Mid-Winters West Day 1

Let the fun begin! 55 Lasers and 50 Radial lasers (smaller sail than the full rig laser, for lighter sailors), several past world champions, a few Olympians, the Canadian Olympic team and a bunch of the best laser sailors in the country!

Race 1: 2-5 knots of breeze out of the north west, 68 degrees, smooth water and a trapezoid windward leeward course. I had a great start on the middle of the line closer to the pin end. I immediately tacked onto port and found myself in a clear lane and was pointing higher and sailing faster than any of the boats around me. Three-quarters of the way up the fist leg I found myself in the top ten! Unfortunately the wind shifted severely enough and the race officials decided to abandoned the race!

Actual Race 1: 8-12 knots of breeze out of the west, 65 degrees, bit of chop and a trapezoid windward leeward course. After two general recalls (this is where a majority of the boats prematurely started so the race committee was forced to restart the race), I ended up with a bad start on the middle of the line with out a clear lane. I quickly learned with this big of a fleet that clear air was a must! After struggling to find some clear air I eventually got in a groove and was able scrape by with a 38th place finish. Arrrrrg!!!!!

Race 2: 12-18 knots of breeze out of the west, 60 something degrees, a bunch of chop with a few big waves mixed in and a trapezoid windward leeward course. I had an OK start at the boat end of the line, I was immediately fouled and in the process I got sucked to the back of the pack! Now that I was in the back of the fleet there were plenty of clear lanes to sail in. I was then able to make a few tactical moves and get into at least 40th place. On the down winds I was extremely fast and made up for lost ground , and finished the race in 31st place.

Race 3: same conditions as last race except with a bit more chop and a trapezoid course. I went for a pin end start, which was highly favored! THe top guys in the fleet were breathing down my neck and at the last second I was forced to bail out at the last second due to the tide forcing me into the pin end boat. This was not good! I had to jib away and the I proceeded to duck half of the fleet before I could cross the start line safely. I immediately found a clear lane and was finally able to work on some tactics, like thinking about wind shifts and stuff. I rounded the top mark in the low 30's and was able to hold that position all the way to the bottom mark where I got into a slight confrontation with about a dozen boats. I was the inside boat at the leeward mark and some how another boat disagreed with my position and sailed his boat right into the side of mine causing a big pile up of boats. He claimed that I was at fault and tried to protest me, I denied his protest and politely explained the rules that he broke. In the end I finished the race in 37th place and was not protested.

With day one complete I am not to happy with my standings, though I feel that other than my starts I am sailing extremely well for my first time in a "Big" Laser regatta. I hope to build on what I learned today and hopefully have some better starts with some even better finishes tomorrow. Most importantly I was having fun out there today! Not to give any excuses, but I will anyways. I managed to catch a virus while I was down in Long Beach last weekend and its been kicking my butt all week! I am hoping it will die off any time now and let me enjoy the regatta a bit more.