Biggest Crash Ever!!!

by Alex
(London, UK)

Hi,

Well I was in a race and on the starting line. Let me say first that I was in an emotional state and made lots of mistakes! First I made the mistake of coming above the committee boat at 30 seconds to go and try to muscle my way in on top - I ended up over the line. Next big mistake was staying there and not going round to the back. My final mistake was tacking too fast!

What happenned was that the start line was very near the left edge of the lake, so the boats starting on starboard had to tack almost immediately. There were loads of boats coming towards me saying room to tack and then coming at me on port. I had to tack, but unfortunately, I did it too quickly and did not bear away enough. I ended up hitting a starboard boat on its side.

The damage was substantial. There was a gaping hole in the boat I had hit and the boat I was in had the front pretty much ripped off.

Is your story any worse?