'One year before the mast' - sailing season 2013

2013 kicked off with three weekends competing in the aptly named ‘Frostbite’ series. Whilst January was quite a ‘snowy’ month, we did manage to avoid any serious snow fall on the weekends we were sailing! Saturdays were generally a training day with the main racing taking place on the Sundays.

Whilst is was a bit ‘fresh’ on the river Hamble, (with most crew layered up, resembling ‘Michelin Men’) it always seemed to be sunny on race days.

We were sailing a lovely little boat called ‘Jazzy Jellyfish’ (a very agile J109) which was a lot of fun to race! Working the foredeck, it was nice not to have to worry about the usual spinnaker pole, swinging around, regularly threatening to give anyone on the pointy end a good ‘brain-rattler’! Instead, Jazzy had a ‘retractable bowsprit’ which made life a lot easier (not to mention a whole lot safer!).

Cowes week on board 'Hurricane'

Another thing that made life easier during races was that we had good consistency of crew over a set period of time. It was great to get to know everyone a bit better each weekend and the banter was flying thick and fast! The other bonus was coming back to shore and relaxing in one of the local pubs on the Hamble and relaxing by a roaring open fire!  

Soon winter gave way to spring and we found ourselves back in the mix amongst the Sunsail racing series out on the Solent! This time we were racing the Beneteau F40’s which were slightly bigger than ‘Jazzy’. On the foredeck we had a few more ropes to worry about as we were now back to using a spinnaker pole. (the luxury of Jazzy’s ‘bowsprit’ was very much lamented!!).

A lot of the Frostbite crew had returned, along with crew who I’d got to know during the 2012 season, so all in all we had quite an experienced team building nicely! As far as a ‘scratch’ crew, we were working well together and competing well against the established crews (who had religiously sailed together every weekend, on and off season).

For me, one of the best weekends was my final weekend sailing with the crew in August. Everyone had about 7 weekends of experience tucked under their belts and together we had built up a lot of consistency in performance and results. It was good to see Neil being freed up from the helm for a change and stalking the decks, jumping in and helping out where needed. I often joke that the reason I work on the bow is so I cannot hear his eloquent delivery of orders. When the air turns blue because things aren't going quite his way, I can either pretend to not hear him or simply nod and shrug my shoulders! On this day the orders were extremely clear and delivered from just over my shoulder! It was good to see the skipper getting his hands dirty!

'Dark and Stormy'! -Not my usual expression
but events 'off the water' weren't
quite going my way this weekend as I remember!

The other bonus was that I had the privilege of working with the ‘dream team’ again – ‘Kazza’ and ‘Dazza’! Bow work could be described as trying to sort out a giant cat’s cradle, whilst balancing on a see-saw, which has been placed in a washing machine on a high spin cycle!

Working with KJ and Darren, it makes life so easy. You have two people that understand when something needs to happen and how it needs to happen! They also have a great ‘Zen’ like approach to sorting out problems quickly, efficiently and with minimum fuss! I do trust the whole crew, but these two have my whole-hearted faith.

They both are very analytically minded and have excellent visualisation when it comes to anticipating what we need to do to get the spinnaker up, or gybe the kite. Not to mention they bring the right level of physicality to get the job done!

A very tired but happy crew takes a rest after
a stormy day on the Solent 

One manoeuvre I was really impressed with was coming to the downwind mark under spinnaker. We gybed the spinnaker, pulled out the foresail, dumped the spinnie, rounded the mark, immediately gybed the headsail. All within the space of 2 minutes! Now this might not make sense to the uneducated, but basically it’s all about what can go wrong. –With all this maneuvering, sail changes and keeping eyes open for other boats, the list of f##k ups is exceptionally long and the probability of messing it up and slowing the boat down is very real! Thanks to the ‘dream team’ we managed to successfully avoid an unpleasantness and kept the foredeck ‘clusterf##k-free’!

