Last Wednesday Night Race

We had our last Wednesday Night Race in Annapolis this week, and I jumped at the opportunity to get back out on the Esse. Driving sportboats is so much fun. It is rather unusual to have a northerly on a WNR but that is what we had, and our course called for a downwind start on port with a broad reach to the first mark. The two Esses and the Melges 24s jumped out ahead from the start, and started working on the sort of upwind leg. It was a long port tack with a short starboard hitch. We took our hitch early which was a good move as we picked up a puff and gained to within a couple of lengths of the other Esse. Another broad reach to the day marker and a fetch to the dolphin. We decided to go low and get away from the J35s that started 5 minutes ahead of us, and the other Esse went high, and tacked when they had enough water. We gained again on this leg, and approached the mark on the port tack layline just ahead, but they had a little puff that got them around the outside of a bit of a pinwheel well, we tacked inside and just behind and launched the spinnaker. We worked off a few Etchells that started 10 minutes ahead, kept a very high lane to windward of everyone and kept the boat moving. The other Esse did the same, but in the creek, they dove below an Etchells, not sure why, but it was the break I was looking for. We rolled over both to windward, they jibed away, and we did as well to cover, went to the other side of the creek, jibed back, went hot right at the bulkhead, and then ran down to the finish. We beat them bt just under a minute in the end, and it was lots of fun.

Great to get out on bigger boats sometimes. Packing the boat up today to head to the District Championships in West River this weekend. Keep llooking for updates.

Day 7

It's all over, and Scott Ferguson is the 2009 Laser Standard Masters World Champion. It was a really tough fleet with several former world champions and national champions. Today there was no racing. We went out in a light and dying Northwesterly. By the time we made the committee boat, they had postponed the race due to no air. I promptly removed my lifejacket, neoprene rash guard and undershirt and took a nice nap in the cockpit in the sun. The wind started to fill around 2:30 p.m. from the north, and they moved us closer to the top of the bay. They tried to start the Apprentice Master fleet, and right after their start, there was a big right shift so they abandoned the race. The wind kept oscillating but slowly chunking to the right, but the RC refused to change the course, and when the wind came back left, they went into another sequence for the Apprentice Masters which was a general recall. Same thing, race abandoned, then general recall, then race abandoned again, and one more general recall, all for the Apprentice Masters and it was almost 4 p.m. the time limit to start a race on the last day, so we all started in, only needing a tow. Was towed in and got the boat washed off and packed up with Margaret's boat on top, and it was off to Halifax for the closing ceremony and party. Had a great time chatting with the South Africans there, especially Campbell Alexander who is Commodore of Point Yacht Club in Durban, the yacht club I grew up in and learned to sail as a junior.

What a wonderful experience this was, somewhat humbling, but everyone out there is a very good sailor. One does not spend the money to travel from Australia or New Zealand, or South Africa or Europe, if you're not a decent sailor, plus there was a level of qualifying for this Worlds. I am thrilled I did it. Lessons learned:

1. Get time in breeze and chop and sail upwind a lot, and then some more, and then some more.
2. My fitness levels need to be higher. I need to straight leg hike all the way up the weather leg, not just in stretches.
3. I still need more time in the boat, and better fitness so I can forget about sailing the boat and focus on course management, fleet management and tactics. I am not nearly close to where I was in this regard in 1981.
4. Get APS to give me a damn penney or whatever those things you wear over lifejackets are, with there logo on it. Every time I told someone I was from Annapolis, they said, "oh the home of APS".

Next year the event is in Heyling Island which apparently is close to Portsmouth. I definitely would like to do this again.

I leave tomorrow and hope to arrive in Annapolis some time on Labor Day (September 7). Take the boats to SSA, wash her off, and pack back up to go to the District Championships in West River next weekend. No rest for the weary (or the wicked). Keep checking back if you are interested, I will keep this blog updated with stuff from all the fall regattas the Dancing Bear Sailing Team will be participating in. Thanks for taking the time to follow along, and I really hope you enjoyed my somewhat warped view of the 2009 Laser Masters World Championships.

