Today started out with winds over 20 and gusts even higher. I sailed out to the course, but sailed right back in. With self-preservation in mind I was too afraid of one bad capsize and re-injuring my wrist and missing more sailing, so I thought it would be best to sit these conditions out.
I spent the day going for a run and catching up on some reading and email. I missed 3 races, but there 2 more left for tomorrow.
We sailed 3 more races at the Laser North American Championship today after a 2 1/2 hour postponement on the water. I won the second race of the day. During the first race – in which I only beat 4 boats – I figured out the wind/weather pattern and used that to my advantage in the second race. There were some dark clouds out to the left of the course and everyone was fighting for the pin and going left. I knew by the pattern a righty was coming and was very close to the boat end at the start and immediately went right.
The righty started coming in and before I knew it I was on the lay line. After I tacked it was pretty clear the fleet was well below me, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to go left and bring them back. At the windward mark I had about a 20-boat lead.
It was great being all by myself up front because that meant I could sail the rhumb line and fast. It felt like a 10-boat regatta where all I needed to do was not make any mistakes, go fast, and pay attention to the wind for any shifts. I extended my lead on the next 3 legs and had close to a 40-boat length lead, on the boats behind me, after the second upwind. By the last downwind the fast guys, like regatta leader Clay Johnson, had gotten back up to the front of the fleet and started to close in on me.
On the final upwind leg to the finish a rivet popped out of my gooseneck and fell to the deck. I just kept racing and crossed the finish in first. It was a relief I made it without falling apart or being caught and it was a thrill to win a race like that against such great competition.
As soon as I finished I set to work jury rigging my gooseneck to get me through the next race. In the 3rd race I played the shifts pretty well and kept myself in the front part of the pack putting me in 29th for the race.
I’m currently in 39th with 6 races down and 5 races to go. If I can finish half as well as I did in the second race today I should be able to stay in the top 40 and pick up some grand prix points.
Today was the first day of the Laser North American Championship Regatta at Brant Beach Yacht Club. A few weeks ago I banged up my wrist so I had taken the last two weekends off from sailing other than just going out as ballast. Yesterday and today were my first two days back out on my wrist.
We were racing with 70 Lasers in one start. In the first race I had a pretty terrible start and took pretty much the entire race to get my wheels going and get back in the groove. I finished in the 50’s.
On each start we had numerous general recalls and every start was ultimately under I over Z. On the second race my tiller universal joint snapped right at the start. I ended up spotting the fleet two minutes while I made a repair. I managed to come back and wasn’t even DFL at the first windward mark. I picked off boats on every leg and wound up 45th.
In the 3rd race I had a reasonable start, hung with the bulk of the fleet and mostly held my position to the finish ending up 44th.
Not my best day on the water, but reasonable given the level of competition. My wrist held up and hopefully won’t be giving me any problems this week. With a little less wind forecasted for tomorrow, I should have a better shot at keeping the boat flat and staying in the fleet.
This week the Laser North American Championship is getting underway at Brant Beach Yacht Club. I drove in yesterday evening and got the boat ready today and went for a short practice sail in 15+. I’ll be sailing in the Standard Rig fleet with about 72 boats. Another 142 boats will be sailing in the Radial fleet.
Follow updates throughout the regatta on the @LaserNAC twitter account – I’ll be contributing to the off-the-water updates.
Last weekend I was up in Brant Beach New Jersey for a Laser clinic. I can’t say I am a better sailor just from being there, but I did learn a lot of things I need to practice and apply to my sailing that I hope will make me a lot better in the future.
One of the tenets of the training was to use practice to find where the ‘edge’ is. Here’s plenty of footage of me ‘finding the edge’.
I sailed on Wavelength for the 2010 Southern Bay Leukemia Cup Regatta and not only was our picture featured in a Leukemia Cup Ad in Sailing and Cruising World, but now we’re on the cover of this year’s regatta poster and flier. Wavelength was the top fundraising boat at last years regatta. We’re hoping to repeat and would like to ask anyone who would like to make a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to do so via this link. Thank you!
This evening was our annual Parents Laser Race during Junior Week at FBYC. The goal is to get as many parents as possible, after the kids activities are done for the day, and get out on the water for some fun short-course racing right off the dock. Tonight was a superb evening for it. The wind started around 12 knots when we left the dock at 5:30 and died out around 7:30. We had about 10 boats come out and we got in at least 7 or 8 races.
Sunday was the Salsa Bowl Regatta and I borrowed a Front Runner from Mike Karn to take out and race. My crew was friend of a friend Bri Paxton, a recent William & Mary graduate who was on the sailing team there. Being my first time on a Front Runner since spring of 2010 and Bri’s first time sailing an asymmetrical spinnaker, we were a bit boat-challeneged for first couple races.
By the second two races we had most things running smoothly and were able to sail well upwind and hang with the fleet on the downwinds. We ended up 4th in a fleet of 5 in 4 races. It was a ton of fun and thanks Bri for coming and crewing!
More on-board photos from the day of sailing on the Front Runner can be seen here.
This weekend started with Saturday’s Laser Spring Regatta. We had 11 Lasers and Radials out at FBYC for the first day of club racing this year. The wind was light – in the 4-8 knot range. I continued to have good upwind speed, but terrible downwind speed. We got in 6 races and I finished 2nd.
Check out more photos from the awards and the rest of the weekend here.
Tim Zimmerman is a writer for Sailing World and was a competitor at the 2011 Laser District 11 Championship we hosted a few weeks ago at Fishing Bay Yacht Club and he’s written a nice blog article about his experience at the regatta:
Don’t get me wrong. The regatta itself, the District 11 Laser Championships, was not terrible. In fact, it was fantastic. Hosted by the smoothly-run, beautifully-situated, Fishing Bay Yacht Club down in Deltaville, Va., on the southern Chesapeake Bay, the regatta was blessed with excellent winds, a great crowd of sailors, and a Laser-loving chef, Alain Vincey, who cooked up a spectacular Saturday-evening dinner. Even the camping was nice.
Read the rest of the article on Sailing World’s blog.