Well, they say "Practice makes perfect", but actually it's "Perfect practice makes permanent".
The girls campaigning for Olympics not only know how to match race flawlessly, but get every inch out of the Elliott 6m being used for the Olympic games in London.
It was a great experience to race against Anna and the girls, just to say I raced them in their territory, because I got schooled like a red-headed stepchild on boat-handling but off the line we had them. With only a few hours of practice, it is officially absurd to think you can beat these girls around the race track in just 2 laps. They train almost everyday in the gym then sailing, slotting together all the pieces of a big puzzle to perfect their match racing skills. Maybe one lap you can hold them off but they will see when and where to take your lunch and say, "Sorry Charlie, my food", take the lead before the finish and you go hungry for the rest of the day. But Molly makes fabulous dinners later though, Haha.
As my father used to say "Close but no cigar".
By the time we sorted out the boat and our boat handling, we just missed the quarterfinals. But I will be more of a player at the next event which is in March, the Ficker Cup in Catalina 37's. This event qualifies the winner for the Congressional Cup (a grade 1 open event).
Anyway, Enrique and Janel did a great job getting us around the race course and I have a good feeling one of the teams we raced this weekend will bring home a medal from the Olympics this summer.
I'm flying to Antigua on Saturday to do a delivery on a TP52 back to Miami, 1200 miles. This will be my first long distance sail; has been a dream of mine to sail around the world someday and this is a start. Will send an update when we make a brief stop on the way!
Thank you to all my sponsors: Handy Storage, Zhik, Kaenon, Almaco, to you, my readers, and particularly my parents, for supporting my dream and journey.
See you on the water,