I think you'll find it a good read about the trials and tribulations of sailing a regatta- the highs and lows and most importantly- the lesson of never ever giving up.
Soheil sailed one of the best regattas of his career and finished a career high 4th overall in the Formula class. Big props to him for keeping it going and sending out an report each evening.
I was living vicariously through his post as I find myself in a new role this summer- that of a new parent. Ana Isabelle Bodner arrived earlier last month and is keeping us busy. Ive swapped out changing rigs for changing diapers but hope to be back on the starting line sometime soon.
Until then- enjoy the guest post.
Day One
I don't see results on
the official web site yet, but I'm hoping they'll put some up soon. My
best finish today was a 3rd place, which isn't bad for an old guy like
me. Specially since the 2 in front are both pros or pro-ish.
There are some photos of the event here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Day Two
Aloha from warm, sunny and pleasantly windy Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro CA!
Thanks
for all of the kind words of encouragement everyone! My back is
starting to give out (already!), but I'm motivated by yesterday's 3rd
place finish as to what's possible... I actually had another 3rd place
finish all sewn up yesterday, but had it taken away because of a silly
mark rounding mistake on my part near the finish line... So
I'm definitely in the running here if I can last the week.
Today I think I had a 4th and a 5th. Still in the running for a podium finish in the Course racing. I opted out of the Slalom racing today to give my back a rest. It is manageable with Advil and lots of stretching.
The slalom was awesome to watch (would've been more awesome to be in...). Lots of good slalom sailors are here and it looks like 20-25 guys on the start line for each race. The problem is that that is too many in one start for safe racing as slalom is a bit of a high adrenaline contact sport. Lots of crashes and several injuries so far.
They told us today that the Yacht club running the event and responsible for posting the results is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and that they refused to make an exception for our event. I think that's lame. The St. Francis YC that runs our events up in the Bay Area is closed on Tuesdays, but the race office staff happily comes in when we're running a national or international regatta and the results are posted on their web site before we've had a chance to get dry and put away our gear. Hopefully we'll start seeing some results posted tomorrow...
Tomorrow is the long distance race. This 1 race counts as two course races, so it is important for me to get a good result in this one!
I wonder if I come in 3rd, if I'd be the U.S. National Champion? The two guys in 1st and 2nd have foreign racing numbers: AUS and GBR... :-)
Here's a map view of the course I sailed today as recorded by my GPS watch. It may help with visualizing some of verbiage:
Today I think I had a 4th and a 5th. Still in the running for a podium finish in the Course racing. I opted out of the Slalom racing today to give my back a rest. It is manageable with Advil and lots of stretching.
The slalom was awesome to watch (would've been more awesome to be in...). Lots of good slalom sailors are here and it looks like 20-25 guys on the start line for each race. The problem is that that is too many in one start for safe racing as slalom is a bit of a high adrenaline contact sport. Lots of crashes and several injuries so far.
They told us today that the Yacht club running the event and responsible for posting the results is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and that they refused to make an exception for our event. I think that's lame. The St. Francis YC that runs our events up in the Bay Area is closed on Tuesdays, but the race office staff happily comes in when we're running a national or international regatta and the results are posted on their web site before we've had a chance to get dry and put away our gear. Hopefully we'll start seeing some results posted tomorrow...
Tomorrow is the long distance race. This 1 race counts as two course races, so it is important for me to get a good result in this one!
I wonder if I come in 3rd, if I'd be the U.S. National Champion? The two guys in 1st and 2nd have foreign racing numbers: AUS and GBR... :-)
Day Three
Today we had the
long distance race. This one race would count as 2 normal races, so it
was very beneficial if you did well but could be disastrous to your
overall score if you did poorly. The course was described to us at the
skipper's meeting in the morning: a short upwind leg in front the beach
we've been launching from, then a long downwind, weaving in and out of
the breakwater in front of the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor
entrances. Around the bottom of the breakwater, and then back up to
finish in front of our beach again. My GPS recorded 32.09 miles sailed
for the entire trip, and I did it in 1 hour and 56 minutes. It was a
scenic and tactical race as there were giant container ships parked
inside the breakwater and the breakwater itself to contend with on both
legs. L.A harbor is absolutely massive. Largest port in the US, and 6th
largest in the world when you combine the L.A. and Long Beach harbors
together (they're right next to each other and effectively two terminals
of one massive harbor).
