The American Legion Yacht Club puts on a Sundowner series on Monday nights all summer long. May 7, 2012 was the first race of the series for the year and UCI fielded six J22s for the race. Wind was about 4 to 6 kt out of the southwest.
Our boat was the last one to leave the dock, and we had to sail as fast as possible to get to the starting area. We arrived with about 4 minutes to the start, and quickly figured out what end to start at. It was a downwind start, and the port end was more downwind, so starting somewhere near there seemed best. I didn't get settled and figure out a starting strategy, and ended up tacking onto starboard about 30 seconds before the start and trying to get some speed. There were two boats to windward, and the closer, faster one was Bruce Thompson. Bruce got a great start, hitting the line with speed at the right time. We got an ok start, crossing the line a few seconds after the start but with not much speed. Bruce was a few boat lengths ahead by the time we got up to speed.
Bruce seemed to be in better air, and his lead just kept stretching and stretching. I think at one point he was 150 feet ahead, while we had maybe 50 or 60 feet lead on three boats behind. But then, 2/3 of the way down the downwind leg, the wind dropped way off, then filled in from behind, which compressed us all as we approached the leeward mark. I was amazed that we caught up to Bruce, although we were not able to establish an overlap. Bruce went below his rhumb course to defend me trying to get inside. I told him it looks like he's below his proper course, and he tells me that the rule forbidding sailing below proper course to prevent a pass to leeward no longer exists. Some sailors you can't trust if they talk about rules on the racecourse, and some you can. I'm inclined to trust Bruce.
Meanwhile, though, Dave O' got an overlap inside (to the port side) of us, as we approached the mark. I went as low as I could, so that when we all turned toward the mark he'd be behind me. Didn't work though, so I was maybe 10 ft behind Bruce, with Dave O inside our boat.
On the rounding I went real wide hoping Dave would leave room for me to fit inside on the exit. I didn't go wide enough though, and turned downwind then sharply upwind to get clear of Dave's stern and get back to the inside. I tacked onto starboard as soon as I could, but had killed what little speed we had, and not much wind to accelerate with. Seemed like the whole fleet was getting by me, but we set our sails to the wind we had, and eventually we started moving on starboard.
This turned out to be a fortuitous situation, although I have to say it seemed like a complete disaster at the time. The wind was better out in the middle, and we had a little favorable current. I went out a ways from the shoreline toward the middle of the bay and tacked back to port. Meanwhile, Bruce was hugging the shoreline and, I think, never tacked from his close hauled port tack he'd left the mark with. It looked to me like I had gone too far, that it would be a close reach up the channel to Y mark, so I eased sails and sailed on the close-reach side of close hauled.
After a few minutes it dawned on me this was really a one-sided beat, and I was giving away distance, so I went up to close hauled again and we actually got a lift to where it appeared we might be ahead of Bruce. Then we got a header, and Bruce's lead became clearer. The boats behind seemed far enough back to not worry about, so I settled into following Bruce on the port tack beat and seeking opportunities to make up ground. As the beat tightened up in the channel, we had some traffic to contend with, and a few tacks to make up the channel to Y mark, and we got on the right side of some shifts and caught Bruce up a little. Meanwhile, Dave O was catching up behind us, as he made several better decisions on the shifts in the channel than Bruce and I did.
Bruce looked to me like he had tacked above the layline to mark Y, so I tacked just below his course behind him. Near Y the wind dies almost completely sometimes, and I was worried that this tack was a horrible decision, but the wind filled in and I was able to round without tacking again. More good luck. Bruce was on a dead run on starboard, and I wanted to get away from the light air near the houses of Lido Island, so I gibed onto port to get out in to the stronger wind in the middle of the channel. Bruce decided to go out with me and gibed onto port, and about the time he gibed onto port, I gibed back to starboard, and he followed suit shortly after. I felt like he was covering me, and I was glad to feel like I was on the attack, while he was playing defense.
We fooled around a lot trying to get some advantage with the whisker pole. However, it wasn't really a run, more of a broad reach, so the pole didn't really help much. We held position with Bruce about 3-5 boat lengths ahead of us then we managed to catch up to within a boat length as we approached the eastern tip of Lido Island. It was clear he was going to hug the shore, and I stayed with him until the wind got really flukey, then fell off about 30 degrees. It was a big gamble, but I figured following him would get me second place for sure, so why not gamble a little? I aimed to the closest point on the wind line trying to get to the better air quicker. By the time we were both rolling along with good speed again, we were about even, and when I tacked, I had to duck Bruce.
