Stars In
Phase The Pre-Trials are intended to give competitors a look at the site and a chance to learn about the venue, and also give regatta organizers a chance to work out all the kinks before October 2007. All of the top American contenders in the Star class are expected to attend, including all of the other US Sailing Team members and some top international teams. The regatta is also one of the four qualifiers for the 2007 US Sailing Team (the others being the recent Star Worlds where we were the top American finisher, the North American Championship next month in Miami and the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January). Since we must count this regatta toward our US Sailing Team ranking, we are taking this regatta as seriously as the Worlds and hope to learn as much as we can about the local conditions to prepare for the next year's Trials, especially since some of the top American teams call the area home and hope to have an advantage. We were only able to head home for one week of work in between the Worlds and these Pre-Trials. We arrived on site last Saturday to set up the boat and practice on site. We were one of two teams that are putting in that much effort to be prepared here. The last two days we have looked at sails and tuned up the boat while getting used to Marina del Rey in October. Yesterday we sailed a bunch of practice races with the Trinity Yachts Team and were happy with how we were sailing. The regatta starts on Friday with the goal of completing seven races by Sunday. The long-term forecast suggests that the breeze will be light but we are sure that California YC will run excellent races regardless. We are at the stage in our campaign where we need to do some serious fundraising. We are trying to keep our focus on winning the upcoming events and winning the US Olympic trials, and our expenses keep climbing, so fundraising is always in the back of our minds. It is our least favorite aspect of the campaign. Our budget for the campaign through the fall of 2007 is $375,000. Keep an eye out for invitations to local fundraising events including Burlington, Vermont on Wednesday, November 29th and Miami, Florida on Thursday, November 30th. We are also counting on support from all of the sailing friends that we've met over they years to help support our efforts through the trials. It is easy to make donations via paypal through our website www.HortonNichol2008.com We are also looking for a title sponsor for the Horton-Nichol Team for 2007 as well as regatta sponsors for the North American Championships in Miami in November and the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January. If you would like to help the effort, please contact us! We promise to give all sponsors plenty of exposure and support - we have set our goals high for 2007 and 2008 as you all know and would enjoy seeing our partners share in our adventure. Cheers! 0/20/06 Top
Light winds were the order of the day with three races sailed in 4-5 knots in Marina del Rey. We had a tough day with a bad start in the first race but were able to battle back to a 7th place. In the second two races things went pare shaped with your favorite team going from top three to double digits in one shift in each race. Conditions were crazy with the wind so light. It was easy to go from first to worst and back again in the short 0.7 mi legs. We learned a lot today and cannot worry too much about having one bad day but we are generally at the top of our game when things get tricky. Tomorrow and Sunday do not look much better for wind but we will clear our heads tonight and get back out with a better day tomorrow. Cheers!
Day
2 This place is unbelievable, even with two great finishes we still have a lot to learn. In the first race we won the pin and were convinced that the left would have more pressure, the other side came in big and we rounded in the top ten. On the run we moved up into the top five but the marine layer (thick fog) was rolling in. As we rounded the mark the visibility went from miles to 100 yards. We lost sight of all the boats in the race and started timing our tacks in hopes of coming out even at the top of the leg. It took us 40 min to sail the first two legs so we assumed the third leg would take about 20 min. We sailed on port for 9 min, then starboard for 7 min, then port for 3 min, starboard for 3… port for 1… starboard for 1… then we stared reaching back and fourth lost in the fog. The race had been abandoned and everyone went back to the staring area leaving us sailing towards Hawaii. The race committee restarted the race with six really short legs so nobody got lost in the fog. On such a short course starts and boat handling are at a premium. We executed both very well and had just a little luck with the wind to eek out a tight win over Marc Pickel. We started the second race in enough wind to hike out but by the end of the race we were crouched in the bottom of the boat to keep the boat steady in the washing machine they call Santa Monica Bay. Again it came to a tight down wind finish with Team Horton-Nichol sneaking across the line just ahead of Marc Pickel. Tomorrow we are scheduled to sail two races to complete the regatta then we both hop on red eye flights back to Miami and Valencia. We will continue to study the sailing area with our eyes on the US Sailing Team Trials one year away and the Olympic Games Aug 2008. We will try to get a report out in the airport before our flights but it might not come until Monday. Andy
& Brad |