1st Practice Day

Despite being kept up with a migraine last night (probably a result of long plane flights, too fat pillows, and swimming in a pool with no lines so I had to lift my head to look for the wall - all causing back and neck muscles to seize up) I was up early and busy all day. Breakfast was pretty good. Lots of eggs, yogurt, good coffee, nuts, dates and fruit. I picked up my brand new never used charter boat with new blades and spars. I've never used so much new stuff! It all looks perfect. I took my time setting up my boat and was on the water in time for a practice race and a good upwind session on my own, getting used to the wind and waves, and doing a lot of tacks for practice. My tacks felt really good today which is good for my confidence. I did a couple long downwinds with the Chinese team, who are all very fast. The waves here are pretty small, but definitely surfable, the closer you get to land, the more they start to stand up. I had trouble deciding which gybe was faster downwind, in the end I felt more comfortable sailing on starboard and catching waves by the lee, although the fastest Chinese girl was sailing a lot on port. I think it was about 4 to 2 starboard to port in that group. I have a few things to fix on my boat before sailing tomorrow - my tiller was too high today and my traveller blocks were getting stuck on it downwind, so I have to shim it differently so that it fits better in the rudder head. Also need to tighten my daggerboard brake and get the charter boat guy to drill holes for a handle. Otherwise, everything is all good! Right now we aren't allowed to replace the charter hiking strap with our own, but someone made an official complaint about the strap being unhealthy for your ankles because its not sticky, so the jury is going to decide whether we can put our own strap on. Doing my pigeon pose stretches right now as I write to help loosen up the muscles. Can't wait to get back on the water tomorrow!