First Wednesday night for the GSC Radial Fleet

I've been getting psyched up for tonight since Monday when I found out who the competition is this year. Lizzie is back but still getting warmed up as this is only her second night on the water this year. New guy Sean is to be watched but no threat at the moment. The big challenge is that ASA Head Coach Peter has moved over from the Fireball fleet into a Radial. Before I knew he was doing this, my goal was to win Wednesday nights. That is still the goal but it will be even more challenging now. Unless Kelsey is right and Peter's "old man moves" hold him back.

First race is 214214. I got off to a great start, neck in neck with Dave and ahead of Bill. Port end was favoured and I crossed on starboard and then tacked onto port. Peter was matching speed with me but seemed to be headed for Mark #3. Maybe he was playing with the idea of not tacking on headers to see where he ended up. Lizze was late crossing. I found out later that Sean capsized a few times after launching and was to cold to continue. Hopefully we'll see him next week.

The first leg was awesome. I was staying ahead of Bill for quite some time (a feat, considering he has a full rig). Dave and Bill both pulled ahead of me at the first mark. I was well ahead of Peter and Lizzie at this point. On the downwind they made up some ground but didn't catch me. I had a good gybe round #1 and then realized that it might have been better not to gybe and sail by the lee instead. Bill was sailing by the lee and Dave was not. It didn't make much difference in their speed. Around #4 I wasn't as quick sheeting in as I should have been. Still as I began the upwind and Peter approached the mark, I had to say "hurry up, Peter!". And hurry up he did.

In the end, Peter beat me in both races. I'd like to say I was a close second, but I was several boat lengths behind. Generally racing better than last year. I lost it tonight blowing tacks in the higher winds. I didn't handle the variable wind strength very well. In the lighter puffs I wasn't quite rolling enough on the tacks. In the heavier gusts I wasn't getting the boat flat fast enough. Several times I was tipped over enough that water was starting to enter the cockpit. Not fast. I need to work on the mental game. I know how to tack in both conditions, but I get messed up when it's variable. Plus with the water being as cold as it is, I'm still a little chicken on the roll tacks.