by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 – 1919)

One ship drives east, and another west
With the self-same winds that blow;
‘Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
That decides the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As they voyage along through life;
‘Tis the will of the soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

I won a recent regatta on the A-Cat. It was an odd feeling because I felt that I was just trying to improve upon my previous mistakes, a typical theme for me in competition against others. It was also odd because the other sailors are so amazing I feel really lucky to get to sail against them and hardly expected to come out ahead.

Over time I have found that I become less interested in finding ways to beat others at a game and instead focus on verifying positive changes relative to my own last performance. Not sure if that makes sense without more context, but it seems to me there are those who want to win at any cost in a most relativistic sense (the win/lose mindset), and then there are those who strive to become a better sailor through generous cooperation of others on the course (in front or behind).

One day in Long Beach after a long day of racing I remember arriving at the beach with a big smile I couldn’t shake. I said to Jay Glaser, who happened to be standing nearby me after we landed our boats, “I made so many mistakes today and learned so much, it was great!” He laughed. Then he and Pease told me about a famously successful sailor in Europe who created a detailed log of every mistake made on the water in order to ensure constant improvement. Too much trouble to be fun, I would guess, but it did emphasize a philosophy about quiet and patient success I found heartening. I have little desire to go back to crewing on big boats where raunchy conversation ofter turns into rah-rah “there is no second place — you either win or lose” shouting matches. And so after five races, where I made numerous mistakes but still somehow managed to finish second in every race, I ended as the overall winner by a fair margin.

Here I am on the final leg of the last race, pleased to be in second, again…

Notable mistakes made:

1. did not adjust mental record of marks after big windspeed change — was having so much fun going super fast down-wind i over-sailed lay-line by miles. the angles were exciting until i realized i had to sail upwind to leeward mark
2. tried to show-off by blasting through a fleet of 505s going down-wind. a (smarter) a-cat and two 505s with kites to windward really does cut-off the juice
3. started a tacking duel but forgot to clear the lines. reverse-rotated mast is really slow, and ugly
4. impatient at the start line, i wasted a beautifully clear lane and was over-early by seconds
5. pinched instead of powered-up in light air with lumpy seas. power first, then pinch, or maybe just power if it’s too lumpy
6. put two drink bottles in the same diamond wire and left the tension off for light air. don’t know where the top one went but i was really looking forward to the blueberry flavor. hopefully someone finds it and enjoys it.

Notable successes:

1. since i was over-early, i had a laugh, hurried myself to an immediate restart and sailed on to finish second
2. kept the foot loose and paid attention to markings to avoid overtrimming
3. giant organic apple pie slice with whipped cream for breakfast. Mmmm, Pergolesi!
4. slept on hardwood floor. i don’t know why, but i always sail better after sleeping on a hard surface
5. avoided kelp monsters. i think this might just be luck, but maybe past kelp experiences helped
6. tried some risky but calculated moves that paid-off amazingly well. lost all the tacks in a duel but still kept my wits and ended up closer to the line
7. relaxed and recovered from bone-head mistakes by just trying to enjoy myself