Cheers!

Day 6

Wow, tough day out there today. Beautiful day, sunny skies, and the sea breeze once again filled in strongly. Start was once again at 1 p.m. and I watched to two fleets ahead of us work up the windward leg, and it looked like the right side was really paying off. Set myself up perfectly on the boat for a good start and got fouled by a Dominican twice at the start. He did his turns, but it slowed me getting out to the right like I wanted. There were about 5 of us that worked the right side pretty hard, and early it looked good, but at the top of the leg, it was horrible as we all trailed the fleet to the mark. Held my position on the reach and passed a couple of boats downwind, and went for the right gate, and went hard left on the upwind. This helped as I was able to claw back about 12 or 13 boats on the upwind leg, and passed a couple more downwind to finish 26.

It was getting tough out there, and I forgot my protein bars on shore. Mistake as I could feel I did not have the energy I needed out there. Wind seemed to increase a little to 17 or so in the 2nd race, and I went for the pin, and went left, but would you believe but the right side paid of big this time, and once again I was in a position with lots of opportunity ahead of me. Once again worked through the fleet through the race, only to find out when I got ashore that I was over early on the start. From the pin end it is impossible to hear the sounds from the signal boat, and with everyone over your shoulder, there is no looking back to the boat for the X-Ray flag. Ah well, not like I was doing that great anyway, and if I am never over early I guess I am never close enough.

Once again the plane in was awesome, that is one of the reasons I love to sail Lasers so much. Tomorrow is not looking great with regard to wind, so who knows what will happen. I am not sure why they don't think the sea breeze will fill since it will be about the same high temperature as today, and sunny skies (I think). Should be prime for a sea breeze. Ah well, we will see. I am going to pick up the trailer on the way over tomorrow so we can pack up right after racing. The closing ceremony is in Halifax at the Cunard Center starting at 8 p.m.

South Africa playing Australia at 7 a.m. tomorrow again, a win secures the Tri-Nations title for South Africa.....Go Bokke!!!!!

Day 5

Finally the famed St. Margaret's Bay sea breeze came in solidly today, with steady winds around 15 knots and gusts as high as 20. It was quite choppy and the waves definitely built as the day went on. The decision to start at noon was a good one since we were able to finish two races and be back at the club by 4 p.m. The weather mark was toward the mouth of the bay, and the sea breeze tends to be a little right around the mouth. I felt the left side would be good for the bottom part of the upwind with the right side paying off up top.

Since I wanted to go left, I should have set up closer to the pin, but in both starts I was too close to the middle of the line. After a few tacks to find a clean lane, I ended up further right, but came back with a nice lift on starboard tack to work into the middle of the fleet. My upwind speed felt bad in the heavier breeze and chop, particularly the chop, but when I looked around, most everyone else was slow too. You could get patches of really good performance upwind in a little flatter water, but pounding into those waves was slow going for everyone. Rounded the weather mark around mid fleet, and launched on a fun plane to the next mark, then a tricky downwind, with surfs and a few capsizes, I was able to pass a few boats on this downwind. I rounded the right gate to go left early on the upwind, but when I tacked back, I had lost all the boats I had passed that went to the other gate. Arrrrr, more work to do. Worked a few boats back on the upwind, passed one more boat on the down wind, but as I got toward the leeward mark, I picked up some weed on my rudder, and that allowed a big gain on the boats behind. I had to park after the leeward rounding and clear the rudder, and lost another two boats. Nice plane again to the last mark, and actually passed two boats on the last upwind, just nipping a Swedish boat at the finish.

