Thanks to a Chicago Mechanic

By Doug

I got a really good deal with my Turkish Airlines ticket to Oman in part because it permitted up to 120 pounds of luggage at no cost. This is a sailor's dream come true, especially for the return trip in case there is wet clothing. And it was not until after I had booked the ticket that my friend, Laban, told me that it was a real shame that I would be connecting through Istanbul without seeing the city. I had a feeling that leaving Chicago late because of a mechanical problem would put my connecting flight to Muscat in jeopardy. So yes, I got to see that great city.

Most people would think that having to kill 22 hours with only carry-on items as a bummer, but I had the feeling that it would be an adventure. So here's what a Laser sailor's one-day can look like with the help of a young Turkish guide whose name I could not pronounce, but thankfully whose friends called Dolphin.

The first thing I decided was to travel by bus and tram rather than take cabs. Not many people spoke English, but everyone was really friendly. After checking out the layout of the Old City, my first stop was the Blue Mosque. It was huge and when I stopped to marvel at it, a voice beside me said, 'that's the Blue Mosque.' To my left was a 17-year old fellow on his way to prayers, and he offered to take me through it. Not knowing any of the customs, I accepted. Thus began an extraordinary 5-hour friendship where he would show me his city in return for me helping with his English. I guessed he thought that doing someone a favor was worth skipping prayers.

A 2-car traffic jam. Neither one wanted to back up.

After the Blue Mosque, we circled behind it to see one of the smaller bazaars and then headed for something Laban said I would love - the nearby Hagia Sophia. It's a 1,500 year-old church that was later a mosque and is now a museum. But on the way we passed the Underground Cistern and Dolphin insisted that I check it out. It was an underground cave built in the 6th century, then forgotten for 900 years, and then discovered again in 1545. Walking through it was list like being in a James Bond movie, and holding up the Old City were row after row after row of columns ... very cool.

Dolphin's uncle owns several shops nearby so we had to drop in to say Hi. I'm not a coffee drinker but could not pass up a chance to have a Turkish coffee and talk religion, politics, and economics in the middle of hundreds of Turkish rugs. When I convinced him that I was not going to buy one, we moved to the jewelry store next door where it was harder saying no to a surprise gift for Pam (I tried that once in the Dominican Republic without success).

So when the uncle realized that I would not be buying anything, then he said, "Time is money" and led me to the door. Only then did I realized that Dolphin was nowhere to be seen. "He had to go," so off I went. And sure enough, he was waiting for me a block away.

We walked though the Hagia Sophia and I can sum it up with it's massive, it's beautiful, and well, it's massive. I was impressed that it's a museum and open to people of all faiths ... and not to be missed!

My friend Laban told me that one of the first things he would do was walk to the old harbor and have a freshly-caught fish sandwich. So that's Dolphin and I did. The meal for two including drinks was 15 lira, or about $8 US.

Right next door was the Spice Bazaar which felt it was out of the same James Bond movie. I kept telling myself, "got to get something for Pam and Laban," but what? At one shop a fellow gave Dolphin a big hug and invited us in. For the next half hour, we were treated to some of the most exotic treats and tea that I have ever tasted. Finding gifts wound no longer be a problem!

We had one more hour to kill and Dolphin told me that he liked to play  Backgammon, so we found a small outdoor cafe at the end of a tiny alley and we had more tea and played lots of games. Let's just say that I'll stick to competitive sailing!

The hotel where I had checked my carry-on luggage was a 1km uphill walk and I knew that this was out of Dolphin's way, but he insisted on walking with me. When we got there I was half expecting the kind of handout request that you see in so many other cities, but Dolphin asked for my Facebook address, shook my hand, and thanked me for the English lesson. What an awesome young man!

My only regret was that the Grand Bazaar was closed on Sunday so we could not see it, and the only thing missing after a long day of walking around the Old City was a really friendly German fellow insisting on buying me a cold beer at the airport. Which of course is what happened. Thank you Chris!

