1. Falling in on the start line
Club race on Sunday, lined up perfectly all set to go, as I sheet in a huge gust blows in down the line and backs the sail. My arse delicately kisses the water and I'm on that awfully poised point where I'm not going in but not going to get back in the damn boat either. Only option is to let go and fall in. Back in the boat quick and off like a whippet but well at the back of the fleet.
2. Boat full of water Again!
A-bloody-gain! For the third time this year I need a truck to haul the boat up the slipway because the hull is full of water. I haven't had a proper look yet but I'll bet my carbon tiller extension its the join between the deck and the hull, just where it sits on the trolley. Looking closely I can see now that the gunnel supports on the trolley aren't sitting right inside the lip of the hull. I'll now be praying to the weather gods that the temperature doesn't drop too much before the weekend and it stays dry, so I can epoxy it. Oh, and pass me the sledge hammer, I'm going to fix the gunnel problem for good!
3. Sitting in dirty air downwind
Our fleet being a handicap fleet, and our courses involving a tour round the lake resembling the London Tube Map, means that if you don't get in front you're being blanketed by half a dozen sails bigger than yours. Or, you're stuck in amongst the trailing pack and can't get out because even if you stick your nose out in front, you'll be blanketed after the next windward mark by all the boats behind you.
Thursday 27 September 2007
Fast
1. Not losing your head and blaming it on everthing else
Its true, Michael Blackburn is God. And for a pom to say that about an Aussie is pretty much tantamount to treason, but if you want to know why go check out his Sailing Mind Skills material. I've been listening to the stuff for a couple of months now and it has really helped me to maintain focus when racing. Instead of sitting at the back of the fleet cursing my bad luck I started to plan my way back to the front. So instead of sitting in the dirty air downwind I started...
2. Sailing by the lee
I just decided I needed to something to get away from the pack so instead of joining the procession on a dead run up to the mark I sailed down and by the lee. When the gusts hit I really took off and pulled back a shed load of places, broad reaching into the mark then...
3. A smooth gybe onto the reach
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the person who loses least boat speed around the marks is half way there on a small course. Healing as the boom came over then squeezing it back flat helped me get straight onto a plane and pick up another shed load of places before hardening up at the next mark and...
4. Tacking on the headers
In oscillating winds on a puddle you have to be absolutely sure a shift is a shift, especially when its getting to you via overhead power cables which are stretched across the lake. Instead of tacking as soon as my sail flapped I had the confidence to hang on for a few seconds to make sure it was a header then tacking, and this lifted me clear of the pack and chasing the leaders.
So I ended up crossing the line in 5th place. The inevitable handicap lottery dragged me down a few more places but, hey, you have to beat them on the water first!
Now, where's my epoxy kit and the sledge hammer?
Its true, Michael Blackburn is God. And for a pom to say that about an Aussie is pretty much tantamount to treason, but if you want to know why go check out his Sailing Mind Skills material. I've been listening to the stuff for a couple of months now and it has really helped me to maintain focus when racing. Instead of sitting at the back of the fleet cursing my bad luck I started to plan my way back to the front. So instead of sitting in the dirty air downwind I started...
2. Sailing by the lee
I just decided I needed to something to get away from the pack so instead of joining the procession on a dead run up to the mark I sailed down and by the lee. When the gusts hit I really took off and pulled back a shed load of places, broad reaching into the mark then...
3. A smooth gybe onto the reach
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the person who loses least boat speed around the marks is half way there on a small course. Healing as the boom came over then squeezing it back flat helped me get straight onto a plane and pick up another shed load of places before hardening up at the next mark and...
4. Tacking on the headers
In oscillating winds on a puddle you have to be absolutely sure a shift is a shift, especially when its getting to you via overhead power cables which are stretched across the lake. Instead of tacking as soon as my sail flapped I had the confidence to hang on for a few seconds to make sure it was a header then tacking, and this lifted me clear of the pack and chasing the leaders.
So I ended up crossing the line in 5th place. The inevitable handicap lottery dragged me down a few more places but, hey, you have to beat them on the water first!
Now, where's my epoxy kit and the sledge hammer?
Monday 17 September 2007
Sailing Away
Part of my plan this year is to get away from my home water and sail in some different places and against different people, in the hope that you learn different things being beaten by different people!
