Qualifiers over, Finals start tomorrow

Well, our results were horrible for 5 out of 6 races in the qualifiers. You would think that would be discouraging, but we are actually encouraged by a lot of the things we did today and yesterday. In many of our races we were at one point in the top ten or top 5, but dropped to last or almost last from a disaster of some sort.

The results "carry forward" tomorrow, which means that our 18th place finish in the qualifiers will now count as an 18th place in one race of the finals. We can't throw it out, but it is only one race, so that helps us get back in to contention if we can post some better results. Our big goal tomorrow? Sail clean, and eliminate the things that cause major losses.

Number 1: We had good starts! Our starting procedure, communication, and execution has totally changed, and we are getting in a good place and getting off the line in the front row. We can also hold our spot better and crab to windward sometimes.

Number 2: We are able to hold a lane off the start now! Actually, our ability to point in light to medium is really good, so it gives us lots of options.

Number 3: We are finding good lanes upwind, and fine-tuning our boatspeed.

Number 4: We are passing boats downwind. We are focusing on finding the fastest mode for the conditions and repeating it, as well as staying in clear air.

Stuff to improve for the finals:

Layline management. - Both upwind and downwind, our biggest losses are when we don't have a solid plan for how to deal with other boats around the laylines and approaching the mark roundings. We are working on how to communicate with each other and paint a good picture of what is coming up so that we anticipate what will happen.