Then when we crossed again, he ducked us, and we tacked as soon as he passed our stern. I was worried at first that I had made a huge mistake tacking right then. Tacking sooner would have preserved my starboard advantage, and I was risking him getting into my lee bow. However, it worked out. Our bows were dead even for what seemed like an hour, although it was more like 30 seconds, then we squeaked ahead. Bruce said "It looks like you got me." I wasn't convinced yet, though. I managed to give him dirty air and no room to tack off, and built small advantage. Then when he tacked clear onto starboard, I tacked too, keeping cover. Ditto on the next tack, back onto port. We were close to laying the finish line at this point, and Bruce tacked off. I decided to call off the tacking duel and just sail to the finish line. I did have to take a short tack to finish, but by then had a comfortable lead.
During the whole race, and notably while we were tacking to cover, Alice's crew work was flawless, even though I often gave no warning that we were tacking. Kudos for her great crew work.
Lessons learned:
When heading for the leeward mark, I didn't try to cover Bruce's sails. I worked downward trying to clear an opportunity to break the overlap with Dave O, who approached from behind. I wonder if i should have tried to get on the high side of Bruce. I don't like to get into luffing matches though. If I had covered his sails from behind, he would probably have gone up to defend his wind. Might that have created an opportunity to get inside him? However, if i had got inside Bruce, without breaking the overlap with Dave, I would have been the meat in a leeward mark sandwich, which I really, really dislike. OTOH, that would have screwed Bruce, so I need to consider that kind of option later in the season when the points situation is clearer. For now, though, I think I took my best option, given that I was unable to get inside Bruce or break the overlap with Dave.
I can't believe, having sailed Newport Harbor for a year, that I would crack the sails on a lobsided beat. Aargh. That was really dumb. Won't do that again. Definitely important to have a "fast beat" mode though, where you're nowhere near pinching, and speed is maximized while still pointing. Ditto to be able to pinch really high without giving away too much boat speed: max efficiency. Bruce had his main looking tighter than mine, and I have to know when you can get away with that, and when you can't. Sheeting to centerline and having the traveler high definitely works in light air. When I sheet hard with the traveler centered, the leech seems overly hard, so maybe that's not a good idea. I wonder if sheeting to the centerline and working the traveler is a good idea even in light breezes.
We set our jib travelers for upwind while approaching the downwind marks. This helped us enormously to transitions smoothly to beating.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Sailing for Performance II
Sailing for performance means going as fast as possible under the circumstances, whether it's point to point, around buoys, or just reaching a harbor mouth before sunset. We usually associate sailing for performance with racing, while in "Cruising" or "daysailing", sailing for maximum performance is not usually the focus. However, maximizing performance can become very important when getting home in dying wind, for example, or sailing against an adverse current.
Therefore, the discipline and knowledge of sailing for performance is not just for racers, it's for any sailor who wants to maximize comfort and safety.
So how do you optimize performance anyway? In beginning sailing texts we learn that to sail to windward, set the sails all the way in, then steer to where the jib's telltales are streaming aft. To sail on a reach, aim the boat where you want to go, then adjust the sails to where the telltales are streaming aft. Simple, effective advice, and mostly true.
When is this simple advice most ineffective? I've seen beginning sailors with the sail (especially main alone!) all the way in, pointing very high, and going nowhere. Actually, not nowhere, they are actually going sideways very, very slowly. With no flow over the centerboard and the sail strapped in hard so there is almost no sail force aimed toward the front of the boat, the boat can drift sideways, stuck with a near-luffing sail and a stalled centerboard.
I was at the Windsurfer national championships on Lake Michigan in the early 1980s, and was sailing upwind between races in 8-12 kt of wind. To leeward of me, about 30 feet away was Bobby Wilmot, then Australian national windsurfing champion. We were going about the same speed -- mostly. Sometimes, for no apparent reason I would, in the span of about 5 seconds, lose about 1/2 board length to him. Then, we'd resume going at the same speed again for maybe a minute or so. This pattern repeated itself over and over.
After a few minutes of this, I started to realize what was happening. As a gust reached us, I would respond appropriately, heeling slightly to weather and heading up slightly to maintain a barely-planing speed which optimizes windward performance in that wind speed range. However, when the gust ended in a lull, I didn't reverse the process right away, but instead would lose speed for a bit, then get it back together and accelerate. I was sloppy enough to lose about 1/2 board length to Wilmot every time this happened.
The key to fixing this problem was to develop a more keen sense of boatspeed; when I lost a bit of speed and then worked to get it back, I lost ground. If I could react and fall off slightly when the lull began, I could keep speed more constant and sail more like Wilmot was sailing.
I learned to race at the Cal Sailing Club in Berkeley in the late 1970s. On Sunday mornings, we raced Lidos around a semi-sheltered corner of the San Francisco Bay. I understand these club races continue even now, 40 years later, although the Lidos are long gone. There was a Finn fleet that used the same location, and occasionally we would invite the Finn sailors to join us in the Lido racing, rotating into our boats.
They kicked our butt, almost every sailor, almost every time. I was amazed at how much more proficient these Finn guys were in our boats which they never sailed otherwise. One race when I wasn't racing, I was walking on the shore not far from the weather mark, and watched one of the better skippers round the mark, followed by one of my peers. The Finn skipper lost only a small percentage of boatspeed rounding the weather mark and falling off to a run, while my clubmate lost about half of his boatspeed making the same rounding 5 seconds behind.
