Monday, April 28, 2008

Sailing Road Trips...

...are never without something occurring! We corralled for a 0730 departure from Noank, CT...



and maybe two hours into our trip the trailer's tires chose not to continue on with us...




...four new tires later and we made it out of the state for a rather uneventful trip to Annapolis. Well, I take that back...driving a M30 through narrow toll stations and getting gas make for a new sort of adventure.




We arrived to Bert Jabin's BEAUTIFUL Yacht Yard a tad too late for use of the crane, but quickly prepped our girl for first shot at it the following morning.

The crew was very focused on weigh-in, over anything and the scale was the first thing unpacked when we arrived to the yard!

Being a cautious team, everyone joined in a light run that night and thanks to the efficient efforts of the yard, we all remained in good spirits for the finals push to get the boat ready for an afternoon of practice on Thursday.

All in all, aside from tire troubles, our boat and team where very prepared for the event this past weekend. It was amazing to see the impact it had on our sailing. We were able to fit in plenty of practice, address concerns as they arouse, still make it to the tent party and have team time while making it to bed at a decent hour to hit the "repeat button" next morning.

I am extremely proud of the team this weekend and believe our success of a productive regatta to initiate the M30 season was a result of early communications about weights, members taking time on the weekend to complete boat projects and arriving to the event early and well prepared.


Photo: Ian Burman

Furthermore, we made time to debrief before and after sailing, enjoyed the social venue however ended each night as a team and started each day as a team over a nice breakfast (boat owner Scott Baker gets the gold star for getting our butts out of bed and in gear! While tactician Randy Shore inspired us to take time for a team sit down breakfast.)

Oh and I can not forget the team bonding over electronic golf our last night...good times on the water and shore side at Annapolis NOODS!

Special Thank You to SailFast Apparel for keeping us in fashion and cool (it was hot hot hot the first two days), Bert Jabin Yard and to the organizers of the event; we had a wonderful time despite the fickled weather.

No comments: