Jay, i thought that is why the crew handles the mainsheet... so the skipper has a free hand to concentrate on the "motivation"...

Right. On a 4KSB, pretty much everything's cleated, hence more reason to maintain "motivation".

This particular craft sets up for downhill by laying the boom perpendicular to the hull, setting spin pole opposite, hoisting a huge bedsheet that could cover a baseball infield, and finding a cupholder for your motivation so you can use your hands while you regale the other crew with your (BS) tales of wild adventure on 10KSB's

Monohulls in a nutshell.

Cool. Isn't that what the ahem ..."water" backpacks are for?

SSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I had a crew in a Worrell that loved his beer and ciggies. Apparently, unbeknownst to me he filled his camelback with beer ,one leg. He told me well after the fact ,that when he bit the bite valve it almost blew his head off.

maybe, but I've found it's pretty hard to race a beachcat when you're "over motivated". You usually end up swimming or bleeding (or both).

On the 4KSB's your biggest worry is falling in an open hatch/companionway (don't ask me how I know)

+1

Nope....running out of beer.

hahah. i can only imagine tacking and moving around must have "shaken" things up a bit in his camelpack.

(thats why i drink rum)

My problems were not the hatches or openings, it was stepping on the damm lazy sheets and the ding-dong holding the new guy while I was trying to get the spin pole back on the mast. That ding-dong can make a bowman look reaaalllly bad.

You know - those leaners ARE dangerous! Except for one dislocated shoulder, I have "Bleed" a lot less on a catamaran. Had to open the Thistle's bailers to get the blood out on occasion; complicated and prickly they are ...

Agreed.

The shock 35 I crewed on the Neuse river has tried to kill me more times than my N20 has ever even thought of.

Kate holds the record for wanting to kill you the most.

I thought the Shock 35 was a 8KSB, you're in the wrong group.

Think of any boat with a FULL LENGTH KEEL (or shoal draft fixed keel) and a KITCHEN and you're talkin' 4KSB

Then again, I did a stint on the 1/2 and 1 tons in the nefarious IOR class. What a wierd bunch of boats...

Dude, were you the cabin boy?

FORward Crew and Bow Boy depending on the ride.

Cabin boy? As in stay down below move from side to side whilst tring to roll tack?

Now he's the cabin MAN...

Some of the interviews that Ellison has done with the local news out in SF are encouraging. Coupled that with the reports that Mr. Spithill is "hooked on multis" and I think we have a better than 50/50 chance at seeing some blazingly fast multi's ripping up SF Bay.

I know that if that happens, I've got family in the area and I'm so there.

Maybe Coutts and Cayard can dust of their World Sailing League designs and use that as a basis for the next AC.

Uggg...that boat is ugly!