Every year the regions of the UK Laser Association hold Grand Prix series. This year I've opted for the Thames Valley series, although with my handy West London location I could do the Eastern or Southern series.
I did two events in the early part of the season and for all sorts of reasons haven't been able to do any more, but I'm determined to do enough to qualify so I have to get in four more out of the five left. So it was off to Frensham Pond in Surrey on Sunday.
My objectives for the day were
1. Enjoy myself
2. Not to come last
3. Get at least one good start
4. Not to be overtaken by a bloody Radial sailor.
I love my sat nav. Even though it doesn't recognise Postcodes, it takes all the hard work out of finding your way into the back of beyond, or Farnham as its known in Surrey, and lets you get to the venue relatively stress free. The M25 and M3 behaved themselves and after winding up and down some quiet country roads I was waiting at the gate for the club to open at 9.00 pm. As chance would have it, the only other early arrival was someone from my own club and we chatted things sailing until the club secretary came along to open up. The road up to the club was narrow and I was pointing the wrong way and I joked that reversing with a trailer wasn't my strong point, at which the guy unhitched my boat and wheeled around to the launch area for me while I turned around. Top marks for helpfulness from Frensham Pond.
The lake is about three times the size of my home water and much more regular in shape. Tree lined (hard not to find a puddle which isn't) with a steep (for Surrey) hill at the South East corner. However, the wind coming from the South West was pretty constant in direction with only the South East corner of the lake subject to some odd wind shifts. The sky was blue with white clouds fluffing across frequently and when the sun came out it was warm, so all in all a fabulous day for sailing.
The wind picked up considerably during registration and was averaging about 10mph with some 20mph gusts coming down periodically when we got out to the start area for the first race. At my home club where each end of the start line is always on land, the favoured technique is to reach up and down the line aiming to time arrival at the favoured end on the gun and tacking. I tend to back my boat handling skills and wait at the favoured end, short tacking and gybing until about a minute before the gun then getting in position and wait on starboard ready to sheet in and go. Its generally a good strategy and I'm usually at the front of the fleet at the first mark, which, due to the shape of the lake, and the fact that committee boats are never used, is rarely more than about 20 boat lengths and often much less.
Here, no one was reaching down the line and the approach to the line was much more tactical, with boats vying for position 3 minutes out. I managed to get right on the committee boat although there wasn't really a favoured end and with 20 secs to go looked around and noticed I was the only one on the line. I hadn't noticed that there had been a problem with the starting horn and the postponement flag was up! I tried to look as though I was casually practising my starts but I don't think anyone was convinced.
At the actual start I was again well up at the committee boat end and got off to a good start but couldn't pop out from the front. This is a real weak spot in my sailing - whether because of my weight or bad technique, I can't boost a good position on the start line with good speed. On my home water where a lot of starts are poorly timed I get away with it, but here where all the boats are on the line and going in the same direction, within a few seconds of the start I'm sitting in the lee bows of 20 other boats and going backward.
My two other starts were much the same, although I did get told off in one start for barging. Well, there was a gap there and I went for it, it would have been rude not to! I was last on the water for one race, but not last overall because the gusts defeated some of the lighter sailors and there were four retirements. I went over a couple of times but frustratingly it was due to error on my part - sitting on the mainsheet for one and managing to wrap it around the tiller when it was around my back for the second.
I only got caught by a Radial sailor in the second race which was disappointing as their start was 5 minutes after the standard start. Just to rub it in, my overtaker was a teenage girl, gliding past me just before I went over the line. She went on to win the Radial event so suppose I shouldn't complain.
By the end of the third race I had cramp in both my forearms and I was struggling to keep the boat flat upwind. However, I felt very confident downwind on the runs and didn't lose any ground at all to the helms in front. Reaching was a different matter. Steve Cockerill says heavier sailors should get back as far as possible but not dig the transom in, but be prepared to react quickly to the wind when it drops and get back forward again. My timing is right out and I think I was getting back to far. How envious I was of the guys at the front of the fleet who crossed me as I was going downwind, hiked out on their toestraps, boat flat and hull barely touching the water, and managing to keep it on the plane virtually from mark to mark. It was worth going just to see that.
So reaching 3 out of 4 objectives isn't bad at all and I'm really looking forward to the next one. In between I'll be practising accelerating up to full speed from the gun!