Saying that, on a different race we did have the mother of all Spinnaker wraps though! To the point where we nearly broached! Poor Vicky (out spinnaker trimmer) was virtually hanging off the boom with her legs trailing in the water! Luckily we managed to recover it (thanks to some quick thinking from Darren). It was caused by a sudden gust that caught most of the fleet out and we were probably right on the limit to be flying a spinnaker to be fair. It was really ‘seat of your pants’ sailing at its best that weekend!. With the whole crew there was a real feeling of playing it ‘fast and loose’! 
We had nothing to lose against the leaders of the pack and we really took the battle them and grind out some great results!

Unfortunately I had to step back from sailing as my JuJitsu commitments needed to take priority. I had to prepare for the United Nations Competition taking place in South Africa in October. I do not begrudge missing the rest of the sailing session for this as I really wanted to go to the competition and give it my all. I was really pleased and proud of the results that everyone got in September and October!

I now have a break from everything over Christmas. No Ju Jitsu, sailing or surfing. Time to recharge, catch up with family and prepare for a busy 2014!

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all the skippers and crew I have sailed with this year. It has been a brilliant year of racing and look forward to sailing with everyone again in 2014!

Another successful weekend of racing comes to a conclusion!

The 'Surfing' Samurai?

'Gary Friendly' signs, drawn in crayon!

I'm not really in the habit of making New Year's resolutions, but when it came to 1st January 2013, I put together a wish list of activities I wanted to have a go at or places I wanted to visit. I gave myself a list of 6 items to go on the 'dream list'. One of them was to have a go at surfing

Surfing has always had the tag of 'cool' graffitied across it! Since I was a kid it was always something I wanted to try! Seeing those people surfing down the face of some huge waves, carving up and down these mountains of water looked amazing!

Growing up near Lee-on-Solent we didn't really see a lot of surfing. Hence it is a place not really known for it big rollers or huge swells! The Isle of Wight does a fantastic job of protecting Hampshire coastline from the waves (this does not mean that it's always calm sailing in the Solent!). Other than a bit of body-boarding in Gran Canaria I've never really had the chance to have a crack at surfing.

Fast forward about 16 years, and I am now a (relatively) established sailor. The best thing about being involved in any sport or hobby is that you meet like-minded people. Invariably we always have more than one passion in our lives and through chatting to one of my sailing buddies,it transpired that she surfs as well as sails! After a bit of discussion I manage to wrangle an invite on a surfing weekend down to Croyde in North Devon.

Through ju jitsu and sailing, I've got in the habit of doing some serious preparation for whatever adventure I was about to have a go at. Whether it is clothing or equipment I needed, or tailoring my gym routine. I wanted to try and be as best prepared as possible. In the case of surfing I started to read a few 'theory' bits online during my lunch breaks (just to give me an overview of what I should be doing). I watched 'Point Break' (so of course I was extremely well prepared as you can imagine!!) The main prep-work involved making sure my swimming was up to scratch. So I began to swim twice a week leading up to the weekend.

I love to swim, but like most people I only really swim when I am on holiday! I've been a member of the local gym for the past 6 years, but never used the pool. It always struck me as a bit of a 'sheep dip'. Luckily, when I actually go for a swim the pool turns out to be quite nice!

The infrequent swimming started to tell pretty quick as I just about manage to string 100 meters together! By week 2 my distance has now increased to 200m so progress was being made!

Friday of the surfing weekend finally came around and I could not wait to get out of work and head down to Devon! 5hrs later and I finally arrive in Croyde (under cover of darkness!). Luckily 'base camp' has already been set up by Amanda and Jo. We were soon joined by Margs, Cath and Alex and we all settled in for a few drinks under 'starry skies' to celebrate the start of our weekend adventure

Saturday morning arrived and early plans of visiting a local farmer's market was soon abandoned when we realized that everyone else in Croyde had the same idea! -A bit difficult when the only road in and out of town became clogged up with locals and tourists alike trying to get out to do some Saturday shopping! Food for the BBQ would just have to wait until later!

