By Doug
To remain competitive, I like to rest for several months over the winter. The year starts with three back-to-back events in Florida. We had a great turnout and some great sailing. The winners were clearly in better shape and a lot faster than me. Here's how the best of the best won in each of these events.
Master Midwinters East: flat water, light and shifty!
Midweek Madness: flat water, medium, patchy!
Florida Masters: windy, waves, like being in a big washing machine. On the first day, an experienced swimmer tragically drowned in the rip tide trying to save two young girls. The second day was windier and the race committee decided to cancel the racing.
Where is the Peckover piece?? You had better get out and start training :)
ReplyDeleteWell, nothing new here, but it's all about getting those basics right isn't it? ie. good position off the line, punch out, clear air, good lanes, work the shifts get to the top mark in good shape and keep the bow going down hill, don't run into waves, keep changing direction to maintain the downhill run. It all seems too easy, we nod our heads knowingly at the advice, but it's all very hard to do if we haven't been sailing regularly and are unfit!
ReplyDeleteThey do make it all sound so easy don't they? There seems to be no apparent reasons why we mere mortal mid-fleet mediocrities can't follow this advice and win Laser regattas. But somehow we try and it just doesn't deliver the same results for us. I wonder why.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, this reminded me of my wake-up call before the 1997 Master Worlds, where I finished in the 50’s at the North Americans. There's a lot of work to do preparing for Oman!
ReplyDeleteOztayls and Tillerman, you're exactly right. One of the people I interviewed hesitated before we started because he realized that what he was about to say is all common knowledge. He tried to explain the "feeling" of doing the basics just a little bit better than anyone else.
Blog post coming shortly on why words of wisdom might not be as useful as I used to think they were.
ReplyDelete