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Originally posted by yellowwelly In a week or two you'll chalk that up to experience; one you might hope to not repeat, but an experience that will in someway have enriched your life for the better.

Originally posted by 2547 Originally posted by Hector Originally posted by yellowwelly In a week or two you'll chalk that up to experience; one you might hope to not repeat, but an experience that will in someway have enriched your life for the better. + 1 Yep ... it is always the horrible gnarly days that stick in the memory .... bring 'em on ...

Originally posted by yellowwelly Put sailors off for life.... Not enough wind kills Mojo, furry muff.... Too much wind, n'ah, it just gives you a reality check, reminds you that you're alive and makes sure you don't ever get too cocky or complacent next time you launch.

I guess we are all different. A light wind drift might put me off light wind drifts, but leaves my confidence intact. A real unsurvivable blow is a big confidence knocker for me, though, and I suspect for others. Makes me doubt my ability to survive what I might have considered survivable before, especially if I struggled to get back into the boat from the water. A few years ago, a massive squall when sailing a 420, where we simply got blown flat, showed me that climbing back onboard a high floating hull was much, much harder than it used to be for me, thanks to various back and shoulder troubles. The knock in confidence then shows up when trying to strong wind gybe, and of course, that means you'll tip it in for sure, so a downward spiral can ensue. Currently still trying to build confidence back up in high wind ability.

No thanks Maxi- to be understanding would mean using some empathy towards your plight and if I thought about it too much there's no way I'd sail in anything over a F3, never mind get stuck in on good F6 or 7 on my windsurf kit. Neither would I drop down a mountain strapped to a board at 40/50 miles an hour or enrol my kids into a ski lesson to learn the same. Would I get on my bike for fear of being knocked off by a passing motorist- it's happened twice in my life already, can you be third time lucky? So no thanks, I'll take a pass on thinking about it all too much but hope to hell you can figure out a way to get your mojo back... But seriously it might be worth talking to someone professional- a sports psychologist or even a professional trainer might help... And a few sessions is still less than a new sail. or just sack off windy sailing - living in blighty and working for a living, you're not giving up much- it's rarely that windy here on those Summer evening sails we're all missing so badly right now.



Edited by yellowwelly - 28 Jan 14 at 11:39pm

So many sailors are full of bollox. "It was blowing this and it was blowing that" or "I can't be bothered unless it is blowing a twelve". Because the majority of correspondents are in many ways (but not all) mature we are saved from the majority of this nonsense. Some of us are not full of confidence and bravado. Once upon a time I was a lot more brave than I am now. I was wiped out in Torbay once which had a lasting impression and these days I hate bringing boats up from inversion even on a small lake. My greatest achievement last year was to not capsize at all! I don't like it, I don't like the water sloshing round my face and I don't like the boat rolling on top of me. This is why I gave up Byte sailing. The fear is of course largely irrational, I know that but I hate capsizing and I love sailing. Bring on a little force 3 with the sun sparkling on the water and see me go!