More evening racing at TISC

As we were taking our boats down the slipway to launch I was heartened to hear some of the other sailors  discussing aspects of sailing psychology prior to the race:

Hugh : "Honestly Tim, I can't get my arousal levels high enough for a light wind race.  I feel like I'm disadvantaged from the start, despite trying all the techniques outlined in the excellent book by Derbyshire et al. Perhaps I need to develop some meditation techniques.".
Tim : "Its difficult in the 100 as well Hugh.  Arousal levels are disappointingly low until I get the kite up downwind, and then I find the levels so high that they are difficult to manage."

It is good to know that my musings here are relevant to other sailors in the fleet, although I think training-partner-Claire will not be happy.

So Thursday night we had a shifty F1-2 SW that looked that it could die at any moment.  The RO set a short course, the first leg being a beat/close reach against the full flood of the tide.  At the start the fleet split into two along each side of the channel, and the first lesson of the day was learnt - it pays to start at the pin end of the line.  The guys that started there were definitely advantaged.

Bryan and Sarah are relatively new to their 400, but had an excellent race to finish second overall.  A healthy lead over the first leg was nearly relinquished with an early tack into the tide an East Head, but they held their nerve and were first 400 home, showing good boat speed offwind. Tim had a great start in his 100, but fell slightly behind on the upwind legs.  Once the kite was up he tore home and scored a creditable 3rd place (not really the conditions for the 100 handicap I suspect).  For the slower boats like the 2000's it was a difficult race due to the flooding tide - beating against the tide in light winds gives no chance on handicap.

I thought twice about sailing because of the light winds, but I'm glad I did - as repeated so often on this blog, there is no better way to survive a working week than evening sailing.