Sail for Gold - Day 1

We were greeted by a hazy southwester on the race course off Portland Bill today; the breeze ranged from 9-15kts with over a knot of current pushing diagonally (setting probably 15 degrees to the left of true wind) upwind. The race course is in a great location for 49ers when there is any sort of west in the breeze because the course is tucked under the giant offshore breakwater. However, the course is not protected by the current and this was clearly an important factor in the races out there - the current effect was very noticeable at the starts and at the windward and leeward mark laylines. With the windward current the starts were treacherous, as many people got OCS's and BFD's throughout the day. This is something we need to get used to and remember to always have a good idea of where the line is.

Race 1
We had the boat set up for more breeze than we had (we got too focused on the windy forecast) and we were SLOW - we now will be very careful of depowering in marginal conditions because it is very apparent when the boat is not set up properly. We had a good start under the black flag down near the pin next to the Aussies, where we were bow out on them, but then were soon bowled over by their blistering pace. The highlight of this race was that it had clean boathandling throughout!

Race 2
We raised the jib tack and took turns off the rig to power it up after the previous race. This made a huge impact on our speed as we warmed up before the 2nd race! We had a great start at the middle boat, a clear lane and good boat speed at go! It could have been a top 3 start if I had trimmed in the main a second or two earlier, but I was gun shy with the black flag and misread my watch, all to Jesse's ire as he wanted to accelerate earlier. In the end Jesse was clearly right and I will trust Jesse with his call on the line next time! Anyways, we were still in good position and picked some shifts with the top guys. It was awesome to feel fast with them and hang with them for the entire beat. We were stoked! We had a couple clean tacks when it counted too.

We rounded the windward mark in 12th or so and then ran into issues with the hoist. Somehow the starboard kite tack got stuck on the end of the bow (we need to tighten our kite bag) and the kite would not go up. We had to lower it and raise it numerous times before we got it clear, by that time the fleet had ditched us and we were in 3rd last...ahhhhh! We never regained composure after this incident and flipped in a puff on the gybe. Lesson learned, avoid blame game in the heat of the moment and move on. Still in hindsight, we were excited that we had pace with the top guys and it was nice to round in front of the reigning European Champions (Team GBR - Draper/Greenhaulgh). It was amazing what a little tickering with the rig does! It was kinda of a freak murphyism to have the tack get stuck like that, but we will recheck the bow pole fitting and tighten up the spinnaker bag.

Race 3
We had another good start at the middle boat, but suffered for pointing because we didn't have enough vang. This caused us to lose our lane and have to tack out to the unfavored side. We missed a shift because we were a little frazzled on why we weren't pointing and by the time we realized our vang setting was the problem we had been sent back to the aft end of the fleet. This fleet is extremely unforgiving (as it should be at an Olympic level) and we need to work harder to get everything right. Slowly, but surely...

- Zander