And of course a special thanks to a mechanic in Chicago who could not quite get the problem on our plane fixed in time. So, now it's on to Oman.

Road to Oman

by Pam

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Doug left for Oman and for the next few weeks, I’ll be keeping an ear open for the phone or computer to ring and checking the Internet for updates. I discovered that the Oman Laser World Championships have a really good website with live coverage. More like live blogging but I’ll take it:

http://omanlaserworlds2013.com/eng/

Doug tends to have unique, one of a kind, ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ experiences. He booked his trip through CheapOAir and I had to wonder if he’d make it to his destination. So far, flight delays, multiple aircraft mechanical failures and missed connections left him with an overnight stay and a day in Istanbul instead of on a coach boat watching the first day of the open worlds. He has the clothes on his back, a recently purchased toothbrush and razor and has been at the mercy of the airlines to take care of him.

When we Skyped last night he was wearing his “Canadian” lapel pen on his t-shirt and was ready to hit the streets of Istanbul squinting like a pirate trying to see out of his bad eye with a view that looks like a wavy, Arial Narrow font. He held up his makeshift map written on a napkin with the main attractions a friend said he just had to see.

First stop, a 17 year old kid wanting to learn English comes up and talks to him and they’ve been best friends all day. The kid has been his personal tour guide taking him all over the city. With Doug’s luck, they’ll exchange email addresses and the kid will grow up to be someone quite remarkable and he and Doug will still be good friends.

Hopefully, he’ll make it to Oman by Day 2 of racing and start sending up some news and pictures.

Get Out of Jail Free

by Pam

When the wind is up, Doug heads to the lake to practice what he calls his 'get out of jail free card.' He says that if you can tack or jibe in a breeze on demand without having to wait for a lull, then you can escape many situations. Below is a short 5 minute video of one of his practice sessions. The uncut raw video is a full 45 minutes and he tacks and jibes dozens of times. He cut the entertaining tips after he got tired at the end. My favorite was the 'uh oh' as he lost his balance and slipped backward and fell in the water. And a close second was seeing his feet in the air as the boat came over on top of him and he went under. 

Pins and Needles

by Pam

A week ago Doug thought he had a good shot at doing really well at the Worlds in Oman. Now, we just have our fingers crossed that 1) Doug is able to leave for Oman later this week and 2) that he makes it to his destination safely. If anyone happens to see him wandering around any airports looking lost, please help him out.

Saturday was to have been one last sail together before Doug heads to Oman but it didn’t work out that way. At 4am Saturday morning Doug started experiencing flashing in his vision. By 7am he had a black curtain making its way across his field of vision and he was freaking out. Detached retina and this was his ‘good’ eye. By 11:30am his doctor was making calls to assemble a surgical team. He had two options. One would not allow him to travel and the other would leave him with really crappy vision for a couple of months but allow him to travel. The hospital was deserted. Doug was the only patient in pre-op and I was the only occupant in the waiting room and the lights were off. I grabbed a couch and waited in the dark. By 12:30pm Doug was in recovery with an eye full of oil.

Sunday, his patch came off and we all held our breath as he opened his eye for the first time and looked around to determine whether his vision was good enough to sail. It was a bit of a déjà vu. He could see. Not well but he’s sailed for many years with vision this poor. All the old instincts will surely come back and he’ll be relying on sound and feel more than his eyes. I should say eye. Doug’s eyes have never worked together. He switches back and forth and his brain shuts one down or he has double vision. His less used eye tried to take over while he had a patch on but as soon as the patch came off, his brain switched to his good eye which is now full of oil and probably close to 20/200. It will be an interesting couple of months while we wait for the retina to re-attach before scheduling yet another surgery to take the oil out.

As part of Doug’s mental conditioning he keeps a gratitude journal where he must list 5 new things each day for which he is grateful. On Saturday and Sunday he had no trouble being grateful.

