by Pam
It’s
been a couple of weeks since Doug returned from a less than stellar performance
at the Florida Masters (finishes of 31/60, 5/55, 11/58). Although, he should be writing this, he didn’t
feel that he did well enough to share anything of value so he posted interviews
with the winners of the three events. Then
came Tillerman’s timely post about whether Words
of Wisdom are really just crap and then I knew I had to write about the
little tidbits I learned from Doug that I think have more value than the
traditional words of wisdom.
However, Sunday evening before Doug
arrived back from Florida, I up and decided I didn’t like my job … long story
short … before Doug arrived home the next morning, I had received and accepted
a new job offer, quit my old job on the way out of the office that evening and started
the new job the following morning. Afterward, I kept repeating to Doug that ‘I
just quit my job,’ half surprised and half shocked. You see, it was sort of a Doug thing to do
and is also one of my takeaways from his Florida experience. Flexibility and seizing opportunities before
they pass. Two weeks later, all that has
fallen into place at the new job has been virtually perfect, except I’m a
little short of time, but I digress.
We all make stupid mistakes - don’t
quit!
Each
day, Doug called home to tell me of his progress. Needless to say, at the first event, with him
being DNC for 3 races, I was a little worried he might not be okay and I’m glad
I didn’t know that someone was pulled from the course and taken to the hospital
with chest pains. When Doug called, I
was relieved he was okay, but then asked what any sailing spouse would ask, ‘WTF?‘
He
had a ready explanation that went on for several minutes which essentially
translated to, ‘I was stupid, then I was stupid again, and then I was even stupider.’ Yet at the end of that event, Doug’s finishes
were 6, 3, 6, 62, 62, 62 and he placed mid-fleet where he did as well or better
than many people who sailed every race to earn their place.
The
winner of the 1st event, John MacCausland, had a race where he started just above
Doug but Doug had his bow out by about 2 feet so Doug got away, the boat above
John rolled him and John had to tack and in doing so, ducked a guy, missed, hit
him, had to do circles and then found himself so far back that he was having to
count from the back instead of the front to see where he was. He was only able to claw his way back to 21st. His finishes were 6, 21, 4, 3, 3, 4. Two mistakes and he would not have been the
winner of the event. Andy Roy, who won the next two events, had finishes of 8,
3, 10, 18, 29, 9 for a 7th place.
My
takeaway words of wisdom is that those at the front of the fleet, regardless of
the circumstances, don’t quit mentally. They
rely on their experience to recover a decent finish from their stupidity. Perhaps a key is practicing enough to not
only minimize mistakes but gain experience in recovering from them.
Andy
Roy’s regatta wins of the next two events were with finishes of 21, 2, 3, 1, 5,
2, 3, 2 and 1, 3, 2, respectively.
Another winner with a 21 early on in the regatta and a ‘it’s not over
until it’s over attitude’. But then I
hear from Doug that before the start of one of the races at the second event,
Andy Roy accidently lassoed Doug with his mainsheet on the start line, Doug tipped,
and while Doug was frantically trying to save the feather at the top of his
mast because it was a handmade gift from Frank Bethwaite, Andy was repeatedly
saying, ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry!’ Now, I
find comfort in this story because right there in that moment, there is no
difference in me and the regatta winner.
I too often practice being a nuisance, out of control and other random
bafoonery.
Enlightenment from training partners
There
is much to be learned from the observations of a skilled sailor.
Between
regattas Doug did some turning with David Hiebert with regatta finishes of 4,
6, 14. David observed that they had the
same speed but then something would happen and Doug would jump ahead for a few
seconds and then they’d be back to the same speed again and Doug would maintain
his lead. David’s observation was that
Doug was ‘switching gears’ and transitioning and responding to the wind changes
faster. Doug spent years sailing at
night so that he responds to the feel of the wind and not the visuals available
during the day. Faster transitions would
seem to be a natural result so that doesn’t come as a surprise but he didn’t
realize it was noticeable. This didn’t
come as a surprise to me. Doug is always
sailing. We walk the dog every night and
mid sentence, Doug calls the wind change.
He’s always aware. Sitting in the
doctor’s office looking at a picture with sailboats, a beach, waves, and a flag
and Doug is looking to see where the wind is coming from only to say the artist
isn’t a sailor because the flags and sails say the wind is coming from opposite
directions.