My race started well enough, on port just behind AUS7. It looked like Phil almost had a collision with Jack Lundquist who was starting on starboard. I told Jack after the race that Port/Starboard is very cut and dry and he should protest Phil if he feels like his right of way was infringed.
I continued to follow the leaders (I'm in 2nd or 3rd place now) up to the windward mark, but this last leg brought us close to the beach where there is a lot of seaweed. This is where disaster struck, I snagged a large chunk of seaweed on my fin and started slowing down and going sideways. This kept me from making the mark rounding. So I tacked, went backwards to shed the weeds off my fin and watched as 5 or 6 boards passed me. I tacked again for the mark, and stalled because of even more board traffic above me giving me bad air. I didn't make the mark again! Eight or ten more boards went by! I tacked again and finally made the mark, but I looked behind and there was nobody left behind me. I was dead last! Only 5 or so minutes had elapsed and I was already in last place.
I was so dejected, I almost quit right there. My dream of doing well in this regatta was shattered. I almost shed a tear or two as I so wanted to do well here. However, I pressed on. I knew I could catch at least some of the boards ahead of me, and maybe I could salvage a top 10 position if I was lucky.
As it turned out, I caught up to the first clump of people ahead of me fairly quickly and passed! Now almost mid-fleet or thereabouts, I wasn't making up any ground on the boards I could see off in the distance. The wind was light, I had my small (10.0) sail to try and save my back a bit, and was well underpowered. I kept going and worked hard to pump my sail and get planing after every jibe. About halfway down to the bottom rounding, I saw a chance to overtake the next group ahead as some of them were doing short legs inside the breakwater and not hitting the corners of the course (this is sometimes advantageous but risky here as there were lots of ships and obstacles with wind shadows to contend with). I weaved in and out of some ships, hit the corners, and made out! By the time we came back out to the ocean from inside the breakwater, I had passed a group of 5 or 6 more boards. I held this position until the bottom mark rounding.
I could see Al and Tom just ahead. Ahead of them, I could see Anders from Finland. Ahead of them I couldn't see anybody as I was too far back, but I calculated that Phil was in 1st place, Xavier in 2nd and Fernando was in 3rd. Based on what I remembered from my disastrous time stalled at the top mark watching people go by. So now I was in 7th. The wind had clicked up another notch and my 10.0 was starting to feel in the groove. I put the hammer down and started pushing hard.
Again, I noticed the guys ahead of me short tacking inside the harbor and not taking any chances crossing behind the large container ships parked there. I threaded the needle between two massive monsters after doing a calculation in my head that the one casting the wind shadow above me was about the same distance I normally pass below the south tower of the Golden Gate bridge, and roughly the same width. So I went for it. I couldn't see the other guys for a while as the ship was blocking my view, but by the time I tacked and looked, I had overtaken Tom, and Anders. Only Al, Fernando, Xavier and Phil were ahead of me. Now in fifth. Hey, this was turning out ok.
Now we headed back out of the breakwater and to the ocean again. I could see Al and Fernando way up ahead, but they were a LONG ways ahead and were taking a long tack out into the ocean. As I followed, I knew I had to do something different or they would maintain that lead till the end. I tacked back towards the breakwater. Immediately I could tell that was the right thing to do as I could feel the wind lifting me onto a much more advantageous vector. I kept doing this (going a short way out into the ocean, and short tacking back towards the breakwater. By about the 3rd one of these tacks, I crossed ahead of Al and Fernando! Now in 3rd place!! I looked ahead but could barely make out Xavier well in the distance with not much more distance left to the finish. I kept pushing.
Alas it was not enough. Although I made up a bunch of distance on Xavier, he crossed the finish line well ahead of me. I'm guessing Phil finished well ahead of him as I couldn't even see him and he was fully dressed standing on the beach when I got back to shore. Still, 3rd place! After starting basically last and against improbable odds. I felt pretty good. But, I couldn't find the finish line!! I could see the committee boat that started us, but I couldn't see the pin end of the line which is this flimsy little flag mark that's really hard to see. Still, I saw Xavier pass right by the committee boat so this has to be the finish. I sailed over to them and saw them frantically waving their arms at me and pointing behind me. I look behind and see a different, much smaller boat and the pin end flimsy flag mark about 100 yard downwind. Disaster! I had sailed too far and come to the wrong finish. I turned back, sailed past this new finish boat and went through the proper finish line, but not before Al, who was not too far behind, and had managed to get there first. Again I was dejected. To have clawed my way back to 3rd, only to give it up for 4th at the end made me really mad.
