Conditions today were kind of typical San Francisco, but the wind was a little late to develop. Racing started at noon when we had around 12-15 knots of wind from the WSW. I'm guessing it was 15-17 for race two, and 17-19 for race three. We are sailing near the shore in a full flood tide, which means that the upwinds are long and the downwinds short. Starting near Fort Mason, with a windward mark near St. Francis, it is important to go hard left and get into the current relief below the marina. The race committee heavily favored the boat (right) end of the starting line to balance out that bias. I watched the full rigs and the yellow fleet start their first race, and it seemed to me that it was worth it to start by the boat, even though you had to sail farther to get to the current relief. It might have been a good plan, but I was not able to hold my lane off the start and tacked away. That was a bad decision I think. In retrospect I think it might have been better to sail in bad air all the way to the left side. This course is hard since current plays a very important role, but the wind shifts are big and the puffs and lulls are dramatic enough to outweigh the current sometimes. The hard part is knowing when. Race 1 finish - 21st
But the most important lesson from race 1 - Getting a really really good start is essential! Not just a goal. Might as well not even be here if I'm not going to get stellar starts.
The other things I learned about this course today were to really look for pressure downwind. Sometimes the pressure was on the left and that was good since there was more current out there taking you down, but sometimes there were blasty puffs coming down from Crissy Field - especially late in the afternoon - and getting to them first was good. Also, make a good call on which gate was favored - most people went to the right gate since it was closer to shore - but I think that the left was better since it was farther upwind.
So race two I had a good start at the boat, sailed fast to the left, played the shifts and current next to the break wall and found myself chasing Haddon Huges who had started farther to the left of me and managed to cross me on port once she got to the current relief under the marina. Stayed in second for the whole race, sometimes gaining on Haddon, but then I would lose it again. Ander from Mexico in 3rd place was pretty far behind so I wasn't worried about him, but on the last two reaches to the finish he made big gains and rounded the last leeward mark right behind me. I let him split from me on the last little upwind, and as we came back to the finish line he crossed right behind me. In retrospect, I should have covered him up the whole beat since he caught me by inches finishing at the favored end of the line.
So lessons from race 2 - Do not let your guard down when somebody fast is behind you. Don't leave things up to chance that you can control. At the end of the race, make sure that someone close behind you stays behind you.
Race 3 - I had another good start near the boat and sailed fast to the left. I dueled it out with the top boats as we tacked up the shore and I think I rounded the 1st windward mark 3rd. I went left downwind and caught a big puff and managed to pass the boats on the inside. Rounded the left gate mark in 1st - sailed to the wall - looked for puffs downwind and they were coming from Crissy this time. It felt great to win the last race of the day, and once I got away from the pack it was easy. So I'm keeping this one in my brain for tomorrow!
Goal is to keep guaranteeing myself top 5 finishes for the rest of the regatta. No leaving things up to chance.
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