bowmen united

[Guest]

for all the unsung fordeck gods out there. everyone thinks the skill is in the cockpit. but all i ever see, or hear as a matter of fact, is a loud mouth skipper and a crew that dont do there job properly and leave that poor bowman looking like a drowned rat on the fordeck battleing sails, waves and spinnaker poles. now how about some good war stories about when the cockpit has f**ked it up for the legend up the sharp end

[col j 0]

story of my life.....

 

 

too many f**k ups from the back to remember...7years on they are slowly learning. learn bloody quick up the sharp end when the pressure is on. even during your down time (between changes and gybes and set ups after holding on for life while pluging in a headsail or kite for the next leg) when they stuff up, its the frontmans job to fix it...

 

all strings get pulled but at the wrong time. half of them are deaf back there too from all the close quarters yelling

 

we go well in the 2 handed stuff cos we have 2 bowmen sailing the boat, cept ones seized up a bit and growing large (me)

[Guest]

Pffff!!! Bow is easy. No thinking involved, just up and down.

The bowman only has 3 corners to deal with, yet I've still seen spinnakers flown sideways!

 

You see, the back end has to point the boat in the right direction, keep the speed on and put up with the idiot who has his weight in the wrong place and is disturbing the air in the slot for farr farr too long! That is where the skill lies....

 

The real problem is that good bowmen are soooo hard to come by, because they tend to get promoted to pulling on ropes, instead of just clipping them up! This causes all sorts of stuff ups, which only stop when Mr. Ex-bowman realises that he isn't god, and listens to the guy with the stick (who really does know what he's doing!)

[col j 0]

yes on a boat sailed by donkeys, but take for example the stewart 34 (2nd on line in the sprints last season) i sail on (halyards at mast...there is a mast man and a bow man. the 6 people down the back only have at most a tiller, mainsheet, kite brace and sheet, genoa sheet. thats 6 people to do 5 things.

 

up the front we have genoa halyard, spin halyard, sail setting and retrieving, pole juggling, wave breaking, f*ck up fixing when something fails. along with outhaul/cunningham/vang adjustment, pre start timing, going up mast when someone from cockpit comes forward to help get kite up and pulls un attached halyard up mast out of my hand, bagging the kites, flaking the headsails. if we park up because of no wind i drop/raise the anchor and before the races i clean the bottom and run all lines.

 

the people down the back get a chance to swap out and have a break. up the front, no other bloke from the back wants to get wet changing headsail while under kite with bow spray.

 

by the way i have been known to drive better than the driver

 

is it unwise to start such a sh*t slinging contest?

[wal 27]

Bowmen rule

 

End of discussion

 

A Bowman has Spoken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

hay jh/AA or any one else that knows does atom ant still have 6 halyards and twin tack lines?

[floatsome 0]

Bowmen should only be seen and not heard. If they get noisy drop the pole on their head - when they are not looking !

[Guest]

What Wal said.

 

Col, (retired bowman).

[wal 27]

Bowmen should only be seen and not heard. If they get noisy drop the pole on their head - when they are not looking !

 

 

S'why my boat aint got no pole........

[markm 30]

A Bowman has Spoken

 

That'd be a first wouldn't it, I thought they just grunted, blew air through various bodily orifices and scraped their knuckles on the non skid?

[SloopJohnB 322]

Just for your reference JH.

 

http://www.bowmansunion.com/

[Mothership 6]

Bowmen should only be seen and not heard. If they get noisy drop the pole on their head - when they are not looking !

 

 

S'why my boat aint got no pole........

 

True - only has a bent boat hook. Oops.

[Atom Ant 0]

hay jh/AA or any one else that knows does atom ant still have 6 halyards and twin tack lines?

Well let me count... 1 main, 2 genoa, 1 masthead spin, 1 fractional spin = 5 halyards & 1 tack line.

 

The only time voices are raised on AA is only to be heard, in fact all I do is steer. I don't have any whinging bowmen or crew. All happy campers.

[Guest]

it used to have 2 masthead,2 fractional,2 genoa,2 tack lines and well a main halyard so 7 but 6 out the front was good set up as long as the right rope got pulled at the right time

[Guest]

Floatsome, you are right about seen but not heard.

The only reason us bowman have to have anything to say is because some muppet watching seagulls in the cockpit hasn't done their job, or is standing on a line we need to be a bit longer.

 

Yesterday I did bow, and once it was up dash back and trim as well. Luckily the course didn't require a gybe.

[Guest]

yesterday the poor bowman ended up being hoisted up the rig off the noises to cut a halyard and retreive a broken masthead. whatta hero

[Guest]

all in a days work if you ask me.

freehanded out to the end of a pole recently?

[col j 0]

some countries our position is refereed to simply as 'number 1'

[wal 27]

all in a days work if you ask me.

freehanded out to the end of a pole recently?

 

with the tack of the new kite clipped to your belt

[SloopJohnB 322]

all in a days work if you ask me.

freehanded out to the end of a pole recently?

 

Not recently but 30 years ago.... nothing is new.

 

Thats one thing good about IOR poles, just stand on the pullpit and clip the new tack one.