I thought about it on the short sail back to the beach and remembered the course diagram and the skipper's meeting from the morning. I ran up to the white board on the beach and looked at the diagram. The diagram clearly showed the same line was being used as the start line AND the finish line. This means that the same boat will be used as the start and finish boat, unless it is specifically called out as being different and is written in the sailing instructions or on the official notice board. There was no such mention or notation. Hmmmm...
Back at the rigging area, everyone was congratulating me for the massive come from behind effort, but also saying "sorry about the finish...". Al was very gracious and was saying that he considered slowing up and letting me finish in 3rd in front of him because he saw my predicament with the changed finish line, and knew that I had already beat him fair and square. On my way back to the hotel I called Darren the principal race officer to ask for redress based on the start/finish line change. He said he knew why I was calling, and that they were going to grant me redress and my 3rd place finish based on not having officially announced the finish line boat change prior to the start of the race. Hooray!
So, long story short: disastrous start in last place, perseverance, a bit of luck, good boat speed, and some calculated risks along the way paid off to a 3rd place finish.
Again, photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/
...and I'll send a link to the results once they're posted somewhere!!
My race started well enough, on port just behind AUS7. It looked like Phil almost had a collision with Jack Lundquist who was starting on starboard. I told Jack after the race that Port/Starboard is very cut and dry and he should protest Phil if he feels like his right of way was infringed.
I continued to follow the leaders (I'm in 2nd or 3rd place now) up to the windward mark, but this last leg brought us close to the beach where there is a lot of seaweed. This is where disaster struck, I snagged a large chunk of seaweed on my fin and started slowing down and going sideways. This kept me from making the mark rounding. So I tacked, went backwards to shed the weeds off my fin and watched as 5 or 6 boards passed me. I tacked again for the mark, and stalled because of even more board traffic above me giving me bad air. I didn't make the mark again! Eight or ten more boards went by! I tacked again and finally made the mark, but I looked behind and there was nobody left behind me. I was dead last! Only 5 or so minutes had elapsed and I was already in last place.
I was so dejected, I almost quit right there. My dream of doing well in this regatta was shattered. I almost shed a tear or two as I so wanted to do well here. However, I pressed on. I knew I could catch at least some of the boards ahead of me, and maybe I could salvage a top 10 position if I was lucky.
As it turned out, I caught up to the first clump of people ahead of me fairly quickly and passed! Now almost mid-fleet or thereabouts, I wasn't making up any ground on the boards I could see off in the distance. The wind was light, I had my small (10.0) sail to try and save my back a bit, and was well underpowered. I kept going and worked hard to pump my sail and get planing after every jibe. About halfway down to the bottom rounding, I saw a chance to overtake the next group ahead as some of them were doing short legs inside the breakwater and not hitting the corners of the course (this is sometimes advantageous but risky here as there were lots of ships and obstacles with wind shadows to contend with). I weaved in and out of some ships, hit the corners, and made out! By the time we came back out to the ocean from inside the breakwater, I had passed a group of 5 or 6 more boards. I held this position until the bottom mark rounding.
I could see Al and Tom just ahead. Ahead of them, I could see Anders from Finland. Ahead of them I couldn't see anybody as I was too far back, but I calculated that Phil was in 1st place, Xavier in 2nd and Fernando was in 3rd. Based on what I remembered from my disastrous time stalled at the top mark watching people go by. So now I was in 7th. The wind had clicked up another notch and my 10.0 was starting to feel in the groove. I put the hammer down and started pushing hard.
Again, I noticed the guys ahead of me short tacking inside the harbor and not taking any chances crossing behind the large container ships parked there. I threaded the needle between two massive monsters after doing a calculation in my head that the one casting the wind shadow above me was about the same distance I normally pass below the south tower of the Golden Gate bridge, and roughly the same width. So I went for it. I couldn't see the other guys for a while as the ship was blocking my view, but by the time I tacked and looked, I had overtaken Tom, and Anders. Only Al, Fernando, Xavier and Phil were ahead of me. Now in fifth. Hey, this was turning out ok.
