It's been a while.
A long time.
A very very long time.
But if ever there was a chance to get back on the water, then the 2022 was the time to do it. Maciek was going to stand down as commodore this year, so this was the last cup he would be able to award. There was the equivalent of a "three line whip" to encourage everyone from the Welsh Harp Sailing Club to attend. So Sarah and I answered the call.
You need to realise that my wife and I moved house in September 2021, and I had hardly been on the water since. I was seriously out of practice. Sarah had been doing some Laser sailing recently, so she probably had a better feel for wind and sailing than I had.
Conditions were not ideal - about 4 or 5 knots of wind, with the occasional gust to capture our attention, but by the end of the day we were in "drift mode".
The first race was a massive hour-plus. Due to the southerly wind, the course was 4-7-8-5 for the Laster and GP14 fleets. There was also a race for the juniors in the club. So a complicated bit of logistics to manage.
I was helming and managed to get the timing completely wrong for the starting. As a result we started last, and were last at the end of the race as well. We almost managed to catch up with one of the boats before, but failed in the end. We were last and had the experience of being "finished on the water".
Then it was in for a buffet lunch, before we took part in the second and third races back-to-back.
Sarah helmed the second race, and made a cautious start. we had two or three boats behind us at one time, but a few overtook us, so we ended up with a one boat behind us. And we were formally finished in the race - which was a distinct improvement.
The third race was a bit different: the instructions were to race one lap, and then change over the helm and crew on the water, for the second lap. Not only that, the race course was very different. As the juniors had completed their racing, we had the entire lake to play with. So the course was 4-1-2-7-8-5
Again, my timing for the start was not ideal. And the lack of wind towards the end of the day did not help, since my light-wind sailing is not very good. Nevertheless, we did manage to keep up with the back-markers. We had just one boat behind us at the end.
So results were not very good. But we did feel that we were beginning to get back our "sea legs"
It sounds like a miserable day. Yet, despite all that, we did feel that we had enjoyed ourselves. We could improve. More practice needed. Looking forward to the next opportunity to sail.