We were lucky to have about 10 minutes between races because the fleet ahead had a general recall. The RC was popping the races off as quickly as they could. Again with the poor start in the middle of the line, and again hunting for lanes upwind, and said what the heck and went hard right. Not a huge mistake as I came back about mid fleet at the weather mark. Reach was a lot of fun and passed two capsized boats, then downwind was lots of planing and surfing, again lots of fun. Went around the right gate, started left then went right again, not bad, solid downwind, held my position, and then planed by a Japanese boat on the reach leg, held the upwind to the finish, and ended the day with a 24 and a 26. Not bad, as it leaves me in 23 in my fleet with opportunity to improve my position into the teens.

We got in early, and it looks like tomorrow my bring similar conditions, sounds good to me. The plane into the club was awesome, never got off a plane from the finish mark all the way to the flag pier at the club. FUN!!!!!

Rest Day

Well I decided to use our "rest day" literally and rested. Spent the day wandering around Halifax which was lots of fun, then planned to go back to the club for the dinner and band. I left with plenty of time, and promptly cruised into some pretty horrible traffic. about 40 minutes of sitting in traffic and still being in Halifax, I decided there was no point in going to the club, so instead I took Samson back to Point Pleasant Park.

Took a nice walk with him down to the water and lo and behold, stumbled on a beautiful vantage point to watch the Halifax Wednesday Night Races. Saw 30 to 40 keel boats racing on a beautiful crisp evening in about 12 knots of breeze. Then just turning a little and glancing up the river past a marina or two and there were smaller keel boats racing there. Great place!

Tomorrow the word is racing is to begin at noon instead of 1 p.m., and with the traffic I experienced this evening, I better leave myself plenty of time to get there. I hope that starting early is a good call and we get two races in earlier in the day.

Day 3

What a beautiful day of sailing, albeit a little frustrating. We were greeted at the club with beautiful sunny skies, crisp cool temperatures and a solid northerly breeze. We got on the water around 11:30 a.m. and for a change had a nice reach out to the race circles which they tucked away in the NW corner of the bay. I think they were concerned that the sea breeze would compete with the prevailing northerly, so they tried to set the course as far from where the sea breeze fills from as possible. It was a long sail to the course, but it was lots of fun, 15-20 knot reach planing all the way across the bay. The ride was so quick we got there 1/2 hour early. I ended up having a very nice conversation on the water with a local that was just getting into soft water sailing (he is a long time ice boater). I learned a lot about the area from him.

RC had a short postponent as the wind went to the right and set the course at 20 degrees. No general recalls, and I got a good start toward the pin end. I was able to pinch off an Italian at the start, and was treated to some delightfully colorful swear words in Italian, I wasn't sure if he was upset with me, but when I glanced back, he was clearly upset with himself and his poor start. We immediately saw a left shift, and tacked right away, in very good position, with most of the fleet to leeward on the right. It was quite shifty, and spent most of the first upwind crossing tacks with Andy Roy and a New Zealander. I went right at the top of the leg, and that was a mistake, as I lost about 10 boats, rounding the windward mark in 12 overall. Downwind was solid, held my position, and on the next upwind, playing the shifts kept pushing me to the right side, which is not where I wanted to be, and sure enough lost a lot of boats on that upwind. I was able to pass a couple boats on the reach, and took one more on the downwind, but then on the reach leg, which was very puffy, I sailed into a puff and jumped out to hike, unfortunately, I missed the hiking strap, and went in the water backwards. Not a pretty site! Lost two boats as I righted the boat, and ended up 36 in that race, disappointing because I was in good shape after the first upwind and downwind.

The next race was started shortly after we finished. For some reason, once again, we had a huge left shift at the start, and we could not make the line on Starboard. I tacked immediately onto port, and again had most of the fleet to my right. Again worked the shifts and rounded the windward mark in 10th. Much better, downwind was solid, held my place, and on the upwind, I worked the shifts, but made the mistake of going right at the top of the leg, and lost some boats. I went very low with Ari Barshi on the reach leg, and we passed about three boats, and started downwind. I was able to pass about three boats, and put some distance on the boats behind us downwind, and I was quite happy with myself, until I looked up and saw that Ari had launched on the downwind and had put a significant amount of distance on me. Wow, I thought I was doing well, and in fact was since I did pass three boats, but not nearly as well as he did. About half way down the downwind leg, I was to leeward of an Aussie, I pointed out, politely, that I was leeward and pointing straight at the gate so please don't come down. We both held our course, and there was no contact although we were close, and he started chattering away, and to be honest, I didn't understand a word he said (and I thought I was pretty good at understanding Aussie accents). Anyway that was fun for a while, and on the reach leg, a Swedish boat was able to work down on me with speed and just break the overlap. On the short upwind leg to the finish, I went to the left, and the Swedish boat went right, and I passed him before the finish, and ended 21.