Again, the key to fixing this problem was to develop a more keen sense of boatspeed, what we do to kill boatspeed (sudden, sharp tiller motion works great for this!), and what we can do to preserve our speed while turning, for example heeling the boat to take advantage of the tendency of a boat heeled to windward to fall off.
Once again, getting sensitive to where I might be losing speed helped developed my awareness of how fast the boat is moving through the water, and how I might be able to slow it down less.
Therefore, the discipline and knowledge of sailing for performance is not just for racers, it's for any sailor who wants to maximize comfort and safety.
So how do you optimize performance anyway? In beginning sailing texts we learn that to sail to windward, set the sails all the way in, then steer to where the jib's telltales are streaming aft. To sail on a reach, aim the boat where you want to go, then adjust the sails to where the telltales are streaming aft. Simple, effective advice, and mostly true.
When is this simple advice most ineffective? I've seen beginning sailors with the sail (especially main alone!) all the way in, pointing very high, and going nowhere. Actually, not nowhere, they are actually going sideways very, very slowly. With no flow over the centerboard and the sail strapped in hard so there is almost no sail force aimed toward the front of the boat, the boat can drift sideways, stuck with a near-luffing sail and a stalled centerboard.
I was at the Windsurfer national championships on Lake Michigan in the early 1980s, and was sailing upwind between races in 8-12 kt of wind. To leeward of me, about 30 feet away was Bobby Wilmot, then Australian national windsurfing champion. We were going about the same speed -- mostly. Sometimes, for no apparent reason I would, in the span of about 5 seconds, lose about 1/2 board length to him. Then, we'd resume going at the same speed again for maybe a minute or so. This pattern repeated itself over and over.
After a few minutes of this, I started to realize what was happening. As a gust reached us, I would respond appropriately, heeling slightly to weather and heading up slightly to maintain a barely-planing speed which optimizes windward performance in that wind speed range. However, when the gust ended in a lull, I didn't reverse the process right away, but instead would lose speed for a bit, then get it back together and accelerate. I was sloppy enough to lose about 1/2 board length to Wilmot every time this happened.
The key to fixing this problem was to develop a more keen sense of boatspeed; when I lost a bit of speed and then worked to get it back, I lost ground. If I could react and fall off slightly when the lull began, I could keep speed more constant and sail more like Wilmot was sailing.
I learned to race at the Cal Sailing Club in Berkeley in the late 1970s. On Sunday mornings, we raced Lidos around a semi-sheltered corner of the San Francisco Bay. I understand these club races continue even now, 40 years later, although the Lidos are long gone. There was a Finn fleet that used the same location, and occasionally we would invite the Finn sailors to join us in the Lido racing, rotating into our boats.
They kicked our butt, almost every sailor, almost every time. I was amazed at how much more proficient these Finn guys were in our boats which they never sailed otherwise. One race when I wasn't racing, I was walking on the shore not far from the weather mark, and watched one of the better skippers round the mark, followed by one of my peers. The Finn skipper lost only a small percentage of boatspeed rounding the weather mark and falling off to a run, while my clubmate lost about half of his boatspeed making the same rounding 5 seconds behind.
Again, the key to fixing this problem was to develop a more keen sense of boatspeed, what we do to kill boatspeed (sudden, sharp tiller motion works great for this!), and what we can do to preserve our speed while turning, for example heeling the boat to take advantage of the tendency of a boat heeled to windward to fall off.
Once again, getting sensitive to where I might be losing speed helped developed my awareness of how fast the boat is moving through the water, and how I might be able to slow it down less.
Sailing for Performance !
I sailed back in the late 70s and early 80's, then mostly stopped for a number of years. Recently (early summer, 2011) got back into sailing with the UCI Sailing Club. While I was "gone" the sailing world has changed a lot in some areas, and not at all in others.
My co-worker lent me his book "High Performance Sailing" by Frank Bethwaite, and it was an eye-opener. Reading the book helped me gel some ideas about sailing that have been rattling around in my head and inspired me to attempt to put together information in a useful way.
Frank's book is organized like a pyramid, with basic information first, leading to conclusions about how to sail later. After extensive page flipping, I read the book backwards, starting with his tips on sailing and working back to the earlier chapters on wind and water.
I've read several, maybe 30 or 40 books on sailing. Of these three have really inspired me. One was "Start to Win", by Eric Twiname. Start to Win is focused on dinghy sailing and really emphasizes prioritizing attention. There are way too many things to think about when sailing, and figuring out which to focus on is a major success skill. Eric points us in that direction.
The second I only recommend for the True Nerd: "Aero-Hydrodynamics of Sailing" by C.A. Marchaj. Marchaj brings out a number of technical ideas and explanations, in a form only a tech person can love. His book offers lots of great diagrams and wind tunnel work that help in understanding basic phenomena, and is a great technical reference.
