Nice Wind, Good Performance

Today, I was at the club early enough but I was helping James rig his Laser, so I missed the start to the first race. I just followed around the others because there was a nice wind. Straight for the second race then. I had a good start and I was with the leaders for the first lap. I managed to keep Maurice behind me and I was doing quite well. I was racing Liam for the third place. At some point I saw Joe capsizing. It took him some time to recover so we sailed passed him.

Now, me and Liam were fighting for second place. I started the last upwind leg of the race and I was in front of him. He was closing in on me but I was doing quite well. I focused on the race and I managed to keep him back. I was even covering him towards the end of the leg. I was in front of him by 1-2 lengths when I did the last tack to head towards the line. As I came out of the tack, the mainsheet slipped through my hand. The boat slowed down and I tried frantically to sheet in. Then I hit my face with the tiller extension. That was it! I lost it! I started swearing while trying to sheet in again. By that time Liam was in front of my by half length. I finished third.

It was really nice wind, I finished third, I could have easily been second but still I am happy about it. I have to admit that Steve, Ben and Pete were not there. In that case I would have been sixth. Still though, I was third out of seven. When I was leaving the club I went and apologised to the two ladies that were in the committee boat for my bad language.

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