Now we headed back out of the breakwater and to the ocean again. I could see Al and Fernando way up ahead, but they were a LONG ways ahead and were taking a long tack out into the ocean. As I followed, I knew I had to do something different or they would maintain that lead till the end. I tacked back towards the breakwater. Immediately I could tell that was the right thing to do as I could feel the wind lifting me onto a much more advantageous vector. I kept doing this (going a short way out into the ocean, and short tacking back towards the breakwater. By about the 3rd one of these tacks, I crossed ahead of Al and Fernando! Now in 3rd place!! I looked ahead but could barely make out Xavier well in the distance with not much more distance left to the finish. I kept pushing.
Alas it was not enough. Although I made up a bunch of distance on Xavier, he crossed the finish line well ahead of me. I'm guessing Phil finished well ahead of him as I couldn't even see him and he was fully dressed standing on the beach when I got back to shore. Still, 3rd place! After starting basically last and against improbable odds. I felt pretty good. But, I couldn't find the finish line!! I could see the committee boat that started us, but I couldn't see the pin end of the line which is this flimsy little flag mark that's really hard to see. Still, I saw Xavier pass right by the committee boat so this has to be the finish. I sailed over to them and saw them frantically waving their arms at me and pointing behind me. I look behind and see a different, much smaller boat and the pin end flimsy flag mark about 100 yard downwind. Disaster! I had sailed too far and come to the wrong finish. I turned back, sailed past this new finish boat and went through the proper finish line, but not before Al, who was not too far behind, and had managed to get there first. Again I was dejected. To have clawed my way back to 3rd, only to give it up for 4th at the end made me really mad.
I thought about it on the short sail back to the beach and remembered the course diagram and the skipper's meeting from the morning. I ran up to the white board on the beach and looked at the diagram. The diagram clearly showed the same line was being used as the start line AND the finish line. This means that the same boat will be used as the start and finish boat, unless it is specifically called out as being different and is written in the sailing instructions or on the official notice board. There was no such mention or notation. Hmmmm...
Back at the rigging area, everyone was congratulating me for the massive come from behind effort, but also saying "sorry about the finish...". Al was very gracious and was saying that he considered slowing up and letting me finish in 3rd in front of him because he saw my predicament with the changed finish line, and knew that I had already beat him fair and square. On my way back to the hotel I called Darren the principal race officer to ask for redress based on the start/finish line change. He said he knew why I was calling, and that they were going to grant me redress and my 3rd place finish based on not having officially announced the finish line boat change prior to the start of the race. Hooray!
So, long story short: disastrous start in last place, perseverance, a bit of luck, good boat speed, and some calculated risks along the way paid off to a 3rd place finish.
Again, photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/
...and I'll send a link to the results once they're posted somewhere!!
Day Four
Today was all about weeds.
We had the 2nd to last day of the competition and we had 2 course races followed by a few heats of slalom racing. Going into this day I was in 3rd place, but I was tied in points with the 4th place sailor (Bay Area's Al Mirel, and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet...). My plan for the day was simple: stay ahead of Al.
The course was setup a bit differently than the first 2 days of the competition. The windward mark was set up much further upwind, and well upwind of the giant kelp bed on the north end of the beach. This made it a tactical decision whether to head to the beach for the lifted tack and risk getting stuck in the kelp bed or to avoid the weeds and instead sail out to the ocean where there is less wind on the headed tack.
Race 1, I got a good start on port tack heading into the beach. The start line was set a bit more square, so everyone opted to start on the tack going towards the lift at the beach. As we headed to the weedy zone, most people (including me) split the difference and tacked before the kelp got too thick. Since we had split the difference, we had to do a bunch of tacks to get to the windward mark. The guys who'd gone further inside the kelp were a mixed bag. Some were stuck, or down in the water, others had found a clear channel through and were now ahead. Ahead of me I could see Phil, Xavier, Jack Lindquist, and Al! Dang it, Al was ahead of me! But we were very close. I rounded carefully and jibed immediately to follow Al. We got going and I easily sped right by him (a little too easily...). I could see that he was looking back at his fin, and I knew what had happened. He was dragging some weeds. He stopped to disentangle himself from the pesky weeds, and I was gone. I finished in 5th or 6th as I also had a minor tangle with some weeds further on. As I finished, I looked back and could see that Al was at least 3 positions behind me. So far so good.
