Day Three

Today was the third day of the Worlds.  We had more breeze today, starting at about 12 knots and dying to 7-10, but the sailing was just as difficult. 

I was in Yellow today, which was nice because I got to race first and sail the outer loop.  In the first race, I had a good start in the middle of the line, sailed for a few hundred yards, and tacked to port.  I was lifting off of, and looking pretty good on, the guys to the right of me, but a lot of guys who started at the pin and tacked were doing the same thing to me.  I sailed all the way right, but didn't have much to come back with.  At the first mark I was in 15th place and stayed around there for the rest of the race.

In the second race, I had a great start at the favored pin end of the line.  I lead the charge to the left and was looking pretty good for most of the first beat.  At the top, though, I got a little out of phase coming back across and very quickly fell from about 5th to 15th.  Again I rounded in 15th.  I had a good first downwind to move up to 9th, but lost a handful of boats on the second upwind who went left in a little less current.  I finished the race in about 15th also.

Another very tricky day on the water today.  It's pretty easy to get out of phase with the shifts, and when that happens, people pounce.  The toughest part for me was I was always a little behind the lead group.  In both races it seemed like the top 10-12 could pull away and sail more comfortably ahead of the fleet.  I was in that 15-25 range where people start to get pretty desperate and scrappy.  It's a tough spot to be in. 

Overall it's been a frustrating event.  My speed has been ok and my starts pretty good.  I haven't had much luck with the shifts or picking the correct side.  Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow, the last day of qualifying, and I'm hoping I can rally a bit and sneak into Gold fleet.