never let go of your mainsheet

still can't fathom how this actually happened. like a helicopter just dropped a laser into the sea.



clay johnson sailing footage.

laser sailing downwind

had a week of stiff breezes here in hayling island! 20 knots and an outgoing tide meant the sea really built up on some of the days. hard work both upwind and downwind but an exhilarating ride downhill! lots of capsizes, lost a bit of hearing in the left ear so i went to see a gp earlier today to get it cleared out...

i think i would really really hate to lose my sense of hearing. then i wouldn't get to appreciate nikolai lugansky's piano flourishes in rachmaninoff's paganini rhapsody, like i did at the royal albert hall in london last week. bbc prom 44. which was absolutely magnificent.

now take some time to appreciate this. thanks brett!

psych

i'm now spending a few days to do a bit of exploring in london before heading to hayling island on the 19th to start a week's worth of training before my laser standard worlds begin. 

i've got mixed feelings about how i sailed my skandia sail for gold regatta. placed pretty much middle of a strong fleet. thought i sailed well in patches, but when i lost places it was always costly and i couldn't limit the damage.

in particular 3 races could be considered good - an 11th on the first day when i sailed 2 patient beats, a 30th on the 4th day when i was caught out on the wrong side on the 1st beat but sailed positively to make boats on the remaining legs, and a 2nd on the last day where i sailed a perfect first beat to lead at the top mark.

i also thought i sailed well on both my first beats on the fresh 2nd day, before my inability to keep the rig the right way up downwind cancelled my efforts out. 

however i also felt i had quite some bad luck along the way. i felt i was doing well in the first 10 minutes of the race, and would find myself in the top bunch on either the left or the right of the course, only to see boats from the opposite side of the course cross me at the top mark. at least i can be happy with my starts.

also need many more hours in 15 knots+ downhill.

on my last race day i made the painful decision to not fly into germany to see vienna teng live. the costs were simply looking in excess of 600 sgd for train, plane, concert tickets and accommodation expenses. disappointed. 

as sort of a substitute i'm going to see the psychedelic sleepy sun play tonight, a band i'd never heard of before yesterday. i like what i hear though. psyched!

on my stroll through the city today i happened across a) church of scientology london b) st. paul's cathedral c) tate modern art museum. 

i'll upgrade to two wheels tomorrow.

race day -1

i saw an old beaten up reliant robin parked near the weymouth central library the other day. quite COOL. it had a fire extinguisher in it. i wonder if it gets used often.

we start racing tomorrow, on national day.

Blues Run The Game

Catch a boat to England, baby,
Maybe to Spain.
Wherever I have been,
Wherever I've been and gone,
Wherever I have gone,
The blues are just the same.

Living is a gamble, baby,
Loving's much the same.
Wherever I have played,
Wherever I've thrown them dice,
Wherever I have played,
The blues have run the game.

weymouth

i am now in top-gear country. where it rains, where there are road works, where people take trains, and there are train stations with more that 20 platforms!