scott.projectsomewhere

British coach Harvey Hillary reckoned it was only 18 knots on the
course today… I’d say most of the sailors would disagree!

After some more delays (surpise surprise) qualification racing got
underway just after midday. 60 boats lined up on the startline in
one fleet for four races back-to-back.

The first two races were held in Hillary’s 12-18knots, and the
fleet was very very close. We started badly both times, coming
through the fleet slowly in the first race to score 3rd behind
American’s John Heineken & Matt Knoble, and Brits Justin Visser
& Simon Wheeler (see my form guide post). The second race
wasn’t so great, with another bad start and a string of mistakes to
throw away a top 5, instead finishing about 8th.

The breeze decided to kick for the final two races…

We went for the pin in race 3 and were blown away in short order by
the US (or canadian) team - apparently some serious heavyweight
49er sailors. We tacked off and crossed the fleet, then the breeze
built, and built, and built. We rounded right on the stern of the
49er guys, then set the chute inside them and gybed inside for the
gate - taking the lead by a mile as they overlaid (their weight
doesn’t help them downwind either). We took it easy for the rest of
the race and won pretty easily. The fleet was spreading out a
loooong way as the breeze started to go… above 18 knots.

Race 4 was started in the full 22-25 knots. We started again at the
pin and avoided the carnage as several boats didn’t lay and had to
tack. Local sailor Brooks Reid again shot out from the pin, but we
tacked inside, crossed the fleet and took the lead by a mile. The
first downwind was good fun, with plenty of breeze on! We managed
to gybe twice to get through the gate before pitch-poling in the
middle. Getting the kite down and the boat up, and kite back up
again, we were still in 3rd. We then raced around with Brooks (who
hit the piss 200m later) and the Canadian guys. After getting
airbourne a few times upwind off the very large waves (and this was
flood tide - where they’re supposed to be smallest), we finished
2nd.

Not a bad day really.

So I believe we’re leading the fleet after the 4 qualifying races.
With no drops it is going to be interesting to see who makes gold
fleet - and who doesn’t.

And the forecast for today is 30 knots!

Yes, it’s been a week now… and I’ve only posted a couple of
times.

Today saw the first serious practice racing, and the first of San
Francisco’s notorious breeze. The US National Championships started
- sort of - today from Treasure Island.

Now Treasure Island, while it might sound interesting, is really
only a defunct military base in the middle of the bay. It’s not an
easy place to get to I hear, though luckily we’ve teamed up with
Perini’s coach Palfrey and we’re managing to get a lift back and
forward from St Francis in the coach boat.

So… the racing was… interesting. We had a late start and got to
the club at 12 with according to the Notice of Race, practice
racing due to start at 11. We didn’t mind missing a few of the
warm-up races mind you. We left the beach at about 1.30 and cruised
down under spinnaker with Matt/Stuart (clocking a top speed of
34km/h on the GPS). We arrived at the Berkeley Circle course north
of Treasure Island at about 2pm and waited. and waited. and
waited.

There were 40+ 29ers milling around in a building breeze, gradually
going up from 12 to about 18-20 knots. There were race control
boats, rescue boats and marks in the water, but nothing
happening.

Still nothing happening….

To say we had the B-grade race management team on the water was a
compliment. There was a preparatory signal on the boat for half an
hour, before being replaced by a postponement 10 minutes before the
start. The startline was set 50m from an enourmous anchored barge
so that boats coming off the start line were not able to cross in
front of if they started more than half way down. 3pm rolls
around… and a while later, we’re into the start sequence for the
first race!

Mind you, we didn’t waste time during all the delays ragging out
our #2 sails. We managed to do 5 or so upwind/downwinds with
various boats testing our speed, and working out our corners. We
lined up with hotshots Jacqui & Euan and managed to get around
them uphill… so we weren’t going to be slow.

