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Today was another great day. This time, unlike Monday, it didn't have long "bad element". The wind was pretty much the same and I had a great time.
Part of the fun was sailing with Thomas, who is about my level. He does some things better than I, I do a few things better than him. For one thing, his jibe is pretty solid, and he has good style (and can plane through 80% of them). So, today we were sailing together and I asked him to help me debug my erratic attempts (maybe a 25% planing out success rate).
He was a HUGE help. I know what a good jibe looks like, and what I'm supposed to do, but when I'm out there, I often don't do it, but don't know what I don't do. So, Thomas followed me around and would tell me to bend my legs more (always a problem for lots of us!), straighten the front arm, lean forward more (but don't bend over), etc. It all helped. Sometimes I would think I wasn't bending my knees enough and he'd say, no, it was my arm -- it wasn't straight enough. That was what the big help was. If he wouldn't have been there, I could have been stuck on the knees thing forever, but only doing the straight arm when luck would have it. I need to sail with him more often. His best advice was to look at the exit of the jibe, not at your feet or hands (which I don't do, I would look at the chop pattern and try to time it... still not a good idea). Looking at the exit helps promote planing out, instead of being concerned about the chop, etc. I feel a lot better about my jibe now, though I know I'll probably have days of regression. That's why I need to sail with Thomas more. The instant feedback was invaluable.
I was on my 5.4 and F2 Wave. I put on my 12.5" Finworks Wave/Slalom, probably only the second or third time I've used it. And, it was at Grassy Point, named for the excessive weeds -- but there were few. I did pick up some, but not many. It felt really good. In comparison to Monday, I ran the mast track all the way forward, the very front, and that helped keep the board under control. It was quite a bit slower, though. The Carve is a much faster board when you push it. But, I was able to stay with Thomas in the straights. He could almost always plane out of his jibes, so that was where he picked up some room.
I also tried my waist harness again. I wanted to see how it felt now that I'm in a little better shape. It still hurts my back, unfortunately. I did like the way it sailed and how easy it was to hook in and out. I felt more upright and in control, too. But, the back thing was too much. I put my seat harness on and it was like it wasn't even there, it just felt great.
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