This time I really did get totally carried away, and missed posting about the race altogether for a day.
I spent yesterday convinced that I needed to head for the coast for as long as I dared in order to pick up a stronger wind, and sacrificed over 100 places in order to do so. I was not alone in making this choice.
The wind did arrive, but it was too little, too late. Instead of retrieving over 100 places while I was asleep, I retrieved about 40, leaving me still in the bunch but over 50 nautical miles behind the leaders.
Today’s serious chat subjects included a short lecture about polar diagrams (charts of boat speed against wind direction for a series of wind strengths) and how to use them, given by a competitor whose real-life occupation is extracting information from weather forecasts and using it to help sailors.
I didn’t learn anything new, but it jolted me into making a more technical effort to judge my best course each time I set it, instead of doing it ‘by the seat of my pants’. I spent hours thinking, scribbling and experimenting, and finally came up with a simple technique which is not as accurate as using chart tools on real paper, but did eventually improve my performance once I got the drill right. I can now class myself as an Entry-Level Sail On Line Navigation Nerd, and it was fun making my brain work a bit. Having started the day around 240th position and 54 miles behind the leaders, I am now 182nd and exactly 50 nautical miles behind the leaders. What’s more, I have a plan which I am (once again) convinced will gain me more places during the night.
Let’s see what the cold, hard light (or foggy murk again) of day brings – a knowing smile, or a ‘back to the drawing board’ sigh.
