We need a sailmaker!

After a few days of abnormally chilly weather, today was a return to normal Bahamas weather. We were treated to a beautiful day of racing with warm temperatures, sunny skies and a solid breeze of 8-12knots. The Race Committee made the decision to race two Silver races in the morning, followed by three Gold races, and ending with two more Silver races.

In the first race of the morning, we were able to recover from a mediocre start to get in the mix in the middle of the fleet. Unfortunately, at the final leeward mark we were fouled by a boat resulting in a tear in the bottom of our spinnaker. We were forced to retire from the race and unable to find a replacement in time for the second race of the morning.

After the disappointment of being unable to finish the first two races due to reasons beyond us, we were poised to have a good showing in the afternoon. In the first race, we had a decent start and headed out right with a good lane. A bit of misfortune struck us near the windward mark, as we were unable to stay in phase due to a couple of boats on our hip that were reluctant to tack and we lost big. Thankfully, we were able to pass a few boats on the final windward leg resulting in a decent finish.

In the final race of the afternoon, with the boat favored and the Black flag hoisted, we won the boat! It was of great relief that we finally had a good start. After several poor starts you forget how much easier it is to sail a beat when you actually have options! We rounded the top mark in the top 15, and on the downwind leg, near to the leeward mark, we had a race-ending incident with two other boats. Sailing on port gybe with another boat directly to leeward of us, we converged with a starboard boat, and not having enough room to gybe due to the leeward’s boat failure to provide ample room, we had a collision with the starboard gyber. The resulting damage was a tear in our main.

Today was probably the most tumultuous day of sailing the 49er yet. We had great moments between starting and straight-line speed, however, they were overshadowed by incidents forcing us not to finish races. One day down the road, today’s antics will provide comical relief, but for now, they are nothing short of sheer frustration. Tomorrows another day, and with forecasters predicting winds in the region of 20+ knots, we are ready to get in some good heavy air practice.

-Jesse

Ups and Downs of Sailing 49ers on the International Stage

Our first start! A little buried at the middle/pin, but we got a line soon after!

Watch this video to hear me talk about our goals for the event:
http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236197-2010-49er-world-championship/248648-zander-kirkland-bermuda

Want the good news or the bad news first?
Lets start with the tough stuff:
Day 2, Breeze NW, 15-25+, powerful gusts
Well, right now it is in the low 50's in Freeport and everyone is all bundled up after a very cold (for Bahamas) and blustery day 2 of racing at the Worlds. It was at the top end of racing breeze for the class (with reported gusts to 27kts) and the day was shortened to only 2 tough races. We struggled even to get down to the starting line, as it was a broad reach from the beach, which made for a powerful 2-sail 'sled ride' down to the line. In both races, we were only able to make it up and down once before capsizing too many times to continue racing (not only does it tire you to the bone, but you get in the way of the top guys).

We were happy that we went out and pushed our comfort zone, but at the same time frustrated we couldn't hang in the races. If only DNFs could be scored better than DNCs! Regardless we need much more time (and work our way up to this amount of breeze in a much more linear approach) in the boat before we can contemplate legitimately racing in this amount of breeze. We were watching top Americans and other seasoned 9er sailors flip over in the powerful blasts of air that would charge through every 5-10 mins or so. The thing we singled out as our weakest link was our spinnaker douse (when we take it down); it seemed every time we were getting the kite down, the boat would load up because of the dramatic lose in speed and then get unstable and flip. We talked with Zack about it and he recommends Jesse not to bear away so much (to save the boat speed and keep the apparent wind lower) and focus on keeping the boat on a plane, all the while I have to be quicker at getting the kite down and then getting back onto the wire as we head up....ahhh. sounds way easier said than done!

Now onto the Good News from Yesterday!
Day 1 Report, Breeze NW 8-15, puffy and offshore
We started off the first race of our lives together in the 49er with some flair in a stacked fleet, when we rounded the 1st weather mark in 10th and then gained on the run to round the 2nd weather mark in 8th! We ran into trouble in our second downwind and lost some boats, but after 8 legs still managed to hold onto a very respectable 17th place. Jesse showed great driving ability and windshift management and I was hanging in on most of the important crew work to get us around in good shape. The thing I really like about Jesse's style is that he is not intimidated by anyone out there, sure he has plenty of respect for the guys that have paid their dues and at the top, but he is not afraid of mixing it up with them when he can. I think this will bode well for us in the future as our boathandling comes together.

