Since Marc asked me to write up a report on this race for the website, I have been suffering from writer’s block. I hope that the “better late than never” rule applies. This race report will be a little different because 15 July was my very first day in a Solo. I was so focused on figuring things out that I paid little attention to the battles at the front of the fleet. You are going to have to rely on the results for that story. Here is my story:

I had an awesome day!!! The day was amazing because everyone in the fleet was friendly and welcoming. I arrived at Giesbeek full of anticipation and excitement. I had a new (to me) boat and was back in the racing game after taking a few years off to recover from a broken ankle (racefiets accident). I had been part of an X-35 crew on the way to the Worlds in the Med but found myself in a wheelchair instead.

As soon as I started taking my boat cover off, fleet members approached me with offers of help and advice. As I was putting the boat together for the first time, I started to stress out about making the first start. It just took me too long to set up. I had to let go of the first race, as there was no wind and a seemingly impenetrable glob of weed blocking the exit from the ramp area.

Once I managed to get out to the race course, I started to try and figure the boat out. During the next three races, I had uniformly horrible third row starts, including one with a flubbed roll tack that added some extra water weight in the cockpit. I had moments where I seemed kind of fast and moments where the opposite was true. I lucked out in race 3 and scored a 6 but I was DFL for the regatta. Regardless of the score, I had a big smile on my face all day. I am looking forward to meeting the rest of you and to remembering the names of everyone I met already. I am also looking forward to figuring the boat out and to finding some consistent boat speed.

See you on the water.

Jeff