The third is High Performance Sailing. Frank Bethwaite. Frank offers TWELVE chapters on wind. Turns out he is an atmospheric scientist as well as a sailor and pilot, so he has lots to share on the subjects of air, air movement, and boat propulsion. What's really great about this book is that it is mostly pretty easy to read. Occasionally his weather descriptions get a little complex, but we are talking about complex things. He never loses track of how what he's talking about relates to sailing.
My co-worker lent me his book "High Performance Sailing" by Frank Bethwaite, and it was an eye-opener. Reading the book helped me gel some ideas about sailing that have been rattling around in my head and inspired me to attempt to put together information in a useful way.
Frank's book is organized like a pyramid, with basic information first, leading to conclusions about how to sail later. After extensive page flipping, I read the book backwards, starting with his tips on sailing and working back to the earlier chapters on wind and water.
I've read several, maybe 30 or 40 books on sailing. Of these three have really inspired me. One was "Start to Win", by Eric Twiname. Start to Win is focused on dinghy sailing and really emphasizes prioritizing attention. There are way too many things to think about when sailing, and figuring out which to focus on is a major success skill. Eric points us in that direction.
The second I only recommend for the True Nerd: "Aero-Hydrodynamics of Sailing" by C.A. Marchaj. Marchaj brings out a number of technical ideas and explanations, in a form only a tech person can love. His book offers lots of great diagrams and wind tunnel work that help in understanding basic phenomena, and is a great technical reference.
The third is High Performance Sailing. Frank Bethwaite. Frank offers TWELVE chapters on wind. Turns out he is an atmospheric scientist as well as a sailor and pilot, so he has lots to share on the subjects of air, air movement, and boat propulsion. What's really great about this book is that it is mostly pretty easy to read. Occasionally his weather descriptions get a little complex, but we are talking about complex things. He never loses track of how what he's talking about relates to sailing.
Monday, December 22, 2008
2008 Xmas Letter
Two big news stories for the year: Chris and Lucia are getting married. The date was originally planned for summer, 2009, but we have decided to postpone, and of course will be putting out the word when we finally pick a date. And Allison has been accepted to the College of Her Choice, Emerson in Boston. She is working hard on being a costume designer; she's sewing like crazy and also getting lots of backstage experience. I am really pleased with her focus and energy, and when we visited the school in June, I was impressed with the breadth and depth of their program. Emerson and Allison will fit well together.
Two trips to Guatemala for Chris, and four for Lucia. Plus Chris's trips to Boston, Portland, Yosemite, Washington D.C., Utah, Arizona, and Grand Traverse Michigan made this a pretty busy year. The photo trip isn't comprehensive, but I hope will give a flavor of what the year was like.
Allison posing outside Emerson College. The College main entrance is in this cul-de-sac walkway across the street from the Boston Gardens, about 1/4 mile from Cheers. It is RIGHT in the middle of the city. Boston seems like a great town, and I am really pleased that Allison is going to be going to school there.
Another college visit with Allison: this one is in Seattle, which you might have guessed if you noticed the Space Needle outside the window.
Got to go to Utah and Arizona on a fabulous mountain biking adventure.
The weather was not great for May, with snow at the higher elevations.
So we got to sample a beautiful location near St. George, Utah,
Gooseberry Mesa is an absolutely amazing place to ride a mountain bike, with trails that flow smoothly from uphill to downhill, around trees, and over boulders. I think it is better riding than the famous slickrock trail of Moab. I can't wait to go back.
We finally did make it to the Grand Canyon, and got to ride along the rim. Amazing.
Allison really wanted to give motorcycle riding a try. So here she is on my Hawk at the local community college parking lot. She did pretty well, only dropping the bike once. But I didn't do as well -- I don't remember not knowing how to ride a motorcycle, and am terrible at trying to tell someone how to ride one.
Another trip: this time a short flight northward to Portland for a professional conference. Got to see RS and Annie Soppe there. We spent a lot of time together in High School, and we blinked, then we all have kids in high school ourselves. Man it goes fast.
A group of folks gathering on the dam crest at Sisk Dam, near Los Banos, California. The dam has some stability issues in a really large earthquake, and we're discussing what to do about it.
Lucia's niece Ana had a beautiful baby this year; Sebastian.
Wildflowers had a good season in southern California this year. These are at Diamond Valley Lake, near Hemet. Our photo club was invited to make some photos of the flowers in full bloom.
The photos our club got from Diamond Valley Lake were displayed at the visitors center there.
We had a number of presentations raising consciousness about the situation for women in Guatemala. This presentation was in Orange, California, with the National Organization for Women.
On a local bike ride, I rode up Black Star canyon, near Silverado, to this ruin, built and still owned by a local family, the Beeks. The cabin is known as Beeks Place.