If the doctor clears him for travel to Oman later this week, he’ll be wearing a hat cam when he sails and in a couple of months he’ll be able to sit down and watch what he missed. If he goes, he’ll be going early enough to watch the open Worlds and hopefully get some video footage (if someone points him in the right direction). 

Sailing in the Middle of the Fleet - Putting It All Together

By Doug

I tried putting all of my sailing-in-the-middle-of-the-fleet tips into an actual event at the final Texas circuit event of the year, which was the Wurstfest Regatta at Lake Canyon Yacht Club. It was a good turnout with 23 boats that included Olympic Coach Luther Carpenter, who I had not had the pleasure of sailing with before, and Hank Saurage, former runner-up at the Sunfish Worlds. It was a good fleet with lots of speed.

Do your circles. I checked the wind direction several times before the start of each race and had good compass readings. Surprisingly, I was the only person in the top five sailing with a compass.

Using the unfavored end. The line was short so the bias didn't really matter. I started at the committee boat end most of the time to be able to tack away to stay in clean air if needed.

Clean air right after the start. Starting beside the committee boat worked except for race 6 where a junior got in the way (I refuse to yell at kids). I ended up in the third row, tacked away, and missed the first shift. Being out of phase, my position at the first mark was about 15 ... such is the luck in sailing. It was by far my worst race.

When is someone ahead or behind? This was really important in the last few races because Luther was within a few points and there were lots of shifts. Knowing when to tack was important because it was a balance between staying in the pressure and keeping track of where Luther was. Several times he got away and had the speed to stay in front.

What to do with clean air. You could see the wind velocity on the water and the fleet that started ahead gave us good clues about the direction, so sailing with your head out of the boat was really important.

Staying in clean air. The fleet tended to stay together so it was really important making sure to stay in a lane with good pressure. With so many good sailors in this fleet, lack of pressure could cost you many places very quickly.

Windward mark strategies. The courses were windward-leeward and some of the mark roundings were crowded. The trick was not getting to the starboard tack layline too early and then getting away from the crowd ASAP after the rounding.

Finding clean air downwind. This was really important. It was balancing the need to stay in the pressure while staying out of others' wind shadows. At one point I thought I was OK until I looked at a flag at the top of the boat behind me and realized that what I felt and what I saw were different. I often changed sides to stay in the pressure and this worked well.

These factors worked and the results can be seen here. OK, I admit that my boatspeed was better than your average middle-of-the-fleet-sailor because of my training for the Oman Worlds that start later this month. But without these sailing-in-the-middle-of-the-fleet tips there would have been no way to stay with Luther, Hank, and several of the other great sailors in these tricky lake conditions.

Next stop... Oman.

From Pam:  Oh now he's just screwing with us. Yeah, right! Just get a good start, stay in clean air, go the right way and avoid the crowds and you too can win the regatta. Sure you might have one bad race but you can always throw that out. Not real helpful for those of us whose best laid plans just don't work out quite like we expect them to. So, what I'm hearing is that even the top sailors are following some of the same basic rules of thumb as the rest of us but they are just doing it better. 

I get the opportunity to debrief Doug after racing. He loves the close racing and loves it when he's able to do something that others can see happening but can't quite figure out how to copy. So, here's a shift, while Doug writes about how easy it is for middle of the fleet sailors to do well. I'll write about how easy it is for top of the fleet sailors to do better.

This past weekend was light and gusty. Doug is surprisingly consistent in that stuff and I've figured out one of his secrets. He doesn't rely on tell-tales and feels the wind and anticipates better than most. That makes his gear shifting super smooth and he doesn't lose momentum which pays bigger dividends in the light stuff. Middle of the fleet sailors aren't good at shifting gears period. Top of the fleet sailors have an easier time shifting gears when the wind picks up than when the wind lightens up. 

