Starting to all make sense

Sailing in from the racecourse I sometimes start to think of the positives and negatives from the days sailing. Often this leaves me lacking in concentration and missing a windshift or puff and falling off the foils. Unlike any other boat, a moth requires 100% concentration all of the time, otherwise you get to go swimming.

I headed out to day 3 of racing in a better mood than on Day 2. My scoreline was decimated by the three DNF's, and I just wanted to make the most of the three races. I was going to be in Silver fleet anyway (like I was ever going to make Gold!!) and had to take the opportunity to learn a little more over the three races.

Blue Fleets first start was a General Recall, lucky for me because I got the timing all wrong. The rest of the race went well, managing to complete the downwind leg of my first lap on the foils for most of the time.

My highlight of race 2 was the finish. Having just mislaid the layline to the finish I needed to double gybe to make the line. Gybe 2 went nasty and I ended up swimming the boat across the line. Not pretty, but I wasn't the only sailor to do it during the day, and I managed to score in another race.

By race 3 I was feeling comfortable in the boat (if not incredibly sore!), and a few other techniques from other dinghies started to become a bit more automatic. Like using the vang. One of my skippers once described the vang as the accelerator of a dinghy, and on the upwind of day 3 I let it rip, two blocking it for the first beat. I had speed and height and finished the first beat with bulk of the mid fleet from my group finishing the reach across to the 2nd course.

On the reach I eased the vang, and who would have thought, the boat became manageable downwind! Wonders never cease in this world of Mothing!

I managed to reach the bottom mark and the blue flag indicating that the leader had finished wasn't up. This was also a first for me at this regatta and meant that I had to go upwind again, VANG ON!

So in race 3 I had a bunch more firsts for me, and finished in 39th. My best finish out of the 15 races we have had so far at this regatta (including the nationals), and one I won't forget for a while.

Mother Nature added a little spice to the sail in with a rain squall to work through which was interesting, but I didn't care. This Moth business was starting to make sense, and I came in off the water with a big smile on my face.

And thats why I came to the worlds.