Beautiful day of sailing, very challenging as it was quite shifty, but we had about 10-15 knots all day. We had a nice reach back to the club as well, after going around the Radial race circle, and got in at a very reasonable time around 5 p.m. Great day of sailing! Best of all, I was entertained by a frustrated Italian and his colorful language, he was not very loud, but he talked to himself for quite a while, fun! Then I learned a lot about the local area from Bob (the ice boater), and he has invited me up for some hard sailing (ice boating) some time. He races DN ice boats, and builds everything except the spars and sail himself. He even builds his own blades (skates). Oh, and I also apparently had a conversation with an Aussie, but didn't understand a word he said. All in all, a very fun international day.

Tomorrow is our "rest day", so no racing scheduled. I think I will take a ride down the coast of Nova Scotia and check out some of the lighthouses they have here, should be fun. Samson will get to come along, so he will be quite happy about that. Around 5 p.m. they have a band and social at the club tomorrow, so will try to make it back for that. Thursday we are back on the water for three more days of racing. Now let's see if I can find me a therapeutic massage somewhere tomorrow, I need it.

Day 2

Wow, another long day on the water. I got to the club at 10:30, and once again, blue sky was popping through the clouds in places. However, after our very long sail to the race circle, the clouds were thick and the wind was out of the south around 10 knots. The RC set a course and started the Apprentice Master fleet with one general recall and immediate black flag. They then started the Masters red fleet, who also had a general recall. Before they could start another sequence, the wind went from 195 to 245 to 270 in short order. They abandoned the Apprentice Master race, and proceeded to reset the course.

It takes a while to move a couple of hundred Lasers and all the marks needed for a trapezoid course with gates. While they were moving their water toys, the sun started to shine, and I joked with Andy Roy that it was going to go back to the south as the sea breeze started to fill. Sure enough it did, so we had to wait again while they reset the course again.

Finally around 3:00 they got our race off, after another general recall for the Apprentice Masters. The wind had not gone all the way to the south yet, so I felt that the left side would be favored as the sea breeze filled from that direction with a left shift. I won the pin in good shape, unfortunately we were in a bit of a right phase and things didn't look too good initially. Once the left shift came in, things looked brighter, and I held off the last boat on that side and tacked on his windward hip. Sure enough we got more of a left shift, and after battling through the spinnakers of the fleet in front of us, I rounded the windward mark in 16. I held my position on the reach leg, and on the next downwind, I was able to pass a few boats, rounding the leeward gate in 12. Things were looking good, but the wind was fading fast. The next upwind was light and very shifty. I tacked on every shift, since I didn't mind roll tacking at all, it kept my speed going, although roll tacking in rolling swells with choppy waves on top is interesting to say the least. I held my position downwind, but right at the leeward mark, the wind shifted hard to the left (finally the seabreeze coming in) and although I had the inside at the mark, I was hung out to dry in everyone's bad air. Finally after the jibe, we had to run down on what should have been a reach leg, and had a reach to the finish. I lost a lot of boats on the last two legs, and finished 22. Not too bad, better than yesterday, but it felt good to be playing with the front of the fleet.

Sea breeze now fills in and starts to honk at around 15 knots, and they get another start off after another general recall for the Apprentice Masters. By the time we got started the wind had dropped to 10 and was very shifty. Working the shifts up the first upwind was difficult, and the reach and downwind were slow, but the next upwind, it dropped out completely, and left the fleet scattered all across the course struggling to get to the windward mark. They sounded the three horns for the abandonment shortly thereafter, although we weren't sure until a judge boat told us to go home.

