It sounds like typical regatta chatter. But these tactical calls are especially important. Iwamoto is blind. That boat they just missed - with four other boats bearing down? All driven by blind crew members.
The event was the first California Invitational Blind Sailing Regatta, organized on the Oakland-Alameda Estuary by the Marin Sailing School and Island Yacht Club. Teams represented Boston, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors and Iwamoto's team, called California 1.Under international blind-regatta rules, the person at the helm is blind. A second blind or vision-impaired person handles the mainsail. There's a fully sighted tactician and a fully sighted crew member handling the foresail, but neither can't touch any other controls except in an emergency.
Crew members build a mental map of the boat with a systematic, hands-on tour, and they race on virtually identical boats loaned for the occasion. They turn their heads to feel the air on their nose and ears to tell them which way the wind is blowing. Despite maneuvers just feet apart, collisions are rare. There's not even extra insurance required, though the boat owner or a rep was allowed aboard for this regatta. -- SF Chronicle, read on here.
