Rayne Duff - Optimist Sailor

I like surfing and I went surfing today. I think surfing is good for sailors because it exercises your arms and stomach muscle. It also increases your ability to move faster. It helps your balance too.

I will try to put a picture of me surfing up here soon.

-Rayne

this weekend i went to st. thomas yacht club to train in opti with Coach Tino. Ny teammate Thad came along with us. We took my dads motor dinghy over there with one Opti on the bow and one Opti being towed. The one being towed flew up in the air because we were going so fast over the waves.
When we got there we rigged up straight away to be rigged and ready by 10am.
We had some time extra to play and say hello to friends; we helped blow up marks and stuff too, then had lunch. During lunch we watched videos with Tino and then did what we saw on the videos, on the water during practice.

The wind for practice was 13-14kts and we sailed well out past Cow and Calf. I learned that I should never scrunch up my back but always keep it straight. I know I am doing this if my head is out from my shulders further. During the rabbit start drills I found out that I cannot point nearly as well as the older kids there so I have to work on that, but my speed is really good.

We stayed over the night at Scott McKenzies house with others that sail with Tino. In the morning was Mothers Day so Thad and I gave Joyce (Scotts Mom) a gift and then we all had breakfast. We were a bit late for practice so we had to rig extremely fast, Paige was angry at us for being late.

On this Sunday we did Team Racing for practice and I figured out that I could point higher this day because Tino showed me to loosen my luff, and not trim in so far. Team racing was Thads first time team racing so he had trouble learning to be aggressive, but learning team racing is good because you have to use the rules a lot and it helps you realize that you have to do your turns if you break a rule becuase its better to do your turns than get protested.

When we got to the Ferry on our way back home we met a 5yr old boy. He came up to Paige, Thad and I and offered gum. We didnt want gum but shared peanuts. This boy followed us closely on to the ferry and all the way to Tortola, we had to tell him at immigration that he had to wait for his parents and go through with them- he must have like us! I am so very sore from the weekend and learned lots of things I have to work on for Worlds. - Rayne

 Thank you who have given me money to help me go to worlds so far, I have a long way to go!  Worlds is important to me cause I want to get the experience to be ready for the next worlds so I can do better next time than this time. 
 Before orange bowl I was really nervous on the plane ride there. I thought kids were going to push me around on the race course and give me a really tough time.  On the first day it was really quite windy and I found a way to stay away from everyone else so they didn't effect me really.  It was better fun that I expected and I place better positions than I thought I would especially on the third day when I got a second place. The bad thing is it was a black flag race and I didn't know about those yet... If it had been a 'P' flag race I would have gotten a really good score.  I dont feel scared about worlds, because of my experience at Orange Bowl got me used to big starts.  One of the days was so light wind that we only actually got one race done. Instead of Racing we had to tie up to coach Damien's boat, but it was really hot with no wind so we took off our spray tops and waited because we knew there would be no racing anytime soon. at the end I was very happy I did the regatta and I think I will be happy about Worlds too.  -Rayne