Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Sixty Six

My sixty-sixth sail of the 2008 season was a delightful late afternoon jaunt on the Sakonnet River off Fogland Beach in an 8-10 knot southerly. This spot is currently one of my favorite sailing locations... rural, peaceful, open water stretching south to Rhode Island Sound, easy launch spot... just perfect.

66 is almost two thirds of 100. Two thirds of the way to my target of 100 days of Laser sailing in 2008. Unfortunately September 17th, the date of my 66th sail this year, is a bit more than two thirds of the way through the year.

Worse than that. My rough plan for achieving 100 days of sailing in the year was 20 days in Jan/Feb/Mar, 60 days in the warmer months of April through September, then another 20 days in Oct/Nov/Dec. It hasn't gone exactly to plan. By mid-September I should have been at around 75 days, not 66.

Where did I slip up? I started the year OK. Thanks to travel to the Dominican Republic, Australia and Florida I did sail 18 days (against a target of 20) in the first 3 months of the year. And I did sail precisely the target 10 days a month in each of May, June, July and August. It was April (and probably September) where I fell sadly short of the target.

Hmmm.

So what have I learned?

  1. 100 is a hell of a lot of days to sail in one year

  2. I like Laser sailing a lot but it does seem that 10 days in any one month is just about enough to satisfy my addiction

  3. April in Rhode Island is a lot colder than I had imagined it would be

  4. I am a wimp

  5. What's so important about 100 days anyway?

Look on the bright side. Life is good. I get to sail a lot by any standards. Being retired I get to sail on the days of the week when conditions are just right. And that may be the reason why I may not reach 100. To achieve 100 days I will have to sail on days when conditions are not "just right". On days when there is hardly any wind, or way too much wind, or when it's raining.

I sail for pleasure not to to achieve some arbitrary target I set myself.

But still, it would feel good to make it to 100...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Tillerman,

I can't tell you in words how disappointed I am in this blatant giving up. You are on race 10 here. You need to get your hunter's focus and beat "that guy" and "that other guy". Do you think your going to do it from your arm chair? Get back to work sailor.

You have 96 days left in the year. And that is more then enough to get a mere 32 more days of sailing in.

One of the three readers of your blog,

Tanzsegler

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the encouragement tanzsegler.

Anonymous said...

C'mon Tillerman...

Just saw a post on SA that there's a 10+ boat fleet sailing out of Duxbury...and that's 14 days right there!

Just need to figure out who's writing the Sailing Instructions for "Tillerman's 100th Sail Regatta"? (Location TBA, December 27th, 2008)

Anonymous as always.

Carol Anne said...

Tillerman, if Rhode Island is too cold, you obviously need to get down to the desert to get in some sailing days, so you can make your goal.

While we don't have a regatta on Dec. 27, we do have the Kris Kringle Regatta in December, and Pat's writing the SIs for that one.

And we have a bunch of high-school sailors on Lasers (mostly beginners) who could partake of Tillerman's wisdom.

I am sure the Rio Grande Sailing Club would be glad to host Tillerman's 100th day of Lasering for the year.

Anonymous said...

See Tillerman...

Gotta start marketing your 70th, 80th, 90th and 100th days and make the most of it.

Tillerman said...

Marketing? You mean I could sell sponsorship rights to my 70th, 80th etc. sails?

Hmmm. I wonder how that would work.

The Ollie Box 70th Sail?

The Marine-Tex 80th Sail?

The Clif Bar 90th Sail?

The Smuckers Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Uncrustables 100th Sail?

Anonymous said...

I meant things you actually like...

Tillerman's 80th Sail, sponsored by IntensitySails.com. And you could invite people to join you off Third Beach on October 30th.

Who knows, people might join you for an afternoon sails, and help keep the momentum rolling as the temps start to drop.

other sponsors...
RoosterSailing.com
TeamOne Newport.
Your favorite waterfront restaurant in Newport
Your Favorite Yacht Club

The Anonymous One

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