Day 3 of racing

Well my discussion with Mark about starting technique, phenomena that happen on the starting line with the fleet, and removing doubt in order to improve confidence and remove hesitation was super helpful. We had 5 starts on day 3 (3 of which were recalls since we only had 2 races). In every start I strove to know exactly where I was on the line. We actually had line sights since the breeze was farther left that the other days, but I also tried using the arm sight tool, and was aware of where the line sag would be and when a bulge was happening. Bottom line, I felt confident that I knew how far back I was from the line and when I could pull the trigger. Now I just need to keep practicing that and I really want to try the arm sight thing when we don't have a line sight.

My good starts eventually turned in to poor results - primarily due to being slow on the runs - but to race with a good lane for most of the first beat was really cool. My speed in the first race was good. We had enough wind to be fully hiking with a combination of chop and swell. I even ducked the race leader - Evi Van Acker from Belguim - about 3/4 of the way up the beat. Unfortunately, the wind from the right that I tacked in under the lay line petered out near the top and boats farther right and left came in ahead of me. Still mid fleet I was really happy with that upwind, only to lose a couple on the reach, and lose the entire fleet on the downwind. It was a tough condition, one that I have sailed in at 3rd beach a lot, but have still been struggling with. Swell and chop, with enough pressure that you can catch waves, but they are very hard to catch. I struggle with accelerating the boat enough to catch the first one. Feeling waves roll under you when you feel pressure in your sail that should be enough to get you on a wave is frustrating! Marks advice: get going by the lee, do a little press to accelerate, and take it down a little, then turn back to hard by the lee as you get pushed by the wave. This first wave is helping to accelerate you so that your next press by the lee can help you catch the next wave. Going straight by the lee will never get you up to speed enough to catch the wave in this condition, so you have to use a previous wave combined with a turn to really accelerate the boat and then do your flatten-by-the-lee-to-catch-the-wave move. Something new for me - I was trying to accelerate in a straight line, not catching waves.

In race 2 the wind started to die and I started losing on boat speed about half way up the 1st beat. The mixed up chop and swell was still big, but there was very little pressure in the rig and we were all sitting in. This is a really tough condition. It sounds like sailors were using a variety of different sail set ups for this condition. Again on the downwind I was slow. This was a different condition though. No wave catching. Lots of leftover slop with very little wind. Marks advice - super loose vang (like so loose that it bounces slack while you are sailing) so you can over trim the mainsheet but still have by the lee flow. Don't rock, just keep the rig as still and steady as you can to maintain flow over the sail.

We had a 'reserve' day today, no sailing. A group of us took a boat ride out to some little volcanic islands and swam around a coral reef with fish and sea turtles. It was pretty awesome.

Tomorrow we will be divided into Gold and Silver fleets. I'm at the bottom of  silver fleet - which much less than where I had set my goals. So I am readjusting my expectations. It is obvious that the fleet as a whole has improved tremendously over the past few years. In my fleet is Annalise Murphy, heavy air superstar who won 4 races in a row at the Olympics, past world champion Kristal Weir, Canadians Isabella Berthold and Claire Merry, and Suzannah Pyatt from NZ - all top sailors.

My goal with the rest of the regatta is to learn as much as I can, and to execute what I already know. One thing in particular I will be focusing on is sailing confidently and decisively.