My parents for some reason got us onto sailing at a young age. This started with Optimists which were little one man boats and progressed through Dabchicks (like big surfboards) through to lasers (1 design fast sailor) This became a family passion and we travelled as a family to sailing regattas across the country. I felt special to win various awards including being the top sailor in Natal for 2 years running, gold at the Orange Free State nationals and 2 separate year silvers in Transvaal.
The strange thing was I was light for my age and also the dam I used to sail at (Midmar) was treacherously fluky when it came to wind. It had some awful tricks like blowing over the dam wall for most of the day and then switching 180 degrees around to blow in the opposite direction. If you didn’t know this you were often caught out. I learnt through years of practicing on the dam to ‘read’ the wind on the dam and I knew where all the good wind was. Here you could get that extra lift of speed to carry your boat to glory.
Unfortunately I was not good in stronger winds or rougher waters. This was where the Cape Province sailors would excel. They learnt to deal more effectively with higher waves, currents and basically spilling your sail to ride out the storm. The tended to race in far worse conditions than us. I grew a little afraid of strong weather.
At the nationals in the late 1980’s I was at the peak of my sailing condition. I was in the last year that could affectively sail optimists and had just won the Natal and Free State Championships and was headed down to the Cape for the Country nationals. This was where the fleet was about 7 or 80 strong and the top 5 boats were picked for the South African national team to go and compete in the World championships. (I can’t recall put think it was to be held in Italy later that year)
I had a few decent races and was sitting in 4th place overall when it came down to the last race. Everyone had one discard meaning they could discard their worst race and only their best 4 would count towards the points. And it was blowing that day. There were white crests on the waves at Hermanus dam and the wind howled across the waves. At first they said it was too rough to go out and I was happy because it meant I was still in there with a chance. But then the committee gathered together and decided to go on out. We had only managed to have 4 races and it was usual to have 5 or 6.
And so we headed out. I fought and I lost dismally. It was more about survival than tactical sailing. I was bailing water out of my boat as it sloshed around inside and clung on to the tiller to the rudder, mainsail mainly just flapping, whilst the Cape sailors (more in their element) raced on.
And so after my terrible discard, I fell down the rankings and came in 6th! Credible but not one of the 5. Cruel cruel world.
I was devastated! So close and yet so far. Although now looking back I realise how insignificant I was anyway. I mean big whoop! Best sailor in one small province of South Africa. Not even in the top 5 for SA and even those that went through fared pretty averagely in world rankings. And that was for only optimists -there are dozens of other yachts out there. And the Olympics!
I’m not saying don’t reach for the stars and reach your full potential but seriously – there is a lot of competition out there. This world has almost 7 billion people on it. There will always be someone who is faster, smarter, cleverer, better, wealthier, happier, and nicer, than you! Deal with it. Be happy in your own achievements and when you realise that, you will be a lot happier.