Humbling....

Th first day of the Laser Master's North Americans brought pretty ideal conditions in a slowly increasing breeze that hit close to 25 knots in the last race. It was a grind upwind and equally tough on the reaches and runs. In the big waves, there was no point during the race that you could rest.

The first race, I got flushed at the start, bailed to the right, ducked a majority of the fleet and headed to the right. When I tacked back, I was looking pretty good and then promptly got my boom hung on my life jacket during the tack and capsized. We are carrying so much boom vang in the breeze that Andy Roy commented that he always makes a mental note to "kiss the rachet block" during the tack to ensure that the gets low enough to not get hung up.

Needless to say, a capsize on the first beat of the first race is not a great way to start. After falling to about 30th, I was able to rally back to a 12th.

The second race was a long Olympic course with a downwind finish. I had another bad start but was able to sail in the top 10 and finished 8th. I had a bad final run and couldn't get back in synch with the waves after burying my boat in the back of a wave and filling up the cockpit.

The last race was really windy and I got a decent start at the committee boat end, thinking the right was the place to be. It shifted left and I rounded the weather mark around 8th. I had two good reaches and worked up to 5th but just couldn't get anything going on the next beat. I was exhausted!! Definitley not in good Laser sailing shape. You can hide your deficiencies in smooth water and wind shifts but there is no where to hide in the open ocean.

I did improve my downwind technique as the day went on and I finished 7th in the last race of the day. I think everyone on thie race course today felt like they ran a marathon. Today's schedule calls for 4 races. It is going to be a really long day if it is breezy like yesterday. Hopefully I can continue to improve a bit.