Once back at our campsite we made our way down to the beach and started to look round for a place to hire our boards and wet-suits for the day. We found a great little place called Baggy's Surf Lodge (just up the hill from the beach) that leased wet-suits and boards for the whole weekend for a really great price! After much laughter at trying to get into our wetsuits we headed off to the beach!

I'd toyed with the idea about having a surf lesson, but our groups' two experienced surfers (Cath and Amanda) assured the rest of us that we didn't need it. We just simply had to get in and have a go!

Very tired, but very happy!  

As we entered the water, we were greeted by the sight of Amanda riding in the first wave! We all shouted and applauded the epic show of poise and skill on display, which was completed with a 'tomb-stone' style 'dismount'! I tried to hide my laugh about the 'dismount' as at this point I hadn't even tried to get up on my board yet! (-I was sure that my own style would consist purely of an 'arms and legs everywhere' type display!) which would bring far more laughter for all in visual range!

Paddling out into the waves was exciting! dodging breaking waves, as well as surfers that had successful got up on there boards and were making a very speedy journey towards the beach! It was all part of the fun! I finally got to place where waves had not broken and were simply 'rollers'. I awkwardly turned myself around and pointed the nose at the beach and craned my neck to watch the oncoming waves and waited...

I did not have to wait too long... The relative placid calm I had paddled out into soon showed signs of a set of waves building. I missed the first as I failed to accelerate to catch the correct point of the wave and simply rolled off the back of it! The second wave then came in, cresting in white foam at the very top! I paddled hard and felt the wave pick me up and I was soon rocketed down the face of what felt like a mountain of water! (In actual fact it was only about 4-5 ft in height but it felt tall enough for me!)

I placed my hands firmly on each rail of my board, just below where my shoulders were and attempted to 'pop up' onto my feet. My left place perfectly below my chest. Unfortunately my right dragged a bit in the water and I ended up on my knee! As I tried to stand fully, the board shot out from beneath me! Almost like a giant banana skin! Cue 'arms and legs' everywhere 'style' and a big splash! I then proceeded to get smashed by the next wave (as I was now placed perfectly in the 'kill zone' where the waves were breaking! Eventually I surfaced and tugged my board back to me by using the leash (connecting to me to the board). I recovered my board okay, but unfortunately the same could not be said for the 'hope' that I was a 'natural surfer' (which was washed clean away with the first wave!).

That said I paddled straight out again to have another go! I realised that I was utterly hooked! I have always loved swimming in the sea and surfing truly adds to that connection! Trying to get myself in time with this powerful, untamed beast was exhilarating!

'Base Camp', preparing for our BBQ! Note: the bar was well stocked!

As with all new experiences, the learning circle at the very bottom is very steep and very ugly!! 'Wipe out' seemed to figure quite heavily during my first morning of surfing! After a hearty lunch back at 'Baggys', we made our way back down to the beach again.

When I got back in the water, it was pretty apparent that the current and the timing of the waves had picked up a bit. The lifeguards were constantly reminding us all to keep to the left side of the central marker (placed high up on the beach). The reason for this is that the current was sweeping everyone across towards the swimming zone. Beyond the swimmers a crop of rocks marking the edge of the bay jutted out of the surf. I definitely do not want to find myself in that area!

By now I was successfully getting up on my board, but the duration of my surf never really extended beyond 2-3 seconds! That said, each time I stood up it felt amazing! Throughout the day I'd been wearing my GoPro camera on a wrist strap. It wasn't really worth recording myself as I wasn't out of the water long enough to get on film! I was however catching some great footage of of the other surfers around me though and got some great 'wave' footage. During the afternoon I switched to placing my camera on my 'chest mount'. The hope was that I'd be able to record the start of my surf down a wave.

All was going well until I came off the back of a wave and promptly got splatted by the next wave rolling in behind it! It caught my board and smashed it into my chest. The camera took the full blow and the main clip holding it on to my chest mount sheared! The first I knew was when I resurfaced and gathered my board. I looked down and all I had was the harness...absent my beloved camera!

