Speedster Driving and the Art of Zen

Nice. I washed my car and then it rained...

Blegh!  I was at work.

Good for you, Robert.  We northerners can certainly envy the weather you guys get.  Looks like you had a great drive.

I picked up my IM6 yesterday and had my first drive in it as the registered owner.  Got a few minor adjustments to make, but it ran well.

Today, it's drizzly and damp here....

Congrats Bob, I don't know what I'd do if I had to wait that long to drive. Certainly worth it for you though, enjoy.

Robert....Have you ever driven up to Huntington Lake ? It seems like it would be a beautiful cruise in our cars.....Maybe even take a fishing pole ?...........Bruce

aircooled posted:

Robert....Have you ever driven up to Huntington Lake ? It seems like it would be a beautiful cruise in our cars.....Maybe even take a fishing pole ?...........Bruce

In the Speedster I've gone there quite a few times. Overall I've been there 100's of times. I spent more than a dozen summers racing sailboats up there and for twenty years my parents had a vacation home there. I've also backpacked nearly every square inch of the Kaiser Wilderness.

Great news for both of you!

Robert, what boats did you race?   I have raced in:  C Scow, E Scow, Hobie 16, Flying dutchman, Interlake, Laser, Laser M,  Lightning, and wind surfers.

I taught sailing for several summers too.    racing a sailboat takes a lot of concentration, constant evaluation of wind, and signs of wind shifts, and when to tac...   Very good at developing tactical skills for all of life's challenges! 

Robert - sounds like a great way to spend the day after tweaking your Speedster plus the gratification of improved performance.

Also went through my share of sailboats; Venture 14, Hobie 14, Hobie 16, Santana/Schock 24 and finally Catalina 36. Life is good!

Looking forward to seeing you & Nancy in SLO!

Jethro posted:

Great news for both of you!

Robert, what boats did you race?   I have raced in:  C Scow, E Scow, Hobie 16, Flying dutchman, Interlake, Laser, Laser M,  Lightning, and wind surfers.

 

I taught sailing for several summers too.    racing a sailboat takes a lot of concentration, constant evaluation of wind, and signs of wind shifts, and when to tac...   Very good at developing tactical skills for all of life's challenges! 

The first sailboat I ever raced was a Flipper. Then I raced a Fatty Knees, Laser, Day Sailer, Santana 22, and finally a Capri 22. I used to race the Capri Nationals in San Diego, CA every year. It was a blast.

I forgot about the day sailer.    We raced in a regatta of O'Day day sailers... I think they were either 16' or 18' sloop rigged... no spinacher

Jethro posted:

I forgot about the day sailer.    We raced in a regatta of O'Day day sailers... I think they were either 16' or 18' sloop rigged... no spinacher

17' fractional sloop rig and when we raced we used a spinnaker. The O'Day Day Sailer I was produced until 1971 then the O'Day Day Sailer II was introduced as a replacement.  Not sure if the II used a spinnaker or not. Ours was an early Day Sailer I sail #604.

(Stock photo)

We must have had the version II, then.   Ours were made and raced in the early to mid 1980s, and they had much deeper hulls than those pictured.  

I learned to sail from my dad, but then fine tuned it at Culver Military Academy / Culver summer schools in Indiana.

Robert...I think Huntington Lake is Beautiful ! I never caught a lot of fish in it but i certainly did up in Shaver and Edison lakes. I almost got snowed in up at Edison back in the early 70s. We had caught a lot of fish early and were in a tent drinking and playing cards when a friend went out to pee. He came back in and told us to go look at the 6 inches of snow that was already on the ground! We didn't hesitate...we threw everything back in our pickups and scramed !! That 17 mile trek on a snow covered dirt road down back to pavement was harrowing ! We made it and still talk about it sometimes when we get together ......Gorgeous areas up there......Bruce

The most intense racing I was ever involved with was the C and E Scows.   Downhaul, Cunningham, boom vang, outhaul...  Spinnaker guy and sheet.     Alternating down-wind tacs by jibing... trying to finesse the spinnaker while not getting knocked off the boat when the boom flies over

It was all about getting the best shape of your sale relative to the angle of attack to the wind!   It's amazing how far up wind a scow can point, especially the E Scow!

Not many people know this, but the primary purpose of the jib is not necessarily to add surface volume to your sails...   It is to direct wind behind the mainsail, which lowers the drag on the leeward side of the mainsail.   This helps to shift the lift provided by the mainsail x degrees forward.

I could talk sailing all day... especially if you get a few beers in me

I worked foredeck a lot as well. I could drop a spinnaker and bag it at the bow faster than most could bring it in from the side.  People often ask how exciting can sailing really be? Well, try reaching from one mark to the next with a spinnaker and your main up and exceeding max hull speed while planing.  Sailboat racing is not for the weak of heart or the frail. My older brother went once with us because wind speeds were going to be very strong and he's pretty good size. He got caught with the boom and got knocked out and knocked out of the boat, He's 6'03" and about 250 lbs. so that should tell you the force that comes with it.

I too could talk sailing for a while. It's been a while since I've been out but I still love it.

How did you get away with using your 56 Plates?

My VW chassis is from a 1960 so my Speedster is registered as a 1960 VW and cars from '56-'62 qualify for the yellow plates. '63-'69? get black plates then there are the blue plates and then the current white plates. DMV is reissuing black plates via the legacy plate program. Any vehicle can now get a brand new black plate that meets all current specs.

Lot of  sailors here I guess.  We had many boats over the years and a bunch of great memories!  This photo was our boat in the Jazz Cup many years ago. Raced from the Berkeley Circle to Benicia, CA..   My wife was the skipper in most racing we did. Not that this boat is a race boat.  The water is rather calm for the SF Bay.

My  bad back has gotten worse over the years so we gave up sailing.

Well hello sailor(s)! My brother and I owned and sailed our O'Day 30 (similar to this one here) for about 13 years on Lake Michigan. No racing, but the cruising was great!

Not much water to sail on around Ottawa but I did have an O'Day 26 for about five years and a homebuilt fiberglass 22 footer I built before that. That was back in the late 70's / 80's. I came across the 22 footer by chance  a couple of years ago and stopped by the guys house for a visit and explained I was the builder. By this time the whole boat was in terrible shape and the owner asked how much lead I had at the bottom of the keel.....he was ready to scrap it.

David Stroud posted:

Not much water to sail on around Ottawa but I did have an O'Day 26 for about five years and a homebuilt fiberglass 22 footer I built before that. That was back in the late 70's / 80's. I came across the 22 footer by chance  a couple of years ago and stopped by the guys house for a visit and explained I was the builder. By this time the whole boat was in terrible shape and the owner asked how much lead I had at the bottom of the keel.....he was ready to scrap it.

What haven't you built dave?

Robert M posted:

David Stroud posted:

Not much water to sail on around Ottawa but I did have an O'Day 26 for about five years and a homebuilt fiberglass 22 footer I built before that. That was back in the late 70's / 80's. I came across the 22 footer by chance  a couple of years ago and stopped by the guys house for a visit and explained I was the builder. By this time the whole boat was in terrible shape and the owner asked how much lead I had at the bottom of the keel.....he was ready to scrap it.

What haven't you built dave?

Ha, ha. I've built quite a few things....just like to build, period. My Brother and I were going to build a submarine when we were early teenagers but we smartened up pretty quick and gave up.

Check out the SkyPup airplane. That was a quick over the winter project around 1983.

My Wife reminded me recently that it was ( already ) 20 years ago that I was building my Christavia in a one car garage. Time flys, Man...