Lauderdale summary

The Lauderdale OCR (a qualifier for Miami World Cup) was one of the weirdest regattas I have ever sailed. I have to give props to the race committee for being determined to run races in all conditions.
The first day was extremely light and unpredictable, with waves of wind and shifts coming from both sides. I determined that getting to an edge was very important, but how to commit to the correct side? In two races I called it wrong on the first beat and right on the second beat and had two top ten finishes. I was very happy with those results. In the second race I guessed that the right side was more reliable than the left and although it didn't pay in the first leg, I stuck to my guns and committed hard to that side all the way through the race. It payed off in the end. It was one of those times where it seemed to make sense to minimize your chances of getting every leg wrong by switching sides each leg.

Day two was one of the windiest days of racing I have had. Twenty plus knots of westerly offshore wind with gusts to 30. The shifts were very big and the wind was unstable coming off the land. We also had leftover swell from the southeast, which was interesting. Upwind we were surfing on port tack, but on starboard the swell was rolling under you. Downwind there was no wave surfing, although you could turn up to use a swell to get planing if you were in a lull and then turn back down sailing along the troughs of the waves and sometimes jumping over the swell sideways to the next trough.

Day three was just tricky and unpredictable. medium to light NW wind at an oblique angle to the beach meant that sometimes heading to the beach for pressure was good, but sometimes not. It seemed like the kind of day where you wanted to be sailing to pressure and staying on the lifted tack, which seems like an easy formula. It always seemed like nothing worked. I found myself confused and didn't know where to go most of the time. In talking to other sailors about this day, I have learned that it was just so weird I should ignore it, no one knew what to do. I think that is a condition I will file away in my head and continue to try to figure out over the years. Perhaps I needed to understand better what was happening with the weather? Or maybe it was the kind of random day where you sail the lifted tack even if it seems to be taking you away from pressure since the pressure won't be there when you get there.

All in all I finished 7th and was the top american woman. Mostly I was happy with my ability to sail well on the first and second days, feeling like my speed and decision making was pretty good compared to some top international sailors in those conditions.