Feeling pretty positive
Written by Nick Dempsey | 16 April 2014
Palma was my first event of 2014, the first racing I had done for more than six months, and is always going to be a gauge of what I need to do for the rest of the season.
I said from the outset that if I could come away from the regatta knowing I had approached it in the right frame of mind, professionally, positively, and come away with a lot of good goals then it would have been a productive week.
I definitely achieved that. I think that I sailed relatively ok and pushed myself to the physical limits that I am capable of at the moment. I am not the fittest I have ever been, but I knew that going in to the event. After having so much time off last year, and only being back in training for three months, I am where I thought I would be.
The most pleasing thing about Palma was even when all these factors are taken into consideration, and you add to that the fact I was racing on probably my third choice equipment, I had some good speed. In some ways I was pleasantly surprised, and it certainly felt good to be competing at the front end of the fleet.
The result didn’t matter but I still had to put myself in the right places on the racecourse and compete to the best level that I could.
When people expect you to be better than you probably are, sometimes you have to disconnect with your emotions and not panic in your decision-making. You have to do the things that are right for you at the time, and not what other people may or may not think about it. That can be hard, but to the most part I felt I sailed pretty rationally and made good decisions for the whole event.
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