I was lucky to hitch a tow with a faster powerboat and talked him into planing us his tow string in. We were first to the beach of all the Standard rigs by a long shot.

Tomorrow looks sketchy at best, not around 68 for a high with partly cloudy skies and a light northerly breeze. Not much chance of a sea breeze apparently. So let's see what the light and shifty on the Chesapeake has taught me.

Day 1

We awoke this morning to the trailing edge of Danny, and by the time I was driving to the club, there were breaks of blue sky, it looked good to get some racing in hopefully. When I got to the club, it was blowing about 10 from the west, and I got my fleet color and rigged the boat. Our race circle was 5.4 miles from the club, and naturally straight upwind. Had a beautiful sail out on St. Margaret's Bay, and then the wind shut off, and we had to get towed to the race course, not usually a good sign. Andy Roy assured me that the sea breeze would fill in, and sure enough 3 p.m. it come in, and in no time we had 15 knots steady. We did have some gusts higher, but we mostly saw 15 knots out there today.

First race started at 3:30 p.m. and believe it or not, all fleets got off without a single recall. I got a good start at the pin end, Tracy Usher won the pin, and I was next, with an Australian on my hip. Started off the the left side and sure enough along came the right shift, and we were hung out to dry. My upwind speed was rather poor, but I made up for it with some blazing downwind speed, but not enough to make a dent in this really solid fleet. I ended 37 in the first race.

We finished the first race around 4:45 p.m. and as we were finishing, they already had the Apprentice Masters fleet going for the second race. No time for even a protein bar, right up to the line, set the stopwatch and go. I decided to try the boat end, and got a decent start, working out to the right side of the course, only to once again get hung out to dry, this time by a left shift. Just not my day I suppose as I finished with another 37.

Oh well not the end of the world, had a lot of fun sailing, and then had a great planing reach all the way to the cove at which point the sea breeze shut off as fast as it had started, and it shut off dead, leaving a couple of hundred Lasers drifting. We had to get towed into the ramps, and hauled out boats up the big hill to the parking area (luckily they had tractors to help us out). Wow, what a long day, we didn't get in until 7:30 p.m. Having left the dock at 11:30 a.m. that was a long day on the water, but I am glad we got our two races in.

Tomorrow I am assigned to the yellow fleet, which means I start third and sail the outside loop of the trapezoid, different to today. So let's hope the results are different as well. Sea Breeze is supposed to fill tomorrow at around 1 p.m. but then it looks like it will go to the west and shut down in the mid afternoon. I hope the sea breeze holds.

I was surprised that there were no boats with water available for the competitors out there. I will have to bring my own water tomorrow.

Rainy Day Danny

This morning started out well since I got to watch South Africa defeat Australia in Rugby, and are now on the verge of winning the Tri-Nations tournament. We had rain and no wind this morning, Danny starting to rear his ugly head.

We awoke to news that Danny was a week tropical storm soon to be downgraded to a tropical depression. Good news, although we will still get much rain and heavy winds tonight. The morning was gray, with not much wind, and soon started to rain, not many people went sailing, as most racers spent a few minutes getting wet while turning their boats upside down with the dollies on top. Since there was not much breeze and rain, I decided in the early afternoon to put my boat upside down as instructed. Quite interesting seeing all these Lasers upside down with dollies on top.

We were also told at the club that the opening ceremony and dinner had been postponed until Tuesday night. This was due to predicted torrential rainfall at the time of the opening ceremony. Not much reason to hang around the club then, so I returned to Halifax to "hunker down" for the coming tropical depression. Right now we are getting surges of rainfall and wind, but nothing terrible. It is supposed to get quite windy and very rainy tonight into Sunday morning. Supposedly by noon tomorrow it should be through, with sunshine and 15 knot breezes behind. We shall see, but it sounds wonderful. Will head to the club as if there is to be the regular 1 p.m. start for the first race (civilized isn't it?). I imagine if the storm looks like it is close to blowing over they will hold us ashore until it does and then send us out to race. Perhaps an hour or two delay. Hopefully we will get in our scheduled two races tomorrow.

