The first weekend was an epiphany at the intersection of reading and racing. And listening. The tiller extender in one hand and the mainsheet in the other, I looked aloft and trimmed the mainsail until the top telltale ducked behind the leeward side of the sail and only occasionally emerged. That meant the mainsheet had reduced twist in the mainsail. It meant Sloop Dogg was carving its way upwind. It meant the sails were slicing the wind closer to its core. It meant the reading I’ve done, and the comments of Anna Tunnicliffe at the ’09 BEYC Pro-Am Regatta, had evolved from the theoretical to the practical. And in that moment, the reason to keep learning and improving had arrived.