Well, the gybing and capsizing practice from last week is sure paying off. My local Vanguard 15 fleet allowed me to mix it up with them this past Friday. Very kind of them to welcome me onto the starting line sans Vanguard. I'm trying to be sensitive to not turning their tight one-design Friday's into an open melee. Both for them and for me. I love crewing on their boats, and the post race parking lot chatter is focused on tactics and techniques that worked best that night rather than on which boats were most favored by the particular wind and current conditions. But about the gybing practice. Wow, I felt so much more confident in the boat knowing that I could throw down a gybe when I wanted and get the boat back upright if needed. this was especially useful in the pre-start maneuvering and for a quick gybe rounding the top mark to get over the the favored side of the downwind leg. Certainly more practice needed to get really good at it, but I'm on my way.
Next up, tacking. Chasing the Vanguards around revealed how slow my tacks are. I was clearly giving up two or more boat lengths every time I flopped over.
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