Autumn Days

Autumn is a good time to sail a Moth and I like this time of year. If I had enough money I would spend my life, not in internal Summers, but between one Riviera and another, moving only to find the next Autumn. Yet for many it signals the end of the Summer, and I guess it's possible to see Autumn as a decline, where yellow leaves show through like greying hair on a fading film star, a star who has seen one BAFTA too many.

Or you can argue, (as I do) that Autumn is a second spring, where the harbour is empty, and this means it's a relaxing sail. Arrogance, and his cousin Ignorance are largely confined to marinas and there is freedom to move again.

Saturday was a good sailing day, A day when it felt like you had been handed a special gift, unique because it could not be replicated. For a while I darted about, turning when I wanted with no constraints other than a ribbon of weed reminding me that the harbour wasn't all mine.

It was the second time I'd used the new Mach2 small main foil, I also sailed on Friday eve with Mike Lennon and felt fast, where previously I had not. Its an incremental change and so you will get incremental improvements, but I want to thank Joe Turner and before him Rohan Veal for forcing development forward, albeit with a Dremel. I will sail with it at Paignton Open meeting this weekend. the last Moth Grand Prix of the year. I hope there will be lots of Moths there. If you blurr your eyes and ignore the Donkeys, It could be Garda.