I tried searching with my feet in the area I was stood in, but with the strong current sweeping across the bay, I was well out of position from where I'd been parted from my camera. There was nothing that could be done, so it wasn't worth getting upset over. It was my own fault for not setting up a secondary leash/fixing to secure the camera. The only upsetting thing was all the photos and footage I'd captured that morning. Oh well, I'm sure whoever finds it gets some good use out of it, or it's probably giving a basking shark some indigestion!

By late afternoon my shoulders were burning! I was physically spent! I hiked up the beach where  two of our group had already retired and were getting involved in some apre-surf, in the shape of some wine! So I had a sip and ended up playing 'fetch' with an aerobie that had made it's way to the beach with us.

Back at base camp we got the BBQ going and settled in to a great evening of food, drink and laughter!

I was up relatively early on the Sunday. I was really keen to get back in the water and have another go! After a bit of a walk and some brekkie, Margs, Cath and I headed back down to the beach with our boards for a few hours of surfing before heading home. It was amazing! I got up on my first wave! (for more than 3 seconds this time!). Feeling that it was a bit of a fluke, I had another go...and successfully got up on the second! The experience of Saturday was fresh in my mind (if not my shoulders!) which I put into practice straight away that morning.

It was an amazing weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it! While I won't be surfing every weekend (Essex again is another area not known for it's great surfing breaks!), I will certainly be heading back down to the South West in the near future to build on what I have learned!

Massive thank you to Cath, Alex, Jo, Margs and Amanda for allowing me to crash your party for the weekend!

Our group enjoying the 'apre-surf'!

The Reverse of the Medal

In the beginning when I first started to compete, I used to get terribly nervous. Before a competition I could barely eat my breakfast. Frequent trips to the toilet and an inability to keep any food down was a common occurrence on competition day! -I was a wreck! At the time I asked myself why I would put myself through this when all I had to do was stay at home and hide! Despite the all the classic symptoms of being complete 'blob of jelly' I gradually started to make it through the first few rounds of competition.

Random Attack Category, BJJAGB National Championships 2008

Ju Jitsu has been responsible for building my confidence when it comes to 'exam pressure'. Even when we were not competing, my Sensei (instructor) would be constantly testing us. As I progressed through gradings I was experiencing the same physical anxiety as competition. I think this regular exposure to 'competitive pressure' was a very good thing. As I experienced it more, I learnt to handle all the 'symptoms' that had plagued me in my early competition career. 

You hear of some bizarre sporting rituals that help sports stars to get mentally ready for competition. Wearing of specific colour or a numbered shirt have helped some very high profile sports people. Listening to a certain song or piece of music helps to mentally prepare. For me I think it is about physically getting into that neutral state where you are ready to explode, but at the same time just keeping the engine gently ticking over!

Gold Medal, 2012 Danish Open 

I have found in competition that all I need is the briefest moment of solitude, just to take everything in. A few deep breaths and a bit of visualisation. Every round I fight is for the Gold. Every one. Treating every moment as if it is my last in competition. At the same time, trying to take in as much as possible. I have found that in the weeks leading up to a competition I read a lot. Usually it's an autobiography of someone who has faced great adversity and triumphed against the odds. My bookshelf is full of inspirational people! Nelson Mandela, Nick Ward, Ranulph Fiennes, Jason Robinson...to name a few! I'm also quite partial to the works of Patrick O'Brien. It's in homage to Mr O'Brien that I named this blog after one of his best works (in my humble opinion).

I'm also quite partial to an inspirational quote or two as well. One of my favourites comes from General George S Patton - Commander of the US Seventh Army during World War Two:

UNJJ Championship 2008, Gibraltar 

"Today you must do more than is required of you. Never think that you have done enough or that your job is finished. There's always something that can be done - something that can ensure victory. You can't let others be responsible for getting you started. You must be a self-starter. You must posses that spark of individual initiative that sets the leader apart from the rest. Self motivation is the key to being one step ahead of everyone else and standing head and shoulders above the crowd. Once you get going, don't stop. Always be on the lookout for the chance to do something better. Never stop trying. Fill yourself wth the warrior spirit - and send that warrior into action."

