It's a Record

A record

Yesterday evening I went for another sail at the mouth of the Sakonnet with a friend, and it turned out to be the best wind (at least to start with) and the best waves of all six outings there over the past few weeks. We would sail upwind for about twenty minutes and then ride the waves downwind back to where we started. Rinse and repeat. Well, repeat anyway.

The first run we were both in pure survival mode but we didn't capsize or submarine or death roll or have any other disasters. The second run was the most enjoyable. I think the wind had slackened a little and we had tuned into the conditions and were catching some amazing rides. Then we did some tacking practice and it certainly felt like my heavy air tacks were getting better. My friend did some capsize practice. And some more downwind sailing. It was all good.

And so to Evelyn's for beer and stuffies and clam roll and babbling on about what a great sail we had had.



It turns out I broke a record.

I started recording my daily sails on this blog (in a summary post or page) in 2009. When I looked back I discovered that I had sailed my Laser in local waters 14 days in June this year and that is more than in any other month since records began. True, there were some Septembers when I went to Minorca Sailing and sailed every day there and clocked up more total days on the water in the month. But never as many as 14 locally.



And the reasons are obvious…

1. Friends. Two of my friends are training hard for the Laser Masters Worlds and they have both been more than happy to have me come along as a sparring partner at their training sessions. Having someone else to sail with has motivated me to get out on the water more.


2. Not running. I was getting a pain in my right ankle after long runs - I think it's a stress fracture. It soon went away each time but always came back after a hard training run or a race. So at the end of April I decided to give up running for a few months to let it heal properly. In other summers there would be days when I would go for a long run in the morning and feel too tired to sail in the afternoon. Not this year. Maybe I should give up running for a few months in the summer every year?


3. Not sailing. Huh? Yes, not sailing. I didn't sail at all in February, March or April. It's amazing how much more enthusiasm I have for sailing after a break like that.


4. The weather. June was fabulous. Mainly sunny days. Great winds on most days. Just wonderful.


5. Beer.

I wonder what July will bring?