October 2008
Interview with Peter Muir:
Where do you keep your boat?
PM: Well, it’s a Navy Boat so we keep it over at Coasters Harbor.
Nice set up over there?
PM: Very nice. It’s part of the Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation Program for active and retired Navy personnel. We take a dinghy out to the mooring every Wednesday.
How long have you been in the shields fleet?
PM: This is my 9th season in Fleet 9. A mutual friend introduced me to Bernie when I moved to Rhode Island in 1999.
Who are the people you normally sail with?
PM: Bernie Patterson is the skipper of the boat. He is a retired Navy Capt who has been in the fleet for somewhere between 15 and 20 years. He used to sail 163 with the great Chris Withers. Bernie usually acts as a tactician/navigator type but trims if we’re short on crew. Doug Hancher and Curtis Peschel make up our bow team. They trim the jib and make sure that the sails go up and down correctly. Doug is a Structural Engineer and a Retired Navy Commander. Curtis is a Navy Lieutenant and teaches at the Surface Warfare Officer’s School. Jacob Vargsih does most of our trimming and helps Bernie with tactics; he is a Naval Architect.
If I understand correctly you work for Ronstan and have nothing to do with the Navy?
PM: Correct
Is that weird? Are they all pretty nice to you?
PM: Its not weird at all, they’re very nice to me!
That’s good. Moving right along. I hear you recently had the pleasure of sailing with Fleet 9’s very own Chuck Allen, what was that like?
PM: Well, first off, he improved our average standing by about 10 places. We usually finish in the mid teens and last night we got a 5th. Chuck brought an amazing intensity and focus as well as some very helpful trimming advice. It’s nice to know that the 163 is capable of mixing it up with the Big Dawgs.
Do you guys do anything special with your rigging or your boat set up?
PM: Not really. We are more followers than leaders when it comes to that stuff. We stick to our own conventional methods. Every year we try to change something though. This past off-season we lead our spin halyard out of the cockpit and up to an exit on the mast so that it can be jumped from the foredeck. Chuck just showed us a new way of attaching our jib luff with some spectra and he also showed us where to put bungee for the pole tip so it stays on the boat. We can’t wait to implement those two systems.
After last night, if next year’s season were to start next week, what would your goals be?
PM: A couple of years ago we were 13th for the season. Getting back there would be great. For the most part we take the season race-by-race, if we can keep breaking into the top ten every now and then that would be great.
Thanks for your time and good luck down the road.
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