In a terrific new book Herb McCormick’s ‘As Long As It’s Fun’ covers the life and times of renowned cruising sailors Lin and Larry Pardey. They’ve lived a remarkable life sailing hundreds of thousands of miles on boats they built themselves all without an engine and all the ‘modern’ safety gear most of today’s cruisers feel is essential.
The Pardeys have educated thousands of cruisers through their books, magazine articles and countless seminars providing a long legacy of knowledge for future cruisers. However it was a quote about racing from Larry that caught my eye. When commenting on how other sailors can become confident, skilled and safe sailors the book says “Sea time,” Larry said over and over. “It’s not always easy for everyone to get, but that’s what you need. It’s one reason I’m a great believer in racing. To finish the race, you need to sail in light winds, heavy winds in close quarters. It’s very healthy. Uffa Fox, the yacht designer, said the best way to prepare yourself for cruising is to do a little racing. You don’t have to win. If you end up in the middle of the fleet you’re still in the game. You can sail a boat.” While 95% of their sailing was cruising there are a few tales of very successful racing from these very successful cruisers.
It's great advice. And it’s also good to recognize that while there’s lots of photos of intense, carbon powered racing in todays journals the vast majority of racing is very collegial, low-key and terrific learning opportunity. The high-end dominates the news but it’s the friendlier games that dominate the bulk of the action.
It’s interesting to note that one of the more popular high-performance rules, IRC, has about 7,000 boats rates worldwide while the rule for most all low-key racing, PHRF, has about 20,000 rated boats in the US alone. That’s just for keelboats. There’s all kinds of fun, low-key racing going on in Sunfish, Hobies, Flying Scots, Ensigns and numerous other classic designs which are affordably available to many.
Whatever the age of your boat, your sails, your crew or the amount of experience and knowledge you have your sailing abilities and experience will be improved by spending a little time on the race course. So, if you’re planning to cruise keep an eye out for some low-key racing near you – evening ‘beer can’ racing, afternoon club racing or any other. If you’re not ready to take your boat the first time most race boats are happy to add a crew to show them the ropes.
Wondering what your boat may rate? i.e. how fast is it compare to other boats? You can look at this link from US Sailing and most likely find the rating for your boat. You’ll see that a Ranger 33 might rate 153, a Cal 34 rate 171 and a Catalina 34 rates 147. That means racing in a straight line starting at the same time and all perfectly sailed for mile the Catalina 34 should finish cross 6 seconds ahead of the Ranger 33 which would cross 18 seconds ahead of the Cal 34. It’s fun to challenge yourself on the race course and an education you can’t get reading books or attending seminars.
Regardless of how you sail on Summer Sailstice it’s most important to hoist your sails because, as Larry said, even without racing ‘sea time’ is always the best way for continued improvement – and, of course, enjoyment.
Check out your boats PHRF Rating here.
Lots of evening 'beer can racing' can be pretty fun and relaxing.
Small boat one-design racing is simply a blast and great skill builder.
It happens in all kinds of small boats in all kinds of places and is simply tons of fun.
Sometimes there are so many enthusiastic people it's almost overwhelming. But must be a great party afterwards!
