The wind was out of the north today and gave us fits. The first race was shifty, gusty, and completely random, it seemed. I hung onto the leaders for the first three legs, and started picking away at them on the second upwind. By the last beat, I had two boats to beat, a Kiwi and a Brit. I got the Brit on boatspeed but could not beat the Kiwi until we were off the water and I discovered he was called over early in that race, which gave me my third bullet. Things were looking up...
Until the second race of the day. My coach, Danielle Dube, told me to be conservative and let my boatspeed win. She told me to stay with the fleet, mostly, and use the length of the race to get you to the top five. Okay, I say, and I start conservatively, and am buried behind two boats. Badly. I suck air for the starboard hitch, and tack dutifully with the fleet to port and suck some more air. I don't look good, but I hang in there, until I just can't resist a header and tack to the left. I am now far left, what you call "on a flyer." The fleet momentarily lifts and I am in first, then it heads, and I am now just as quickly in last. Then it gets crazy at the windward mark, and I round in the 20s. I try to suck it up and fight for every spot I can, but I am crushed and my head is eating me alive.
I've got to stop here to supply some observation and advice. A lot of people know me as a pretty intense person when it comes to racing, and I will admit I take some pride in being labeled as such. They also tell me I should relax a bit and have fun. My standard response is usually to look at them in uncomprehending surprise and say deadpan, "Winning is fun." And I mean it. Winning feels so good, I don't know that I can compare it to anything else. But there is clearly a limit to being completely focused on winning, and I think I hit that limit in this race.
The advice to those as intense as me; if you really want to win, you better let it go a bit and have a bit of fun, or you will have many races of the kind that I had on this day. I "intensed" myself completely out of the race. I tacked to get out of bad spots, and got into worse. I was with the boat that ended up 6th on the second beat and had I managed to control my head, I am sure I could have been in the top ten. But I got desperate, and tried to beat 10 boats at once instead of one boat at a time. I was constantly selling the farm in the hope of a bi score. I became a gambler of the worst sort, and was left with a 17 that I have to carry unless we have ten races. What a lesson!!!
So, on the off day, I am trying to have fun. I AM having fun. I am relaxing. I am going to go into the last three days ready to get out there and go fast and let what happens happen. I have a shot. I am 7 points out of first with 7 races to go. And I have three bullets. Not bad.
Photo Credit (official World's photographer): Capizzano.com
Rob Koci races in both the Laser Full-Rig and Laser Radial fleets around District 3. Currently, Rob is the District 3 secretary and maintains a frequently updated race diary on D3Laser.com. Rob's home port is St. James Town Sailing Club in Toronto, Ontario.
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