First Day of Midwinters
Today was the first day of the Laser Midwinters East in Clearwater, FL. We sailed three races today in a dying N-NW breeze (starting at about 15 and dying to about 6) in split fleets.
I was in blue fleet today and started first, sailing the outer trapezoid course. In the first race, I had a good start near the boat and played the middle right side of the course. It was pretty shifty at the top of the beat, and I played it decently, losing a couple boats but also picking off a few boats right before the mark. At the first mark I was in 5th. I had an ok first run, losing one but gaining one. Up the second beat, the top three extended a little bit, and I was in a battle for fourth with Raul Aguayo, Cam Cullman, and Andreas Geritzer. I rounded in fourth at the mark and fourth at the bottom, but Raul had an awesome reach and got by me. Up the last short beat, I played a few shifts and was able to gain-back Raul, finishing the first race in 4th.
In the second race, I had another good start near the boat. I tacked in a great wind line and headed out to the right, looking pretty good. About half way up the guys on the left looked like they were lifting off of me, so I took the first opportunity to come back. John Bertrand had a great first beat, going pretty hard left to round in first, but I was able to round right on his stern. Nick Thompson was behind me in 3rd. On the first downwind, I was able to pull ahead of those guys a bit. I rounded the gate and headed to the left with Nick close behind me. I protected the left side of the course which turned out to be pretty favored and was able to pull ahead to a comfortable lead. I led the rest of the race and finished in 1st place!
After sitting a round in a dying breeze for a while, we finally started our third race. The pin was really favored and we had a general recall with lots of people pushing the pin end. I was exposed at like 45 seconds, but didn't think I was over. I headed back to the pin, but at about 8 seconds realized that I wasn't going to lay so I gybed out and ducked the fleet on port tack. I salvaged a pretty good beat and rounded the first mark in 7th place. But after I rounded I looked up and saw a notice board on the mark boat that said I was black-flagged! Bummer. So I dropped out of the race and headed in.
So I had a 4-1-BFD on the day. Tomorrow the breeze is forecasted to be much lighter and shiftier, but hopefully we get some more good racing.
Results can be found here.
