FAQs

R2R Chalk Session You’ve been racing together for 10 years. What keeps you together as a team? Our love of sailing, competition, and most of all each other. What is the origin of the boat’s name? When Thom bought Rail to Rail that was its name. Everyone told him it was “bad luck” to change it. Besides, we thought Rail to Rail is a perfect metaphor for the actions of the crew in upwind sailing. Why is Rail to Rail wet sailed? Rail to Rail is a minimum all up weight racing boat. Over the years, it has proven to have all the speed it needs to win on San Francisco Bay. If we were racing in light air, however, it may be a touch slower in flat water than dry sailed boats with super smooth bottoms. By placing Rail to Rail in OCSC’s training program, others are given the opportunity to sail on a tricked out racing boat. Besides the income buys a new set of sails for us each year. Overall, it’s a great compromise that works for us. Which is more important to being at the top of the standings, a boat prepared to minimum J24 class specifications or a crew with great experience? Without question, J24s absolutely need to be prepared to class minimum specifications. When Rail to Rail’s keel was moved in 1996 to the max forward position and faired using Computer Keel templates, its upwind tacking angle decreased almost 10 degrees in 15-knots of breeze. Over a mile long course that is a 20 boat length advantage, which is far more distance than a great crew can make up over moderately good sailors. In ten years of racing, you’ve only been in the protest room once, yet Rail to Rail has been aggressive out on the race course. How do you manage that balancing act? As our team’s experience has grown, we’ve learned to focus on the big picture. To win regattas or even the season championship, you must perform consistently well. So we balance pushing the tactical envelope with the risks and rewards associated with any given maneuver. Safety dominates our decision making. And more importantly, we would rather trust our sailing skills and boat speed to make up for the occasional duck than place our fate in the hands of even the best intentioned race committees. This not to say we haven’t committed our share of rule infractions. When we’re wrong we fess up and take our lumps (thank goodness for 720s). At the end of the weekend, we want to be viewed as fair competitors, who are on the best of terms with our fellow fleet members.. Your team has had some big wins! Which one is the most memorable? In 2002 we were sailing in the first upwind leg of the Summer Keelboat regatta. Rail to Rail was in the lead and had just tacked on starboard layline. Our Tactick popped out of its base and bounced overboard. Rich asked Thom what he wanted to do. At $600 the answer was obvious – “Dude let’s go get it.” We bore off, sailed back, did a Tactick overboard maneuver, popped it back in its base, and went on to win the race. It was a 5 bullet weekend for Rail to Rail – out best ever. OK, that was impressive! So what was your most embarrassing moment? No question, it was the first start of the 1997 North American Championships. It was our first National event. We were over early at the pin end of the line. We gybed around the pin boat and promptly nailed its stern rail. Thank goodness the StFYC has thought to install a guardrail on the stern of the whaler. Otherwise we would have been buying them a new outboard motor. In the heat of the moment, it’s important to stay focused. In our zeal to recover quickly, we didn’t and ended up even deeper. It goes without saying, hitting other boats is slow sailing. Any others stories you would care to share? Not really, but here goes. In the first race of the 2003 Western Regional Championships, we had put our new OCSC spinnaker on board. We had a terrible start and Thom took a flyer to the middle of the bay. As we reached the windward mark almost 10 minutes behind the second to last place boat, we had to pop the new chute and let the world know who we were. At that moment, we would have given our souls to have had the tired old white spinnaker on board. Any scary moments? After 10 years on the Bay, only one comes to mind. The 2001 Nationals started on a Friday morning. We were in the middle of the pack. Thom asked Rich to take the boat aggressively into the windward mark near the port layline. As we made our way up to the starboard layline, we tried to sneak it in. We got shut out, quickly gybed, let all common sense go and tried once more to fight out way through the parade. What were we thinking? Thom, sitting on the starboard rail forward of the aft stanchion, remembers looking up under the bow of a Canadian boat. By the time it came down off the wave, Rail to Rail had almost slide past. The Canadians bounced off the lifeline near the stern pulpit. One 720 later, Rail to Rail was back in the hunt with sky rocketing heartbeats.