Last Day for 2006
Today it looked like it would be too cold. The wind was light and the sun was shining, so we were expecting the temperature to rise and be nicer. The race officer gave us a lot of time really so, I had managed to warm up before the start. My start was quite good and the first upwind leg seemed to be going well. As I was rounding the first mark, there was a minor incident where I asked for water from Joe and as I passed him from the port side, on his starboard side were coming 2-3 RS200s on starboard, while we were on port. We managed to avoid any collisions and because I wasn’t sure if I had touched the mark in all that confusion, and I think I had, I did a 360-degree turn, to make sure that I won’t be protested and disqualified later. I carried on, the wind was light and I was doing fairly OK. I was trying to get closer to Brent who was in front of me, but after a while I realised that I couldn’t, so I settled for last.
I was on the last upwind leg towards the finish line when I realised that there were two more Lasers behind me. One was Joe and the other was Tom. I mean Joe is a good sailor and I was surprised he was there. But then I remembered that I sailed passed him when we were rounding the first mark! So, I had managed to keep him behind me during all that time! I thought that I would have to do something really stupid, in order to loose my position. So I sailed to the finish line and I was quite glad. It turned out that my sailing was really good.
After the break we went out for the second race and the wind had picked up a bit. I had a good start and a good upwind leg. Brent and Steve were not doing very well, so at some point they ended up behind me. Tom was in front of me and I chose to focus on Brent who was an immediate threat in losing my position. I tried hard to keep him back and after a while I realised that Steve had sneaked passed him. So quickly I tried to cover Steve, but within a few minutes they had both passed me. I wasn’t very happy, but I knew that they are both better sailors than me. After a while, Steve gave up and went in frustrated with him performance, but Brent carried on and soon enough overtook Tom. Then I decided that I should focus on passing Tom.
I went after him and I got closer and closer. I was always measuring the distance between us when our ways would cross. We were neck and neck. We were both fighting hard and a few times we passed each other. Finally I found myself slightly to his leeward and ahead by two lengths. As soon as I got to his windward and I was covering him, I focused on my sailing. I trimmed my sail and set all my controls and after a few minutes I was ahead by a further two lengths. I tried to get closer to Brent, but unfortunately it was too late. I finished in that position, ahead of Tom and Jay, who hasn’t sailed for a while really.
Last sail for this year as been quite good. I am quite glad with my performance and considering that I started sailing in April, my progress during the last nine months has been quite good. At least I am happy.
See you next year…