One of the recurring themes at work this year was Security. This was a visit by Homeland Security to one of our reservoirs (I could tell you which one, but then I'd have to kill you, haha), and they got a comprehensive view of all aspects of the reservoir.
The Raconteurs at Coachella. Why was I at Coachella, you might ask? Allison wanted to go, and her mom wouldn't let her go without an adult. So I volunteered. It was an experience.
The lights at Coachella.
Swift No. 2 powerplant. The embankment I'm standing on to get this photo failed a couple years ago, and was rebuilt.
Forest glade along the Columbia gorge. This area is spectacularly beautiful.
Waterfall along the Columbia gorge.
Sequim, Northern Washington State.
Sequim, Northern Washington State.
Also on the beach at Sequim.
Umpqua River, OR.
Covered bridge near the Umpqua River, OR.
I worked on an early design of this reservoir early in my career. Finally got back to the site and saw the finished product. I hope the owners don't get too much trouble from those "reglators".
A different Washington.
Our photo club at work put on a show in July.
During a conference in Indian Wells in September, I stayed at Mom and Dad's house. Unfortunately, they were still in their summer location near the beach.
Huntington Beach pier just after sunset.
The beautiful side of Guatemala, the side the tourists get to see. Antigua, only 40 minutes from the capital, with it's amazing surroundings and cobble streets.
More Antigua.
A less scenic part of Guatemala; the main city dump at Guatemala City, on one of our Delegations to Guatemala. We visited a group there that provides a really high-end day care experience for the children of the dump-dwelling families.
A visit to Sobrevivientes, a survivor's refuge and resource center in the capital.
I'm not sure the grafitti refers to the little girl, but maybe.
Our delegates on the No Violence Against Women march in November.
Bianca, a survivor we work with.
Wishing you and yours all the best for the holidays and for the coming year...
Chris and Lucia
Two trips to Guatemala for Chris, and four for Lucia. Plus Chris's trips to Boston, Portland, Yosemite, Washington D.C., Utah, Arizona, and Grand Traverse Michigan made this a pretty busy year. The photo trip isn't comprehensive, but I hope will give a flavor of what the year was like.
Allison posing outside Emerson College. The College main entrance is in this cul-de-sac walkway across the street from the Boston Gardens, about 1/4 mile from Cheers. It is RIGHT in the middle of the city. Boston seems like a great town, and I am really pleased that Allison is going to be going to school there.
Another college visit with Allison: this one is in Seattle, which you might have guessed if you noticed the Space Needle outside the window.
Got to go to Utah and Arizona on a fabulous mountain biking adventure.
The weather was not great for May, with snow at the higher elevations.
So we got to sample a beautiful location near St. George, Utah,
Gooseberry Mesa is an absolutely amazing place to ride a mountain bike, with trails that flow smoothly from uphill to downhill, around trees, and over boulders. I think it is better riding than the famous slickrock trail of Moab. I can't wait to go back.
We finally did make it to the Grand Canyon, and got to ride along the rim. Amazing.
Allison really wanted to give motorcycle riding a try. So here she is on my Hawk at the local community college parking lot. She did pretty well, only dropping the bike once. But I didn't do as well -- I don't remember not knowing how to ride a motorcycle, and am terrible at trying to tell someone how to ride one.
Another trip: this time a short flight northward to Portland for a professional conference. Got to see RS and Annie Soppe there. We spent a lot of time together in High School, and we blinked, then we all have kids in high school ourselves. Man it goes fast.
A group of folks gathering on the dam crest at Sisk Dam, near Los Banos, California. The dam has some stability issues in a really large earthquake, and we're discussing what to do about it.
Lucia's niece Ana had a beautiful baby this year; Sebastian.
Wildflowers had a good season in southern California this year. These are at Diamond Valley Lake, near Hemet. Our photo club was invited to make some photos of the flowers in full bloom.
The photos our club got from Diamond Valley Lake were displayed at the visitors center there.
We had a number of presentations raising consciousness about the situation for women in Guatemala. This presentation was in Orange, California, with the National Organization for Women.
On a local bike ride, I rode up Black Star canyon, near Silverado, to this ruin, built and still owned by a local family, the Beeks. The cabin is known as Beeks Place.
One of the recurring themes at work this year was Security. This was a visit by Homeland Security to one of our reservoirs (I could tell you which one, but then I'd have to kill you, haha), and they got a comprehensive view of all aspects of the reservoir.
The Raconteurs at Coachella. Why was I at Coachella, you might ask? Allison wanted to go, and her mom wouldn't let her go without an adult. So I volunteered. It was an experience.
The lights at Coachella.
Swift No. 2 powerplant. The embankment I'm standing on to get this photo failed a couple years ago, and was rebuilt.
Forest glade along the Columbia gorge. This area is spectacularly beautiful.
Waterfall along the Columbia gorge.
Sequim, Northern Washington State.
