More Dirty Air
A few days back, you saw a vid (Dirty Air) about big landsailors ripping around the California desertat the Ivanp[ah dry lake bed. A couple of days after that event, another regatta took place in what some would call sailing's “go-karts.” Everyone knows how fun driving a go-cart is – now imagine a quiet one, powered by wind, that goes 40 mph. Then imagine starting with 40 of them. Dawg put this report together for us. Enjoy. The bloKart is small, fun, cheap, and easily transported. It's supported by a great group of Kiwis and is a must for every sailor to try. Races start like any regular sailboat race - The mark is set upwind and after a 3-minute countdown – WHOOSH – you're off. Races are timed for 15 minutes, and the object is to get more laps done than anyone else. Your finish place counts if there are several on the same lap, and laps and position are tracked with radio transponders. This event, sponsored by Class Action Racing, brought pilots from around the world - 2 from France, 1 from Spain, 2 from Britain several from Australia, and of course, the NZ team headed by bloKart inventor Paul Beckett. There were several East Coast, Great Lakes and Southwest sailors from the US, too. I had a chance to chat with Sean Fidler, who knows several of the sailors/organizers from Florida I have sailed against in disabled sailing. Sean is fast and it was obvious from the seminars he gave on-site that he knows racing.
Similarities with sailboat racing are everywhere - timed starts, upwind technique, shift playing and general tactics, and rounding marks are pretty much the same. Port/starbord rules apply, except the closing speeds are considerable. During the start, there's a box set up on the downwind side of the line that no sailor can enter until the 10-second point. Once entered, you can't turn around if you're early – you have to circle all the way around and you can't enter the box from the side. This is necessary to avoid collisions at huge closing speeds. When completing a lap you have to sail through the finish line to get your transponder to register your lap. This gets tight when you are lapping slower sailors. Racing started at noon on Sunday, with the wind up big time. I was still unnerved so I went with a 2-meter sail (bad choice), and stayed in contact but finished mid fleet all day. I even had a spin out where I eneded up going backwards on a reach. After slowing down, I spun around and was headed in the right direction. Think NASCAR meets sailing - this is the only way to sail. Monday saw 2 races that probably should not have counted and Tuesday was dead. But Wednesday was really fun. Choosing the 3-meter sail, I was hanging right with the top guys - it really pays to know how to sail upwind. Many competitors would foot for speed after the start. Being able to point right up to the wind paid big gains. I finished in the top 10 all day and had a blast. We had 2 types of courses. A typical triangle and a sort of rectangular one, with a mark set inside on the long leg, just oppsite the start that we all had to jibe around. It was very easy to change courses if the wind changed. Our race chairman Mike Moody did a fine job of keeping us all happy. So after one crash and lots of fun, all I can say is "I will be back in the desert going fast." Not too bad for my first time racing in the desert. The bloKart worlds will be in New Zealand this October. All I need is a sponsor. Results: Overall and by Category Photos
from WOOF 2008-04-11 Share this article: Perma Link |
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