I Survived My First Mid-Winters West!

The Last Day! After an on shore postponement followed by several on the water postponements we did not start a race until 2:00. By the time the race started it was blowing a steady 18 knots with gust into the low 20's out of the west, with a ton of chop and 1-3 foot waves. Game on! I had a great start at the boat end of the line, finally! I did a great job of holding my position on the line, making sure that I had clear air above me and a good hole below to power up. I played the middle left of the course which worked out well. At the top the course I was in the top 20, though I gambled on my port approach to the weather mark. Usually this tactic works OK, but in this fleet there was not a single gap in the boats turning down wind. I was the forced to take evasive action and turn downwind with them in attempt to get threw the line of boats. This worked out OK, though I lost ten or more boats. To make things worse I was so excited to get around the top mark that I forgot to round the offset mark. Arrrrrrrg! I then turned around and sailed back up course and rounded the offset mark.
I was now in last place by a huge distance! Not to be discouraged I focused on my strong point and that is down wind sailing in breeze. Half way down the run I caught up to the fleet and by the time I rounded the bottom mark I passed 6 boats. Back at the top of the course I some how managed to pass a few more boats to put me in 40th place. On the last down wind which consisted of a reach then a run then one more reach I put the pedal down and caught a few more boats, some of which were flipped over and stuck in the mud. In the last upwind sprint to the finish I found myself in a match race with my nemesis, I had to dig deep for some extra energy to beat him, and luckily GU was on my side to give that extra bit of energy when I did not i had it in me. I was able to pass my nemesis to finish in 33 place.
Overall this was an extremely challenging regatta. I got a lot of big fleet experience and a chance to sail against the top guys in the country. I broke my curse of bad starts and now I can move forward. I finished the regatta in 38th place out of 56, It was a well fought for position that I am proud of. My boat speed and pointing was equal to the guys in front and some how I was able to consistently sail through the fleet and consistently pass boats. This regatta gave me a lot of experience to build on, and I look forward to my next regatta.