Driving to regattas is always a transition, from home to regatta mode, from business to pleasure, from one weather climate to another, and for me from whatever mood I'm in to one of great anticipation. It doesn't matter if it is a big week long regatta we have planned and prepared for, or a small weekender with maybe 8 boats. The difference now is that I am no longer traveling with a team, no longer swapping stories and regaling about past glories for miles on end. This trip is the longest and it is alone.
This morning I packed the car with all the stuff I could think of, plus some gear from friends that are flying down, and set off. 500 miles later after hitting a mid-Atlantic storm I'm stopped in Charleston, WV. That makes tomorrow a 700 mile day. With each mile I'm getting more excited. This is my first foray back into one-man boats since dropping my Laser program probably 10 years ago. This will be my first regatta in a long time where I'm sailing alone, and only the second time sailing this kind of boat. It's all new, and really quite exciting.
The last time I got on these boats I was 15 pounds lighter, more in shape, and still I had handling issues. In that 2 days I could not get a feel for roll tacking, heck for tacking at all. I stuck the tiller extension in my pocket more than once. I also made bad decisions on tactics probably because I was so used to having plenty of eyes on the boat that mistakes were quickly discovered and recovered from. Funny. It's only now as I write this that I realize that was the case. I shot a corner, overstood the mark, lost half the fleet and almost blew the regatta. I was lucky there was enough racecourse to let me pick up a third place and keep the regatta win.
Driving alone I also missed having the second pair of eyes. The GPS was a crappy navigator. Solo driving a car, and boat. It's going to be the biggest change.
This morning I packed the car with all the stuff I could think of, plus some gear from friends that are flying down, and set off. 500 miles later after hitting a mid-Atlantic storm I'm stopped in Charleston, WV. That makes tomorrow a 700 mile day. With each mile I'm getting more excited. This is my first foray back into one-man boats since dropping my Laser program probably 10 years ago. This will be my first regatta in a long time where I'm sailing alone, and only the second time sailing this kind of boat. It's all new, and really quite exciting.
The last time I got on these boats I was 15 pounds lighter, more in shape, and still I had handling issues. In that 2 days I could not get a feel for roll tacking, heck for tacking at all. I stuck the tiller extension in my pocket more than once. I also made bad decisions on tactics probably because I was so used to having plenty of eyes on the boat that mistakes were quickly discovered and recovered from. Funny. It's only now as I write this that I realize that was the case. I shot a corner, overstood the mark, lost half the fleet and almost blew the regatta. I was lucky there was enough racecourse to let me pick up a third place and keep the regatta win.
Driving alone I also missed having the second pair of eyes. The GPS was a crappy navigator. Solo driving a car, and boat. It's going to be the biggest change.
photo: Ice on trees in North Carolina. Brutal drive in Snow area north of this.
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