check the surrounding traffic. We learned later that the guy that called starboard and made us turn sharply, narrowly missed being struck by the mast. For some reason that made me smile. By Sunday, my brother and I hurt in places we didn’t know we had and decided not to race.

Perhaps the best part of the trip was Sunday’s racing. Doug got pushed over the line and had to re-start then got called back because it was an around the end re-start so after he started for the third time, he was in last place a minute and a half behind the fleet. Not surprisingly (anymore), he worked his way through the fleet to a 2^nd place. There is a knowledge in that man’s head that I am determined to access and share. I sat with Jim Young for the second race and he gave me a play by play of the race. What a privilege. He sees and anticipates so much. No wonder the Nelson boys are so good. He seems to be a great coach. I wished I’d had a tape recorder or video. It’s such a pleasure to watch a race with a pro and have them tell you what they see.

Doug had me take some pictures on the clinic day saying there were some good angle shots. If they turn out, we’ll load them and have Doug add coaching comments.