So, all the excitement of getting our new hull this week has been and gone, unfortunately the hull isn't ready yet, so it looks like the 1st time I even see the new Enterprise is going to be @ Porthpean next Saturday :-( this really isn't how Jim Saltonstall taught me to do Championship Preparation back in the Optimist days!
A question I've been asking myself recently is how to approach sailing at these Nationals... We want to do well, were aiming for top 10, but I find that gate starts, large courses and general sea sailing a totally different beast to the pond and lake sailing that we tend to do the rest of the year... my conclusion thus far, it'll probably change once i'm on the water, is that to do well on the sea you need to be 110% positive about where you are starting, make it a good, clean fast and accurate rounding behind the gate boat, and then either go for the favoured side of the beat and use pure boat speed to get you there, or once clear of the start rabble, work the shift to the favoured side, both in my opinion work you just need to stick to your guns and clear air. I guess you just need to sail fast, keep your head out the boat and get into the groove of the shifts... then its "just" a case of keeping your nose clean at the mark roundings - i must remember that going on the past few events!! and sailing hard and fast downwind... easy stuff :-)
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