So, my Nationals didn't go entirely to plan.
I was rigging up on Saturday to find my rear wingbar had split across the centreline. Bearing in mind it was absolutely honking at the time, I wasn't prepared to risk doing more damage to the boat by sailing on it so I packed up. It was a bit of an odd break really - I'd changed style of the rear wingbars on my boat to a single piece across the transom, rather than plug in socket style, as it should be a lighter solution. Good idea, not so good in practice for reasons I won't bore you with here! In hindsight (what a lovely thing it is) having dismantled it and had a closer look I could probably have gotten away with it...
It's a big 'what if' kinda decision. I don't tend to look too kindly on people who know something is wrong and sail on anyway, as the resulting mess is harder to clean up - so, if I talk the talk...!
It's a massive feeling of frustration, and the second consecutive nationals where a random breakage has put me out of contention early on. To all those who say you make your own luck, I tend to agree but I've been sailing in a lot of wind this year and am really surprised this hasn't come up sooner. If you believe in karma then maybe I should play the lottery this week!
Anyway. On a more upbeat note, Jason Belben put in a very solid performance to take the Nationals, beating off Arnaud for the open championship and a hard-charging Chris Rashley who put in a first and three seconds on the final day to take third (or second, depending on how you look at it!). Both were running the new skinny Ninja foils and will be a force to be reckoned with at the Euro's in 10 days time. Proof that the little Ninja from Somerset can mix it up with the best of them...
Final results are here
Photos from the event here
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