Old Guy Racing

March 25, 2005  |  by Steve Hayhurst  |  News Archives...

The following article, written by FYC member Steve Hayhurst, was published in GAM Sailing Magazine.

Reflecting on my lifelong sailing history last year, I realized that the part which had been the most fun was one-design dinghy racing as a kid, in and around the junior program at the Oakville Yacht Squadron in the early 70's. About the same time, it was pointed out to me that I was not alone and that dinghy racing in general was experiencing somewhat of a renaissance and that the Laser, in particular, had a comprehensive program of Masters (read – old guy) fleets and regattas. Perfect, I thought. Small, light-weight, easy to handle and damned near the most popular boat ever built. An Olympic class with a rigid one-design rule to boot; should be challenging enough for a former child prodigy like me.

After a half-hearted effort to find a competitive, late model used boat, I determined I should probably take all the competitive advantage that money could buy and get a new one. The young guy from Fogh Marine was extremely helpful and answered all my questions during several visits over the winter. On more than one occasion, he looked at me somewhat dubiously and ventured that the Laser is a very athletic boat to sail. He did allow, however, that I was about the right weight to campaign it successfully. Naively, I thought, the boat has a 75 square foot sail, how athletic can it be? Very, is the correct answer, as I learned to my chagrin.

Currently a resident of London, Ontario, I joined the Fanshawe Yacht Club where an active core of dinghy sailors still race Lasers, Wayfarers, Dart catamarans and others. Fanshawe is a small, man-made lake with heartbreakingly shifty wind patterns caused by the relatively high banks. Local wisdom has it that if you can race there, you can race anywhere. Local wisdom would appear to be correct! Though not as large as it once was, the Club remains a wonderful, friendly, do-it-yourself operation, the way I remember most sailing clubs before the boats got too big and the members too complacent.

The Laser fleet includes a couple of guys my age who have raced, and raced well, since the 70's. In addition, there are a number of young guys, all about seven feet tall, lean and hungry with shaved heads who sail like they were born on the damned boats. Needless to say, while very helpful with rigging, tuning and trimming tips, they have consistently handed me my head all summer, in spite of all my purchased boat speed. For my part, I have managed to be amusing as hell with all my new guy pratfalls.

On my first foray, a Wednesday night club race in late May to break myself in slowly, I rigged the boat, removed the trailer straps and proceeded to back down the ramp. A gust promptly blew the boat off the trailer, fortunately landing it on the gunnel and not the hull. Lessons learned: Lasers are launched from dollys, not trailers and, never rig the mainsheet until the boat is in the water.

At the first club regatta, I got caught out on starboard on the weather leg, tacked, got my head caught in the mainsheet and capsized directly on top of a Wayfarer. Later, going downwind (in last place) I noticed everyone else was sailing by the lee. Reasoning this was not likely a mere coincidence, I shifted my weight rather too abruptly and capsized to windward.

The open regatta in June was the kind of screamer sailors dream about. By the end of the day, I had capsized twice and fallen out of the boat once. On one of the capsizes, my bottle of sunscreen floated away (there being nowhere on the boat to stow anything) and the top of my head got sunburned. When I got home, I realized I had a bruise on my arm the size of an orange and the little toe on my left foot was broken. I had also got a second, a third and a fourth and pretty much had the most fun I've ever had on a boat in over 35 years of sailing! The following day, I could hardly move.

In recent weeks, my performance has improved somewhat such that I am not always last. I think its skill, but it could just be a lucky shift. Either way, this is one of the best things I've done in years. I would not have believed that such a small boat could be so exciting to sail. In its heyday, Fanshawe used to have 60 Lasers in the fleet. Let's just say there are fewer today. Pity. But, if everyone reading this, who lives within an hour of London and ever raced dinghies in the past, would beg, borrow or steal a boat... who knows, maybe we could also have a B fleet and I might actually win once in a while.

Editors Note: Steve Hayhurst, 48, is a management recruiter living in London. Rick Goldt (age irrelevant) is the racing contact at the Fanshawe Yacht Club.

Steve Hayhurst Laser 179000