Race 2, was the same setup as Race 1 with the start on port, etc., except there was no Al!? I looked all around but couldn't see him. I got an even better start and all I could see ahead of me was Phil. I followed him all the way up to the windward mark, and then it happened to me. Stuck on weeds. I couldn't jump these off, so I had to stop and backtrack to try and get them to drop off. By the time I got going, a few boards had passed me and I was again in 5th or 6th. But still no Al. I had another minor spell with another batch of weeds further on, but quickly caught up to 5th or 6th again and held on to that to finish.
Overall, not a stellar day, but I may still be in 3rd place as Al finished behind me in 1 race and didn't compete in the 2nd race. Later we found out that he had broken his mast while waiting for race 2 to start and had to get rescued from drifting in to the rocky sea wall.
That was it for the day. I decided again not to compete in the slalom heats they had later in the afternoon as my back is still not good. I may give slalom another try tomorrow after our last course race.
Tomorrow we have course racing scheduled for the early afternoon, followed by more slalom heats. It is likely to be a short day as they have to pack up the beach and do the awards ceremony afterwards as well. Barring a disaster, I'm in a good position to hold on to my 3rd place position. We shall see!
We had the 2nd to last day of the competition and we had 2 course races followed by a few heats of slalom racing. Going into this day I was in 3rd place, but I was tied in points with the 4th place sailor (Bay Area's Al Mirel, and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet...). My plan for the day was simple: stay ahead of Al.
The course was setup a bit differently than the first 2 days of the competition. The windward mark was set up much further upwind, and well upwind of the giant kelp bed on the north end of the beach. This made it a tactical decision whether to head to the beach for the lifted tack and risk getting stuck in the kelp bed or to avoid the weeds and instead sail out to the ocean where there is less wind on the headed tack.
Race 1, I got a good start on port tack heading into the beach. The start line was set a bit more square, so everyone opted to start on the tack going towards the lift at the beach. As we headed to the weedy zone, most people (including me) split the difference and tacked before the kelp got too thick. Since we had split the difference, we had to do a bunch of tacks to get to the windward mark. The guys who'd gone further inside the kelp were a mixed bag. Some were stuck, or down in the water, others had found a clear channel through and were now ahead. Ahead of me I could see Phil, Xavier, Jack Lindquist, and Al! Dang it, Al was ahead of me! But we were very close. I rounded carefully and jibed immediately to follow Al. We got going and I easily sped right by him (a little too easily...). I could see that he was looking back at his fin, and I knew what had happened. He was dragging some weeds. He stopped to disentangle himself from the pesky weeds, and I was gone. I finished in 5th or 6th as I also had a minor tangle with some weeds further on. As I finished, I looked back and could see that Al was at least 3 positions behind me. So far so good.
Race 2, was the same setup as Race 1 with the start on port, etc., except there was no Al!? I looked all around but couldn't see him. I got an even better start and all I could see ahead of me was Phil. I followed him all the way up to the windward mark, and then it happened to me. Stuck on weeds. I couldn't jump these off, so I had to stop and backtrack to try and get them to drop off. By the time I got going, a few boards had passed me and I was again in 5th or 6th. But still no Al. I had another minor spell with another batch of weeds further on, but quickly caught up to 5th or 6th again and held on to that to finish.
Overall, not a stellar day, but I may still be in 3rd place as Al finished behind me in 1 race and didn't compete in the 2nd race. Later we found out that he had broken his mast while waiting for race 2 to start and had to get rescued from drifting in to the rocky sea wall.
That was it for the day. I decided again not to compete in the slalom heats they had later in the afternoon as my back is still not good. I may give slalom another try tomorrow after our last course race.
Tomorrow we have course racing scheduled for the early afternoon, followed by more slalom heats. It is likely to be a short day as they have to pack up the beach and do the awards ceremony afterwards as well. Barring a disaster, I'm in a good position to hold on to my 3rd place position. We shall see!
