Final Day of Midwinters
Today was the final day of the Midwinter East Championships, and once again, we sailed in very light winds. We headed out for an hour earlier start time, but we were greeted with no wind. After a few hours of postponement, a light south-westerly breeze filled in allowing for two quick races before the 2 PM cut-off time.
Before launching today, I had an interview with SailGroove which you can see here:
In the first race, I had an ok start at the pin, but was able to tack over and cross most of the fleet in a good lane. The entire fleet quickly flopped onto port and headed to the right. At the end of the first beat, a right-hand shift allowed Paul Goodison, a young guy from Mexico, and Emil Cedergardh to jump to a pretty nice lead. I was left in the 4-15 pack. I stayed in the same position for the reach and first run and took the gate mark towards the right hand side of the next upwind beat. As I sailed out on port I continued to get headed, and I was able to pick off a few boats who went left. On the final downwind, the fleet mixed with the Laser Silver group, making it difficult to find clear air. I lost Charlie Buckingham who had a great run by sailing high and away from the masses, and held on to a 9th place finish for the rest of the race.
In the second race, I had an awesome start near the boat and quickly tacked to port, heading for the right corner. Jesper Stalheim and Kristian Ruth were also with me as we led the group right. The three of us looked pretty good on the rest of the fleet, but we were overtaking the Radial Silver fleet so it got a little hectic finding clear air. I stayed pretty far right, and I was able to make it to the windward mark in 5th place behind Jesper, Kristian, Paul Goodison, and Ivan Taritas. I stayed in 5th on the first reach and had a great first run to catch all the way up to 2nd by the leeward mark, a few boat lengths behind Jesper. We headed out to the right and Jesper tacked left to play the middle. Some pressure came in on the right, and I was able to move past Jesper and into first place. I stayed in first for the rest of the race and finished the event with a solid bullet.
You can watch highlights from the last race, compliments of SailGroove, here:
So with a 9-1 today, I was able to move up to 6th place overall, only a few points behind 4th. With exception to the first day, the event was sailed in pretty light conditions, which is one part of my game that I'd like to work on. I took away some valuable lessons and can hopefully work on them a little before my next event in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, at the end of March.