Sequim, Northern Washington State.
Also on the beach at Sequim.
Umpqua River, OR.
Covered bridge near the Umpqua River, OR.
I worked on an early design of this reservoir early in my career. Finally got back to the site and saw the finished product. I hope the owners don't get too much trouble from those "reglators".A different Washington.
Our photo club at work put on a show in July.
During a conference in Indian Wells in September, I stayed at Mom and Dad's house. Unfortunately, they were still in their summer location near the beach.
Huntington Beach pier just after sunset.
The beautiful side of Guatemala, the side the tourists get to see. Antigua, only 40 minutes from the capital, with it's amazing surroundings and cobble streets.
More Antigua.
A less scenic part of Guatemala; the main city dump at Guatemala City, on one of our Delegations to Guatemala. We visited a group there that provides a really high-end day care experience for the children of the dump-dwelling families.
A visit to Sobrevivientes, a survivor's refuge and resource center in the capital.
I'm not sure the grafitti refers to the little girl, but maybe.
Our delegates on the No Violence Against Women march in November.
Bianca, a survivor we work with.
Wishing you and yours all the best for the holidays and for the coming year...
Chris and Lucia
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Racism
I just read an article on Yahoo about a huge number of anti-black hate crimes popping up around the country, and it reminded me again of how entrenched hatred and racism are in this country.
I remember seeing the Watts riots on TV in 1963, and wondering why the blacks in Los Angeles were so angry, and why they took it out on their local businesses, burning and looting the furniture stores and liquor stores of the south Los Angeles area.
I remember being shocked at the disparity between the opinions of blacks and whites in the O.J. Simpson case. As I recall, during the criminal trial, some 80-90% of white people though O.J. was guilty while some 80-90% of black people thought O.J. was not guilty. I remember wondering how this could be so, when the facts of the case seemed so clearly to point to O.J.'s guilt.
The Yahoo article pointed out that the widespread expressions of anger and hatred against blacks is like when a man comes home from a bad day at work and kicks the dog. The dog didn't cause the bad day at work, but gets to be a convenient target. Likewise, the store owners represented wealth and power not available to most Watts residents, so they were the target of their anger.
The only way I could reconcile the disparity of opinion on O.J. is this: It seemed that blacks wanted O.J. to be acquitted because it would show that wealth and status counts in overcoming being accused of a crime, even for black people. That the black population wanted to believe that the reason so many black men are in jail, are on death row for crimes white people would not be in jail or be on death row for was because of economic disparity not because of racial bias.
If this were true, if a rich and prominent black man could get acquitted or a light sentence for a crime he clearly committed, as so often happens for white people (Nixon, Dan White, Charles Keating, Enron for example), that would give black people hope. Hope that the source of the bias in the legal system is economic, not racial. After all, we can change our economic situation more easily than we can change the color of our skin.
I for one am amazed and pleased that 52% of the population is willing to elect a black man as president. I take it as a hopeful sign that racism is waning, as significant a step as abolition of slavery and the 1964 civil rights act. Those milestones brought about open expressions of racism, bringing hatred's ugliness out into the light of day. Is it possible that we can look forward to a day when race is not a factor in how people are viewed? That a man can "be judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character" as Dr. King prophesied?
In the Yahoo article about race crime, someone was quoted as saying that racism is like cancer; it goes into remission but is never really cured. The racist response to Obama's victory has shown that the cancer of hatred continues to thrive in the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.
I remember seeing the Watts riots on TV in 1963, and wondering why the blacks in Los Angeles were so angry, and why they took it out on their local businesses, burning and looting the furniture stores and liquor stores of the south Los Angeles area.
I remember being shocked at the disparity between the opinions of blacks and whites in the O.J. Simpson case. As I recall, during the criminal trial, some 80-90% of white people though O.J. was guilty while some 80-90% of black people thought O.J. was not guilty. I remember wondering how this could be so, when the facts of the case seemed so clearly to point to O.J.'s guilt.
The Yahoo article pointed out that the widespread expressions of anger and hatred against blacks is like when a man comes home from a bad day at work and kicks the dog. The dog didn't cause the bad day at work, but gets to be a convenient target. Likewise, the store owners represented wealth and power not available to most Watts residents, so they were the target of their anger.
The only way I could reconcile the disparity of opinion on O.J. is this: It seemed that blacks wanted O.J. to be acquitted because it would show that wealth and status counts in overcoming being accused of a crime, even for black people. That the black population wanted to believe that the reason so many black men are in jail, are on death row for crimes white people would not be in jail or be on death row for was because of economic disparity not because of racial bias.
If this were true, if a rich and prominent black man could get acquitted or a light sentence for a crime he clearly committed, as so often happens for white people (Nixon, Dan White, Charles Keating, Enron for example), that would give black people hope. Hope that the source of the bias in the legal system is economic, not racial. After all, we can change our economic situation more easily than we can change the color of our skin.
