I am home from my holiday feeling relaxed, refreshed,and exhausted (in a good way). Tim and I spent the week in North West Norfolk taking part in a the North West Norfolk Sailing Association Regatta. Tim has competed in this for the last five years, it was a first for me to be competing, I am usually shore crew, taking photos and cooking etc. Not this year, we began sailing together in May at Ripon sailing club, and entered into Norfolk Week for fun more than anything else. As we left home we took the two trophies that Tim had won last year so that we could return them, my only comment at the time was "take a good look, that is the last you'll see of these!" What a surprise it was then to have to eat those words!
The racing was varied, the different locations along the North West Norfolk Coast added variety as did the conditions, we went out in everything from an almost flat calm where perseverance paid off to some quite windy conditions- which made for some exciting sailing! We began the week at Hunstanton where the races were in the afternoon on both the Saturday and the Sunday, then the early mornings started, for Monday's race at Brancaster Staithe we had to be up by 4am... this may have been OK if we hadn't been up chatting with a friend until mid-night...no matter we slept the afternoon away. The week continued at Wells-Next the Sea, Blakeney, and Kings Lynn, before returning to Snettisham Beach where we had made our base.
The first surprise came in the form of a win and the return to the Coleman household of the Admiral's Plate, this was born out of sheer perseverance from both of us and some really good decision making by Tim, we inched our way around the final mark while most of our fleet found themselves out of time! The rest of the week was not to bad either and we ended up lying fourth in our class, but there was more to come; we'd entered the Snettisham Regatta which added a day of sailing to our calender, and much to our surprise in quite a large handicapped fleet we came third and were awarded some rather nicely engraved tumblers for our efforts. We christened them last night with a drop of single malt :-) The biggest surprise for me though was that I was able to keep going all week, and that by the final Sunday I wanted to go sailing again. All of this followed years of telling myself I wouldn't be able to do it, and overcoming a fear of falling in despite the fact that I am an excellent swimmer! I was never content to stay on shore, but not brave enough until now to really give racing a go.
There is a big difference between going out for a sail and entering a race, when you are simply sailing around you can choose your course and make it as gentle or as exciting as you like, ( wind permitting of course), but when you are racing the course is set, there are still decisions to be made and it is important to keep an eye on the water and the sky ( and the other boats) but there are marks which you must reach and go around! We missed one out at Blakeney and had to sail back to it or we'd have been disqualified. All of this started me thinking about life, I wonder if in a sense we all too often look for the easy way through, and by doing so miss opportunities, experiences and chances to grow and change. I know for myself that I am too often afraid of failure and so miss out on the possibilities. I agonise over writing, and could procrastinate for England when it comes to daring to do something new or challenging. But this week I am glad I took the risk and literally launched myself into it...
Changing direction, another added bonus was the chance to see our eldest son and his family, Tim took two of our granddaughters sailing, and then Louise surprised us by deciding to have a go, finally she and Paul sailed together, .they are now discussing buying a boat so they can all go out! It is good to see the sailing bug passed down a generation.
We hope to return next year, it is a bit like going to a family reunion, the folk who sail Norfolk Week are a unique if slightly potty community ( 4am starts are not for the unadventurous), they are drawn from various corners of the country, and from all walks of life, the dingies range from very expensive racing machines to older wooden craft lovingly maintained by their owners ( ours is the later), we always have fun together and it is great to catch up with these friends. We spent last Friday evening crammed into a little tent in the rain singing silly songs, drinking red wine and eating pork pie- you only do that with friends...
The view from our caravan!
Prizes :-)