Hopefully my next post will be after we get some races in tomorrow. Now I am going to take it easy and get mentally prepared for tomorrow.

Measured and Settled In

This morning started early, checking out of the hotel and off to the St. Margaret's Bay Sailing Club. What a beautiful setting, I will make sure to take some pics tomorrow, today was just a little too hectic.

Got to the Yacht Club and proceeded to unload the boats, and fortunately got very quickly in the measurement line. They were very quick and efficient with the measurement process. The only thing I had to remove was the little piece of sticky back velcro I had on the front of the daggerboard case. One of the new rules that is soon to be adopted will allow this, but until then, we have to use electrical tape and replace every day. Everything else measured in just fine, and everything got a stamp, from the boat, to the sail, to the foils, to the battens. Got into my assigned boat parking spot (furthest from the water), and put the boat away. The weather was beautiful today, but I could not check into my condo until 4 p.m. and I had Samson with me. We did find a beautiful park in Halifax (five minutes from the condo) that allows dogs to walk off leash on all the side roads and paths. Sam really enjoyed that.

Got checked into the condo, great place, and quickly had to head back to the Yacht Club for the ILCA-NA welcome party where Team USA and Team Canada were given our team shirts, and we enjoyed some good talk and Canadian beer.

Then back to the condo, get some groceries on the way, and cook a late dinner. All unpacked now, and have food available as well, so everything is good that way.

Now for the fun part......yeah, that tropical storm that is taking aim right at us....ummm Danny???? Well, since I could not sail today, I am hoping that tomorrow will allow me at least a short practice. However, Mother Nature has something else in mind I am afraid. Looks like very little breeze all day, with rain starting in the afternoon, and then after midnight.....Danny comes ashore. Looks like we will be getting 40-50 knot winds at some point on Sunday. All competitors were given strict orders today to be off the water no later than 4 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday), then we were all to place our boats upside down on the grass, with the dollies strapped to the bottoms. So it looks very unlikely that we will be able to race on Sunday, which is our first scheduled race day.

The Masters Standard fleet will be split for the first three days of racing. Tomorrow evening I will be given my fleet color for the first day of racing, and each subsequent day, the fleets will be shuffled and I will have to go get a new assignment each day. It appears that there will be two race circles. I will be racing on the race circle with the Apprentice Masters Standard fleet, the other Masters Standard fleet, and the Grand Masters Standard fleet. On the second race circle will be the Apprentice Masters Radial, Masters Radial, Grand Masters Radial, and Great Grand Masters Radials.

Alright, I am off to bed now, I am going to wake up at 7 a.m. to watch the Australia South Africa Rugby Test from Perth. Go Bokke!

In Halifax!!!

Just got into Halifax, and am settling into the hotel for the night. I am staying in a hotel for one night since the condo will not be available until tomorrow after 4 pm. Wow, interesting trip up here. Drove from Annapolis to Bangor, Maine yesterday and shared a hotel room with Ted Morgan (who is also an SSA member that is competing in the worlds). Ted had to leave very early to make it to the Halifax airport to meet some more SSA members who are competing. I left 1/2 hour after Ted, and before I could get to the highway, my power steering pump and steering gearbox decided to die a rather smelly death. Due to some very helpful and friendly folks in Bangor, I was able to get the pump and gearbox replaced and back on the road by 11 a.m. PHEW!!!

Everything went smoothly from there, and the folks at Canadian customs seemed more interested in Samson than me. I had never been to Maine before, but what a beautiful state. Just driving over some of the rivers, heavily wooded with pines right to the banks, reminded me of some river fishing I did a long time ago. I think it is time to do it again (Bob, get that old flat back canoe ready, let's go!). Also driving through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was no less beautiful. I'm really glad I did this drive, even after the expensive vehicle repair this morning.

