by

VanFalk

We have now completed four days of sailing and 7 races. Today (Wednesday) is our mandatory lay day, and we get back into action tomorrow with four more days of racing planned. The racing to this point has been spectacular. For me, they have been some of the most enjoyable days on the water in years. I have teamed up with one of the top college sailors in the country. This up and coming rock star, who just graduated, is giving the Star a try with a look at a possible campaign for 2008. This approach is incredibly smart and it surprises me that others are not following a similar path. Quite frankly, it is highly unlikely anyone can win the Olympic Trials, in any class, unless you have a Trials experience already under your belt. The Trials
experience is so unlike any other racing experience, you have to have gone through it once just to appreciate what it takes to win. Working with a talented sailor, who is new to the class, has been a very good learning experience for both of us. Our program has come together at the last minute on a shoe string. We are racing around 80 pounds underweight, have a charter boat, with one suit of used sails and only a single mast, yet we feel we are holding our own out there and have been meeting our personal goals for the event. If this skipper were to get a proper crew and solid program together, he could go far in the class. It is a real shame he is the only one taking advantage of this opportunity.

The conditions have been a mix of light, medium, breeze-on, and nuclear. Certainly a very worthy test of everyone's all-around sailing skills. US Sailing and the RC have been showing appropriate restraint in sending us off the dock and the event management thus far has been quite professional. I especially like their choice of courses for the event. While we can sail a variety of courses, so far we have only used W2 and W3. These are windward-lewards, two or three times around.
W3 is especially fun as it allows for many mark roundings, with shorter legs in between, bringing back those good old college racing days.

At this point, Paul Cayard is winning the event and has shown excellent
form with all of his finishes good enough to be keepers. While we start what is in effect a whole new regatta tomorrow, Paul goes into it in a very powerful position. Anything can happen, and this is far from over (remember Reynolds at Sydney 2000), but Paul must be taking some comfort that none of his scores are worthy of a throwout yet. I know that many of the other top teams will use this day to evaluate their equipment and event strategy, and make corresponding adjustments. I would anticipate that the other top guys are going to have to start getting aggressive on the course to force Cayard to start building up some points. The next couple of days should be really exciting to watch what happens. I would recommend that folks hold off from engraving the trophies at this point, there's a lot of racing left

.DAY 1 (Races 1 & 2)

Day 1 of the Trials began with a bang. The forecast had been for 18, but we arrived at the US Sailing Center to find it had been revised for up to 25. The pressure was supposed to die off by the early afternoon, so the RC decided on a 90 minute dock delay. In theory, the breeze should have been backing off by the first race, in practice, it built all afternoon. Race 1 was sailed in around 18-20 knots and Race 2 around 20-24. All 23 competitors made it to the starting line, unfortunately the butcher's bill for the day was fairly steep - three rigs were lost and two others were damaged enough to force the competitors to withdraw. In addition to the teams that lost their rigs, several others broke whisker poles, or experienced other minor breakages. It was certainly a race of attrition, and just keeping your equipment in one piece ensured a decent finish.This would turn out to be Eric Doyle and Brian Sharp's day.

The two Oracle alumni scored double bullets, and announced their presence, loud and clear. Eric hasn't done much Star sailing since 2000 as his AC duties have consumed most of his time. As a result, it was hard to gauge how he would perform here, but strong finishes in the Bacardi practice regatta proved that he is still one of the best Star sailors in the world and he shouldn't be discounted. This strong start was also nice to see as Eric's boat was fouled and significantly damaged at the Bacardi Cup. The extensive repairs meant that Eric lost valuable practice time with his main boat. The bullets must have been especially gratifying for Eric and Brian after all they went through to get the boat back together.An unfortunate incident occurred when a competitor with a damaged rig was forced to lower his sails and receive a tow back to the Sailing Center. Apparently, in a miscommunication among the crash boats, the competitor was forgotten and left adrift. After drifting 1.5 miles away from the course, he was rescued by a passing fisherman. In my last article I mentioned that it seemed they were running short on resources for this event and this is evidence to that. I know that sailor had an "honest" discussion with the race managers and I doubt we will see any disabled teams forgotten again.

DAY 2 (Races 3 & 4)

The conditions today were much more benign today. The forecast was for 5-12 and the winds were pretty steady around 10 all day with momentary patches of light pressure. This would be Brun/Dorgan and Cayard/Trinter's day, each finishing 1-2. John MacCausland and Brad Nichol also had a very good day logging a 3,6 and always challenging for the lead. Andy Lovell with Magnus Liljedahl crewing made a strong comeback with a 4,3. The results will certainly help get Andy and Magnus get back on track after losing their rig in Race 1 and having to score a DNS in Race 2.

