The Imperfect World of Windsurf Racing
Ok, maybe it's just MY imperfect world.
I see other sailors at races, they always seem to have things figured out. They know which sail to have rigged, exactly how much downhual to have for the wind, how high the boom should be and the exact placement of their harness lines. I, on the other hand, am often a wreck. I have not yet figured out what race sails I should have, or even if I am going to be racing enough to justify getting new race sails. I show up to race with gear I've hardly used, no idea how to get it dialed in and in the frantic rush to get ready I forget the simplest things.
At Nationals for instance, it took me until the last day of racing to have a sail properly rigged, boom at an appropriate height and harness lines adjusted on the first try. The first day of racing it was windy and gusty and got quite a bit windier between rigging and the start of the first race. I did not make it out to the course even in time to get across the start line in time, much less early enough to sail around and see what could be adjusted to improve my performance. The penalty was getting my a** kicked around the course, falling in a lot and wearing out my forearms in record time. By the end of the day though - I almost had it all together, my gear felt good, stuff in the right place, I got to the start line in time to set my watch, I felt like I was actually trying to race instead of trying to survive! De-rigging at the end of the day I was feeling pretty good - until I realized that I spent all day on waaayy to big of a fin and it never even occured to me to do anything about it.
On the second day of racing it was mellow conditions and I was happy to be on a 9.8m (that I've actually sailed on before and already had my sail number on it -woohoo!). Half way through the first race, as my boom slipped down to around my navel, I realized that I had never used that boom with that mast and clearly things were not adjusted correctly. I used a big lull at the upwind mark as an opportunity to raise my boom after carefully weighing the potential gains I might make by having my boom at the right height vs. the potential of missing getting planing in the next puff because I was adjusting my boom. I think I made the right call - I passed a person or two before the finish!
Day three of racing was another windy one - but I was feeling confident. I had worked out all my rigging and tuning issues on the 8.5m sail on the first day, I remembered to use my smaller fin and I was ready to race. I was about as powered up downwind as I've ever been on formula gear, once it was all lit up, flying downwind...confidence disapeared in a flash - I was terrified. Instead of agressively going into a jibe and trying to pass other sailors, I was using jibes as an opportunity to rest, breathe and summon my courage to sheet in again. I was feeling like a total pansy until I saw some of the big, tough, fast guys doing the same thing. Trying to push past my fear of crashing at that speed, I kept reminding myself that the worst thing that happens is falling in the water. As it turns out, I should have been focusing on keeping the board on the water, an over-the-handlebars explosion broke my boom front end and I was done for the day.
The last two days of racing were light wind, 11.0m sail days. There were a few more gear issues to iron out (because, of course, I'd never even rigged the 11.0m before), like hitting the water without popping the bottom cam on the mast and getting the harness lines on yet another boom in the right spot. But it turns out that my biggest issue was just not being physically prepared for the 11.0m sail. It's a super light rig and feels great - but it's still an 11.0m and I was tired.
In the end I has some good races and some bad, I was mostly solidly in the middle of the fleet and of course, had a blast. If I can just remember all the gear lessons I learned and be a little more prepared next time....there's no telling how well I might do! And for all of you who are putting off racing until you really have it all figured out...come join my imperfect world of racing!
