Always something to learn

After 28 years of racing I am finally fine tuning what I need to do to get to the front of the pack. While some people seem to learn this instinctively, it has been a long hard battle for me. Besides getting used to a particular boat, what I notice is that regardless of whether I'm racing a Lindenberg 28, a Hobie 16, sunfish or windsurfer (yea, remember those), finding the right place upwind has continued to befuddle me. I can do fairly well on the downwind leg. After all you usually can sail directly to the mark, jibe when the wind shifts to leeward and keep the boat under the headsail.

But upwind, what looks like the shortest hitch to the mark sometimes takes the longest. I'm always amused by those who take onto starboard as soon as they round the leeward mark and then proceed up the middle of the course to beat me at the windward mark. One of my coaches gave me a hint that I tried this past week-end. He said, once you pick a side of the course, stay on that side, never cross over the imaginary line drawn from the windward mark to the leeward one. I just drew it out on paper and plan to use this tactic the next time I race on a monohull. I think on a catamaran you might move the imaginary line a little more to the right of the leeward mark because the tacking angles and time to tack need to be considered. Trimarans however, need to be treated more individually. The F28, for example, has about the same angle as a Lindenberg 28 and tacks about as fast. The Dragonfly 25 seemed to having a wider tacking angle.

As I babble on, I realize my mind isn't as focused as I would like it to be. Then, again, I have raced and or practiced sailing every Sat. and Sun. with an occasional mid week sail since the first of August.The bottom line, is for future races I shall not look back, I shall steer a steady course, quit wiggling around in super light wind and just relax....and maybe this Satuday, stay home and tidy up my office, ha, ha, ha,