Day 3 (Race 5)

Day 3 was supposed to be a breeze-on day with a front moving in from the north. We left the dock in about 5 knots of wind and were expecting the breeze to fill in to 20-25 knots by the afternoon. Ultimately, the front stalled and the result was the sea breeze
fighting with light northerly winds to fill in on the course. We had a postponement that lasted for 90 minutes or more while we waited for any wind to reach the course. The RC tried several starts for a race in the northerly breeze only to call them off after large shifts. Eventually after the third aborted attempt, the wind shifted to the east as the sea breeze had won out. After another 60 minutes delay, the sea breeze had filled in enough to start a race. We ended up sailing race 5 in very pleasant 10 knots. The San Diego boys, George Szabo/Mark Strube and Rick Merriman/Bill Bennett relished these conditions and scored 1,2
in the race. As soon as we finished, the approaching front made it to Miami, forcing us to slog upwind in about 20 knots to get back to the docks and put the boats away at dusk. This was a long day.During the hours of waiting many of the folks took advantage of the time to go swimming. I jumped in and was abandoned by my skipper as he sailed off to look at some girls in bikinis on a spectator boat. With nowhere to go, I swam to George Szabo/Mark Strube's boat only to find they were more interested in keel hauling me. Some folks had a better time - a member of the St. Francis brought his 80' motor yacht to Miami
to watch the races. Several sailors were welcomed aboard and enjoyed food and drinks (nonalcoholic of course) courtesy of the yacht's chef.

Day 4 (Races 6 & 7)

Since we only completed one race the day before, Day 4 was to be a three race day. Unfortunately, the weather would not cooperate. The forecast was for breeze on with winds around 20, dying in the PM. We arrived at the Sailing Center to find the actual winds were closer to 25 with gusts up to 29. Again the RC delayed us on the dock hoping that they would die out as forecast. After a 60 minute delay they said the wind had dropped to 18 knots. We found out that was not quite accurate on the way out.

As soon as we cleared the lee of the land, the 29 knot blasts started coming. I wish I had a camera, as Reynolds/Erickson caught one of those gusts and came flying up to us. Spray was everywhere, Mark was working the tiller, hard, keeping his boat on its feet and the only visible part of the boat was the bow to the mast, and the rig from the spreaders up. I couldn't see Steve through the spray and only caught sight of Mark as he came abreast of us. Even though I didn't get a picture of it, that image will be burned in my memory forever. And then, began our ride - that same gust hit us and we were off. The gust wanted to throw the boat on its side, we start rounding up because the boom is dragging in the water. I immediately blow the vang, allowing the boat back on its feet, and the acceleration hits us as if in an automobile. Now, the fire hose gets turned on. All I can see is water, everywhere. I am enveloped by the spray, nothing is around me but water. I am forced to look back because the water pressure is too much
to take in my face. Things settle down a little, I can see again, then, we get launched off a wave, pearl the bow, and fill the cockpit
half full, the water is immediately drained out at that speed and we are still tearing down Biscayne Bay like a freight train. Skipper and I are hiking as hard as we can, but the never ending torrent of spray wants to grab my hiking harness and tear me off the boat. Skipper is working the mainsheet and tiller and I have the vang and jib sheet. We keep the boat up and moving and I am thinking this is definitely one of the top 10 sailboat rides of my life, then it is over.Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter, who left the dock early, took the full brunt of one of the blasts, ripping the backstay line from its cleat, resulting in a broken spreader and damaged rig. Many of the teams have coach/support boats on the water, and some have more than one. Several of those teams that do, have fully rigged, spare masts on top of the support boat in case they were to break a mast on the water. If a team were to break their rig in the first race there is no way you could make the second start in time unless you have your spare out on the water with you. From a scoring standpoint it would be devastating to have to take a DNF and DNS on a single day. Cayard/Trinter limped their damaged boat back into the lee of the land, where they docked up to their Protector and another motor yacht. The full team immediately
went to work in removing the replacement mast from the Protector and stepping it into the boat and placing the broken mast on top of the Protector. Paul made the start and won both races. While that is certainly impressive, it is a real show of what teamwork can accomplish.

Given the delay in getting off the dock, the idea of this being a three race day was out the window. We would get in two races that were sailed in brisk conditions. As race 6 got going, the nuclear blasts all but disappeared leaving behind a relatively steady 20 knot breeze. The wind would continue to dissipate as forecast and race 7 was sailed in 16-17 knots. Eric Doyle who seems to be sailing very aggressively downwind rolled his boat on the last run in race 7. Doyle's crew, Brian Sharp, while trying to strike the whisker pole from the mast before breaking the rig, ended up swimming. Doyle threw his boat over and managed to retrieve Brian from the water, losing about four places. With about half the leg to go, Doyle began working on getting back those lost boats and ultimately the incident only cost him one or two points.

The quality of the sailing has been excellent and the race/regatta management has also been well done, but I am still perplexed as to why CRYC deferred running the regatta to the US Sailing Center. The US Sailing Center doesn't really have the resources in boats or manpower to host this event fully. If I recall, CRYC campaigned for the right to host this regatta so it is odd that there has been little interaction with the folks next door. In 2000 we had social events every night, but this year there hasn't been anything organized. Thankfully, we did have a dinner last night that was put together at the last minute. The dinner was well attended and very appreciated by all of the competitors. A photographer who had gotten shots from each racing day put on an impromptu slide show. Paul Cayard, upon seeing some of the dramatic pictures from the breezy races, gets the quote of the week - "These boats are so cool." I have to agree.