Day 2

We had one race today on Biscayne Bay in 10 knots of wind from the North West. After two general recalls we had a Black Flag start meaning if any boat was over the line in the last minute before the start they were disqualified. You guessed it. That was us and about 8 other teams. But we did not know it at the start and usually the numbers of those disqualified are posted at the first windward mark on a mark boat but today nothing was posted. So every one raced.

We had good speed and played the shifts reasonably well to arrive at the first mark second behind George Szabo/Mark Strubbe and just ahead of John MacCausland who was in second place after yesterday. Things went well and we battled Szabo and Percy/Mitchell (GBR) most of the race and then on the final leg Howie Shiebler/Will Stout went off to the right and got a nice shift and passed Percy and us. In the end Szabo won the race with Shiebler second Percy third and we crossed the line 4th thinking we had won the regatta.

MacCausland dropped back to 15th in the race but when we got back to the dock we found out that we had been Black Flagged and so MacCausland won. Second we Hans Spitzaeur of Austria and third was Peter Bromby of Bermuda.

Ian Percy/Steve Mitchell of GBR sailed the best but they broke down yesterday in the second race. We tied for the regatta but beat them for 9th place on the tie-braker.

We were happy with our performance anyway. Very good speed all weekend and we sailed well in the shifty conditions. We think we have learned some things with our rig setup that have made us more comfortable across a wider range of conditions. The first half of our training has gone very well. This week we are trying the North sails. I have sailed with Quantum sails for the past 8 years but want to check in with the Norths in the leave no stone unturned mentality.

So tomorrow at 0700 it is back to the gym for a couple of hours. Still working on the weight gaining program 5 more pounds to go. Then down to the boat by 11:00.