Retaining that hard earned competitive edge has been been difficult over the past few years. I would always get my competitive 'buzz' from Ju Jitsu. I have competed since 1996, and have had the privilege of representing my club/association at national and international level. As I have progressed through the grade structure, my competitions have now reduced to the point of virtual 'retirement'! The reason for this is that my grade now dictates that I should officiate in some form, whether that is as a mat marshall, Judge, or Referee.

Refereeing the Junior mat, Wakarishin/Kokoro-Kai Int'l 2012

Being asked to 'step up' has been a huge privilege and I have felt very honoured. It is the natural part of progression. This art has given me so much and it is a huge honour to be in a position to give something back.

Stepping back from competition has also given me the opportunity to observe some of my students in the arena as well. As an instructor there is nothing that compares to seeing them conquered their own competitive demons and excel.
For myself, after years of competing, it is something that I have actually become quite addicted to! So when sailing became another passion of mine, it kind of helped to fill that natural gap that had opened up.

Competitive sailing brings a new set of challenges. I am now part of a group of people that have to work together as a team to be successful. The pressures of racing a boat represent a total change of focus the first concern is always for the safety of the boat (this is your ‘life-capsule’ after all in what can be a very hostile environment!).  Boat performance is everything. This is on par with the safety of your fellow crew. Way down the bottom of the list is yourself. 

'Welcome to Yorkshire' departs Madeira for Rio 

Race starts are without a doubt one of the most exciting times in sailing! The crew work hard to get the boat in the best start position, maneuvering amongst a fleet of competitors, which at times can contain anything up to forty boats (as was the case during Round the Island Race 2012). As race starts are always 'on the move' (and never from a 'standing start') the fleet are always maneuvering round to get the boat in the best windward position, on the start line to coincide with exact race start time.

As a crew we are all working to either 'haul our wind' and power up the boat, or 'luff up' and spill wind from the sails to slow our momentum. Our aim is to be in the top half of the fleet as it means 'cleaner' airs to sail in once we are over the start line. As individuals you are responsible for the jobs going on in your part of the boat. Everyone is responsible for keeping a good lookout. If you mess up, it can cost the boat valuable seconds/minutes or even run the risk of collision with a competitor.It's not only 'your' job you need to know. You need to be able to cover your fellow crew as at a moments notice your crew mate can be called off to do something else and you have to cover their position whilst they are away.

Visualisation is key factor in success. Always thinking two steps ahead, trying to anticipate what your skipper / tactician need to happen next. It can be chaotic at times, with some very colourful verbs being thrown around the boat! This dialogue is normally one way traffic, Cockpit to bow, or Cockpit to any other competitor boats in our vicinity - which is always entertaining!

 

I always make sure that I check and double check everything. Making sure lines are properly run and that there is no chance of suffering a 'cluster f###' on the foredeck at a vital moment (a Bowman's worst nightmare). 

Crew working hard during Round the Island 2012 (some not so serious!)



Competitive pressure in Ju Jitsu and Sailing manifests itself in slightly different ways. There are varying physical and mental demands are made on the participant. One thing remains constant for both is the ability to keep a focused mind on the task in-hand, despite numerous distractions. The classic poem by Kiplying sums it up; "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you." Part of me thinks that Kiplying must have worked 'before the mast' at some point! 

Although my competitive bug has been kept at bay by sailing in recent years, in a few months time I will be returning to the arena of Ju Jitsu! I will be travelling as part of the Great Britain team to compete at the United Nations of Ju Jitsu (UNJJ) Competition and Congress in South Africa.

Despite the years of experience I have managed to accumulate, I’m sure that the  excitement and anticipation will bring all the classic symptoms of dry-mouth and butterflies! I can’t wait!  

'Life at the Pointy End'

After returning home from Rio, I was keen to build on the skills I had learned with Clipper. It wasn't until my first Boat Show after I had come home that I made some contacts that would allow me to get out on the water again.