Peter
Vesella, at the 2nd event, mentioned to Doug that he was really good
in these conditions (light) and that he sometimes sailed higher and faster than
other people. Doug asked Peter to
elaborate on what he saw Doug doing and Peter said that he was sailing the boat really
flat and sometimes healed to windward and that at times, he just jumps ahead. Peter noted the same thing last year. Doug has spent some time learning to sail by
feel in light conditions and learning what he calls ‘pressing’
where he heels to windward, traps the wind, and makes subtle weight shifts
(steering changes) that actually generate speed. I’ve even learned to do it better than Doug
but that skill doesn’t make it to the race course for me.
At
the last event, Doug was disappointed with the fact that it seemed like he’d
forgotten how to sail and Andy Roy asked him what he expected since lives in
Dallas and doesn’t sail in these conditions. Andy is exactly right. This is Doug’s major weakness and biggest
concern. And it’s the reason he drove
all the way from Dallas to Florida to compete in Florida Masters Week.
Not to mention the reason I gave up my
car for a week so that Doug could safely drive to Florida, while I got to spend
the week driving around town in his 20+ year old BMW. It looks like hell, half the windows don’t
work, it’s rock, paper, scissors on whether the heat or air conditioning will
work, and as I drive down the road alarm bells continually go off telling me
about the various things that aren’t working.
And yet when I step on the accelerator, that sucker hits 60 mph before I
can get out of 2nd gear and even though every time I turn the key, I
say’ ‘don’t start, don’t start, don’t start’ the danged old fossil starts every
time. The car is very much like its
owner, you can’t judge its performance by its looks, but I digress again.
Flexibility
So
Doug headed to Florida without a plan. He
didn’t know when he was going to sleep or where and just stayed loose and
flexible. It’s that seat of the pants, flexibility
in life and on the water that has taken him to some interesting places. For the second half of the trip he was
rewarded with some very comfortable accommodations. I received a call between the second and
third event from Jack Swenson’s daughter asking me if Doug can spend the night
with her ... the last regatta is for the
Jack Swenson Memorial Trophy. How on
earth did he manage that? Then Doug
tells me some random trivia about how Jack tried to convince Peter Seidenberg
to call his ‘dolly’ a ‘molly’ after Jack’s wife. I have no idea how Doug manages to stumble
into history and learn such interesting trivia except that he seems to stay flexible
and opportunities find him both on and off the water.
So,
I threw caution to the wind and quit my job and landed in situation I couldn't have planned any better.
Greatl Love all those tidbits.
ReplyDeleteThe doctor's office anecdote reminded me of the opening scene in Arthur Ransome's book Swallows and Amazons where seven-year-old Roger was "running in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake to Holly Howe…The wind was against him, and he was tacking up against it to the farm."
I am sure you are right that winners have the mental toughness to recover from setbacks. What I often see also is that the top guys also have an amazing ability to sail through the fleet, and still achieve a pretty good result after a major mistake or accident early in the race. That's what often really separates the winners from the near-winners.
I really must revisit that "pressing" post of Doug's. I am thinking I will try it out in a practice session one day and then write about how it went on my own blog.
I remember Molly Swenson (and Jack of course.) Peter may have not called his dolly after Molly, but he and his wife did call their dog after the dolly. Sadly, Dolly died a few months ago.
I'm sticking with a theory that the good guys have more experience coming through the fleet. Doug often starts late when sailing locally. He's learned all sorts of stuff by doing that. I've never intentionally practiced that. Doug did say during one of these Florida events when he was deep in the fleet that it was no fun being at the back of a large fleet and there was no air and nothing he could do while he watched the front just keep separating. It made me smile to hear it.
ReplyDeleteThe pressing stuff is cool. I had the advantage of having Doug sit right beside me with us both holding the tiller to get a better feel for what he's talking about.
The dolly has been around for a while now ... how old was Dolly the dog?
I don't know. Pretty old.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, new job! Blog is great. Artist was probably painting White Rock Lake . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, painting the wind at WRL would look a bit like that confused artist's picture.
DeleteThanks for comment
ReplyDelete