NO matter how good the beer tasted on my lips or how glorious the fire-breathing spring sunset was through the windows of Newport Yacht Club's second-floor bar, I couldn't muster an iota of joy. If I could've reached my backside in this very moment, it would have been covered with shoe prints from kicking myself for doing what I can unequivocally say is the dumbest thing I've ever done in my 40 years of sailboat racing.
Allow me to set the scene. It's late March and my Turnabout Frostbite season is winding down. I'm knocking on the top of the overall season scoreboard, with third or even second place mere points out of my reach. To shuffle the deck and get me there, all I have to do is pull off a few keepers. There's no more room for a shocker, and on this fine Sunday, I'm fresh off the plane from a week of coaching at North U's Performance Race Week in St. Thomas, where I've been drilling fundamentals into my students and doing the same for me by osmosis. I'm feeling sharp. I have a confident sense of purpose.
In the first prestart of this season-saving race day, I stand up in my little white dinghy at the one-minute horn and look up the course to plot my first move. The light wind is blowing out of the north, shooting unpredictable zephyrs through the buildings. I'm not a fan of the northerly, but I've seen this movie before, and I've learned the hard way too many times this season: Left is best; right is death.
The seconds tick down as I hover alone near the pin on port tack. I eat up a few more boat-lengths toward the pileup near the race-committee boat, tack with 15 seconds to go, sheet in, cross the line, tack again, and point my bow at the orange tetrahedron as I cross the fleet. That'll work just fine.
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Denne historien er fra Summer 2023-utgaven av Sailing World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tips for More Successful Epoxy Projects
That have nothing to do with epoxy mixing or application techniques
Auxiliary Rear Station Build
From past fishing experiences, I've learned that quick changes in speed and direction are often required when retrieving a hooked fish.
TARGETED PERFORMERS
Defending their title at the 420 Youth Worlds in July, Freddie Parkin and Asher Beck were on a roll-until they weren't.
BALANCE ON THE PINNACLE
The path to gender equity in the Olympics has been a long and twisted one, but when the sailors assemble in Marseille next year, we'll finally see what's been a long time coming.
SIMPLE STEPS TO CONSISTENT SPEED
Boatspeed is the magic ingredient for winning races because we can get away with bad decisions if we are fast, but we can't make good choices if we're slow.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL JIB-LEAD ADJUSTMENTS
Floating jib leads give trimmers more dynamic control of the headsail profile.
BETTER TOGETHER
Success over three decades comes down to making it meaningful.
JUSTINE THE MACHINE
This self-effacing Swiss sailor has-in her quiet and understated way become one of the stars of offshore ocean racing in recent years, whether as part of a winning crew in The Ocean Race or building her credentials as a top-class solo racer.
THE MULTITASKING MULTIHULL MOM
Competing in Olympic sailing's most challenging discipline is one thing, but doing so with a tyke in tow takes the campaign hustle to a higher level.
CONNECTED COAST TO COAST
From sunny St. Pete to historic Marblehead, the 34th edition of the Regatta Series linked sailors and friends across the country, with a few new twists.
