Modest Not

I am a modest person. So this post is going to be hard for me to write.

When starting to write this blog I thought I would post regularly with stories of my disasters and screw-ups on the race course, all spiced with self-deprecating humor. And there's been some of that.

But I also decided that one of the main reasons I screw up so often is to do with my mental attitude. And I resolved to work on these mind problems this year using the methods in The Mental Edge by Kenneth Baum.

So here's the problem. The next step in Baum's method is for me to write down five positive beliefs I have about myself. Ouch. It hurts my head to even think of doing that. I'm not a bragger. I'm uncomfortable telling even myself how wonderful I am. I've been putting off this step for weeks.

But it's all in a good cause. Me. (Only joking.) So here goes....

1. I sail fast. Hey, it even says that in the title of my blog. Live slow, sail fast. Do I really believe it? Not enough, I suppose. But this year two very good sailors have both told me, after racing with me, that I am "fast". So I need to believe that more. My strategy may be nonexistent, my starts may be pathetic -- but I can always use good boat speed to recover from my mistakes. To an extent.

2. I am the perfect height and weight for sailing a Laser. True. No excuses there.

3. I have great light air skills. Having spent almost all my sailing career sailing on inland lakes, some of them very small lakes, I ought to have some experience in how to make a boat move when there is hardly any wind. I may not like those conditions. I may whine about light airs. But I can't deny that I have spent endless hours, sitting still in excruciating positions, trying to coax a fraction of a knot of movement out of a sailing dinghy.

4. I love heavy air sailing. More true now than it was a year ago. I started the season with a couple of months of heavy air sailing, got better at it and learned to love it. Keep repeating this often enough and I might actually believe it.

5. I have good stamina and strength and can outlast the competition. Hey - I run marathons don't I? Well, to be more precise I have completed one marathon and am in training for another. I work out with weights don't I? Well, actually no -- not for a few months. If I do tire in a day of hard racing it's my arms that are the first to go, so I definitely need to do more work there.

Ouch. That did hurt. Even more than I thought it would. Hope nobody reads this nonsense. Have to write a few posts putting myself down to pay for this one.