That's one of the best parts of it
There is always someone who can teach you something you don't know, and if you are eager to learn, your curve can still be steep. There are some pretty good life lessons, too. In one race a few weeks ago I was dead last after turning the windward mark, and a dying wind meant the leaders walked away from me using what was left of the wind. I was pretty discouraged, but Pat said. "be patient, sail the boat, worry only about what we can control." I remembered that some of the local old-timers seemed to like getting close to the southern shoreline in those conditions in earlier races, so figuring we had nothing to lose we eased over there (ease is the appropriate word as the knotmeter varied from 0.2 to 0.8). The quarter mile gap seemed to lessen a bit, and we gradually caught up and eventually used the slant to gain speed as we approached the mark on a diagonal. We caught and passed the other boats in our class and looked like winners as we headed for the finish line about 20 yards up course, still ghosting along. About 5 feet from the line, a powerboat wake stopped us dead, and we began to drift backward. Several minutes later one of our competitors inched over the line, and a minute and a half after that we crossed in second place. So my emotions went from consternation that we would finish last to elation that we would win to frustration/consolation with second place. Lesson: One should refrain from enumerating the summation of poultry until the final process of incubation has been completed.