Soyer Yelken Takimi - Team Fishbone Italya SB3 ucuncusu. 9-12 Temmuz tarihleri arasinda Italyanin Numana kentinde mukemmel hava ve deniz sartlarinda yapilan Italya SB3 Sampiyonasinda 12 ekip kiyasiya mucadele etti. SB3 teknesinin es dizayn konsepti sayesinde cok yakin gecen 11 yaris sonunda ilk 4 ekip dort puan icersinde siralandi. Soyer Yelken - Fishbone Takimi (Orkun, Cristian, Michele ve Giula) son yarisi kazanarak ucuncu oldu. Ekip sondan bir onceki yaris fodepar olunca Italya Sampiyonlugunu kacirmis oldu...

Taking a brake from a busy SB3 schedule, we went back to match racing. The venue was a Grade 3 in Ravenna, sailing on Benetau 7.5's. For this event Iso came back after a long absence and joined myself, Michele and Cristian. After a short and very good training on Friday we felt ready and strong. However, the disappointment with the organization (promised fleet racing turned out to be only for show) continued on Saturday with an unfortunate call to cancel racing due to heavy wind. The wind dropped at 4pm just half an hour after the decision. This left only Sunday to complete the entire round robin...

This past weekend we have done our first SB3 event. It was really the first time on board an SB3 for me, while Michele and Cristian were already experts on board. We had a blast! Situated on the most northern part of the Como lake, Domaso offered the perfect race location with a panoramic view on the Alps and plenty of wind...I felt awkward steering the boat on Friday, when we did a short training, but on Saturday I was already feeling better (as seen in the picture here). And with the start, SB3 revealed itself as a true Laser design...

After all these years of sailing I came to realize the major difference between winners and losers (I know this is not always black and white but bear with me just for the sake of the argument). The winners approach a sailing race as a set of procedures. Every maneuver, every strategic and tactical decision, every trim and sail choice....all are made already before the start based on "past experience", a set of "golden rules", or simply by thinking about them ahead of time.

Hence, when the race starts it is all about applying these previously established decisions as a set of procedures: A wind shift to right, we do this...a port-starboard situation we do this...a bad start, we do this...and so on and so fort. The losers on the other hand, go to the starting line, hang out, start, act on something that happens and make a decision, next situation develops, another decision, and so on...Some decisions they got right, some they get wrong, some they get angry about and loose focus.

The picture for the latter approach can look really ugly at times. Making decisions on the fly might sound more fun, more intuitive and maybe more romantic but the above explained alternative makes the winner. It is about taking the mystery out of sailboat racing by making a list of decisions (and procedures) for each possible (or likely) situation. So how do you make this list of decisions..