Every year the regions of the UK Laser Association hold Grand Prix series. This year I've opted for the Thames Valley series, although with my handy West London location I could do the Eastern or Southern series.
I did two events in the early part of the season and for all sorts of reasons haven't been able to do any more, but I'm determined to do enough to qualify so I have to get in four more out of the five left. So it was off to Frensham Pond in Surrey on Sunday.
My objectives for the day were
1. Enjoy myself
2. Not to come last
3. Get at least one good start
4. Not to be overtaken by a bloody Radial sailor.
I love my sat nav. Even though it doesn't recognise Postcodes, it takes all the hard work out of finding your way into the back of beyond, or Farnham as its known in Surrey, and lets you get to the venue relatively stress free. The M25 and M3 behaved themselves and after winding up and down some quiet country roads I was waiting at the gate for the club to open at 9.00 pm. As chance would have it, the only other early arrival was someone from my own club and we chatted things sailing until the club secretary came along to open up. The road up to the club was narrow and I was pointing the wrong way and I joked that reversing with a trailer wasn't my strong point, at which the guy unhitched my boat and wheeled around to the launch area for me while I turned around. Top marks for helpfulness from Frensham Pond.
The lake is about three times the size of my home water and much more regular in shape. Tree lined (hard not to find a puddle which isn't) with a steep (for Surrey) hill at the South East corner. However, the wind coming from the South West was pretty constant in direction with only the South East corner of the lake subject to some odd wind shifts. The sky was blue with white clouds fluffing across frequently and when the sun came out it was warm, so all in all a fabulous day for sailing.
The wind picked up considerably during registration and was averaging about 10mph with some 20mph gusts coming down periodically when we got out to the start area for the first race. At my home club where each end of the start line is always on land, the favoured technique is to reach up and down the line aiming to time arrival at the favoured end on the gun and tacking. I tend to back my boat handling skills and wait at the favoured end, short tacking and gybing until about a minute before the gun then getting in position and wait on starboard ready to sheet in and go. Its generally a good strategy and I'm usually at the front of the fleet at the first mark, which, due to the shape of the lake, and the fact that committee boats are never used, is rarely more than about 20 boat lengths and often much less.
Here, no one was reaching down the line and the approach to the line was much more tactical, with boats vying for position 3 minutes out. I managed to get right on the committee boat although there wasn't really a favoured end and with 20 secs to go looked around and noticed I was the only one on the line. I hadn't noticed that there had been a problem with the starting horn and the postponement flag was up! I tried to look as though I was casually practising my starts but I don't think anyone was convinced.
At the actual start I was again well up at the committee boat end and got off to a good start but couldn't pop out from the front. This is a real weak spot in my sailing - whether because of my weight or bad technique, I can't boost a good position on the start line with good speed. On my home water where a lot of starts are poorly timed I get away with it, but here where all the boats are on the line and going in the same direction, within a few seconds of the start I'm sitting in the lee bows of 20 other boats and going backward.
My two other starts were much the same, although I did get told off in one start for barging. Well, there was a gap there and I went for it, it would have been rude not to! I was last on the water for one race, but not last overall because the gusts defeated some of the lighter sailors and there were four retirements. I went over a couple of times but frustratingly it was due to error on my part - sitting on the mainsheet for one and managing to wrap it around the tiller when it was around my back for the second.
I only got caught by a Radial sailor in the second race which was disappointing as their start was 5 minutes after the standard start. Just to rub it in, my overtaker was a teenage girl, gliding past me just before I went over the line. She went on to win the Radial event so suppose I shouldn't complain.
By the end of the third race I had cramp in both my forearms and I was struggling to keep the boat flat upwind. However, I felt very confident downwind on the runs and didn't lose any ground at all to the helms in front. Reaching was a different matter. Steve Cockerill says heavier sailors should get back as far as possible but not dig the transom in, but be prepared to react quickly to the wind when it drops and get back forward again. My timing is right out and I think I was getting back to far. How envious I was of the guys at the front of the fleet who crossed me as I was going downwind, hiked out on their toestraps, boat flat and hull barely touching the water, and managing to keep it on the plane virtually from mark to mark. It was worth going just to see that.
So reaching 3 out of 4 objectives isn't bad at all and I'm really looking forward to the next one. In between I'll be practising accelerating up to full speed from the gun!
