King Harbor Match Racing (USA) Brian Angel is a young So Cal buck trying to make his mark in the world of match racing. . Brian and team recently competed in the Congressional Cup, and they are now in Antibes, France, where they are in the first of 3 match races over the next 3 weeks. Next we will head to Switzerland, and then on to St. Thomas for the Nations Cup. Here is his first report. Well, it was a rough day today. Wind was light and variable, and the chop was brutal. There were a lot of boats coming in for a major regatta this weekend, and we seemed to hit every wake. As I mentioned in the last e-mail, these boats are far from thorough-breads. The new discovery today was that with every wave, the keel bounces back and forth under the boat. Yikes! We lost our first 5 races. Race two against Simon Minoprio was interesting. At the first weather mark, we held a lead of about a boat length. In a last ditch effort to get ahead, Simon luffed up head to wind and tried to shoot the mark from our leeward side. As we were both head to wind (us on the outside) we both set our poles in preparation for the set. There was no chance of Simon making the mark, so we were patient, waiting for him to hit it. Suddenly his pole fell to windward, and hit our main. About the same time, he rafted up on the mark. The umpires ruled that we didn't give him room, and we received a penalty. Simon sailed away to victory. In the umpire debrief, we were told that the call should have gone against Simon, as the pole was not in it's normal position. As well, they should have received a penalty for hitting the mark, as it was not our actions that caused him to hit the mark. I should mention, that this event is being used as an umpire seminar, for the training International Umpires. I guess, we can't accept all the calls to be perfect. We had trouble with the boats all day. I can't say that our boat-handling was terrible, but we were definitely under par. I take comfort in knowing that it will improve over the week - as it did as the day went on. All my crew are good sailors, and I sensed that we were all still a bit jet lagged today (myself especially). Many of us had trouble sleeping last night, but with a good night's sleep tonight, I'm looking forward to good things tomorrow. With 12 more races to go, this regatta is far from over. More to come tomorrow. Thanks, everyone for all of your support! Best
Regards, 05/26/06 top
Round
and Round
Today was a great day. Breeze was strong - Between 10 and 15 knots for the most part - and a bit shifty. The shifts were quite visible, though, which meant that one could take full advantage of them if they were on they're game. The biggest variable of the day was the heat. I'd guess we had temps in the 90s for most of the day, with brutal humidity! If you slack on the water intake here, you're in big trouble! Our first two races were a bit uneventful. In each race, we were able to pin our opponent away from the start, and build a good lead early. From there we just played the breeze, and pulled away as best we could. Our most exciting race came against the local Virgin Island team. The start was pretty even, although we punched into an early lead by a few feet. We had a crossing early in the beat, and I made a mistake as we tried to tack right in from of them. I misjudged the turn, and we received a penalty for tacking too close. We managed to stay ahead for most of the beat, but at the weather mark a big righty filled in, and we quickly fell behind. We kept it close downwind, and with a good bit of boat-handling at the leeward mark, we managed to get just ahead. At the last weather mark we managed to kill our penalty. We gave them a sharp luff, quickly separated as much as we could, and then spun our turn just inside of them. We both set our spinnakers, and sailed side-by-side downwind. We were to leeward and on port tack, although there was no overlap. We pushed them past the finish line as far as we could, and went for a jibe when we thought the opportunity was good. Unfortunately, we had a miscommunication. We had all hoped to get the chute down, but got a bit confused in the maneuver. The result was that we still had our chute up, and were not able to hold it to the finish. The Islanders surged in to leeward and ahead of us, as we struggled to gain control of our spinnaker. They finished just ahead. It was a great race! We finished the day 5 and 1, only losing to the USVI team. That puts us in 1st place, with St. Lucia and USVI right behind us with 4 wins. The plan for tomorrow is to complete another round robin. 6 races is a lot to handle in this heat, but we're ready for it. It's 7:30 here right now, and we can barely keep our eyes open. More to come tomorrow... Best, Brian
Angel 06/09/06 top
You know we love the little guys, and we love it when they do good. SoCal's newest members of the match race fraternity, Brian Angel and crew, just got their first big win, Nice job, boys.
Things changed drastically for the final day of the Nations Cup. The 10 - 15 knots disappeared, and instead we saw light and variable conditions and cold rain (Yeah...cold?). Our semifinal against the Canadians ended quickly in the first race, although they never made it easy. We got off to a great start, and covered tightly all around the course. Although they caught up downwind, we had good control the whole race, and won the semifinal. We then went straight into the finals against Trinidad, still in light and shifty conditions. In the first race, we once again got off to a good lead early. We protected right, and most of our lead was given away on a hard left shift. Still slightly leading, we tacked for the mark just ahead and to leeward. As we approached the mark, a right shift hit, keeping us from laying the mark. As well, the boys from Trinidad did a good job of staying to windward and blocking us from tacking. They held us past the mark, and although they were just ahead as we made the turn, it quickly turned into a huge lead as we tangled with the Canadians from the 3-4 sail-off, and had some tangle with our Spin sheet, as well. They went on to win the first race. Race two started a bit closer, although we were just ahead. We once again protected right, although this time we were much more confident in our decision. We locked into a nice right shift early, and sailed away from there... Series tied. The wind then died for a couple hours, and it was decided that we would only sail one more race to determine the final, making it a "first to 2 points" series. When the race was started it was very light and VERY unsettled. We quickly locked the Trinidad team into a penalty, early in the prestart, and did a good job of pinning them to the left of the line. When we finally started, we were well ahead, but the wind was so light we could barely move. The boys did a really good job of spotting breeze coming from the left, and we immediately tacked and headed straight for it. We hit the puff long before Trinidad did, and sailed into a huge lead. From there, we were able to get all the puffs first, and we sailed away. We won the final race by an entire leg. What a great way to finish a long trip! We've now qualified to sail in the grade 1 Nations Cup Final in CORK, IRELAND, this coming September. We also suspect that our ranking will increase to around 40 on the next ranking date - June 22nd. Thanks, everyone, for all of your support! We can't wait to see you all again soon! Best Regards, Brian
Angel 06/12/06 top |
We
won!