Miami OCR Day One
Today was the first day of the Miami OCR, and I sailed two races in 10 knots dying to about 6 by the end. There was a bit of chop and lots of seaweed which played a big role. Pretty tricky and shifty as well out there.
I was in the second group and sailed an inner and then an outer trapezoid. In the first race, I had a good start at the boat and played the right. I was a little nervous when most of the fleet continued on starboard after the start, but the course was a little skewed to the right, and I was able to find some pressure and shifts to be right in the hunt at the first mark. I rounded in 5th and the top five quickly separated from the fleet. I had a nice first downwind to round the leeward mark in 2nd place behind Jesper Stalheim (SWE) and just ahead of Dave Wright (CAN). The three of us pulled ahead again and began duking it out. About half way up, I lee-bowed Dave heading to the right when Jesper came over and tacked right on me. Unable to hang in his bad air, I took another hitch to the left, but ended up losing Dave towards the top. I rounded in 3rd, comfortably ahead of 4th, and stayed there until the finish.
In the second race, the breeze was dying a little which made it trickier. I had a very good start near the boat and continued on starboard off the line for a few minutes. After I got a header and pressure, I tacked and sailed towards the right. A few guys who started at the boat and quickly tacked after the start were ahead of me, but I looked to be in the top five group. I got a little out of phase at the top and ended up rounding in 10th. I passed one boat on the first downwind and four more on the next beat to move into 5th. The last downwind was really tight as 3rd through 9th were all very close. I stayed in 5th and finished there.
A 3-5 is a pretty solid start to the event. Dave Wright sailed very well in our fleet, showing off some good downwind speed, to win both of our races. Jesper Stalheim had a 2-3 on the day, and I was 3rd in our group.
Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow in similar conditions.
They are having some problems with the regatta website, but results should be posted here soon.