Sunday 9 September 2007
Fun
I spend a lot of time watching kids. I work with them anyway, but at the lake I like to just sit back sometimes and watch the way they do things.
It seems that until a person gets to aged 16 or so their main objective as soon as an adults back is turned is to break what ever they have. However, the closer you look, the more you realise that they're not doing it on purpose, they just seem to have an innate drive to find as many different ways of interacting, for want of a better word, with an object as possible.
Take yesterday for example. Four kids, one about 17 the others 13 maybe 14 were sailing the club's RS Vision around the lake. It was blowing about 8 or 9 mph from the NW so not exactly a hoolie but they all had trap harnesses on. After a while I noticed that they didn't actually have the spinnaker kit with them. The principle intention seemed to be for 3 of them to heel the boat and balance it so that the fourth could swing out as far as possible on the trap then tarzan his or her way back in again. They kept it up for hours.
I was mainly at the lake to help out with our club for disabled sailors. We have a couple of Challenger trimarans and 4 Access dinghies. Access dinghies are strange little boats which have a fuck-off big steel plate for a centreboard, and are actually bath shaped and sized keel boats. They have an unstayed fore mast which holds a jib, and a mainsail. You steer by using a centrally mounted joystick which moves the rudder by a pulley system. A lot of the disabled sailors can find there own way around the lake but the more challenged need someone with them, so me and a few others go out with them and let them have as much control as they want.
Lewis, for example, wants to crash into things with a big a bump as possible, preferably something containing something that will scream. I can usually get away with just ramming the floating pontoons, but if there is a group doing water activities we wait until they've built the obligatory raft and are paddling it across the lake, then go and splash them. They generally splash back to Lewis's delight and when I try to steer away he wrestles me with all his might to get back over to them. I don't think his mum likes him getting too wet, so I insist which sometimes takes a while because he's very strong.
Its difficult to know what Jeff wants as he has almost no language other than to shout "Boot" (apparently he first sailed with a Geordie) as loud as he can and slap his face with both hands with alarming force. But his carers know him really well and they say he loves every minute of it. Keble is blind and basically just needs someone to tell him when he's about to hit something. He likes to have a commentary about what is happening around the lake.
Sometimes when every one's had enough sailing I jump in one of the Access dinghies and just swan around the lake, trying to get a sense of where the wind is coming from by feel alone (they don't have burgees or tell-tales). It was during one of these outings I saw the kids in the Vision. I decided I'd have a muck around as well and started to try and roll tack the Access and, when it heeled, tried to hike it back again by sitting out on the side and hooking my leg around the console. I haven't had so much fun in ages.
How is it we lose the playfulness that all kids have? It doesn't seem to be a natural imperative of age as I know that when I'm working with my 3 and 4 year olds (I'm a nursery teacher) I don't find it difficult at all to drop into their mode of operating. I'm convinced that the mechanism of play is the most efficient and effective way for finding out about the world you live in. Yet, when I'm practising in my Laser I never do the kinds of things I see the youngsters do in a dinghy.
I think that our school systems are so looked into a Socratic, didactic method of teaching, efficient for transmitting facts or skills to a large group of learners, that we've lost sight of what it really means to know something. Those kids on the Vision really know that boat, they really know what it feels like to be on a wire, something they couldn't possibly learn in a classroom or from a coach. Of course classrooms and coaches are necessary and important, but they're not the be all or end all.
Anyone got any ideas for fun things to do in a Laser?
It seems that until a person gets to aged 16 or so their main objective as soon as an adults back is turned is to break what ever they have. However, the closer you look, the more you realise that they're not doing it on purpose, they just seem to have an innate drive to find as many different ways of interacting, for want of a better word, with an object as possible.
Take yesterday for example. Four kids, one about 17 the others 13 maybe 14 were sailing the club's RS Vision around the lake. It was blowing about 8 or 9 mph from the NW so not exactly a hoolie but they all had trap harnesses on. After a while I noticed that they didn't actually have the spinnaker kit with them. The principle intention seemed to be for 3 of them to heel the boat and balance it so that the fourth could swing out as far as possible on the trap then tarzan his or her way back in again. They kept it up for hours.