I for one am amazed and pleased that 52% of the population is willing to elect a black man as president. I take it as a hopeful sign that racism is waning, as significant a step as abolition of slavery and the 1964 civil rights act. Those milestones brought about open expressions of racism, bringing hatred's ugliness out into the light of day. Is it possible that we can look forward to a day when race is not a factor in how people are viewed? That a man can "be judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character" as Dr. King prophesied?
In the Yahoo article about race crime, someone was quoted as saying that racism is like cancer; it goes into remission but is never really cured. The racist response to Obama's victory has shown that the cancer of hatred continues to thrive in the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
"Model" Photo Shoot
My daughter is in high school and wants to go to college to learn costume design. Part of getting in to an art school where they teach things like that is to provide a portfolio. Fortunately, she goes to an art-oriented high school, so she has some art already, and also has made some of her own clothes.
So she came to me yesterday wanting me to make photos of a few outfits she has made for herself. Great oppo to put my Strobist learning into action.
So we hung a sheet over a PVC frame I made for a backdrop, set the camera up carefully. My new D90 has a great function where you press Info and it displays all the important settings on the back, and you can just work your way around the screen and make sure all is well. Focus mode AF-S, WB Auto, ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/200 s, and F-stop about 6 or so.
We're in the living room with no direct sunlight in sight -- am figuring to light the scene entirely with strobe. Pop a test shot with no flash, make sure ambient is not a factor.
Create ambient: set an SB-600 on 1/16 power and aim it at the ceiling behind me. Adjust power up a couple times. Final test shot shows about 1-2 stops below normal exposure. Cool.
Next, create key light: set an SB-800 at 1/4 power into a shoot thru umbrella on a stand about (her) head height. Test shot shows fall off down her body; we're not doing portraits, we're capturing how the clothes look. Lower the stand one foot.
Last, set up the on-cam flash for a bit of fill. TTL set at -1 should fill in any dark shadows. A test pop and things look great.
Made all the shots with no further fussing on lighting, which was great; we had to concentrate on making poses and making sure everything looks right. Except for the all-black outfit. Chimping showed there was little detail on the black (I didn't think to check the histogram though). So I boosted the key light up one full stop to 1/2 power.
She opened the images in photoshop and said "these are great. The only thing I have to do is take out the bruises on my legs." She expected to have to mess with the images, and was happy that they were great as-is.
Thanks David Hobby for the Strobist inspiration!
So she came to me yesterday wanting me to make photos of a few outfits she has made for herself. Great oppo to put my Strobist learning into action.
So we hung a sheet over a PVC frame I made for a backdrop, set the camera up carefully. My new D90 has a great function where you press Info and it displays all the important settings on the back, and you can just work your way around the screen and make sure all is well. Focus mode AF-S, WB Auto, ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/200 s, and F-stop about 6 or so.
We're in the living room with no direct sunlight in sight -- am figuring to light the scene entirely with strobe. Pop a test shot with no flash, make sure ambient is not a factor.
Create ambient: set an SB-600 on 1/16 power and aim it at the ceiling behind me. Adjust power up a couple times. Final test shot shows about 1-2 stops below normal exposure. Cool.
Next, create key light: set an SB-800 at 1/4 power into a shoot thru umbrella on a stand about (her) head height. Test shot shows fall off down her body; we're not doing portraits, we're capturing how the clothes look. Lower the stand one foot.
Last, set up the on-cam flash for a bit of fill. TTL set at -1 should fill in any dark shadows. A test pop and things look great.
Made all the shots with no further fussing on lighting, which was great; we had to concentrate on making poses and making sure everything looks right. Except for the all-black outfit. Chimping showed there was little detail on the black (I didn't think to check the histogram though). So I boosted the key light up one full stop to 1/2 power.
She opened the images in photoshop and said "these are great. The only thing I have to do is take out the bruises on my legs." She expected to have to mess with the images, and was happy that they were great as-is.
Thanks David Hobby for the Strobist inspiration!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Gooseberry Mesa and the Grand Canyon
What an experience! Five days with Rim Tours on mountain bikes.
The plan was to ride across the Kaibab Plateau to the Grand Canyon. But the weather at the Grand Canyon was not cooperating, with 4 inches of snow reported on the Arizona Trail.
We met up Monday, Memorial Day. I was eating breakfast at the hotel when Mike, one of our Rim Tours guides comes in to the breakfast area and introduces himself. He explained that the weather wasn't looking good, and got onto his laptop to get a weather report. Then we went outside and, at the planned meeting time, 8AM, I was the LAST guest to give my stuff to the other guide, Christina. Yep, all the other participants in the tour were there, ready, and had already loaded their stuff before I showed up at 8:00. Well, maybe it was 8:05.
We rolled out about 8:20 and headed to some of the local trails near Hurricane, UT.
