A great winter day of sailing: steady, consistent wind from the south; cold but not freezing; and gray! Tom and Mike ran 5 Windward/Leeward races, with a relatively square line. We were joined by three sailors from other clubs, which made for a strong fleet. I’ve been slowly but steadily moving up the fleet this year, thanks in good measure to the two sailors – James and Steen who offer sage advice is you listen carefully. So, here’s my secret to improvement:
1) Imitation – If you can’t beat them, copy them! While still slower, I used either James or Steen as a test boat, with the goal to try to lose less distance than I usually do. I’ve given up on playing with the outhaul but work the downhaul and vang much more aggressively.
2) Be on the line and in a good place to get clean air. If you don’t have a good start, it’s nearly impossible to make up that many boat lengths when sailing in bad air. I ended up tacking quickly to port on a few races to find good air.
3) Ignore your windward telltale – learned this from the clinic a few weeks ago with James. Makes a huge difference.
4) Do not let a gust go to waste – I’ve leaned hard into the keep-the boat-flat-school of sailing! I played the mainsheet more aggressively to keep the boat flat, even in gusts.
5) Don’t make dumb mistakes – suffice it to say, hitting the mark, not seeing a boat on starboard, getting a line tangled in your leg all slow you down!
-Brian Joseph
