Sep 2008
Interview with Andy Burton:
Where do you keep your boat?
I keep Raven off the NW corner of the Ida Lewis YC. That's where we sail out of.
How long have you been in the fleet?
I joined the fleet in 1995 when Wendy Noujian let me use her boat, 224. That
fall I bought Raven from the Coast Guard Academy along with 202, 176, 203,
and 181.
Who normally sails with you and could you tell us a little bit about them?
I have a bunch of teachers sailing with me, Beth Holland does foredeck, she
teaches at St Michaels and has been on Raven for 8 years, and races
Lightnings as well. Roy Williams does tactics and main trim, he teaches math
at St Georges where he's also the sailing coach. Lisa Conway tutors math and
physics, she trims jib and deals with the halyards and spinnaker douse. The fifth on the boat sort of rotates through Jeff Pedrick, Jeff Knowles, AJ Evans and Neil McLaughlin, all of whom are excellent sailors and good company.
Any tips and tricks that help you and your team excel?
I guess we are pretty organized; we get out to the course as early as
possible and check out the shifts and the current so we have an idea of what side of the course we want. We listen to the race committee on he radio and when the
pin is set we try to get a good line sight and get off the line clean with the option to tack if we want.
Are you going down to the Nationals?
We do plan to go to Nationals. Oxford is a great town, the breeze is
generally pretty good that time of year and it'll be fun to extend our
sailing season into October.
Anything else you might like to add? Philosophy? Wednesday night approach?
We are lucky to have such a great fleet to sail in. I believe that it's the
biggest keelboat fleet in the country for weekly racing. The competition is
terrific in a very deep fleet. I sail with friends (who just happen to be
excellent sailors) so I have a good time even if we tank, and the sail in,
chatting and drinking beers, enjoying Newport's perfect conditions, is often
the highlight of my week. Sailing really is a great sport. |
