Miami OCR Day 1

Day 1
Follow results all week at:
http://www.ussailing.org/Rolex/2010/49er/49er.html

Well the first day of Miami OCR is in the books and we had another action filled breezy race day. The breeze was out of the SSW between 12-18kts (perhaps some higher gusts at times), with all the racing taking place in the shadow of an ominous sky, as another mid-winter cold front prepared to sweep through Biscayne Bay. The weather was so suspect, that the majority of the Olympic Classes (only the Laser/Radials and us managed to start their event today) were postponed to shore; how fitting that the most powered up class got their scheduled 3 races off!

Race 1: We had a solid start at the favored end (near the pin), battling it out with the Kiwi and top French team, but ran into trouble shortly after the gun because we had trouble getting into upwind speed mode - this is something we are working on and something we are slowly improving on. Having said that, we were still in good shape after we tacked out because of the favorable current and smaller chop on the left side. We rounded the winward mark in solid shape upper teens (in a 37 boat fleet) and bombed down the run, only to flip on the gybe. We ran into trouble on the gybe because Zander failed to over sheet the spinnaker and we ate it soon after. It was extremely frustrating to watch all the competitors who were behind us zoom by on the run. Bottom line, Zander has to focus on getting that kite under control before the gybe and then run over into the new wire, without hesitating.

Race 2: Not as good a start as the first race, but still solid. The whole race was very similar to the first one, except that we didn't flip and ended up with a respectable 22nd. We beat some good Danes and Americans. We were fired up and looking forward to the third race of the day.

Race 3: We looked good right up to the start and then botched our acceleration because of mistimed harness clip ins and main trim - Need more practice, but getting closer! We got back in the groove 1/3 of the way up the beat and were in the mid 20s, when our jib sheet blocks ripped out of spinnaker launcher and our race was done...Bummer. Something you don't think of breaking of on a new boat, but now we know to re-thread all important blocks every where on the boat. The boat builder did a good job with the hull, but we can't trust how he fastened everything. Lesson Learned! This same thing happened to the Americans at the last Olympics in the medal race and it arguably cost him a medal.

We are slowly getting more comfortable sailing the boat harder on the runs in breeze and are getting lower on the wire than before. Baby steps! On the upwinds, we have noticed that the top sailors don't as aggressively trim the mainsheet as me. I hope this feel will come with time because our boat is not as stable as it could be and it will also help me conserve some energy, so I can have some energy to manage the kite on the run! I also need to get fitter to make it through the whole race without compromising the boat's performance.

-Zander