November's Comings and Goings

One cool day recently I was leaning against the car waiting for my wife to mail a letter at the post office. The trees along the street were in the various end stages of mid November leaf dispersal. In New England this stage commonly means that the few individual leaves that still cling to branches, are doing loopy the loops in the breeze at the end of their curiously long stems.

I was standing on the edge of a pile of crunchy brown, paper-like, curled oak leaves. A man about my age – for some he would have looked like an “older” guy, but for me he looked “middle aged” – walked out of the post office saw me standing there and commented, “I’m afraid the snow won’t be long now.”

My thoughts leaped to my Laser; I had better start planning my winter strength and aerobic program if I want to be ready for next spring’s sailing. November is like that. It sits at the transition point between the end of one sailing season and the not so distant promises of a new season with boat handling skills to be improved and positions to be gained.

Racing sailboats requires looking ahead, down or up the course, and getting prepared for the possibilities you’re sailing into. And to be best prepared for each race you need to be looking head even from the vantage point of November. What will I need in March? It would be better to have more stamina on those long beats and have more left for that last race of the day-long regatta. I need to reshape and reengage my conditioning program. And at my age, I need to leave plenty of time to improve my base level of fitness.

When we got home, I went for a low level aerobic bike ride and then worked my upper body with a rake and a pile of maple leaves.

Jay Livingston