Lessons and Improving

I spoke with the instructor at the club about taking some additional lessons.  There's two routes I could go here, with the end goal being "become a better sailor".

I could go the certification route.  Right now I hold a CanSail 2 (what used to be "White Sail III") level.  That's basically "you know how to sail."  I got this 5 years ago when I first took lessons.  Now, I'm a much better (I think...) sailor now than I was then.  So maybe I should get trained up to the next level (CanSail 3/4 which basically corresponds to "know how to race").  The advantage of getting a formal certification is that I can putting myself on a common base with other (better) sailors, and I can then see what they're doing differently (better) than me.

Option two is to forgo the certifications, and just "get better".  Work on areas where I'm weak.  Refine areas I'm strong.  The advantage of this route is that I don't waste time developing skills which are of little use to the class of boat I sail on.  For example, how important is knowing "proper trapeze technique" if I'm sailing Lasers?

This got me thinking -- what are my overall goals?

• short term: place 2nd last or better in the Kingston Masters Worlds'
• long term: be a better overall sailor

The certification route would be better for my long term goal, but a more specific regimen would be better for my short term goal.

Log book

I plan on speaking with the club's instructor about getting certified to a higher level, either CanSail 3 or CanSail 4.  Five years ago, I took the learn-to-sail classes, and was certified to what was the equivalent to CanSail 2.  Basically, this meant "okay, you're competent enough that no one needs to keep an eye on you."  Since then, I've gotten a lot better at the sport, but I am aware that there are certainly massive gaps in my knowledge and abilities.

I was looking at the CanSail progress report to see if what I'm doing on the water matches what you'd expect to see someone trained to a higher level.

• Sail by the lee -- yeah, when the conditions are right it's rocket-fast.
• Balance fore-and-aft -- you don't win races with your bow out of the water on upwind legs!
• Use all the sail controls, know how to depower, understand shifts -- hey, no brainer!
• Maintain a written logbook -- wait, what?

I never observed anyone at the club with a personal logbook.  But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.  By writing down what happened, what you tried, what worked, what did not, it would reenforce the lessons learned during your hours on the water.  Similarly, a pre-race entry in the book would probably help in strategy.

So here's my plan for my shiny new log book.

• Pre-race research: record weather forecast, observed wind, waves, boat number, anything other "inputs" to my race strategy.  Is it steady, or gusty?  Is the wind shifty?  If so, what are the oscillations like?
• Pre-race plan: write down what I plan to do this race.  Is the wind light? Write down that I plan on focusing on speed rather than pointing.  That kind of thing
• Pre-race sub-plan: if there's something that I want to drill on during the race (rolls, getting clean wind lanes) then I'll write it down too.  Club racing is a race, but it's still one of the only times you can "try something new" when the stakes are low, so if I read about a technique that I want to try out or seomthing, I'll note it down.
• Post-race results: Where did I place?  What happened?
• Post-race lessons: What worked, what didn't?  To whom do I owe beer for crashing their boat?

I took a look at Doug Peckover's World's Journals which he graciously posted, to see what kind of thing he recorded.  I don't know if my memory is good enough to record his level of detail about what happened, but we'll see.