Laser NA's Wrap Up

The final day of racing started with fog and a southerly in the morning. Local knowledge calls this the 'Catalina Eddy' and indicates that the sea breeze will fill in late or not at all. This proved to be true, and we sailed two races in very light air and some waves. The sea breeze filled in in full force at around 3:30.

I was proud of myself for recognizing that it was a light air day, getting to the edge of the course for clear air would be important, and looking for pressure would be important too. At the top of the first beat, I didn't go far enough though, and lost a lot to boats on my hip that were in better pressure. I took this lesson to heart the rest of the day, often passing boats by sailing on the edge of the fleet. My boat speed was not great however, and I often lost my lane and had to do two extra tacks, or let boats cross me so I could get out to the edge. Another humbling day!

Another thing that I learned about is how wide the upwind laylines are in waves. I was constantly amazed at how much farther I had to sail to get to the layline after I had thought I was on it. In flat water, boats travel basically the direction they are pointing, but in waves - especially skewed ones, you can have a lot of leeway.

My number one resolution for the next few months is to spend more time sailing in ocean waves, in both light and windy conditions.

I ended up in 20th out of 102 boats. Not exactly the performance I was hoping for, top ten would have been more like what I expected. This regatta was a great learning experience. It was an extremely difficult event and just reinforces that I need to spend as much time as I can sailing!

NA's Update Day 3

I improved my boatspeed today, but failed in some other departments. In summary, it was a poor showing on my part and the results show it. I hit the weather mark in races 1 and 3, and had a late start in race 2 that I compounded into a back of the fleet finish. I think I have learned a few things though, so here they are:

• No wishful thinking when you are approaching the weather mark!
• When approaching the stbd layline on port, ask myself 1 tack or 3? Check out who is ahead of me on the left and the right.
• Avoid the bad air at the weather mark - I know this is obvious, but I spent some damaging time in bad air today thinking that I was on the layline when I wasn't. Being conservative doesn't mean avoid the layline forever. It might be more conservative to accept your position in the race, and get out to clear air on the layline.
• When you do go to the (upwind, stbd) layline, overstand by about the number of boatlengths equal to the number of boats ahead of you on your left, as they will each overstand about a boatlength more than the last.
• If you lee-bow a boat on the stbd layline and they hang there, don't get pinned if you can't make the mark. If you think you might not make it, foot for speed and separation so you can tack and duck at full speed. If you weren't sure if he was making it in the first place, then you should have ducked in the first place!
• Don't forget about the port tack lift behind the fleet off the start line - if you have to bail out.
• If you are going to cross a pack of boats upwind, go at least 5 boatlengths before tacking to weather of them. Give yourself the freedom to sail your best vmg without putting pressure on yourself to stay above a pack that could be pinching. This is especially important in light air, heavy air, and waves.
• In waves, do not depower too much! Keep some fullness in the outhaul and cunningham, when the pressure builds, use more vang to allow you to play the main. Push against the blades and try to climb with constant pressure. It does not feel loose and fast - it feels loaded. Push as much weight as you can. Also pay attention to angle to the breeze, it can need to change a lot. Sometimes you can coast right up to windward, but sometimes you have to really turn down to get the pressure on the sail and blades to build back up.

I am not meeting my expectations for this event, but the primary goal is to learn. Tomorrow, the focus is to put together what I know and have learned today. Goals are: stellar starts, clear lanes, stay tuned in to speed, conservative mark roundings.

Laser NA's

Qualifying is over for the Laser NA's in Long Beach. Gold Fleet racing starts today.

Day one was a very windy sea breeze with medium, steep messy waves. My results were decents - 6,7,7.  Held a clear lane all the way around the long courses. I wished my upwind boatspeed was a little better, and don't know why I was slower than the leaders. It took a couple races to figure out the wave technique for downind here, but downwind speed was not bad. The waves push you right, they are very skewed to the wind, so you have to turn farther than you think by the lee to get enough speed to catch them.

Day two I was hoping to improve my scores, but dropped way back. The breeze didn't fill in until late and we sailed two races in the same big messy waves, with only 6-10 kts of breeze in the first race and maybe 8-12 in the second. Again I was way off the pace upwind, and I'm not sure why. Need to spend more time in these conditions. The downwinds were fun! I am starting to figure it out, surfing a lot and catching some boats.

I'm trying not to be discouraged for the next two days. Going to pay more attention to how the leaders are sailing and see if I can improve my speed. - Can't forget to keep my head out of the boat though.

-Christine

Olympic Campaign

I am excited to announce my campaign to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in the Laser Radial!

I will be training hard over the next two years, and I look forward to seeing you on the water.

The Plan:

2014
- train hard at home
- compete at North Americans, Nationals, and CORK
- finish top 20 at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain

2015
- compete in a full schedule of World Cup events (4 or 5 total)
- pinpoint weaknesses at events and focus on overcoming them with practice at home
- finish top 5 at the Worlds
- adjust plan accordingly to peak for Olympic Qualifiers (tbd)

2016
- prepare for Rio


Check out my fundraising page to raise money to go to the ISAF Worlds in Santander, Spain

http://www.gofundme.com/Santander