Scared

Another hectic weekend.

On Saturday the Finn club had arranged for the Danish national coach to be at the sailing club for a training session on the water. I hadn't sailed for a few weeks but I was looking forward to getting back out and hoping for some constructive help from the coach.

I am always a bit rusty after a month off from sailing, but nothing was working properly. The wind was blowing reasonably hard from the land which makes it shifty and unpredictable. We were also sailing close to the shore so the consequences of capsizing could well have been a broken mast (and the water is rather cold).

I was far too tense and terrified of capsizing which I nearly did 3 times. I wasn't enjoying it. The aim of the training was to have us all sailing close to each other so the courses were short and we had 3 starts for each actual race. I made the first 3 starts and finished the first race fairly close to last. I made the next 2 starts, but then somehow lost my nerve. Nothing I tried to do was going how I wanted to and I just wanted to get back without breaking anything. I sailed back a forth a bit in an effort to calm my nerves, but in the end I just went in. I was embarrassed. One of the guys out there was well into his 60s with an artificial knee and he was doing better than me and there weren't even very big waves.

I'll try again next weekend when there is another coaching session, but then I think I'll pack the boat up until sailing starts again in the new year.