A slow end

Friday was another day of floating around with no wind. After hours on the water, they sent us in to wait on shore. They cancelled racing for us late in the day. It was an anticlimactic end to the regatta for those of us not in the top ten.

I am quite happy with my result of 12th place and spot on the US Sailing Olympic Development Team. I know I can do better and am eager to practice more! Midwinters East will be a great place to work on executing and striving for perfection.

Yesterday I went out to watch the medal races, and lucky enough to ride with the Brazilian Laser coach. Robert Scheidt capsized before racing trying to re-run his mainsheet. He saved his sail from getting wet but lost his hat and jumped in the water to get it. Some people would be flustered by that type of chaos, but he went off to do his pre-race warm up and then won the medal race. Then he broke his tiller extension on the coach boat. I noticed a few things about his rigging. He uses even less purchase than the common low purchase set up, and he uses very skinny lines. I learned that even though the left appeared to be good at first glance, the info gathered from doing a split before the race suggested that upwind right might come in. I noticed that Robert was still above the line looking upwind with 1:30 before the start.

My biggest lesson this regatta is to really look hard at what is happening around you, and look far away, at the clouds, the water, the other boats. Ed Baird even suggested standing up in your boat for a second when the wind dies just to see what is happening.

More Ed tips:

• You can use a cruising boat to show you a lift, but not a header.
• Red-Right-Returning - If you are sailing to a downwind gate, and the race committee is holding a course change with a red flag, go to the right gate.