Day Five
The last day. An epic journey for me so far, but in some ways even more drama was in store for me on this last day.
The day started out well enough, I had slept through the night for a change, the back was felling relatively loose and I was feeling good. Nervous, but good. After 4 days and lots of battles, Al and I were still tied in points going into the last day, and the last 3 races of the regatta. If the day finished with a tie, I would win the tie break since he had worse scores than me to throw out. All I had to do was to maintain the tie, or just stay ahead of him to take 3rd overall.
Race 1: Got a good start but slightly behind Al. I was going fast though, and caught him up and passed him in short order. Played all my cards right with good tactics and transitions and finished in 3rd place behind Phil and Xavier. I looked behind me as I was finishing and Al finished 3 places behind me. Things were looking up!
Race 1.5: Leaving the beach after the break between race 1 and 2, I turned my back for a second to adjust my boom, and a rogue wave snuck up behind me and crashed into my sail. I heard several sickening crunching noises and knew exactly what had happened. I looked and I had broken almost every batten in my sail!! Disaster!!! There was no time to change sails, so I had to go with what I had. Sailed to the start line with this lumpy mess of a sail.
Race 2: Got a great start. The lumpy sail was actually doing ok. The center of effort kept moving around and it was a bit of a struggle, but I was holding it together. I was in 2nd behind Phil for a while and then Tom snuck past. Xavier must have gotten tangled up in the weeds since I didn't see him after the start. I was comfortably in 3rd, but I could see Jack and Al some distance behind me pushing hard. After two laps I was still a bit ahead of them as we approached the finish line. Right before the finish we have to round the pin end of the start line, and then we have a short reach to the finish. As I turned the corner and the power came on in the sail (90 degrees to the wind exposes your sail to the maximum force of the wind), the lumpy, broken sail became a beast and started wrestling me. I wrestled back and lost, falling in backwards. Jack and Al went by, but I got going and finished behind Al before any more damage could be done. I did a quick calculation in my head: I was still ahead of Al by 2 positions. All I had to do was to do no worse than 2 positions behind him in the final race.
Race 3: It all came down to this. Got a good start above Al and tacked above him. Started the next leg ahead of him and going fast. Then everything slowed down and going sideways: weeds!! Tried jumping them off, no go. Tacked and went backwards for a bit, no go. Dropped in the water and kicked the damn clump off my fin and got going again. Al was well ahead now and there were about 6 or 7 other boards between us! I had to whittle this deficit down to 2 before the finish! Turned on the afterburners (well..., lumpy, unwieldy afterburners). Sailed fast and well with crisp transitions to catch one after another of these boards. Rounded the upwind mark on the 2nd lap with just 1 more board to catch. He was well ahead but I was going faster and deeper downwind. I jibed when he jibed and we started the last leg before the reach to the finish. Again going faster, I caught him up, and pulled up even with him, but he was still below me a bit and very close. I jibed for the final reach to the finish and he jibed almost at the same time. We were dead even. But then the lumpy, unwieldy sail was again exposed to the full fury of the wind. I was wrestling it and couldn't get any speed. I managed to stay upright and sailing, but I watched in despair as he pulled away and finished in front of me. I had given up 1 too many places...
The dream is dead. Well, not completely... I lost to Al Mirel in an awesome epic battle by 1 point. It's still quite an achievement, because he's one of the most consistently fast sailors in the U.S., has a long history of windsurfing racing (racing windsurfers and doing Olympic campaigns long before I knew what windsurfing even was.), regularly trounces me at our local races, and is 6 or 7 years younger than I am. Actually, I'd forgotten about the age thing and it comes into play now. As I'm sitting dejected at the awards ceremony tonight, I hear them call my name and announce that I'm in 3rd place. What?! I go up to get my trophy and then they call up Xavier in 2nd, and Phil in 1st. As I'm standing up there with these two getting applause, it hits me that Al and I are in different age divisions! Al ended up getting 1st place in the Master's division and 3rd overall in the Formula class.
There you go. Not so bad after all. It was a really fun regatta. The conditions were just about perfect for racing. The only things I regret are injuring my back, and not being able to continue racing in the slalom after the first day, which looked REALLY fun.
