Hello everyone from your friendly boatpark correspondent and deeply philosophical dinghy, Zippy Zero. I’ve finally feel settled in my new home and have had some quiet time to muse on deeper thoughts, as is a D Zero’s must from time to time.
Unbeknown to all who know me, not only am I a talented writer, I am also an exceptional mathematician. You might think I’d be challenged in maths by my lack of fingers (they would certainly expand my On-Water vocabulary somewhat), but I do have plenty of loose rope ends to assist my numeracy.
I’ve been playing with the number 7 this week.
Some of you may already know this, but there are only a limited number of end unit numbers obtainable when 7 is raised to a power. These digits cycle round as the power of 7 increases. The pattern is 7,9,3,1. Repeat. It looked like a course we could have sailed on Sunday, only we have no buoy 9. Instead we had 7,8,2,1. The cosmic karma was ruined and Storm Freya was sent to wreak havoc upon us, but I digress…Number 7; the more you look, the more you see it.
Seven wonders of the world.
Seven dwarfs, seven continents, seven ages of man, seven deadly sins (more of those later). There is Seventh Heaven and, according to Jain cosmology, there are 7 levels of hell. These are further divided into 8,400,000 other hellish locations, many of which I have visited with my previous Owner. Incidentally, 7 things are the upper end of the range that the average human short-term memory can remember, which explains why our Commodore often gets lost on the longer courses.
So, on to our club handicap racing last Sunday. There was very little wind, which minimised my chance of completely messing up the start. The Finn moved off very sharply to set up a lead which he never lost, chased by the RS300. I toyed with a Laser and the International Canoe and the Laser Radial kept within touch behind. After a long race, I finished alongside the RS300 to take him on handicap, finishing 3rd behind the Laser.
The second race was also light and some of the fainter-hearted retreated to the bar. It left me, the Finn and the RS300 to battle it out, I took an early lead and saw the RS300 slope off to the bar in despair. The wind continued to shift offshore to the East, making the racing very tricky. Now it was just me and the Finn. Both of us had the number 7 in the sail, so the playing field was even. I was ahead of him at the finish and thanked the karma of 7. Seven is the number of spirituality, of connecting inside to find your answers. It is a connection to nature, the spirit and the universe.
The Finn beat me by 7 seconds on corrected time.
Next report in 7 days, and don’t forget the date for West Kirby Regatta; 7/7. Come and join me and my friends. All welcome. Even the Finns.
Zippy Zero.