When Doug see a puff coming, he hikes out and heels the boat to windward and traps the puff so that when it hits, it brings him vertical instead of knocks him down and spills the puff. He gains. When Doug feels the puff lighten up (the boat begins to go slow), he eases everything and powers up so that he keeps moving. He can gain two boat lengths this way. Yeah, I mean that's so simple, don't know why all the top guys can't do that. 

A Great Regatta Car

By Doug

I never thought I'd be writing a post about a car.

When I sold my software company in Montreal to a multinational, they leased me a new BMW 525. It was a great car. But within a year, my new employer decided to consolidate its development centers, and I was given the choice of moving to London, England or Dallas, Texas. I checked the weather and learned that Dallas was the windiest inland city in North America (no kidding), so off to Dallas it was. The only problem was that I could not take my Canadian-leased car to the US. So when I got to Dallas, I started looking for another car.

Perhaps the most famous car dealership in the US (or world) was Sewell Village Cadillac and I remember seeing it on 60 Minutes and also reading about it in Customers For Life. And yes, they were based in Dallas. I was not interested in a Cadillac but rather a Lexus which was just being introduced. And the story was that Sewell was made the exclusive dealer in Dallas in return for Lexus being permitted to copy Sewell's outstanding business model for the new Lexus dealer network. So, off to the brand new Sewell Lexus showroom it was.

But a test drive of the Lexus was a disappointment because it felt just like a $45,000 Camry. So there I was standing in the front lawn talking with a salesman who was trying hard to not lose the sale.

So, what were you driving in Canada?

A 5-series.

Manual or automatic?

Manual.

Which model would you prefer?

Thinking a bigger engine would be better, I said a 535.

What color would you prefer?

Thinking about the hot Dallas summers, I said white.

Sort of like the car behind you?

I turned around and there it was, a slightly-used white, manual, 535. It was lined up with a dozed other slightly-used BMW's, Mercedes, and Porches. You see, Sewell bought these used cars and placed them in front of its Lexus dealership to create the impression that people had traded in these cars to buy a new Lexus. Very clever.

Would you like to take it for a drive?

Sure, for how long?

As long as you want.

Drove it off, loved it, and never took it back.

After paying $28,000 in cash, my next step was finding a place that installed trailer hitches on BMW's. People kept telling me that it could not be done. I finally found a shop, had it installed, and for the next 22 years put on 277,000 miles going to more than a thousand local, district, and national events. It was quite simply the best car I had ever owned or driven.

But the inevitable happened this week. The water pump finally failed, I did damage to the engine, and it had to be towed to a repair shop. On the way, the AAA driver said something amazing.

We don't see old 5-series very often.

You mean new 5-series?

No, old ones. It's the new ones that have lots of problems. The old ones we don't hardly see.

I thought, amazing!

It turns out that the repair will cost more than the car is worth, so there's one last part to this story. I've donated my car to the Make-A-Wish folks so that whatever value is left in it goes towards making a child's dream come true. It's a perfect ending for a great regatta car.

Pam's Version - Farewell POS!

I tried everything I could think of to kill that dang car. It just ran and ran and ran. Looked like crap with half the windows unable to raise all the way up so that they had to be taped with clear packaging tape to close the gap. The interior was disintegrating and that picture above with all the lights ... every time I drove it almost all of those lights (with bells mind you) would just randomly go off all the way down the road. It was like Christmas and Vegas all rolled into one. It was peppy and could move.  I'll give it that.  And it was heavy and all beat up so I had no worries about people giving me a wide berth when I went speeding by. Good thing too because once it got up over 65 mph the steering had so much play that it didn't even seem to be responding to me.  