One was called the Jem trail, and I can't remember the other trail. The weather was sorta warm - maybe 65-70, but very unstable, with occasional squalls and hard rain. The trails were very cool, with some medium steep climbs, and some really great roller coaster sections. After riding for a few hours, a great lunch provided by our guides, then a few more hours of riding, we packed up and headed for Gooseberry Mesa.
I should mention this is the second trip I've done with Rim Tours. They really do it right. Their fees are not cheap; you can stay in a nice resort for the $/day Rim Tours charges. But it's so worth it. The food is great, the guides are really cool and knowledgeable. The other patrons were a lot of fun to ride and hang out with too.
Gooseberry Mesa was above where we were riding earlier in the day, but it seemed like another world. The only structure I saw there was an outhouse; one of those cool cinder block ones with a vent stack that is designed not to stink much and isn't loaded with graffiti and trash.
We found space for our five tents - two Australian couples, and three of us who came on the tour by ourselves. Our guides didn't bother with tents for themselves; Mike slept on a cot under the stars, and Christina slept in the van.
Tuesday morning we got to sample the trails of Gooseberry Mesa. Unbelievable. Trails that wind in and out of pinyon pines, yucca and various cactuses and lead to technical slickrock sections. These trails have *flow*, and are super enjoyable riding. There are a few areas that were too technical for me, so getting off and walking messed up the flow a bit, but the trails are just super cool riding.
I'm already looking forward to my next trip to Gooseberry Mesa.
After 2-1/2 days near St. George, we did take off for the Grand Canyon, and of course it was beautiful. We were in the Kaibab National Forest, so we could ride on the trails. In National Parks, riding on trails is against the rules.
Our camp near the edge of the Grand Canyon
This view was a 3 minute walk from the camp site.
Riding through this meadow, I was really impressed with the trees bowed toward the trail.
Aspens.
So, the Grand Canyon was an awesome experience, and I do want to go back to the Kaibab Plateau. The mountain bike riding at Gooseberry Mesa was the very best I've ever seen, and I probably never would have ridden there if the weather hadn't been too cold at the beginning of the week. How lucky can a guy get?
The plan was to ride across the Kaibab Plateau to the Grand Canyon. But the weather at the Grand Canyon was not cooperating, with 4 inches of snow reported on the Arizona Trail.
We met up Monday, Memorial Day. I was eating breakfast at the hotel when Mike, one of our Rim Tours guides comes in to the breakfast area and introduces himself. He explained that the weather wasn't looking good, and got onto his laptop to get a weather report. Then we went outside and, at the planned meeting time, 8AM, I was the LAST guest to give my stuff to the other guide, Christina. Yep, all the other participants in the tour were there, ready, and had already loaded their stuff before I showed up at 8:00. Well, maybe it was 8:05.
We rolled out about 8:20 and headed to some of the local trails near Hurricane, UT.
One was called the Jem trail, and I can't remember the other trail. The weather was sorta warm - maybe 65-70, but very unstable, with occasional squalls and hard rain. The trails were very cool, with some medium steep climbs, and some really great roller coaster sections. After riding for a few hours, a great lunch provided by our guides, then a few more hours of riding, we packed up and headed for Gooseberry Mesa.
I should mention this is the second trip I've done with Rim Tours. They really do it right. Their fees are not cheap; you can stay in a nice resort for the $/day Rim Tours charges. But it's so worth it. The food is great, the guides are really cool and knowledgeable. The other patrons were a lot of fun to ride and hang out with too.
Gooseberry Mesa was above where we were riding earlier in the day, but it seemed like another world. The only structure I saw there was an outhouse; one of those cool cinder block ones with a vent stack that is designed not to stink much and isn't loaded with graffiti and trash.
We found space for our five tents - two Australian couples, and three of us who came on the tour by ourselves. Our guides didn't bother with tents for themselves; Mike slept on a cot under the stars, and Christina slept in the van.
Tuesday morning we got to sample the trails of Gooseberry Mesa. Unbelievable. Trails that wind in and out of pinyon pines, yucca and various cactuses and lead to technical slickrock sections. These trails have *flow*, and are super enjoyable riding. There are a few areas that were too technical for me, so getting off and walking messed up the flow a bit, but the trails are just super cool riding.
I'm already looking forward to my next trip to Gooseberry Mesa.
After 2-1/2 days near St. George, we did take off for the Grand Canyon, and of course it was beautiful. We were in the Kaibab National Forest, so we could ride on the trails. In National Parks, riding on trails is against the rules.
Our camp near the edge of the Grand Canyon
This view was a 3 minute walk from the camp site.
Riding through this meadow, I was really impressed with the trees bowed toward the trail.
Aspens.
So, the Grand Canyon was an awesome experience, and I do want to go back to the Kaibab Plateau. The mountain bike riding at Gooseberry Mesa was the very best I've ever seen, and I probably never would have ridden there if the weather hadn't been too cold at the beginning of the week. How lucky can a guy get?
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