Can it get any better?

The picture shown here had been taken with my mobile last saturday after the DN racing had been finished for the day and we had put our boats to sleep. Can it get any better outdoors? Runners prepped for the next day and a cool or hot drink in hand and chatting about the action of the day. The huge trailers and the tall masts belong to the 15qm class. Two seaters with the crew facing backwards...

Point of discussion had been my "stunt" during race 8. It happened on the second downwind leg that I suddenly lost steering. I tried to signal G-390, Anja, who past by very close because she thought that I would get out of the way due to her right of way. I could not do anything and doing some inspection under the boat, when running downwind at abt. 80km/h, is not possible. I seemed that the tie rod had been broken. And I was running straight downwind into the start line, the race committee and the spectators. Something had to be done. I tried to put the brake on with my spike shoes. The boat slowed down considerably but not enough for me to jump out and stop it. The wind pressure increased in the sail and there was no way of holding the boat or turning it into the wind. Shit. I detached the sheet blocks from the boat but this was a mistake. The sail immediately eased out until the boom hit the sidestays and the wind pressure in the sail increased. The boat still running straight downwind towards the crowd. A moment of desparation. I could not jump out and let the boat do some demolution, let alone some people get hurt. Seamanship help! What would a seaman do in such a situation? "Get the bloody sail down, man", I said to myself. Easier said than done. Undo a shackle first and than pull the thing down. Hard and fast. No care for battens or the sail being run over by the sharp runners. Just down and pulling together. Than G-890, Holger came running into my direction and helped me to stop the boat. Good guy! Thank you. We stopped it 20m or so in front of the starting line (with rope and numbers on, the business!) Now a lot of DN érs swarmed over me and my boat. Trying to find out what happened. Please, please, give me a pause. Let´s get the boat to my rigging place, my tools, my jacket first. Some where understanding my concerns. The "mechanics of the DN world" got into business. Got angry with me. Only 3 turns into the thread... It just came loose because of vibrations. "Fix it better next time!". Yes, you were all right. This should not have happened. Together we fixed the boat and back into the next race. My results: mid fleet. 10 races were very exhausting. Have to work harder on the boat prep. The body prep. Or to be happy with some mid fleet results and enjoy the family on the ice, the atmosphere and all. It is hard to be beaten by the fellow DN friends with whom I normally fight it out on the course. Tough when being in the top 3-5 boats at the weather mark but than downwind loosing miles. My score card looked like following: 3 , 6 , 3 , 5 , [10] , 9, 8 , [17/DNF] , 5, 8 . Finishing 7th out of 16 participants.

The racing is on again this coming weekend. Looking forward to another great weekend of DN Iceboat racing on the Goldberger Lake.