If you haven't been following, I am currently in Santander, Spain which is on the North coast in Cantabria. I am about to begin racing in the Women's Laser Radial Worlds which is also part of the ISAF Sailing World Championships (only happens every 4 years). It's like the Olympics, but only for sailing. In my class, the Women's Singlehanded (aka: Laser Radial), there are 120 competitors from 58 countries, 3 of us are from the USA. There are a total of 10 Olympic classes here competing for World Champion status and everyone is working hard in anticipation of the Olympics in 2016.
Olympic Sailing Classes:
Women's Singlehanded (Laser Radial)
Men's Singlehanded (Laser)
Men's Heavy Singlehanded (Finn)
Women's Doublehanded (470)
Men's Doublehanded (470)
Women's High Performance Doublehanded (49erFX)
Men's High Performance Doublehanded (49er)
Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17 Catamaran)
Women's Windsurfing (RSX)
Mens Windsurfing (RSX)
We are racing on the Bay of Biscay - which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. That means we have waves! Today's practice was beautiful again, warm, sunny, a beautiful strong sea breeze (about 15 or 16 knots) and nice waves. There are a lot of weeds in the water here.
Racing starts on Friday, so we only have one practice day left. I can't wait for the competition to begin! You can check results and info about the regatta here: www.Santander2014.com
As you can see from the photos, it is a beautiful place to sail and a beautiful city. We are sailing on course HP and Freixenet the first two days.
Used my new race sail today and it is amazing the difference between new and old. All my settings are totally different. Yesterday I was slow upwind in light air and I hope it was due to the old sail. Today was beautiful! 15-17 knots and nice waves! I am all measured in and mostly registered. Just have to keep practicing the next couple days and get over my nerves and own some practice starts.
So after no wind this morning a nice sea breeze filled in. We had practice races and starts in 14 - 17 knots and some medium waves. My goal for tomorrow is to raise my confidence level. I have to say I was intimidated by all the good sailors and did not sail like I was in charge. A few good practice starts, but pulled the trigger a little late for the actual races and had to tack out and duck boats. Speed seemed fine, but for some reason I was letting doubt about all kinds of things get into my head. Tomorrow that will change and I will sail with confidence and initiative and focus on killer starts.
On a side note - Santander is a beautiful city especially from the ocean. There are city rental bikes and I rode all around the waterfront yesterday evening. There are some big hills.
Our launching area is about in the middle of the picture, and we sail on the ocean off the picture to the right.
I got to Santander last night and met the hostess of the apartment I am staying in. Her name is Josefina and she is very nice. She is helping me with my Spanish, which is terrible, but hopefully it will be better when I have been here a few days.
Today's Program:
Woke up at 3am
Tried to sleep until 7
Ate breakfast
Walked to Sailing Center
Found boat
Put boat together
Had lunch
Waited for wind
Light air sailing
Walked to apartment
Groceries
Run
Dinner
Computer time and making new vang
Can't go till bed until 10 in order to sleep the whole night - eyes are closing...
A great two day regatta at Sail Maine in Portland. 5 races the first day in 8-16 knots, and 2 races the second day in 0-7 knots. The conditions were sunny and beautiful.
I won the regatta with a good margin, but it was not an easy event. John Kirkpatrick who I have been practicing with all summer, Corrinne Peters from Halifax, Graham Kilvert, Connor Bayless, and Giovanni Ronco were putting the pressure on all weekend. I credit my success to a good mindset which led to good decision making. I applied what I learned at CORK, and what I have been reading in The Inner Game of Tennis.
I haven't finished the book yet, and I learn more every chapter I read. I am starting to understand how to let go of my frustrations. It seems that all my distress over bad decisions made during a race is usually a result of wanting something. This weekend I focused on seeing clearly 'what is' - no wanting allowed! - It goes hand in hand with awareness and 'head out of the boat' sailing. I am excited about this revelation because I think it will help my consistency in big regattas. - If I can stay in that frame of mind. It was awesome to practice this mind set right before leaving for the Worlds. I know that it will be much harder to stay un-emotional when I want (see that word?) to sail to the best of my ability and show everyone what I am capable of.
I finished 7th overall and the 1st US woman - not bad! It was great to compete against the top Canadian women - Brenda Bowskill and Claire Merry who I will be racing against in Santander at the Worlds.
Very light wind for the last day - which is extremely nerve wracking. I sailed two good races out of three, and that was enough to move up into 7th place for the regatta. My focus was on nonjudgmental observation of everything that happened on the racecourse. I will take this new mindset with me to the ACC's in a week, and then to the Worlds on Sept 3rd.
I took two days after the regatta to get back to my roots and visit Chautauqua Lake - where sailing started for me. It was great to see Dave Beeson who I used to work for teaching sailing during the summer in high school.
I found this old edition of "The Laser Sailor." Can you guess what year it is from?
Thank you Erik Nickeson for bringing me to my first Laser regatta many years ago!
A good day! So far we have had different wind every day. Yesterday the wind was out of the east - and stayed long enough for us to have 3 races. We didn't really do any hiking and I was glad I didn't wear my hiking pads.
The 1st race didn't turn out so good - I think I got out of phase on the upwinds. It seemed like there might have been a land effect on both sides of the course - the mainland on the left - and an island above the course on the right. This race I was on the wrong side at the top of both beats.
Races 2 and 3 were good - and the coolest thing was that I made big gains downwind! Light air downwind has always been the hardest for me. I have recently learned the importance of maintaining flow over my sail and pressure - but now I understand how often and how much I can take that speed toward the mark. - A lot more than I thought!
The biggest difference in my sailing yesterday was that I took the time to look around and actually observe what was happening. I made decisions based on things that I was seeing - not imagining.
I have been reading "The Inner Game of Tennis" and learning about how to find the right mental state and not over think things. I think I am starting to figure out how it applies to sailing - Self One is the decision maker and should be cold, calculating, scientific, unemotional, observant, nonjudgmental. Self Two is the physical self that knows how to sail the boat fast and execute maneuvers without being told what to do. Getting Self One to stop worrying about Self Two and observe non-judgementally what is happening on the racecourse is hard!!!
Example: The first day of racing I was sailing downwind and Self One was telling Self Two how to do her job. Self One was saying "I know that sailing by the lee is fast - you just aren't doing right, keep trying" If Self One let Self Two sail the boat, Self One would have observed that other boats were reaching more - and going really fast. Self two might have also figured that out intuitively.
Okay - if you don't understand what I am talking about then read the book. It has been around for a long time, but it is totally relevant and not just to tennis or sailing.
Three more races today - same forecast. KISS and no OCS's
