There are sure unmistakable signs.
Today we had nine aboard. If Foredeck hadn't cancelled and not brought a long his father as he had hoped, it would have been two more. For Das Boot, a full race-competitive crew numbers seven at the max. Any more -- they become "guests" or "passengers". Clearly, this owner/skipper has lost the capacity to say "No". Even worse from his competitive perspective of the past, he didn't seem to mind the crowd.
Another sign: competitiveness morphed into curiosity.
With winds expected to be under 9 knots, I pulled out a spinnaker bag found in the outer regions of
my garage. Had no idea about its history. Was it a full-hoist chute purchased 2nd hand years ago? Was it off some other boat we sold off decades ago. But since I fully expected we would be taking it in the trousers today, why not see what we had? What I didn't expect was to have plenty of time on the water before the start to try it out. Without the scars and patches of our Frankenstein No. 2 spinny, this blue chute looked beautiful. Even if a little on the under-sized side. We elected to use Frankenstein No.2 for the race.
There is little more to say. I continued my string of mistimed starts. In the light wind and heavier than expected current, I managed to be pulled into the port pin, touching it, before my starting time. So I did not pay for it. We sailed the whole race at the back of the pack, concentrating on putting all the guests to work. In the last two roundings, we were afforded some opportunities of 'drama' which we played out to Das Boot's advantage. There were more boats finishing after us than I had expected.
Another sign: competitiveness morphed into curiosity.
With winds expected to be under 9 knots, I pulled out a spinnaker bag found in the outer regions of
my garage. Had no idea about its history. Was it a full-hoist chute purchased 2nd hand years ago? Was it off some other boat we sold off decades ago. But since I fully expected we would be taking it in the trousers today, why not see what we had? What I didn't expect was to have plenty of time on the water before the start to try it out. Without the scars and patches of our Frankenstein No. 2 spinny, this blue chute looked beautiful. Even if a little on the under-sized side. We elected to use Frankenstein No.2 for the race.There is little more to say. I continued my string of mistimed starts. In the light wind and heavier than expected current, I managed to be pulled into the port pin, touching it, before my starting time. So I did not pay for it. We sailed the whole race at the back of the pack, concentrating on putting all the guests to work. In the last two roundings, we were afforded some opportunities of 'drama' which we played out to Das Boot's advantage. There were more boats finishing after us than I had expected.
Results are posted (with one mistake). We finished 14th out 19.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing your bit towards 'saving sailing'!
ReplyDeleteThere is little more to say. I continued my string of mistimed starts.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should write a statement like that, while not attached to sailing in any way it fits my current situation.