Shadow Keeper

Nobody ever reads instructions, we always try to wing it and work the device as if we were the creator. This is OK if the device is a camera or a gps but its not really ok if it's a fire extinguisher. Reading the instructions by the light of the fire you are trying to put out I once found is an intense experience.

And in a way that feels a bit like Moth sailing these days. Always frantically trying to get prepared before the event. I've still got the remains of a suntan from the Gorge and already I'm well into planning for the next Worlds. South of France training, boat directly to Dubai etc

These days it seems that as you stand listening to a closing speech you are also reading the NOR of the next one.

We had the European championships in June 09 and by August 2010 we will have had two worlds and two Europeans in a 13 month period. Christ! I was European Champions from 1994 to 1997 only because no one organised anything, but now it's all go as the class expands and if we are all to keep up then we need to get more efficent. Of course you dont have to do them all. But with 64 Mach 2's sold, we do, and I'm not complaining.

And if anything it means you value your time away from the race track more, in the shadows a bit for while.

But other than putting the notice of race, the sailing instructions, the briefing and possibly the welcoming speech on podcasts I can't really think of how to make it better. It's great already.

Running from Jordan

Everywhere I go I see that woman's face, and it alone make me want to leave the UK. Trouble is I can't, with no boat and no event I might see January here for the first time in years. Recently I've been very lucky to travel to the southern hemisphere, either Perth or Melbourne, and it always seemed to make me feel that I'd hit a fast forward button and then stopped it at a good bit in my own little movie, fortunately missing most of the unforgettable part that is winter in the UK.

Yet I'm preparing for winter here, maliciously hoping that "What Katie did next" would be final and the only reminder of down under is that twat she's married to.

A fast forward movie of the Tide Ride at Hayling Island Sailing Club yesterday would reveal a manic blur of ascending and descending boats being slung from stationary to warp speed. The wind would be 10 knots then nothing then 10 again. Yachts would shoot by at 20 times faster than they are supposed to go and if you looked carefully you might even catch a quick glimpse of a rapidly vibrating mainsail.
A few frames later you might see the leader lap all but two other competitors in this crazy race and if we also had a sound track you would hear frequent high pitched squawks coming from a couple of boats. Thankfully undecipherable as remember we are on fast forward.

Rod Harris won. He is establishing himself as a guy who is still improving where others seem to have stopped.

It was best to be watching yesterday, especially holding a gin and tonic, and accordingly easy to criticise too, so I wont. Suffice to say that it wasn't a great movie, let down by the plot, and I was very glad that I wasn't amongst the cast.