Like many of you, I have spent time over the Christmas and New Year holiday break doing repairs and minor improvement work to my boat in preparation for the second half of our sailing season. For some reason I always believe that these little tweaks will make all the difference in performance that will instantly result in an extra knot up wind and possibly 2 knots downwind next time we race. But it never seems to work out like I imagine. Going faster obviously requires far more time and effort. Apart from having gear that works, so far the only reliable way I have found for increasing performance seems to be putting in time out on the water. Plus spending time on the water honing the sailing skills and team work necessary for improving performance does, more often than not, results in the added bonus of increasing the sailing enjoyment of all aboard.
This leads me smoothly to my next point. I would like to encourage you to bring your boats out and join us out on the water this coming Saturday for the second half of the season. The second half of the season should be the time when we are getting our collective sailing acts together, where each boat and her crew are functioning as one.
TYs have some important away events to aim for during the second half of the sailing season starting with the St Georges Basin Sussex Inlet regatta on the second and third of February - one not to miss.
I look forward to renewing acquaintances next Saturday at the club.