"I can't do it. I can't do it!" My little four year old hollered yesterday as I tried to help her along on her bike without training wheels for the first time. "Of course you can, sweetie. We just need to practice a little more." I was struck by how little confidence she had and then remembered my own recent experience being pressed into a situation for which I had little prior practice.
Last Sunday was the third edition of the monthly Small Boat Midwinters at Richmond Yacht Club. As was the case last month, Sunday came on the tail end of some Winter storms, but this time we had some lingering strong winds and rain. When the heavy squalls rolled in, I was hurtin'. This boat is a bit too big for me when it's blowing like that. After a really bad start in race 1, I managed to finish second about a boat length behind a 17 foot Daysailor--a boat that is supposed to be slower than mine. It was really blowing hard for the second race, and I had a hard time keeping the boat moving well to windward. The Daysailor and a Flying Junior had a nice lead over me at the first mark. Then as I rounded, the "MonsterByte" leapt onto a plane and went screaming after the more stable and modestly canvassed boats. As I approached the leeward mark, I had the lead, but was freakin' over the impending gybe. "I can't do it. I can't do it!", my mind was hollering. I guess I coulda chicken gybed it (spinning all the way around and tacking), but went for it instead. Ended up spinning out but lucky not to capsize. Then, the rudder cavitated as I tried to get her pointed downwind again. Needless to say, the DS and FJ got past. Anyway, that was it for me. It was really starting to honk, and I didn't feel like going swimming in a "fun race." Went home and watched the Superbowl instead. What a wuss.
I was personally bothered all week by that poor gybe and early retirement from the day's racing. That is, until our little bicycle lesson yesterday. I realized that gybing a boat like this in a lot of wind is really hard if you haven't done it before. But with a lot of practice I should be able to pull off a planing reach to planing reach gybe and blast on past that Daysailor next time. And that will be thrilling, not scary. Kinda like learning how to ride a bike, I guess.
About this blog
Well, this blog started out as a chronicle of the restoration, and adventures aboard, the O'Day Mariner, Mothra. But since then, and thanks to Mothra rekindling my love of sailing, it's often taken over with other sailing content. So be it. I'm having so much fun with the new Megabyte, I gotta share that, too.
3 comments:
You are quite the novelist! Very insightful. I feel like I should get Kara out on her bike. I've always been a bit bothered by that mark rounding/gybe/capsize at the V15 Nationals last summer. I bet with some more practice we'd be able to nail those. Probably about the time you were making your high-speed gybe attempt, the crew and I were getting pummeled on Don's boat, working hard to gather up enough headway just to tack near the last weather mark. Way too much sail and too much wind. Keep pushing the envelope and learn more new things.
Dean
Amen, brother. That V15 Nationals crash still haunts me, too. I can still see the other boat flipping right in front of us. And can still feel the boat start to turn as you went into collision avoidance mode. I think we're just not good enough, yet to spin these boats right when we need to without thinking about it a bunch first. Now lest see . . . first, I . . . Crash!
Great post! yes yes, it's one thing to read in a book, "The fast gybe is the best gybe [in a big wind]"... but when you're out there and it is honking, and you know you've gotta gybe... gulp!
yes yes, practice makes... if not perfect, then a whole darn lot more confident! lol
Cyalayta
Mal :)
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