I was mainly at the lake to help out with our club for disabled sailors. We have a couple of Challenger trimarans and 4 Access dinghies. Access dinghies are strange little boats which have a fuck-off big steel plate for a centreboard, and are actually bath shaped and sized keel boats. They have an unstayed fore mast which holds a jib, and a mainsail. You steer by using a centrally mounted joystick which moves the rudder by a pulley system. A lot of the disabled sailors can find there own way around the lake but the more challenged need someone with them, so me and a few others go out with them and let them have as much control as they want.
Lewis, for example, wants to crash into things with a big a bump as possible, preferably something containing something that will scream. I can usually get away with just ramming the floating pontoons, but if there is a group doing water activities we wait until they've built the obligatory raft and are paddling it across the lake, then go and splash them. They generally splash back to Lewis's delight and when I try to steer away he wrestles me with all his might to get back over to them. I don't think his mum likes him getting too wet, so I insist which sometimes takes a while because he's very strong.
Its difficult to know what Jeff wants as he has almost no language other than to shout "Boot" (apparently he first sailed with a Geordie) as loud as he can and slap his face with both hands with alarming force. But his carers know him really well and they say he loves every minute of it. Keble is blind and basically just needs someone to tell him when he's about to hit something. He likes to have a commentary about what is happening around the lake.
Sometimes when every one's had enough sailing I jump in one of the Access dinghies and just swan around the lake, trying to get a sense of where the wind is coming from by feel alone (they don't have burgees or tell-tales). It was during one of these outings I saw the kids in the Vision. I decided I'd have a muck around as well and started to try and roll tack the Access and, when it heeled, tried to hike it back again by sitting out on the side and hooking my leg around the console. I haven't had so much fun in ages.
How is it we lose the playfulness that all kids have? It doesn't seem to be a natural imperative of age as I know that when I'm working with my 3 and 4 year olds (I'm a nursery teacher) I don't find it difficult at all to drop into their mode of operating. I'm convinced that the mechanism of play is the most efficient and effective way for finding out about the world you live in. Yet, when I'm practising in my Laser I never do the kinds of things I see the youngsters do in a dinghy.
I think that our school systems are so looked into a Socratic, didactic method of teaching, efficient for transmitting facts or skills to a large group of learners, that we've lost sight of what it really means to know something. Those kids on the Vision really know that boat, they really know what it feels like to be on a wire, something they couldn't possibly learn in a classroom or from a coach. Of course classrooms and coaches are necessary and important, but they're not the be all or end all.
Anyone got any ideas for fun things to do in a Laser?
Sunday 2 September 2007
Grin to win
Its true in sport as in life that nothing worth having ever comes easy. Its also true to say that if you set yourself a goal to win competitions, then you need confidence and confidence only comes through success.
I'm not having much success recently. Although all my on the water training is going really well, I'm having real problems turning them into success. Take today for example. A club series race, mixed handicap with about 20 boats on the line. 5 or 6 Lasers, a Buzz, a Laser Vortex, 3 or 4 Lightning 368s, 2 or 3 Enterprises, an RS300 and a few others. The start line is made more complicated by a pontoon moored a third of the way along. There's another one half way up the first beat, which given that the lake is only about forty acres, and L shaped, is only about 15 boat lengths. Today the wind is from the West which means it can, and usually does, come from SW or NW and occasionally both at the same time. The lake is tree lined and surrounded by low hills which also means that the wind can gust in at 20 mph and just as quickly drop to virtually nothing. 3 or 4 times in a minute.
I have a choice whether to got out through the small gap between the pontoon and the point on the starboard side of the line, or go for a virtually straight run to the first mark from the port end. But at that end there's a 10 metre railway embankment and the wind can do some really funny things. I've been caught out there before. I decide the starboard end gap is too risky and I opt for a start half way down on starboard tack in clear air and hope I can get up to speed quickly, using the starboard advantage on the port tackers. But, in this case the conservative start doesn't pay off. I'm at the line doing full speed at the gun heading to cause mayhem and havoc to about 3/4 of those on port tack, but then they are all lifted by a big gust and I have to tack, then tack again to miss the pontoon. By the time I get to the first mark I'm well down the fleet.
For those of you who haven't sailed on small inland lakes there are two golden rules. Start in front then get round the marks smoothly - on a small lake such as ours there are usually about 6 marks to go around 3 times (or more) each. Lose a half a boat length on each on the boats in front and - well, you do the maths.