The day started out well enough, I had slept through the night for a change, the back was felling relatively loose and I was feeling good. Nervous, but good. After 4 days and lots of battles, Al and I were still tied in points going into the last day, and the last 3 races of the regatta. If the day finished with a tie, I would win the tie break since he had worse scores than me to throw out. All I had to do was to maintain the tie, or just stay ahead of him to take 3rd overall.
Race 1: Got a good start but slightly behind Al. I was going fast though, and caught him up and passed him in short order. Played all my cards right with good tactics and transitions and finished in 3rd place behind Phil and Xavier. I looked behind me as I was finishing and Al finished 3 places behind me. Things were looking up!
Race 1.5: Leaving the beach after the break between race 1 and 2, I turned my back for a second to adjust my boom, and a rogue wave snuck up behind me and crashed into my sail. I heard several sickening crunching noises and knew exactly what had happened. I looked and I had broken almost every batten in my sail!! Disaster!!! There was no time to change sails, so I had to go with what I had. Sailed to the start line with this lumpy mess of a sail.
Race 2: Got a great start. The lumpy sail was actually doing ok. The center of effort kept moving around and it was a bit of a struggle, but I was holding it together. I was in 2nd behind Phil for a while and then Tom snuck past. Xavier must have gotten tangled up in the weeds since I didn't see him after the start. I was comfortably in 3rd, but I could see Jack and Al some distance behind me pushing hard. After two laps I was still a bit ahead of them as we approached the finish line. Right before the finish we have to round the pin end of the start line, and then we have a short reach to the finish. As I turned the corner and the power came on in the sail (90 degrees to the wind exposes your sail to the maximum force of the wind), the lumpy, broken sail became a beast and started wrestling me. I wrestled back and lost, falling in backwards. Jack and Al went by, but I got going and finished behind Al before any more damage could be done. I did a quick calculation in my head: I was still ahead of Al by 2 positions. All I had to do was to do no worse than 2 positions behind him in the final race.
Race 3: It all came down to this. Got a good start above Al and tacked above him. Started the next leg ahead of him and going fast. Then everything slowed down and going sideways: weeds!! Tried jumping them off, no go. Tacked and went backwards for a bit, no go. Dropped in the water and kicked the damn clump off my fin and got going again. Al was well ahead now and there were about 6 or 7 other boards between us! I had to whittle this deficit down to 2 before the finish! Turned on the afterburners (well..., lumpy, unwieldy afterburners). Sailed fast and well with crisp transitions to catch one after another of these boards. Rounded the upwind mark on the 2nd lap with just 1 more board to catch. He was well ahead but I was going faster and deeper downwind. I jibed when he jibed and we started the last leg before the reach to the finish. Again going faster, I caught him up, and pulled up even with him, but he was still below me a bit and very close. I jibed for the final reach to the finish and he jibed almost at the same time. We were dead even. But then the lumpy, unwieldy sail was again exposed to the full fury of the wind. I was wrestling it and couldn't get any speed. I managed to stay upright and sailing, but I watched in despair as he pulled away and finished in front of me. I had given up 1 too many places...
The dream is dead. Well, not completely... I lost to Al Mirel in an awesome epic battle by 1 point. It's still quite an achievement, because he's one of the most consistently fast sailors in the U.S., has a long history of windsurfing racing (racing windsurfers and doing Olympic campaigns long before I knew what windsurfing even was.), regularly trounces me at our local races, and is 6 or 7 years younger than I am. Actually, I'd forgotten about the age thing and it comes into play now. As I'm sitting dejected at the awards ceremony tonight, I hear them call my name and announce that I'm in 3rd place. What?! I go up to get my trophy and then they call up Xavier in 2nd, and Phil in 1st. As I'm standing up there with these two getting applause, it hits me that Al and I are in different age divisions! Al ended up getting 1st place in the Master's division and 3rd overall in the Formula class.
There you go. Not so bad after all. It was a really fun regatta. The conditions were just about perfect for racing. The only things I regret are injuring my back, and not being able to continue racing in the slalom after the first day, which looked REALLY fun.
The official Results for Formula, Men's and Women's Slalom are now posted here:
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Updated results by age divisions are now here:
http://www.calcupevents.com/Results/2013/2013NationalsDivisions.pdf
This is fantastic!
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