Best Regatta to Date!

"Jesse yelling at the photo boat to get help to our American friend (in background) who badly sprained his ankle in a capsize on the leeward mark approach. Zander in the boat, getting ready to douse the kite."

We are coming off our best event to date in the 49er! The Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland was an ISAF Grade 1 event and was attended by 21 countries from around the World. We were 25th out of 39 boats. We had one top 10 finish (8th) and over half the races were in the top 17. We also moved up everyday after a tough day 1. It was a windy event (3 days were blown out) where there are real consequences for mistakes. One of our Canadian friends broke their mast on the last day and our American training partner almost broke his ankle on day 2 in a capsize. We found we had good speed in the big breeze and it enabled us to focus more on the racing aspect of the game -- a breakthrough for us in these conditions. As we smooth out our boat handling work, we will hope to look at our big breeze sailing as a potent weapon in our arsenal.

The hard work and humility that we have exhibited over the last 18 months is paying off as we look to continue to work our way up the fleet. It doesn’t get any easier from here, but we are excited about the direction of our sailing. With 15 months until the London Olympics, we feel we are on track to reach the world-class standard and qualify for the Games.

Next up for us is the Sail For Gold Regatta in Weymouth, the venue for next year’s Olympics. It will be the best attended ISAF Grade 1 event on the tour because all the top sailors will be there gaining knowledge on the site. The fleet (65 boats) will be full of Olympians, World Champions and sailors hoping to qualify for London 2012.