Conversely, taking a mark really well means you can pull back untold places in one hit. On a small lake there are much more exaggerated changes in direction, so you have the chance to get out of the dirty air of those around you and catch a gust or shift which will be long gone by the time those behind you get there. Its the second lap and I'm still well down the fleet, but, apart from the leaders, we're all sitting in each others dirty air and there's not much between us. Mark no 4 is a close reach to a beat and I notice that a lot of the boats in front of me are taking it wide to miss the congestion. I notice that by the time I arrive there will be a boat width gap so I go in wide and come out perfect, sheeting in block to block and hike just as a gust hits, zooming me out and away from the congestion. I pick up 6 places in as many boat lengths and as I tack back for the next mark to bank my lead I'm at least 10 boat lengths ahead, barely able to conceal the huge grin on my face.
But that's the end of the story. Eric Twiname says a sailboat race is like walking up an elevator the wrong way. Its the mistakes that allow those behind to catch up with you. Those who sail without mistakes whilst in front, stay the same distance apart from those behind, but they stay in front. I can't make any more progress on the boats in front and a couple of silly mistakes means two or three of those boats I got past gradually get up to me then past me.
So those are the thoughts I'm going to hang onto. Learn to react quickly to shifts and control the boat so you don't have to make conservative starts. Work on those mark roundings so every one is as sweet as No 4 today. Hopefully I'll be grinning more often.
I'm not having much success recently. Although all my on the water training is going really well, I'm having real problems turning them into success. Take today for example. A club series race, mixed handicap with about 20 boats on the line. 5 or 6 Lasers, a Buzz, a Laser Vortex, 3 or 4 Lightning 368s, 2 or 3 Enterprises, an RS300 and a few others. The start line is made more complicated by a pontoon moored a third of the way along. There's another one half way up the first beat, which given that the lake is only about forty acres, and L shaped, is only about 15 boat lengths. Today the wind is from the West which means it can, and usually does, come from SW or NW and occasionally both at the same time. The lake is tree lined and surrounded by low hills which also means that the wind can gust in at 20 mph and just as quickly drop to virtually nothing. 3 or 4 times in a minute.
I have a choice whether to got out through the small gap between the pontoon and the point on the starboard side of the line, or go for a virtually straight run to the first mark from the port end. But at that end there's a 10 metre railway embankment and the wind can do some really funny things. I've been caught out there before. I decide the starboard end gap is too risky and I opt for a start half way down on starboard tack in clear air and hope I can get up to speed quickly, using the starboard advantage on the port tackers. But, in this case the conservative start doesn't pay off. I'm at the line doing full speed at the gun heading to cause mayhem and havoc to about 3/4 of those on port tack, but then they are all lifted by a big gust and I have to tack, then tack again to miss the pontoon. By the time I get to the first mark I'm well down the fleet.
For those of you who haven't sailed on small inland lakes there are two golden rules. Start in front then get round the marks smoothly - on a small lake such as ours there are usually about 6 marks to go around 3 times (or more) each. Lose a half a boat length on each on the boats in front and - well, you do the maths.
Conversely, taking a mark really well means you can pull back untold places in one hit. On a small lake there are much more exaggerated changes in direction, so you have the chance to get out of the dirty air of those around you and catch a gust or shift which will be long gone by the time those behind you get there. Its the second lap and I'm still well down the fleet, but, apart from the leaders, we're all sitting in each others dirty air and there's not much between us. Mark no 4 is a close reach to a beat and I notice that a lot of the boats in front of me are taking it wide to miss the congestion. I notice that by the time I arrive there will be a boat width gap so I go in wide and come out perfect, sheeting in block to block and hike just as a gust hits, zooming me out and away from the congestion. I pick up 6 places in as many boat lengths and as I tack back for the next mark to bank my lead I'm at least 10 boat lengths ahead, barely able to conceal the huge grin on my face.
But that's the end of the story. Eric Twiname says a sailboat race is like walking up an elevator the wrong way. Its the mistakes that allow those behind to catch up with you. Those who sail without mistakes whilst in front, stay the same distance apart from those behind, but they stay in front. I can't make any more progress on the boats in front and a couple of silly mistakes means two or three of those boats I got past gradually get up to me then past me.
So those are the thoughts I'm going to hang onto. Learn to react quickly to shifts and control the boat so you don't have to make conservative starts. Work on those mark roundings so every one is as sweet as No 4 today. Hopefully I'll be grinning more often.
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