I initially tried to put my name down with local sailing clubs here in Essex. Curiously there was no response. A friend I met through Clipper told me of a skipper who chartered a boat through Sunsail, and put together a 'scratch' crew for each of the racing weekends that Sunsail organised in the Solent. It sounded great, so I 'made my mark' and waited for joining instructions!

  

On a breezy Friday evening, I made my way down to Port Solent to Sunsail HQ to join the boat. I met Neil, the skipper (and organiser of the weekend). A very straight-talking gent, with a strong southern African accent (Rhodesian actually)! After a 'sensible' evening in the club house we all bunked down in our yacht.

Our yacht was a Beneteau First 40. I was amazed at the comfort below decks! I think having spent the past two years sailing on stripped down racing yachts, built by the lowest bidder, it felt like I was being spoilt with all the luxury! (auto-heads, heaters, 'recreational' radio/CD player and double bunks!! Despite the roaring winds outside, I enjoyed a very comfortable and peaceful sleep in my snug Guass sleeping bag! 

Keeping look out whilst we manoeuvre to the start line!

The next morning we were all up 6:30am sharp! Doing boat prep, and having a few 'dry runs' at some spinnaker pole work. I had foolishly admitted to being happy to work anywhere on the boat (when asked about preferred sailing position). This meant that I was volunteered instantly for the Bow! 

Bow work was not an alien concept as I had done a bit on the 68's with Clipper. The difference this time is that I would not have 3 other crew to bounce ideas/questions off of! I would be there on my own, except for the Mastman (Jamie), who had similar experience level to me so had his hands full! The scale of everything was a bit smaller. This also meant that manoeuvres had to be completed 'double quick' as we were 'racing around the cans'. Gone are the days where I was on a boat that set a 'point of sail' for days on end. The action would be very sharp and very quick!

As learning curves go, it didn't get any uglier than this! There was a bit of a rolling swell that day on the Solent meaning I was doing everything I could to remain upright on the front of the boat during manoeuvres! As someone has once described it, it was like being on a seesaw, in a washing machine, on high spin!

I had been warned about Neil's 'temper', so when the air started to turn blue with instructions being shouted from the cockpit, I was not entirely surprised! Everything that could go wrong went wrong! Lines got crossed and knotted (seemingly all by themselves). On the launch/hoist of the Spinnaker, I nearly lost the spinnaker bag over the side! (Major sin!!)

As the day wore on, our (or rather my) performance gradually improved, we started to stop coming last! I was determined to learn and suck up this experience! There were times were I totally f##ked things up, and all I could do was hold my hands up and walk back to cockpit and apologise to everyone for my error. There were a great deal of sympathetic nods and winks and I knew I was looking at some former bowmen/bow-women who had had the same experience that I was having today and did not want to swap with me! 

It sounds like a terrible experience, but sometimes in life we tend to get the exam first, with the lesson given afterwards! This was very much the case for this particular day! On the Saturday night the whole crew went to Tiger Tiger at Gunwhalf Quay and needless to say we had a fantastic meal and evening out! Everyone bought me a beer and congratulated me on surviving what had been a very tough day! 

It has now been a year since that tough weekend! There have been others since then, but that was my first experience of 'life at the pointy end'. Everyone weekend I am sailing I always volunteer to go on the bow. Does this make me some kind of sadist? 

I think for me it is one of those places on the boat that quickly disintegrates into utter chaos! But there is something very satisfactory in salvaging some order from that chaos! I have found that good visualisation is key when prepping sails and lines. I have had some great help/tutoring from some very inspirational bowman(Al, Darren, Steve-J to name a few). 

I have found though that the bow is only as good as his or her mast/pit team! And that is the key...Good communication and good team work. A bit of swearing is never meant (or taken) personally. It just conveys the 'urgency' of how quick things need to happen!

For me, It is without a doubt the most fun sailing position on a racing boat! Here's to getting 'wet and wild' in the near future!!

Successful hoist! 4018 powers on up the Solent!