Reflections on Midwinters

Dear Universe, I'm not amused. We now have at least one inch on the ground. Grrrr.

Now that I'm home, I'm thinking about the big take aways from this Midwinters.

My first one is how proud I am to be part of Fleet 135. As you hopefully read elsewhere, our newest member, Jim Colegrove, won the Sportsmanship award for all the help he gave others at the ramp. And last year Eric Bussell won for all the hard work he's put into the publicity/video for the class. Not to mention our fleet winning fleet of the year in 2017. All in all, an incredible group of people, with more incredible people joining us every day. In fact, the last day of the regatta, Mark and Michele Taylor, who are based in Florida but have no home club, joined Clinton Lake Sailing Association.

The Colegroves also are not based near the lake, really. But they needed a club and they loved the energy of Fleet 135. They joined to show how much they appreciated that. Maybe our fleet will be the fleet for wayward sailors or something! Anyway, a fine and wonderful group of people!!

Another big take away is to try to think outside the box on the racecourse. The first race on Wednesday we were on fire. But in the second and third races, that same approach didn't help us. We let the wind confuse us and then I just threw up my hands. I want to practice this season taking a moment to think to myself, okay, that's not working or that is confusing, what else can we focus on? For example, on Wednesday, perhaps we could have registered that whatever the wind was doing, tacking on the "shifts" was not going to help. Let's pick a side - based on possible current or land mass or pressure or something - and just sail fast on that side. Ryan's theory also was that perhaps the wind was extra disturbed in the middle of the course.

Remember, we are talking 40 plus boats just in the championship fleet. That's a lot of boats. There was never any really clear air or section of the course. You had to always be watching out for others. In regional events, if you can get out near the front you don't have the same kinds of challenges. So I'm going to work on that this season. Getting my head out of the boat and thinking of a new approach if our current one is not working.

I guess that's all I had to say about this event. But I'm happy to be home, despite the stupid snow on the ground and I'm determined to continue to work hard and get better at sailing.

Signing off.