What a joy it was to finally get back in the saddle and actually go for a sail.

I headed over to Stokes Bay (the nationals venue this year) yesterday where I was greeted by 200 lasers (qualifier) and treated to a perfect re introduction to the boat. Winds were just right peaking at around 15 knots and there was enough chop to test out the retractable wand. Kevin and Jo kept an eye on me and Jason Belben popped out for a blast too (damned that man is quick!)

It was good to see that I hadn’t forgotten how to sail and I was even able to get the gybing back on again with improvements having spent the whole winter since the Hayling training session visualising where I was going wrong.

Facing forwards during the transition was one area and getting right out on to the wing on the new tack was the other.

I was absolutely buggered after two hours of sailing having done no exercise over the winter apart from one 4 mile run. Thankfully Jo offered up some ibuprofen and coffee so I was able to survive a dinner out later in the evening. Thank god I’ve got a Saab (driving home after a day’s sailing is so comfortable!)

Boat set up was good apart from my replacement pushrod was too long (the last one had a tiny kink in it which was making the system very stiff with too much friction.) so the boat didn’t ride very high.

Kevin dusted me downwind with the raptor sail and apart from anything, his boat is set up so well it rides on rails through chop! My southern spars mast (bought off of Olivier) made a difference for me getting going and keeping the power on during lulls especially as I’ve put on a few more pounds! The 4:1 main also made a huge difference as I finally felt as though I wasn’t fighting the rig like I used to. (Kevin thinks I should enter the womens fleet)

Good news is that today, I’m not anywhere near as stiff as I thought I’d be so maybe I’m not too far off the mark?

One more weekend of sailing there and then it’s the start of the racing season at Queen marys.

Things to do: Shorten push rod and fit new non stretch footstraps from Hyde Sails. Also fit better cams to stop them popping off the mast.