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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2001
THAD ALLENDER/KANSAN
Charlie Rose grabs for the hull of the sailboat while Cody Walters treads water nearby. "That was the first time I've ever flipped one of those boats," Rose said Monday at Clinton Lake
Not so smooth sailing Crews face rough waters, put skills to the test
STORY BY LUKE WETZEL
alone turkey buzzard soared over the Clinton Lake marina as Charlie Rose secured a 420 sailboat onto the trailer hitch of his '88 Toyota.
"Yee-haw!" said Rose. "It's going to be fun today. We're going to be flying."
In the cove by the dock, three brightly colored windsurfers and one noisy jet ski drove around in circles. Rose, Overland Park senior, mimicked the sound of the jet ski motor while rigging the sails for the afternoon excursion.
"I'll be the first to say I've had fun in a jet ski, but the kind of fun you have on one is limited because it's not that hard," he said. "I prefer sailing. It's clean and peaceful. Would you rather go hiking and backpacking or take an ATV or snowmobile into the mountains? It's the same kind of thing."
Rose's sailing partner for the afternoon, Cody Walters, Onaga senior, said he was ready for his second time sailing. The other time he sailed the mast of the four-person sailboat broke.
The conditions that afternoon didn't look any friendlier. The relentless flapping of the main sail and the angry-looking waves suggested it would be a rocky voyage.
"It was really exciting when that happened," he said. "We cut right into the wind, and there was too much force, so it snapped at the bottom. One of our friends had to jump in the water to save Charlie's dad's dog."
"It's going to be hairy, but we can swing it," Rose said. "Today is one of those really fun days. It's the kind of day where you don't mind getting wet because it's going to be hot."
Once Rose had set both the sails, Walters hopped in to join him, launching the boat away from the dock with his momentum. Within minutes, the 14-foot boat was reduced to the size of a model against the backdrop of the dam, a wake of foam trailing after it.
"One thing I like about sailing is that it's a challenge," Rose said. "You have to be interested in doing it. Sometimes people want to go along for the ride, but you still have to do something. There's really no free ride on a sailboat."
Jesse Anderson, Lawrence junior, has been sailing at Clinton Lake since she was three years old.
"My dad dragged me out there," she said. "In high school he used to excuse me from class to go out to the lake."
Anderson grew to enjoy the sport at a summer sailing camp in Michigan.
"Iused to hate it,"she said. "It's hard to learn things from your parents. Sailing with your friends is completely different."
Since then, she has served as commodore of the KU Sailing club and competed in regattas in Texas, South Carolina, California, Rhode Island and other places. The University also hosted two regattas last year. The most recent was a division qualifier for nationals held in May. Large regattas can draw up to 18 four-person teams, which compete in races that go around buoys placed in triangular formations.
"Anything you're looking for in a sport it has." Anderson said. "You can sail to relax or get an adrenaline rush from going fast. If you want a tactical mental game, you can race."
Anderson said a common
aphorism is that anybody can learn sailing in a day but that it takes a lifetime to perfect.
"It itakes a lot of time to trim your sails right and learn the directions of the wind," she said. "It's like playing chess. You can tell anybody how the pieces work, but as far as putting them into a cohesive whole and winning the game, it takes awhile to learn. Lots of people call it chess on water."
Trimming, adjusting the angle of a sail, can be a delicate process. Let it out too far, and it begins flapping. Bring it in too much, and it won't catch enough wind to move the boat. Tacking, which is turning the bow into the wind to change direction, can be difficult on a windy day.
Rose and Walters found this out the hard way. In the middle of tacking downwind, the boat capsized, spilling both of them out.
THAD ALLENDEE/KANSAN
Walters said the strong wind threw them off balance.
"It was amazing," he said. "We were out there, and it was nothing but the sound of the sail flapping."
Rose remained undaunted. Within minutes he was back on the water.
"Man, I love these waves," he said. "It's like, we're in Kansas. Do you believe it?"
Rose steered the boat upwind, guiding it over the waves until it skimmed across the water. A windsurfer on the periphery prompted him to bring in the sail enough to accelerate.
THAD ALLENDER/KANSAN
As waves crash against the bow of the sailboat, Cody Walters, foreground, Onaga senior and Charlie Rose, Overland Park senior, lean out to counterbalance Clinton Lake's treacherous waters. Because of high winds and choppy water Monday, Walters and Rose faced the classic struggle between man and nature.
"Let's race this guy," Rose said. "Any time you've got two sails going in the same direction, it's a race."
Rose was victorious, but the race was short lived. After cruising past the windsurfer, a gust of wind threw the boat off balance. With the sound and fury of 260 pounds of fiberglass slamming into the surf, the boat went belly-up.
"That's what we call a death roll," Rose said. This time the boat was flipped over completely. Rose ducked under the water to push up the centerboard, then emerged to climb on top of the boat and use the board as leverage to flip it back around.
After ducking under the boom, Charlie Rose watches as Cody Walters secures the cheat in the cleat, completing a 180-degree tack.
"The wind today is like an unruly horse," he said. "It doesn't want to take the bit."
After cruising back into the shore, striking the sails and loading up the boat, Rose and Walters
"You really do get torn up in this sport," Rose said, admiring a series of bruises on his toe. "The lake water really doesn't help the healing process either."
Anderson said she still finds sailing relaxing despite participating in races and helping run the business side of the club.
"I think that will make the club itself more successful." he said.
Rose said the club hoped to build a dock by the water so members could sail without a trailer hitch to haul a boat from the marina.
"It's my release," she said.
"Instead of going out and burning down houses, I go out sailing."
Wetzel can be reached at 864-4810 or writer@kansan.com
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