I remember overhearing a conversation a couple of years ago from a 30+ year old Laser sailor who said when he was just a kid and met Doug for the first time, he remembered Doug arriving at the regatta driving a BMW towing a Kitty Hawk trailer with his Laser.  He remarked about how 'cool' that was and how he decided right then he wanted to be like that when he grew up. Then he asked whatever happened to that car and Doug pointed to the parking lot. It was still kinda cool, in an old man, masters sort of way. Doug steps out of his fossil of a car, hits the race course on his Laser, and lots of the younger kids are still trying to keep up with him. The older he gets, the cooler THAT is ... he doesn't need the car anymore!

You Just Can't Keep an Old Dog Down

by Pam

A few days ago we had a guest post from a life long Laser sailor. Actually, it was a open letter to the ILCA and a show of support for Bruce Kirby. Given the litigious nature of our society, our guest poster had a change of heart and asked us to take the post down. 

I get it. He's right. About society and about Bruce Kirby. Since we support Bruce's cause 100% (and I really liked the picture I found of a determined old dog) and since we really don't like the way the ILCA, the ISAF and Rastegar have treated Bruce, we still want to show our support.

Well, I've been under the weather for the last few days and didn't even know until now that the post had been taken down. My throat was killing me and I pulled out a package of Halls drops that I had purchased some time ago. I opened the first one, barely able to lift my head, and noticed writing on the wrapper. It read 'Dust off and get up' and I, unable to speak and feeling like dog do-do, quietly thought of a curse word. With every drop, I read yet another "pep talk in every drop.'  So, Bruce Kirby, we support you with the politically correct, Halls 'pep talk in every drop:'

Dust off and get up

Conquer today

It's your's for the taking

Be resilient

You've survived tougher

Don't waste a precious minute

The show must go on.  Or work.

Don't give up on yourself

Tough is your middle name

Flex your "can do" muscle

Nothing you can't handle

Don't try harder.  Do harder!

March forward!

Keep your chin up.

Go for it

Get through it

Put your game face on

Seize the day

There were many more but that was enough drops to get me out of bed and back in action. Give 'em hell Bruce!

Public Offshore Leaks Database

by Pam

The ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) have made their Offshore Leaks Database available to the public (story here).  You can search for free or download the entire thing. Every page has a place where you can report anything you find that you would like them to investigate further.  They have even provided a five minute video tutorial to make it super easy to learn how to use the database:  http://offshoreleaks.icij.org/

I've actually been keeping up with this because when I was researching the web of entities that surround the Laser game and Farzad Rastegar, many crossed through offshore entities where little, if any, information could be found.  The leaks database is not complete and there are many legitimate businesses with offshore accounts.  The ICIJ is essentially asking the public to search what we know and connect any dots we can and then bring it to their attention (confidentially) so that they can investigate further.  Naturally, I searched the web of entities surrounding the Laser game but came up empty. I did not search variations of names and they freely admit that there are plenty of typos in the data.  Perhaps others with more time, energy, and perhaps inside knowledge will have a better shot. For the record, below is the web of jurisdictions, entities, and addresses that I had previously located and I'm the first to admit that it is most likely incomplete. 

Jurisdictions:  British Virgin Islands, Ireland, Jersey (Channel Islands), Siwtzerland, Hong Kong, Antigua and Barbuda.

Names: Farzad Rastegar; Spring Meadow Holding Limited; Karaya Holdings Limited; Karaya (Jersey) Limited; Velum Limited; Armon Limited; Sina Holdco Limited; Quarter Moon, Incorporation; Full Moon Holdings Limited; Dory Ventures LLC; Sina Holdco; Meywin; LaserPerformance LLC; SailLaser LLC; LaserPerformance Sail; Sport LLC; Vanguard Sailing Center; Vanguard Sailboats; Vanguard Racing Sailboats; Garda Company LLC; American Baby Products, Inc. f/k/a Maclaren USA, Inc.; Excelsior Testa LLC; Excelsior Property Holdings LLC; Maclaren N.A., Inc.; Maclaren Services, Inc.; LaserPerformance (Europe) Limited; SailLaser Limited; Maclaren Europe Limited; Ronson Limited; Ronson International Limited.

