Bumpy ride home from Race – Long Island Sound – Ker 50 from John Pasmore on Vimeo.

Not doing a huge long post, but sailed on a Ker 50 in breezy weather. Wow. Add being overwhelmingly busy with Voyage.tv and is a bit over-the-top at times.

Man, feel like a rookie (which I am) in this kind of boat in this kind of race, but remember feeling same way learning to dive and kayak. It’s up and over — there’s no way to get past inexperience other than by gaining experience (and perhaps keeping your head down in the process). But will do best given the overall state of affairs. Having couple thousand miles of blue-water experience means little — totally different. Happy to be on the water….even as the new guy…

Sailed with Oakcliff Sailing Center out of Oyster Bay, Long Island — very impressive crew.

Been trying to get out on the water for weeks and finally made it. The Ker IRC 11.5 is fast and light. And the experienced crew was amazing to practice with. Will try and get a better picture now that I see how few are on the Net — had hands more than full trying to accomplish whatever I was supposed to do on the bow so my picture-taking was a little challenged.

Mostly just good to be on the water. Compared to all else wind and water seem a whole lot more permanent and for me, a connection to the planet. While work is always both a challenge and reward, but the water is a giant reset — not that one think is more rewarding than the other, kinda ying/yang, both are necessary in their own way and take diligence, require skill with no shortage of lessons to be learned. Just that I can really feel the wind and the water…

Squeezed in an all-day Match Racing clinic out at Oak Cliff Sailing Center on Saturday (in a driving rain storm). Great info. The clinic was led by legendary sailor Dave Perry (Dave is actually seated in front of the computer in this picture and in videos below, NOT standing with red jacket).

There are so many references to him and his accomplishments on the Web, I didn’t know where to link to. It’s humbling to sit in the audience, and later this year looking forward to getting some of his insight when we’re out on the water. Oak Cliff’s Exec Director, the super accomplished Dawn Riley , took over after to talk about the upcoming season and sounds pretty exciting. Dawn Riley on Twitter here.

If you’re curious what one might learn in a Match Racing clinic here is a small clip — Dave turned to the presentation over to a couple of the umpires in the audience. During the race two boats follow the race looking for penalty’s and the call the race out loud on the boat to keep track of what’s going on in front of them:

Oak Cliff – One from John Pasmore on Vimeo.

Oak Cliff – Two from John Pasmore on Vimeo.

The clips just give a sense of the day and apologize for their lack of substance, but you know, you gotta sign-up for the clinic! Takeaways were read the rules and know the rules because your tactics are dictated by the rules as much as the wind.