Hi everyone
Today I sailed my first open meeting. Out of 20 boats, I was finishing in the last 5. There was 1 boat that came last every race. In the last race, though I was about 9th on the 1st lap, I slid down the fleet, and eventually landed up sailing with this last boat, with the fleet not far ahead of us. He managed to just get ahead of me, as we started the beat. We were really close together.
Ok, so he was to windward of me, and I wanted to tack, so I bore away slightly, and I tack behind him. So he tacks immediately. After a short while, I tack again, so he tacks immediately, and so on, and so on, all the way up the beat.
I didnt allow this to faze me, but I coudnt help thinking " dude, we are coming last, WHAT is the point of jostling to keep me behind you, while the fleet gets away? "
Now I think that we had a chance of catching up 1 or 2 boats again. But when he started his argy-bargy tactics, all that did was slow both of us down. The only boat we overtook was - a capsizee. :-( (and I did manage to get past him on the run later)
Whilst I realise he did everything according to the rules, what on earth is gained by it? Surely it is far far better to sail FASTEST and hopefully overtake the next boat/s ahead.
Or, is "for me to win, everyone else must lose" the best thinking? ? ? ????(ala Michael Schumacer!)
Today I sailed my first open meeting. Out of 20 boats, I was finishing in the last 5. There was 1 boat that came last every race. In the last race, though I was about 9th on the 1st lap, I slid down the fleet, and eventually landed up sailing with this last boat, with the fleet not far ahead of us. He managed to just get ahead of me, as we started the beat. We were really close together.
Ok, so he was to windward of me, and I wanted to tack, so I bore away slightly, and I tack behind him. So he tacks immediately. After a short while, I tack again, so he tacks immediately, and so on, and so on, all the way up the beat.
I didnt allow this to faze me, but I coudnt help thinking " dude, we are coming last, WHAT is the point of jostling to keep me behind you, while the fleet gets away? "
Now I think that we had a chance of catching up 1 or 2 boats again. But when he started his argy-bargy tactics, all that did was slow both of us down. The only boat we overtook was - a capsizee. :-( (and I did manage to get past him on the run later)
Whilst I realise he did everything according to the rules, what on earth is gained by it? Surely it is far far better to sail FASTEST and hopefully overtake the next boat/s ahead.
Or, is "for me to win, everyone else must lose" the best thinking? ? ? ????(ala Michael Schumacer!)