Addresses: Mill Mall, P. O. Box 964, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands; 17, rue du Cendrier, PO Box 1699 CH-1211, Geneva 1, Switzerland; 14 Conway Street, St. Helier, Jersey; 300 Highpoint Avenue, Portsmouth, RI 02871; 200 Highpoint Avenue, Portsmouth, RI 02871; 4 Testa Place, S. Norwalk, CT 06854; 25 Van Zant Street, Norwalk, CT 06854; Station Works, Station Road, Long Buckby, Northampton, Northamptonshire NN6 7PF

2013 Laser Masters North Americans from 1000 Miles Away

By Doug

I could not attend this event so I'm evaluating the competition and playing armchair quarterback. Here are the people who have a good chance of winning in the 99-boat full-rig fleet (after day 1, in no particular order).

• Peter Shope in 1st, has the speed and is smart, but only if he does not OCS.
• John MacCausland in 2nd, has just won the Star Worlds. Smart and very consistent.
• Andy Pimental in 7th, has home-field advantage and does well in good fleets.
• Andy Roy in 10th , will move up if the winds increase.
• Marc Jacobi in 30th, had a rough first day but could still win.

And it must have been a long day for:

• Wolfgang Gerz (GER) in 39th, is the current GM world champion... what the what?
• Mark Bear in 63rd, has won this event before and sails locally. He must be holding back! 
• Derek Stow in 90th, dude - switch to a radial and you'll move up 50+ places!

Update from Pam:  Final Results  Four of Doug's predicted winners were indeed in the top 5. Doug was rather proud of himself for predicting the guy in 30th place at the end of the first day could win the event (see his report here). Peter Vessella wasn't in Doug's top five but he was very pleased to see Peter prove him wrong. John MacCausland slipped to 12th ... this is after he just won the Star Worlds, so it can't sting too badly and it certainly shows how stiff the competition is in the Laser Masters.

Oman - Ready or Not?

by Pam

The Laser Master Worlds in Oman are rapidly approaching and I was convinced that Doug will not be ready. I was yapping at him and ran through my laundry list of how he’s regularly getting beat by locals, he hasn’t been exercising or doing much sailing, he’s been neglecting a possible injury and how it seemed to me that the trip to Oman was more about seeing old friends than a serious attempt to do well (not that seeing old friends isn't a good enough reason to go).

In our household, sailing has priority and honey do's come later and there just aren’t many good reasons not to go sailing. The sad truth, though, is that I’ve been focused on a new job and have had little time for sailing this year and Doug has been politely down playing his sailing so that I wouldn’t feel so bad. However, since I’m not doing as much sailing, I need to live vicariously through him and he should have been playing it up so the reality of not getting on the water wouldn’t nag at me so much.

So, as I was making my very insightful and profound points about how he’s just not putting forth the effort this year, out come his charts about how much sailing and exercising he’s been doing and how he’s on track. To reassure me, I asked him to chart all of his past and present numbers and how he did. He didn't always keep track of everything but here's what he has.  What do you think? Is he ready?

World's Year	World's Venue	World's Finish	Wind Conditions	Sailing Days	Sailing Hours	Days of Hiking Bench	Days of Cardio	Days of Strength Training
2013	Oman			32*	93*	32*	44*	10*
2012	Brisbane	4	Medium	31	100	21	unknown	unknown
2010	Halifax	6	Windy	46	136	66	68	20
2008	Sydney	12	Medium	20	36	60	51	12
2007	Spain	9	Medium	69	158	91	158	unknown
2006	Korea	1	Light then Windy	52	134	78	155	15
2001	Ireland	8	Medium	47	128	94	110	50
2000	Cancun	3	Medium	33	64	67	56	35
1999	Melbourne	3	Honking	26	68	33	39	21
1998	The Gorge	2	Honking	53	129	85	63	34

* Still in process