Our two other races were tougher because of poor starting (really hard to maneuver these things downspeed and to know when to accelerate), poor spinnaker work, tiring muscles and our rig was too tight for the dying breeze. But regardless, it was an amazing practice day as we rounded 12 winward marks and did 12 spinnaker douses. The other thing we were pleased about for both days was working on our downspeed boathandling (you have to keep on your toes during the pre-start and between races). No rest for the weary in these boats!

Below are some pictures of our 1st Race and us up with people we probably shouldn't be near!

That's us (red kite in the foreground), right after our first spinnaker set in the Top 10 at the World Championship in our first race!

Action at the 1st leeward mark

The rich get richer...Kirkland Brother's launched in the top 10 on our 2nd run

All for now,
Zander

Hopefully the breeze and temperature will moderate tomorrow!
Thanks to coach Zack for his cool pics of our memorable race.

Worlds Eve

Sorry we have neglected the blog of late, the internet down here in the Bahamas has been spotty and we have been focusing the bulk of our time and energies getting cranked up for our first event in the boat. It is quite a venue down here in Freeport on Grand Bahamas Island, like Somerset Long Bay meets Shelly Bay, with all the racing inside the reef line which barely reaches out 3/4 of a mile. The shoreline and breakers run East/West, so the forecasted Northerlies (the same Arctic Blast that has Miami in the 40's) for the entire week should bring us gusty, offshore conditions that are going to make the racing very variable and "collegesque" in terms shifts and tight racing.

The beats are probably going to be about 6-8 mins long, making the final shift and the approach to the mark critical. Starts will also be huge, as we battle it out for a lane to the first shift. We are both looking forward to starting the event and to see how we many manage the fleet and our boat! Zack Maxam, our coach has been instrumental in getting us up to speed in terms of rigging and has given us great advice for getting around in the boat. We are stoked to have Zack and look forward to working with him in the future as well.

-Zander


Getting as much time in the boat has been our number one priority. Unfortunately, we were unable to practice more than two days at home for the 10 days before Christmas due to high winds in the region of 35-65 knots! After spending the first day rigging, we were able to get out on the water and get some much needed practice. Over the course of our 5 days of practice here in Freeport, we have seen shifty Northerlies, steady Easterlies and Westerlies with winds between 5-18knots.

The focus in the majority of our sailing has been gaining confidence and experience in the required maneuvers of tacking, gybing and bearing away. The practicing here has also led to many firsts for us whether it be speed testing, starting or weaving through the fleet both upwind and downwind.

As we head into the Worlds, we are unsure of how we will measure up to the fleet, but have the firm mentality of gaining as much as we can from the top boats. For me, I will try and understand slight differences in the tactics involved with the 49er. I will also have to adjust my perception of crosses and fleet judging as the angles in these boats is significantly different to any previous boats I have sailed.

Jesse

'Sled' is ready for Bahamas Shipment on Dec 17th!

Ready to Leave the Cold: Last shot before I left St. Mary's

I drove 'Sled' down the East Coast earlier this week, from St Mary's County back to our Florida Campaign Headquarters - My Uncle Bobby's and Aunt Sharon's home in West Palm Beach. Bobby and Sharon have been so generous letting us set up camp in their beautiful home numerous times. Amazing what 1100 miles of driving will do, I left snow and a bone chilling Northerly in Southern Maryland for the warm Gulf Stream breezes of South Florida. Little shout out to Bob and Sharon's real estate company, Illustrated Properties - If you are looking for a home in the metro Palm Beach area, contact me and I will get you in touch with them!

Final Preparations at Bob and Sharon's before the mission down to Port Everglades

After a final once-over on the boat/trailer rig I drove her down to Ft. Lauderdale to Port Everglades to await transit to Freeport for the World Championships. The boat is shipping out on the 17th and we will be there on the 27th to pick it up on the other side. We are shipping with G&G Shipping, I hope they take care of our Baby and we can get her without too much hassle in the Bahamas.

Locked and Loaded: 'Sled' awaiting to shipped at the G&G Shipping yard

Just a Heads Up on what are Winter Sailing Schedule is looking like:
-Training in Bermuda in the old boat, Dec 16-23
-Fly to Freeport, Bahamas, Dec 27
-Train in Freeport, Dec 28-Jan 2
-World Championships Start, Jan 3-9, http://www.49erworlds.org/
-Fly back to Miami, Jan 10th
-Sail North American Championships, Miami, Jan 15-18
-Train in Miami out of US Sailing Center - Coconut Grove, Jan 19-23
-Sail Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, (OCR), Jan 24-31

We are excited to announce that Zack Maxam, 2-time Runner Up at the US Olympic Trials in the 49er Class will be coaching us before the event and for several days into the event. He is a good buddy of mine and he was worked with us before. He knows many of secrets of the class and has finished in the top 10 at Worlds before! Thanks Zack!

