Andy and I wanted to have a conservative race and get the first one under our belts in the top ten so we started down the line under a good pack of boats. With 80 boats on the line the water was very rough but we were able to get a good star in the front row and played the left side of the course and rounded the first mark in 20th. We decided our set up was not quite right for the rough water so we made some adjustments to our mast to power the boat up and blast through the waves.

Down wind we held a low line and were able to catch up to the large pack just ahead of us and passed a few boats as we rounded the leeward mark. Up the second beet we worked the left side and were looking very good half way up the leg but could not get across to the boats on the right. Our set up changes worked well and we felt a bit faster upwind. At the second windward mark the wind got a little lighter and as we rounded the mark a few gusts of wind made big changes at the end of the lead pack of boats. A few boats escaped the chaos and were off with solid leads.

Up the last beet we tried the left side one more time because we were convinced that there was more pressure on the left side. In the end we realized that the geographic effects from the headland on the right were causing a right shift rather than bending the wind around the point to the left. We dropped a few boats and finished 19th, not what we were shooting for, but not bad in such a large and talented fleet.

Later in the week we will get a few pictures up on our web site

Cheers!

Andy & Brad

08/08/06

Go/No Go

Hello from Germany,

For another day we had no wind in Germany. It was the last day of the European Champs.... and today we didn’t even leave the dock! So, the regatta finished with the standings the same as they have been for the last three days. In the end we finished third overall, two points out of second (Robert Scheidt). We finished on a high note, winning the last race, but are slightly disappointed we were not able to get more than 5 races completed. It took us a few days to get use to sailing the Star again, but in the end we were right there, very competitive and ready to do battle. Congratulations to Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube for their solid win.

Tomorrow we will pack all of this equipment into a container to be shipped to San Francisco for the World Championship in October. After that we will fly to China for some training and the Pre-Olympics in our new boat. For now, we are off to the awards ceremony.

Thanks for your support,

Ciao from Germany,

Andy Horton & Brad Nichol

08/14/06