Laser NA's

Qualifying is over for the Laser NA's in Long Beach. Gold Fleet racing starts today.

Day one was a very windy sea breeze with medium, steep messy waves. My results were decents - 6,7,7.  Held a clear lane all the way around the long courses. I wished my upwind boatspeed was a little better, and don't know why I was slower than the leaders. It took a couple races to figure out the wave technique for downind here, but downwind speed was not bad. The waves push you right, they are very skewed to the wind, so you have to turn farther than you think by the lee to get enough speed to catch them.

Day two I was hoping to improve my scores, but dropped way back. The breeze didn't fill in until late and we sailed two races in the same big messy waves, with only 6-10 kts of breeze in the first race and maybe 8-12 in the second. Again I was way off the pace upwind, and I'm not sure why. Need to spend more time in these conditions. The downwinds were fun! I am starting to figure it out, surfing a lot and catching some boats.

I'm trying not to be discouraged for the next two days. Going to pay more attention to how the leaders are sailing and see if I can improve my speed. - Can't forget to keep my head out of the boat though.

-Christine

Olympic Campaign

I am excited to announce my campaign to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in the Laser Radial!

I will be training hard over the next two years, and I look forward to seeing you on the water.

The Plan:

2014
- train hard at home
- compete at North Americans, Nationals, and CORK
- finish top 20 at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain

2015
- compete in a full schedule of World Cup events (4 or 5 total)
- pinpoint weaknesses at events and focus on overcoming them with practice at home
- finish top 5 at the Worlds
- adjust plan accordingly to peak for Olympic Qualifiers (tbd)

2016
- prepare for Rio


Check out my fundraising page to raise money to go to the ISAF Worlds in Santander, Spain

http://www.gofundme.com/Santander

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.

A good day today

We had squally conditions today. Some good hiking combined with lulls and big slow hard to predict shifts. I managed to call it right on two races, and wrong in one. Scores were 4, 22, 5. My best day of results at a world cup event! That moves me up to twelfth place with a shot at making the top ten and the medal race.

Goal for tomorrow, continue to get good starts and keep my head out of the boat.

No racing today

With an approaching front, we had very little wind combined with rain squalls all day. After waiting around in some intense heat and humidity, they sent us out to sit and wait for some wind. After an hour of getting poured on, they sent us back in. I did get some time to practice lee to lee gybes in almost no wind, definitely going to keep working on those!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and hope I get to use my hiking pads.

More light air, hanging in there.

Only one race today in less than 4 knots. Similar to yesterday it was hot and steady light breezes coming from the ocean. We have been sailing late in the afternoon since there has been no wind in the morning. I am happy with my speed most of the time. Today I had a very good for me light air race. 12th! I had a good start, and focused on maintaining a lane, looking for pressure, and staying on the edges of the course. Upwind I was pulling my mainsheet harder than yesterday, which seemed good. Downwind I have been focusing on clear air, flow over the sail and feeling pressure. I tried doing a couple lee to lee gybes which I learned from a video that Ed showed us last night of Luke Ramsay. Looks like more light air tomorrow, and then finally some wind on Thursday.

LaserLand in Miami

It's been a while, but its time for some updates! I am back in the Laser, doing my best to get a years worth of practice in in a week.

I have been in Miami for 6 days sailing with the other US women in the Radial. I think there are 10 of us! Tomorrow starts the Miami World Cup Regatta. We start at 1:30pm for the first 3 days (qualifying round). 2 races per day. The forecast for tomorrow is light, and today was good light air practice.

I have not been sailing Lasers for a year now, so my boat handling is rusty, and my awareness level is not honed. Despite that, I feel better sailing downwind than I have before.

My goal for this regatta is to sail shrewdly, be consistent, and check in with my self often to identify decision making moments, and justify what I am doing. (Note, "Christine, why are you sailing off to the right, do you really want to be going left instead?" "Oh, yeah, I did want to go left, and I only started going this way because I was forced to tack away, do I still want to go left? Yes, I think so." Tack back.) If I get back in the fleet, I want to do my best to claw back and salvage what I can. - The points you gain from 30th to 25th count the same as from 10th to 5th.

A few things I have learned and re-learned recently:
Only sail as far by the lee as you need to get flow over the sail, and feel pressure build.
Sail flat in light air.
In heavy air tacks, ease the main sheet  more on the exit, and hike harder into the tack.
In heavy air downwind, pull the vang just until the boat gets stable and stops wanting to come over on top of you (by the lee).
Don't over flatten the outhaul upwind in heavy air, you still need the power.
For good sail shape, you want all battens parallel to the centerline of the boat.
Boom should only go to 90 downwind - the 90 mark on the mainsheet helps to keep you from sailing too far by the lee.
Know your time and distance to the line so you can pull the trigger at the right time.
Tight hiking strap style is good for chop. Loose hiking strap style is good for flat water. - Remember to try the loose style sometime to get farther out.
Upwind, get weight forward to point, and get weight aft to go fast and low.
Always try to finish 7th - or something like that.

Enough for now. More updates after racing. You can find results at: http://mocr.ussailing.org/index.php/event-history/results/