This season had a little bit of all of it… Let’s put it this way: it didn’t quite go according to plan.
The season started, as sailing seasons often do, with an ambitious spring refit – except this time, the list of jobs seemed almost endless. There were a lot of boat projects. By the time the boat was finally ready for the first clinics, the only thing we really wanted was to stop working on her and actually go sailing.
And so we did.
The season got off to a great start with evening clinics and two inshore clinic races. For the second race, the long-awaited new sail wardrobe from UK Sails finally arrived, bringing a noticeable step up in performance. Suddenly, the boat had a whole new level of pace.
But while the new sails worked exactly as hoped, some of the projects we had spent the winter fighting with did not.
Instead of moving through the refit list, we found ourselves stuck troubleshooting the same systems over and over again. Planned upgrades to electronics, instruments and other performance-related systems were pushed further down the list while we concentrated on getting the bare necessities working. Some of those bare necessities, incidentally, are still on that list.
Then came the biggest change of plans of the season.
Around mid May, we found out that we were expecting a baby. The timing was, let’s say, character-building. Just as the sailing season was getting properly underway, so was the pregnancy fatigue. And it arrived with impressive force. I had no idea a person could need quite so many power naps! For the first three months, my schedule became a strange combination of sailing clinics, racing, work, medical appointments, snacks and sleeping whenever there was an opportunity.
Somehow, in the middle of all this, I also managed to complete the 350-nautical-mile double-handed Gotland Runt at ten weeks pregnant. Perhaps the frequent power naps and constant supply of snacks were exactly what was needed for that job?
The first half of the season became a balancing act between sailing and listening to what my body was telling me. By the time Gotland Runt was over, I was completely exhausted. So when the opportunity came to slow things down before the second half of the racing season, I took it. And August turned out to be exactly what was needed.
Instead of chasing race results, we spent some proper time vacaying. Less race mode, more cruise mode. Less trimming for the last tenth of a knot, more sailing simply because we could. It was also a chance to put the new sails and running rigging through a completely different kind of test. They performed just as well in cruising mode as they had on the racecourse: easy to handle, fast, stable, durable and versatile. Exactly what I had wanted from the setup.
The philosophy behind the boat has always been that if you own a performance cruiser, the equipment should allow you to enjoy both sides of the equation. You should be able to push hard when you want to race – and just as easily settle into a comfortable, capable boat when the goal is simply to go sailing.
The second half of the racing season, however, didn’t quite go according to plan either.
Family commitments meant that the final planned double-handed race had to be cancelled. Then came a growing bump and an increasingly unhappy back, which eventually ruled out the remaining races too. The racing calendar I had planned ended up being more than halved.
But maybe that is the point?
A sailing season is rarely entirely within your control. Weather changes, systems fail, projects take longer than expected, crews change and plans get moved, postponed or abandoned altogether. And sometimes life simply sets a different course.
This season has brought frustration with unfinished projects, missed races and far less time on the racecourse than planned. But it has also brought new perspective. The boat will still be there. The projects will still be waiting. There will be more races, more miles and, hopefully, plenty of opportunities to push the boat again.
For now, though, the priorities have shifted. Because the most exciting thing on the horizon isn’t another race or another upgrade.
It’s a new little sailor, arriving early 2027.
And that’s one change of plans I wouldn’t trade for anything.
