NASCAR?

In case you haven't noticed, GU Energy is one of my sponsors. GU Energy is a Berkeley-based sports nutrition company, who are well known for their GU Energy Gel. It is a revolutionary and effective method to keep athletes fueled during exercise. They also make the GU Electrolyte Brew which I use to rehydrate myself during competitions. While I'm out on the water I also snack on GU Chomps Energy Chews, which are like gummy bears with a kick of energy and nutrients. Finally, at the end of the day, I chug a bottle of GU Recovery Brew. This gives my body the nutrients to help recover from a long day of sailing, which prepares me for the next day of competition! GU’s mission: "to help athletes go faster and longer than ever before." I know any advantage I can use out on the race course the better! Check out their website if you want more information: www.guenergy.com

Super Bowl Sunday!

The results are in! I will start out with a congrats to the Saints! As far as my sailing is concerned, it went as follows: The day started out with light winds and a lot of sun - something we have not seen in the bay area for awhile. Unfortunately, because it was Super Bowl Sunday, a few of my fellow competitors decided to sit on the couch and watch the game, leaving us with only 18 boats on the starting line. My official scores were all over the place and consisted of an 8th, a 3rd, and an OCS (I will explain later).

First Race: 1-5 knots of breeze, 65 degrees and flat water. I had a decent start on the middle of the line and took a flyer out to the right-hand side of the course in an effort to gain from the building wind and favorable current. This worked out and I rounded the top mark in 4th. On the downwind everyone, including myself, was struggling to keep any forward progress due to the wind dying and the current sucking us in the wrong direction. Somehow after 45 minutes of several very awkward body positions and holding off a lot of attacks, I rounded the bottom mark in 3rd. On the last leg, the right side did not pay off like it did earlier in the race and I found myself in a three-way battle for 6th place. Unfortunately at the finish line all three of us were within an inch of each other and I ended up getting 8th.

Second Race: 5-8 knots of breeze, 68 degrees and flat water. I had a great start at the boat end of the line! I rolled over the top of the top three guys in the fleet and made my way to the front of the pack. I worked the fleet extremely well using my right-of-way to force my competitors to the wrong side of the course. I rounded the top mark in 3rd. On the downwind I sailed extremely aggressively and worked my way into the lead. At the leeward mark there was some congestion from slower boats of a different fleet. I ended up making it through the congestion only to end up in a tacking duel with the 2nd place boat. My intention was to keep him behind me to solidify my 1st place. 3rd place was very distant and I was in good shape... suddenly, the wind shut down on the former favored side that I was on. Somehow two boats that were fighting it out back in the pack got some crazy shift that launched them into the front. I finished the race in 3rd, 15 minutes after 1st place. Crazy wind this time of year!

Third Race: 4-6 knots of breeze, 58 degrees and flat water. I started on the boat end again! I thought I had a great start: I had two boats between me and the race committee, with both of the boats way over stood (over the starting line early). At the starting gun, the race committee called out a sail number which was the boat closest to the committee boat. I did not hear any other numbers called. I yelled up to the committee as I passed them to see if my sail number was called over and they said no... so I kept sailing. I worked again on my fleet management and forced a majority of the fleet into bad air. I rounded the top mark in 5th on the downwind, hit the turbo button and worked my way into 1st place. By the time I got to the bottom mark I was fighting off the 2nd and 3rd place boats. As we rounded the mark I went on the defensive again and covered one of the boats. This was my downfall yet again! I became too focused on my competitors and wasn't focusing on my boat speed. By the time I finished, I was yet again in a pack of boats! I got the short end of the stick and finished in 5th place, so I thought... Upon my return home I looked up the results online to discover that I was scored an OCS in the race. OCS means that I was over the line early at the start of the race. No big deal - I will use that score as one of my throw-outs. For every seven races I get one throw-out.

To sum it up: I did okay for the conditions. My tacks were the best ever, my mark roundings were smooth, and my fleet management is getting better! My results did not bump me up into the top three overall in the series like I planned. However, there is still one more day of racing left in the series where I can hopefully make that leap or at least solidify my 4th place overall.

Richmond Mid-Winters 3

The Third Richmond Mid-Winters is this Sunday. Yes it is Super Bowl Sunday! I'm a sailor not a football player! We have 32 lasers signed up, with a forecast of rain and 10-15 knots of breeze. My goal for the event is to make less mistakes, and finish consistently in the top 5 and hopefully move into 3rd place or better!

"Almost Every Sunday Laser Series"

Back in October I started sailing in a new winter Laser series at Richmond Yacht Club. "The Almost Every Sunday Laser Series" The Richmond yacht club junior program invited the local laser sailors to come out and race with their junior sailors. The youths benefit from having experienced sailors racing with them and the adults get in some fun racing/practice in the winter season. It has been great! Depending on the weather we run between 4 and 6 races, which means I get to practice a bunch of starts and mark roundings. Currently I am 5th in the standings, even though I have missed a few days. Ranking is not my main focus in this series. I am using it as a place to try out new things... be it a new tacking method, or purposely putting myself in a bad situation in an effort to learn something new. It has been very rewarding so far!

The Results Are Finally In!

The official results are finally in! I did place 6, 5, 5, 7 and that consistency bumped me up in the overall series to 4th place out of 32 boats. The 3 boats in front of me are good friends as well as my closest competitors for the past 3 years. This gives me even more motivation to get some good training in between now and the next event so I can hopefully edge them out!

Mr. Consistency!

The results are not In! Sorry I have not giving a recap on last weekends Richmond Mid-winters regatta. The Club still has not posted the official Laser fleet scores. For now I will give you my re-cap and eventually I will post the official scores. My unofficial scores were: 6th, 5th, 5th, 7th out of 25 boats.

First Race: 5-10 Knots of wind, 50 degrees, flat water. I had a great start and was able to catch a few good wind shifts and rounded the top mark in 4th place. On the down wind I surfed into second place, only to tack on a couple bad wind shifts on the last leg to the finish and ended up in 6th place.

Second Race: 10-15 Knots of wind, 50 degrees, a lot of chop! Had another good start and rounded the top mark in 3rd place place. Worked my butt off on the downwind leg and snuck into second. On the last downwind I got caught up in some leeward mark rounding chaos. The chaos involved two very fast catamarans screaming in at high speed into the leeward mark claiming right of way and forcing me into some bad wind. This resulted in getting pushed back into 7th place, me getting fired up, and kicking it into high gear and finishing the race in 5th.

Third Race: 15-20 Knots of wind, 50 degrees, a lot of chop! At the start I got forced out at the pin end of the line at the last second and had to gybe around and duck half the fleet before crossing the start line. At the top mark I was sitting in 16th place... I managed to surf a few waves and made up some distance. At the leeward mark I was in 10th place, I needed to make some more gains and I took a "flyer" (I gambled an didn't follow the fleet and went the opposite direction). It paid off I passed another five boats to finish the race in 5th.

Fourth Race: Steady 18 knots of wind, 50 degrees, even more chop! I had a great start, I started on the right side of the line and was able to hold my position and force the entire fleet to the wrong side of the course. By the wrong side I mean the side with more current and shifty wind. I got around the top mark in second place. I managed to maintain this position for two laps, then on the last leg I got distracted by a line on my boat that was tangled and I ended up capsizing! I got the boat back up right and found myself in 10th place! Dang! So what did I do? I sailed my butt off again and was able to cross the finish line in 7th.

In the end I was consistently in the top end of the fleet. I made a few mistakes, learned a lot and I have more to build on for the next event! My next regatta is not until the first weekend in Febuary.

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year!