Not Good Enough...
This is the hardest blog entry I've had to write in the past three years. I went into today with a 35 point cushion on Rob Crane and a 40 point cushion on Brad Funk in our US Olympic Trials. All I had to do was be within five places of Rob and stay four places or more in front of Brad, and I would be going to the Olympics.
We sailed two races in about 4-8 knots and chop. The breeze was from the sea breeze direction, but it took it's time to fill in. In the first race, I had a good start at the boat and tacked out to the right. The right looked good early in the sea breeze, and I was leading the charge over there. A few minutes after the start a boat to leeward of me tacked quickly on to starboard. At first I was surprised he tacked, then I thought I could cross him, but at the last second I realized I couldn't and fouled. He started screaming "protest" and I had to do a 720 penalty turn. All of a sudden I was in the back of the fleet. When the breeze is light and the track is short with many laps (we sailed three lap trapezoids on shorter courses) it's very difficult to catch up. I ended up 41st in the first race. To make matters worse, Rob ended up winning the race and Brad was in the low 20s.
Determined to be more aggressive in the second race, and knowing that the points were close, I started right at the favored pin end of the line. I had an awesome start, winning the pin, and sailing to the left. I was winning the race, and Rob and Brad were in the middle in not that great of a spot. I sailed out on starboard until I got pretty headed, tacked and crossed the fleet in first place. As I sailed into the middle, the breeze got lighter for me and pressure filled on the sides. I hitched back to the left for the pressure, but couldn't get to it in time. Finally, at the top a righty came in which hurt. I rounded in the 20s and could only climb back to 21st in the race.
Rob Crane had a 1-2 on the day to stage a massive comeback and win our US Olympic Trials. I have to give him credit because he had an amazing day on the water. He played the first beats very well and was 1st and 5th at the two weather marks. From there, he just stayed in front and did what he had to do. I ended the regatta in 23rd place and ended up beating Brad on a tie-breaker to take 2nd in the US Trials.
But if you're not first, you're last....