-Zander

St Mary's Training a Success!

After 7 days of boat work and 7 days of sailing I am bringing 'Sled' down to Florida to put it on a ship for the Bahamas (where the World Championships are in January) next week. In the future, as we become more accustomed to all the nuances in rigging this machine, hopefully we can improve on this 'boat work to sailing ratio'. But for now it is all necessary as we learn how everything works in the boat. The boat held up great in the training and we are excited about getting her up to full speed.

As far as the sailing went, it was perfect for learning the boat as the majority of the breeze was light to moderate. We had a couple days with some solid breeze and what a blast to feel the boat get up and go. Every now and then we nail our wire to wire tacks, but more often than not they are tarnished with imperfections; hopefully with time our consistency will improve. We spent hours working on our light air tacks and gybes and were stoked to feel some improvement over the course of the training. We have been doing our best to cross the boat together during the tacks and only roll enough to almost put the leeward wing in the water.

The other key we have heard to light air sailing in these boats is to keep the weight forward and get the fat transom out of the water as much as possible. Also sailing on a river here, we dealt with alot of puffy conditions, which make the skipper and the crew reactions to these velocity changes paramount to maintaining a balanced, fast boat - Over reacting to a puff can be very SLOW because of all the leeward helm and winward wing dragging. We have found in light air, with Jesse full out, adjusting to puffs, can do most of the boat trim work; It is only with major velocity changes that necessitate me moving forward and in to keep the boat trim in check. Being used to slow boats, we were also shocked at the change in downwind angles due to pressure, you can literally sail through 40 degrees as you deal with velocity headers and lifts - a testament to the apparent wind we are creating!

Below are some pictures that my dad got of us over the Thanksgiving Weekend. It was light, but the weather was very pleasant for the time of year. Thanks to Malcolm for all his work helping our campaign getting off the ground! He has been there since the beginning and his trailer box is awesome! Also thanks to St Mary's Sailing and Adam Werblow for taking care of us and making us feel so welcome; the new boat house is awesome!

-Zander

New Boat is launched!

Well after 7 long days of boat work and rigging we got on the St. Mary's River! Considering it was misting and chilly (ie. what you would expect in Maryland in late November), it wasn't the best of days, but perfect for breaking in the new boat.

It was a long week of slowly figuring out the boat, but we finally hashed it out and got out on the water. It is all part of the learning curve (to figure it out for ourselves - with the help from our 49er friends: Erik Storck, Trevor Moore and Zack Maxam), but at the time it was frustrating looking at our new machine and not being able to take her out for a 'burst'. Top two "fun" projects include spartiting the centerboard trunk/rudder head and figuring out how to rig the new rig; mixed in with fun trips to West Marine in Solomons and APS in Annapolis! Boat preparation is part of this whole program and we know ample time will always have to be set aside to get the boat ready wherever we sail. We still have numerous modifications to make on the boat before we take her to the Bahamas, but we are well on the way. After much dialogue, we have come upon Seamount Sled as the new boat's name. Not a cliche Bermuda name, but still rooted (literally) there and also an allusion to the exhilarating ride in the boat.

Seamount Sled with her Bermuda Blue kite.

WE NEED TO FIX THAT BRIDLE!

Let the Training begin!

After 11 days and 4500 miles of driving (from California to Grand Canyon to New Orleans to Miami to Charleston to Charlottesville) I got to St Mary's County with our new boat - fresh off the boat from New Zealand - to finally get down to some more training. The boat looks great and we can't wait to get it rigged and sailing ASAP. I got some good advice from buddies/US 49er sailors of mine in Florida; they know a ton about the boat and were real helpful. It kinda felt like that scene in Memphis Belle when the rookie pilots are picking the brains of the veteran crews to try and figure out how to survive flying B-17's over occupied Europe in WWII...ok maybe not the perfect analogy, but there are very specific techniques and rigging secrets that must be done to avoid unintended, expensive consequences.

We have an ambitious sailing schedule from now until February and we are excited to work hard and climb up the learning curve. Special thanks to our Dad for co-piloting the drive from New Orleans to Florida and for helping with the trailer box construction. I simply wouldn't have been able to pull it off without him.

-Zander
Stay tuned for training updates from SMC.