Laser Master's Nationals Practice Day

Remarkably, the trailer pulled by Keith Zar's wife Barbara, arrived at the Carolina Yacht Club about 10 minutes after we arrived from the airport. I can't thank Barbara and her friend Liz for driving the boats out for us! I don't think it was quite the "leisurely drive" that they were hoping for!

Thanks to Fred Schroth's excellent trailer organization, we were able to quickly unload the trailer and were out on the water an hour later.  The weather was perfect with sunny skies and a 10-15 southerly.  

I decided to go out with my new Hyde sail and it looked pretty good right out of the bag.  I do think it needs to be broken in a bit more and it was easy to over-sheet it and wasn't very forgiving as the wind velocity was constantly changing.  I think I am going to go ahead and use my older sail for this regatta.  The forecast looks like the breeze won't get much stronger than the mid-teens for the regatta with some lighter breeze likely.  

The water looks like it will be pretty smooth since we are sailing under a peninsula of land with historic Ft. Sumter out on the point.  The only problem is that 3 different rivers merge in the area that we will be sailing.  It is going to be tricky to try and keep track of which way the water is flowing and when.  

During our practice yesterday, it seemed that the wind shifts were more important than the water flow.  There were many "lake like" shifts and puffs yesterday.  I think my strategy will be to always try and stay on the lifted tack and keep an eye on the chop and water color to ascertain which direction the water is moving.  If the water is moving against us on the starting line, I am going to try and be very aggressive on the starting line and make sure that I am at or near the line at all times.  I have a feeling that the set will be more than we anticipate.  Conversely, if the current is pushing us across the line at the start, it will be important not to set up too early and to keep my options open for slowing down or even bailing out if neccessary.

Should be an interesting day and probably very educational one as well!