Start on the first day.

If you have been following my results lately, you are aware that things haven’t been going particularly well. More precisely, I haven’t met my own personal expectations. Since I have been working hard to try and do well, the lack of success is particularly frustrating.  It sucks (excuse the language), when you devote all your time, energy, money and other available resources to attempt to accomplish something and fall short of where you want to be. My individual skills and knowledge of the sailing game are certainly much improved from where I was when I started my campaign, from where I was a year ago and better even than where I was when I had the best finals series of anyone at the last World Championships. Why then are my results not improving? I don’t have a definitive answer to that question.  If I did, you would be reading about how well things have been going, not how poorly.

The dilemma then, is what to do moving forward. My goal is still to do as well as I can at the Olympics. There are less than 80 days until the Games. After the World Championships in Boltenhagen conclude, I have one more event before them, as well as a bit of training.  The event and training is in Weymouth, the site of the games. There is time yet to figure this puzzle out.

I am not sure if I will blog about the last two days in Silver fleet. I have a lot on my mind trying to figure this out. The results the next two days are not that important at this point. If I can learn something, the next couple of days will be a success.  Once the event is over I will write about how it ended and share the experience with you. If you want to check the results you can find them at the following web address.

laserworldchampionship.com/en/results.html

Thanks to Maclaren and US Sailing Team Sperry Top Sider for their support.

Double Your Score…. Just like the pinball, video, or whatever game you played as a kid. Thats what I did today and unfortunately in sailing doubling your score is not the objective. It was not a good day. We started the morning under postponement as there was no wind, it was raining and the temperature was just touching 40. At noon they finally decided to set a 1:15 start time.

I was in the first flight to go off today, the yellow fleet. The fleet for some reason was eager to get going. In the first start there were all of five boats below the line, general recall. Then, the second one was a black flag general recall. After a black flag general, the whole fleet crowds the RC boat waiting for them to post the numbers of the boats who were over. They got six boats. After that one, we had another black flag general recall. This time I was not so fortunate and watched as my sail number was put up on the board. My second black flag. There is only one drop race in the qualifying series. I dropped the first one, but this time 57 points got added to my score. With those points my chances of making gold fleet were out the window.

After watching the other fleets start, I got the priveledge of sitting in the 40 degree rain while waiting for the first race to finish and the second to begin. I tried to stay warm by doing pushups, roll tacks and circles. It was to no avail, I couldn’t keep the cold out. I was frozen by the time race two came. In race two I was hesitant pulling the trigger at the start and got off the line a little late. I wasn’t able to do much with my race after that. I ended up finishing in the middle.

Tomorrow is the first of six finals races. I will be in silver fleet. The goal will be to take a few lessons from it and improve moving forward.

A 6th and a 38th today. The wind was very light all day. The first race was great. I played a very solid first beat to round in the top 10. Then I moved up a couple spots and held on to finish. The second race was a disaster to put it bluntly. I started on the boat half of the line. Soon after the start the wind went left with pressure. I was stuck out on the right, essentially left to dry. Way behind from the start, I didn’t see any light all race.

Tomorrow is my last chance to move up and make gold fleet. I’m 1 point out at the moment. Next to no wind forecast for tomorrow. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we actually get to race.

Today was not so much fun. A black flag in the first race and a 22nd in the second. A bit frustrated right now. Hoping that I can pick it up in the remaining 5 days of racing. Conditions were light, 5-8 knots in the first race and 4-6 knots in the second race.

The first race is a real bummer with the black flag. I got screwed, there is no other way of putting it. I was down near the pin with about a less than a half boat length between me and the boat to leeward. No one near enough room for a boat to go into. Then with about 8 second to go a Slovenian came in on port tack, hit me, physically pushing my bow into the wind. He then completed his tack and in the process hit the boat to leeward. At this point I was pushed about a half boat length forward, which ultimately was enough to get me an OCS. In the end he and the guy to leeward of him got an BFD as well. A real bummer. Debated protesting him, but ultimately decided that there was no point as he was getting a black flag for that race.  If he hadn’t been BFD, we would have spent some time with the jury.

Race two was a case of another starting issue. This time it was my fault. I started near the pin and had a mediocre start. The pin was really favored and boats that got off the line well   ended up tacking and having good races. I had a poor acceleration and I didn’t manage to cross when I tacked. Not being able to cross pushed me left and resulted in a mediocre race. In hindsight I should have ducked a few boats and tried to get through instead of heading back left. After the start there were few passing lanes due to the light breeze. I hung pretty much even for most of the race. I think in the end I passed four boat from the windward mark to the finish.

A disappointing day. Tomorrow we are forecast to have less wind than today. There are two more days of qualifying before gold fleet starts. I need a few good races as I have a feeling I’m not making it right now.

Results can be found here.

Thanks to Maclaren and US Sailing Team Sperry Top Sider for their support!

Today was a challenging day to start a World Championship. It was an offshore breeze with showers. The wind ranged from 7-11 knots in the first race and 4-6 knots for the second race. The first race the wind was very shifty, while in the second race it was a different story.

Race 1. I started near the pin, had a decent start and was able to tack to port reasonably quickly. I held my lane on port and made my way up the course. I ended up playing the middle left. It looked really good until very near the top of the course. At that point the right came in and I lost quite a bit on the boats that were to the right.  We were close to the shore so it was hard to see the puffs before they got to the fleet. I rounded the first windward mark in the middle teens position wise. In the flat water, the reach and first downwind were pretty much a parade. The hardest part of the downwind was locating the marks. They are white and it was overcast and foggy with no land behind them. Then on the second upwind I had a chance to make a gain. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the mark again and didn’t position myself properly due to this. Despite the mistake I stayed about the same, yet squandered a chance to move up. I finished 16th.

Race 2.  It was a real roller coster ride. Before the race there were rain clouds drifting through the course. They brought with them wind and big shifts, predominantly righty’s. Any lefty’s were short lived and did not appear as if they would get you across the course to the weather mark. The pin was really favored. I decided I wanted to start where I would be able to tack and lead the fleet to the right. I executed my start perfectly, tacked and was looking really good. I was 3/4ths of the way to the pin. Pretty much as soon as the gun went off, the conditions totally and unexpectedly changed. The rain clouds disappeared, the wind dropped to 4 knots and became very steady. I still liked my position; However, quickly it feel apart. The boats on the left got more pressure and started looking good. Over on the right, I did not. I got to the windward mark in the way back, in the low 50′s. On the top reach I passed 3 boats and gained a bunch of distance. Then on the downwind I went outside, hooked into the pressure on the course left and passed another 5 or so. On the second upwind I went left and found the pressure again. This time it was another 7 or 8 boats. Then on the last downwind I went outside again and passed about 15 boats. The bottom reach and final short upwind to the finish were again a parade. I crossed the finish line in 16th. I definitely didn’t make my regatta today but I certainly pulled one out of the fire.

I am in 31st place out of 170 boats.

Thanks to Maclaren and US Sailing Team Sperry Top Sider for their support!