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OUTDOOR JOURNAL Hail the sail Sailboat racers play chess on the water Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted Jun. 24, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted Jun. 24, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News ASHLAND — Derek Budd and Mark Warwick head into the final turn, where the two racers rub a little paint, and before you know it down goes Laser. Budd's 14-foot Laser sailboat capsizes from the accidental crash, while Warwick speeds forward across Emigrant Lake in his identical, but newer, version. "Three boats all turned at the same time, and his boat accelerated faster than mine," Budd says. "It all happened really quickly. We were a bit out of control for a few seconds, and there was no way to get away." The incident is one snapshot in a collage of moments Budd, Warwick and other members of the Rogue Yacht Club share during Lasers-only racing events cobbled together during spring and early summer evenings on Emigrant Lake east of Ashland. These Wednesday races are not only a midweek, on-the-water respite but a way to get their sailing jones sated before the High Cascades weather warms enough for comfortable racing at Howard Prairie Lake, the club's home water. The Emigrant races are low-key and without racing stewards, race committees or too many rules. They launch by hand off a pothole-laden access point along Highway 66 without much fanfare. They place one turn buoy to race around and use a No Wake buoy in the lake's Emigrant Arm as the other. The series of starting horns from the official "starter" spouts from a floating electric contraption fashioned by Jim Gurley, an engineer and club member. "We pride ourselves as being the least pretentious sailing club on the West Coast," says Jay Harland, one of the midweek racing regulars. "Our facilities are off a crappy road at Emigrant Lake." But they're plenty good to facilitate these Olympic-class, 14-foot,"single-handed" sailboats, meaning the sail can be controlled with one rope. The same Laser design, right down to the length of the mast and size of the sail, have remained constant for decades, so Budd's 1970s version is mirrored by Warwick's 1990s boat. Sail-ready, they range from $1,000 for older versions to about $6,000 for new ones. The Rogue Yacht Club has been fielding weekend handicapped races for decades at places such as Howard Prairie Lake, where all sorts of different-sized boats with myriad capabilities race against each other on a weighted scale. But some club members wanted to get some one-design racing going, and "it was hatched over a couple of pints, like most sailboat racing is," Harland says. Three club members already owned Lasers, so Harland and a few others bought their own, "and the next thing you know, we have an actual fleet," he says. Anywhere from three to eight racers make the spring Wednesday races, which include anywhere from two to four contests before ending over shared brews and chit-chats about who won and who should have. "We're racing the same boats, and we're all trying to get to the same spots as fast as we can," Harland says. "It's a high-powered chess match on the water. "We meet, battle it out and have a beer together." Racers compare these sorts of contests to aquatic NASCAR, where the vehicles are identical, so they test the sailors' abilities and luck with the wind during each half-hour race. "If you're racing alone, you have no one to blame but yourself if you lose," Warwick says. "But it's all for fun, just to get out on the water." While Lasers are relatively simple boats in the nautical world, they can be a handful to sail. Working the sail offers a strong core workout depending on the winds. "It's very deceptive," says Budd, an Ashland software engineer. "Easy to get going, hard to do it right." Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Follow @@MTwriterFreeman Posted Jun. 24, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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