This photo memory isn’t travel per se, as we live in Southampton and it was taken on Southampton water, but no matter. It is an important photo! We were travelling in our chosen vessel – Pondlife, our much loved dinghy!
This is Mr P and me metres away from the finish line in a open meeting at Weston sailing club, metres from winning our first race! So exciting! The fleet is massively competitive and whilst we often got top 10 this was the only time that we won a race – I couldn’t get the grin off my face!!
The wind was incredibly shifty for the regatta and whilst some will say we got lucky with the shifts (and we did get a great lift from the bank of an oil tanker) I would prefer to think that we sailed well and did well!
What did I learn – that you can’t look behind you when you are leading, only look in front. The next boat was a good 50 metres behind us, but if we’d been looking behind us rather than focussing on sailing fast and well, then we’d probably have been beaten! We also learnt that it is much easier to sail at the front and that actually with clean wind and no other boats around you can pick your spot, take time with manoeuvres and actually enjoy the sailing whilst extending the lead!
Weston Sailing Club RS400 open meeting – Summer 2007
Wow, I love to sail, can I come with you when I visit England this Sept and November?
Author
Haha – if I had any sailing planned then I’d say yes, but sadly I stick to warm weather sailing!! Brrr to November sailing!!
Well done on winning! We sailed in Scotland briefly this Summer, but had plenty of much-needed assistance. I sailed a Topper as kid, but can’t really remember all the details so should really go no a refresher course, I think, particularly since our children are now more competent than us!
Author
Great hobby for all the family to do, although I do worry my parents with tales of high winds and big seas from time to time!!
Not looking behind sounds like a good lesson for just about anything in life! Well done on the win Anna.
Author
Fair point, isn’t just a sailing focus thing!!
Congratz with your win! “We also learnt that it is much easier to sail at the front”, so keep on winning! 😉
Author
something along the lines of the rich get richer!!