Now to the racing…

With the combination of 20knots, 40+ sailors of… varied
ability… and a barge on the pin, we opted to stay above the line
and come in late. We did just that and slipped into a conservative
and slow start near the boat. Jacqui & Euan bolted from the
line and went left, Jamie & Iain were in the bunch heading
left. We bounced out right… and went hard that way.

Coming back to the middle we took a few sterns and didn’t look too
famous. We crossed Jamie & Iain but were about 10 boatlengths
behind Jacqui & Euan. Lauri & Sean (FIN2) were nowhere to
be seen, we crossed Helle & Simon (DEN12) a few times. Jamie
& Iain crossed us near the top of the work, and Jacqui &
Euan misjudged the tide to stuff up their top mark rounding, going
from 1st to 4th in the process. We went around in 6th after an easy
& conservative upwind. Places didn’t change too much on the
downwind, with the flood tide ripping us along in good time. We
slipped inside Jacqui & Euan at the bottom gate and headed
right again. The leading Canadians were heading left, but the
breeze came down the middle, with Jamie & Iain and Dave and I
getting the best of it. We were looking good for a cross and the
lead, but tacked off for the layline, giving Jamie and Iain enough
guage to get around first.

So Australian’s filled 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th in the practice
race. Interesting indeed.

We headed in to get off the water early while the rest of the fleet
stayed out for a few more… delays.

The lonely Brits have decided to join the regatta after spending
the day going up and down outside St Francis by themselves. They
don’t seem to quite have they mojo they had last year, but tomorrow
will be the first test of that.

Don’t worry… with 4 races tomorrow I’ll be brief in my
reports…

Now, as you might know, I’m all for this new age, non-materialistic
stuff… but that’s all fine when you’ve got everything you need
(or want?).

It’s a bit of a problem when you’re in an apartment with no cutlery
or crockery, no appliances or utensils… and when you don’t have a
car to get you to where you need to go… and no tv… argh!

And I’m yet to get a suitable power adapter for the laptop… so
I’m slowly running out of battery there too…

At least I had the experience of riding SF’s muni public transport
system… I think I’ll give walking to St Francis a go
tomorrow!

On the sailing side… things are different of course. We unpacked
the container - and the hoards of gear in it - today and
re-assembled to boat in pretty good time. I’m slowly distributing
the bag of sailing gear from Bethwaite Design as well…

I must say, it’s not too bad to come in from sailing and trudge
through an immaculate yacht club in wet gear to use their showers,
free towels, steam room and sauna. I might get used to that.

Well I arrived in San Fran at about 10 minutes after I left
Sydney… not bad.

The trip over was pretty uneventful, as was getting in past
immigration and customs. I walked straight through and into a taxi
for St Fracis Yacht Club. A wad
of $US later I was on the dock of one of the flashest Yacht Clubs
around, talking to the US sailors and lining up a ride for the
afternoon.

…

So it was after 8pm before I got back to shore, after experiencing
San Francisco bay - more intimately that I would’ve liked. I crewed
for a new (albeit experienced) girl skipper - Jen…. and we
managed to swim twice in the marina on the way out, then more once
out in the full breeze, chop and tide on the bay. Great fun.

I will be wearing more wet weather gear tomorrow…

It wasn’t such a great day today… plenty of time spent sitting
around the boatpark waiting for people who didn’t show up. Then a
quick sail in the afternoon with John.

The conditions were following the “it’s not usually like this”
scenario, with plenty of cloud sticking around for the day. There
was plenty of wind however… which makes up for things in
general… a lot.

The only bad thing I guess was getting my US currency pilfered by
someone when I left my bag in the club. A bit surprising
considering how flash the club is… Funny they left the Aussie
dollars though… I guess they’re more worthless than I thought
I don’t think I’ll make the same mistake again… away goes the
iPod, camera and laptop…

It’s now less than a week til I leave for San Francisco!

Final preparations are underway and the weather is
looking good (at least there will be more wind than
here!).

The Moth doesn’t look like it will be on the water before I
leave - but that’s not too much of a drama. It should be well and
truly sorted by the time I get back