David Ross sent this comment about how we arranged the starts at the landsailing regatta. Any other thoughts?
| I’ve been wanting to write you the last post, and starting in particular. I think your diagnosis of the outsized importance of sprinting is exactly right, and I think your modified start procedure is brilliant. I think it should be considered for all DN racing. Sprinting on ice is the same as paddling at the start of a race on water!
I’m thinking that your “pushed a little upwind” could be codified in a race by either having a line spray painted onto the ice, say, 10 yards upwind of the start line, at which the sailor must be in his boat. An alternative could be a second signal, a horn perhaps, at, say, 5 seconds after the start, by which time the sailor must be in the boat.
I guess my first question is whether you think this idea might fly? Do you think the DN world would be receptive? I wonder if Warren Nethercote would be a good sounding board at this stage?
Full disclosure, I’m 70 and my sprinting speed, never good to begin with, has slowed to just more than a crawl! But that’s not my main motivation as I’m not racing much any more.
David Ross |
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Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club 