Your Boat Head Manufacturers Share a Fun Way to Sail Without Getting Wet

Raritan Engineering your boat head professionals would like to share with you these topics we thought would be of interest to you this month regarding the exciting world of EC 12 sailboat racing.

Your boat head specialists talk about how it’s early on a Saturday morning in October, and the parking lot is already jam-packed at Lake Somerset within the gated community of Sun City, in Beaufort, South Carolina.

It’s the Sun City Model Yacht Club Regatta, and the sailors are here to practice for the upcoming East Coast 12 Meter National Championship, hosted by Turtle Pond Model YC in Peachtree City, Georgia, on the outskirts of Atlanta.

The EC 12 Meter class is an active group with a national ranking system and a keen following up and down the U.S. East Coast, as well as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. A new boat costs $3,500, but good secondhand boats can be found for half.

Launching an EC 12 is not as simple as removing it from its cradle and placing it into the water. Each 24-pound boat measures 59 inches in length, and the mast stands 72 inches above the deck, holding up 1,300 square inches of sail.

We Continue Discussing Great Ways to Enjoy Sailing

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On the racecourse, orange foam buoys are placed strategically to allow for changing wind directions. On the water level of the tree-rimmed lake, especially, winds change often. Gusts are unpredictable and erratic.

Racing commences with a booming prerecorded countdown from a handcrafted wooden cassette player.

“Three … two … one …”

Then the hollering begins: “Don’t come down!” “You can’t go in there!” “You have no room!”

Sound familiar?

It’s amusing to watch the sailors, shoulder to shoulder, elbowing each other to get ahead. Caught up in the excitement of the races, not a single competitor worries about disturbing the resident gator.

So don't forget these great reasons for trying out a new way to sail. 1) You don't have to fall overboard into water; 2) these boats are significantly cheaper; and 3) it is a great way to be competitive.

How a love of sailing helped Einstein explain the universe

If the world's most famous physicist Albert Einstein is any guide, modern-day scientists need to get out of the lab more and onto the water.

Around 1900, a cheeky Swiss patent clerk wrote to a friend about four scientific papers he had been working on in his spare time. He described them as revolutionary, claiming they would one day modify the "theory of space and time".

"But as soon as there was a breath of wind," she said, "he was ready to start sailing again."

The pair became lifelong friends after bonding on their sailing trips.

Ripples in time

Suzanne's observation sheds light on how "Young Einstein the sailor" first cracked the laws of physics in 1905. His first three articles relied on a stationary observer. He'd obviously figured out the concepts of space and time while becalmed on a lake.

It took 10 more years of sailing to figure out the hard physics bit — what happens when velocity and relativity are constantly changing — or put simply, when the breeze comes up.

Maybe the water and sunshine cleared his head. Either way, his sailing technique was unusual to say the least — in his words: "set sail, make it fast, no thoughts of energy or velocity, loll back, let boat drift."

Losing 'Tummler'

Einstein the sailor was not interested in racing and fell into the "cruising" category. He hated engines and is even said to have refused a present of an outboard motor.

But his joy didn't last long as the Nazis seized the boat in 1933 when Einstein fled to America.

He tried hard to get her back but a rescue operation was deemed too dangerous and Tummler was lost.

Not so smooth sailing

In his new home in the United States, Albert Einstein was always on the lookout for places to sail.

In his late 50s while sailing in a remote spot off Long Island on his clunky little sailboat Tinef (which apparently meant "worthless" or "junk"), he was frequently dismasted, ran aground and nearly drowned when he hit a rock and the boat capsized, trapping him under the sail.

The laws of physics are more obvious in a constantly changing sea and Albert Einstein knew just where to look: "Nature conceals her secrets because she is sublime, not because she is a trickster."

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