2014 Laser District 11 Championship: Sunday
Sunday at the Laser District 11 Championship at Tred Avon Yacht Club saw much better wind and 4 more races for the standard fleet. We sailed out in 8-12 and little current and partly cloudy skies.
In the first race I didn’t have a stellar start, but tacked out immediately and was able to cross a few boats on port and get to clear air on the right. I worked my way up the middle left of the course and rounded the top mark in ~5th and turned to go downwind. Only I wasn’t supposed to turn downwind – I missed the offset and had to sail back upwind 100 yards. By the time I did my obligatory capsize and returned to round the offset I was in last place. I stayed there until the 2nd upwind beat and I started sailing fast and picking up boats. I continued to do that in the next two legs picking off 8 boats and managed to get back to 11th.
By the 2nd and 3rd races the current started to come in and was coming right down the course. As a result our speed over ground was diminished and it felt like we had much less wind than we did. Couple the wind/current with a little chop and the going started getting a lot tougher only because the feel of the boat was off. I didn’t have great starts and found myself bouncing around in the middle of the pack and pulled a 9-7.
Going into the final race the current started to slow down a bit and I got my head on straight and I was determined not to make any mistakes. I won the favored end of the start at the boat and just sailed to windward of leaders Luke Shingledecker and Henry Amthor. I lead at the first mark, but Luke had better downwind speed and overhauled me. Henry got me on the next leg and I continued to follow them around the course finishing with a 3rd.
While I had hoped for a top 5 finish, I ended up with a 6th and it goes to show despite flashes of brilliance it still came down to time in the boat and some unpolishedness that pulled me back. All in all it was a fun event. I was glad to finally have a chance to visit Tred Avon Yacht Club and the volunteers there including PRO Mike Waters did a great job putting on our regatta. Congrats to Luke and Henry who sailed a great regatta!
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