Light Air Day Three
Two more races were sailed today, the first day of gold fleet, on the third day of the Laser Midwinters. We headed out for an 11 AM start in almost glass, hoping that when the breeze filled in we would be on the course and ready to go. After an hour and a half postponement in no wind, we finally got our first race off. During a general recall, ten boats were blackflagged, and in the race that actually started, another five or so were added to that list. With fifteen boats on the sidelines, the fleet was only 2/3 the normal size.
I had a great start as the pin end boat and sailed off towards the left. I tacked over, crossing most of the fleet, and then played the middle left with Mike Leigh up the first beat. He rounded right ahead of me at the mark, and we reached towards the outer loop. On the first downwind, the breeze died to almost nothing. People were reaching, sailing by the lee, and doing many gybes, just trying anything to get down the course. After a 20 minute drift to the leeward mark, I rounded in 3rd behind Mike and Emil Cedergardh and headed left. Again, we played the middle left, but right at the end, James Espey (IRL), Juan Maegli (GUA), and Ricardo Montemayor (MEX) got back in the mix by going further left. I passed Emily, but lost a lot of distance to those three rounding in 2nd once again. On the shortened downwind, James and Juan passed me by soaking low, but I was able to pass Juan back on the reach by staying on the rhumb line when he sailed high. I maintained 3rd on the final short beat to the finish for a solid first race.
In the second race I got a great start at the boat and tacked to the right on the long tack. The fleet quickly flopped over but started to fall into me a bit. I was looking really good leading the fleet to the right hand side of the course. About 3/4 of the way up though, I felt the breeze start to shift persistently left just like yesterday, so I came back a little early, taking some sterns and consolidating to the middle. The move ended up being smart as I rounded in about 15th and the guys I was near were in the high 20s at the first mark, but it was frustrating that the right didn't hold like I thought it would. I stayed in about 15th until the next windward leg when I played the middle left and the right came in with a little more pressure. It was really light and choppy on the second beat and the guys on the right just had a little more pressure which made the world of a difference when steering through the chop. About 10 guys passed me by heading right on that leg, and I found myself in the low 20s at the last windward mark. I passed one and lost one on the downwind leg, passed one more on the reach, and had a great last upwind leg to catch three more boats to limp in in 17th place.
It was a pretty tough day, with patience and clear air being very important. Tomorrow we'll have up to three more races (but likely only two with a 2:00 PM cutoff time). The forecast is a little better with 10 knots forecasted from the South.
