I've finally been out at Cheddar, sneaking in a good few hour sail yesterday in sunshine and 12 knots with Alan. It was a good opportunity to just sail, start throwing in some tacks and gibes here and there and generally just find some polish to my skills.
I started the year with the best intentions - was going to take it all very seriously, get fit, do some training with Tom and generally make the most of a worlds year in Europe. While I've been doing OK at the getting fit part I can still count the number of days sailing this year in single digits and I'm yet to meet Tom anywhere other than an open meeting. Despite all this I feel I've got good boatspeed and my maneuvers are there or there abouts with foiling tacks more often than not.
Ullswater was a write off for me really. Had a minor meltdown on the final day while in joint first and didn't do the final races. I can honestly say I've never sailed in anything like it conditions wise with massive shifts and very localised gusts. If I didn't know better I'd say I'd never go back, but I've now had one of my favorite days sailing along with one of my least favorite days sailing there!
Emma, James and Me took advantage of the dubious forecasts on the Sunday to go off mountain biking while everyone sat around seeing if the wind was going to come or not. I can understand the mentality of it being the Inlands and everything and wanting to ram races in but if it's not going to happen (or be totally rubbish) it's a shame to waste an opportunity while in a location like this.
And so the Nationals is rolling ever closer. I'm not taking myself quite so seriously any more and am looking forward to having fun with my mates and doing some nice sailing while I'm at it...
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