The boats are here safe and sound, and tomorrow I will go to the club first thing to see if I can get registered and measured tomorrow. It seems we have another Hurricane coming our way (Danny), and looks set to hit between Saturday night late and Sunday morning. Can you believe that after how long of no hurricanes, here we have two hitting Nova Scotia in a week. The Standard Laser Worlds was hit by a hurricane last week. I expect that Saturday will be a fairly nasty day, so we will have to see how much practice we can get in. I have a feeling I may have to pack up my boat and move it back to Halifax in the condo garage to keep her safe from the hurricane. So, who knows if we will be able to start on Sunday or not. I suppose the earlier it gets here the better, so we can get it by us and start racing. I would imagine the 24 hours following the hurricane will be exceedingly light.

It's cold up here, I needed to dig out some fleece last night, but I'm still fairly adamant about wearing shorts and flip flops! Begrudgingly I have to admit I did pack a pair of jeans and some khaki pants, but I really hope I don't need them. Sailing I'm sure will be cold, so I found that packing for sailing was easy, I took every piece of dinghy sailing gear I owned, except for my drysuit. Those Gul 3mm farmer john hikers are looking really good right now. Thanks to Intensity Sails for the great price!

Well, I'm going to grab a bite to eat before the restaurant closes. More hurricane updates tomorrow!!!

Finally a Day to Sail in Annapolis

After two weeks of really hot and humid weather with very little wind, we finally had decent breeze for a bit of training today. It was a beautiful day until 3 p.m. when the skies opened up with plenty of pretty flashes in the sky, but the boat was put away by then. Sunny and hot during the three hours I got in, sailing in about 15-17 knots of breeze. Got in several upwind/downwind legs in (thanks to J-World for putting out marks for me...oh yeah, and the J80s as well). I needed the time in the boat, and it was good to stretch my legs so to speak. It took a while for me to settle into the session, had a hard time focusing initially, have to remember that and go for a bit of a run or bike ride before hitting the water at the Worlds. Sailed with a tighter hiking strap today because I felt the breeze was a little puffy, lots of hiking in and out, and it seemed to work well. Nice now to be able to adjust the strap while I am sailing. All the systems seemed to be working well, so nothing to be concerned about ahead of the Worlds.

I am doing Race Committee duty tomorrow at SSA, and it looks like rain...wooooohooooo. Sunday should be much nicer, so will try to get out for a couple of hours on the water, do my last load of laundry before I leave, and maybe pack a little. This is going to be fun!!!!

Welcome

Well, here I am, once again doing something I have never done before (blogging), why not, it sounds like fun.

About 2 years ago, I started thinking about getting back into Laser sailing, I had taken a break of over 20 years sailing lead-draggers. I found a 1982 Laser that was maintained beautifully and was in excellent condition, and jumped back in with both feet. I have to admit, that even with 8 years of Laser sailing in the past, the first time back in the boat felt like I had never sailed one before. The new rigging upgrades make the boat so different to sail, and it has take quite some time for me to start figuring out what seems to work.

This year, I decided to go to Florida to compete in the Masters Mid-Winters East in Sarasota Florida. I had a blast sailing in this event, and became hooked, and decided to enter the 2009 Laser Masters World Championships, in St. Margaret's Bay Canada (just south of Halifax).

I went to the Masters North Americans in Wrightsville Beach, and the sailing was spectacular, but I learned that my older boat was not quite as stiff as the newer ones, and her performance suffered a little in the conditions. So.....I bought a bran new boat, my second bran new Laser after 43737. This sail number is 194520, and just plain white hull (as I like it).

And now I am off to the Worlds! The plan is to drive up leaving Annapolis on August 26 with 2 boats. I will convoy up with another Laser sailor from Annapolis, and should be at the event location by late on August 27. I will post more on schedule at a later date. I think this might be some fun!