Struggling to Have Fun

We won both E-scow races, and I won the first MC-Scow race and didn't sail the second. And I'm struggling to find the enjoyment. But then again sitting on shore was worse. What's going on?

Friday I turned 48. I'm feeling quite old. I have aches and pains I never used to.

Sunday morning (Father's Day) I awoke alone in the cottage to a forecast of 10-20 South, building to 30 as the day progresses. Today would be the first day sailing the new spinnaker setup with a retrieval line. We were a bit late to the start still setting up the E-Scow from winter storage and retrofit. We had enough time to set the asym once to check it. but we didn't know what "correct" looked like. It turned out later we found it was wrong.

The wind was 15-18 South. We already had one E-Scow capsized and in need of rescue. By the time the day was over two others would have capsized at least once, and one would break a rudder. It was blowing.

We picked up a fourth person and had about 850 pounds on board. We were HEAVY which made the upwinds quite tolerable. We rounded the top mark in the lead and popped the chute, not really a simple task. It was twisted badly with the retrieval line affecting it. We gybed to clear. It did, and it filled in a pop. We took off like a shot, quite fun. but then came the immediate arm and shoulder pain. It was clear from the start I could not sail this the same way. After racing we decided the incorrect setup may have a lot to do with my perceived lack of strength. In reality it may be that it is difficult for anyone with the mess we had. Regardless, I was spent by the bottom mark.

We led the rest of the day, all marks. But we struggled with every maneuver. By lunch I was ready to go home and sleep for a couple hours.

Instead we went out sailing MC-Scows in the afternoon, still blowing 10-20.

Race 1 I had an okay start. I tried to just lock in fully depowered and cleat the main. The puffs, shifts, and traffic had other plans for me. By the top mark I was third behind Brent and Steve who were sailing fast. Downwind I stuffed the bow a couple times and lost Bob Cole. On the long upwind I was covered hard by Brent ending up going the wrong way to clear my air. I picked up Cole but lost Sean Tracey.

On the last run we got a building shot behind us that compressed the top 5 to be almost nose to tail at the mark. Bob Cole capsized behind me so it was a 4-boat race. I had a clean tight rounding and was able to get on the inside hip of Brent. Steve and Sean were lower and faster ahead. I continued to stay high and work to a line above Brent eventually clearing my air. I may be able to lay the boat without tacking.

I made enough progress that all three ahead of me were going to be a problem when they came back across. They forced the issue. I had to tack below Brent as I could not duck in the heavy blow. I stayed on starboard for 20 seconds max, tacked back to duck Brent as he tacked, ducked both other boats and used the speed and clear air to gain the 1 boat length on all three boats and won by that much.

The entire leg was in 15-18 with shots in the 20's. My arms cramped up long before the finish. The wind was still up and not looking like it would ease. I simply wasn't having fun. So I packed it in.

In race 2, Bob Meyer with crew just smoked everyone for a horizon job win.

I went home to sit in a hammock. Today I can't raise my left arm above shoulder height and my right is incredibly sore. I'm old and out of shape which is detracting from my fun. Time to get in shape.