Cadiz Race Day 7-Final

One race today and we treaded water. Actually we did close in quite a bit on the guys in front of us, finishing 4 points out of 6th but not enough to pass them.

The race got started in 7 knots of wind from 290 at 1430. We had a bad start in that a couple of boats just to windward of us were over the top of us. They must have had a better line sight that we did because I was afraid to go with them and be OCS (over early). We battled to get a clear lane out to the left and survived to round the first mark about 18th.

The whole rest of the race we slowly chewed people up and finished 10th. Interestingly, Ian Percy who was on fire in the 18 knots breeze had trouble again today. He was ahead of us at the first mark but finished 23rd. Both guys who were within a point of us in the standings, Bruni (ITA) and Tracy (IRL), were deep. Bromby (BER) and Neeleman (NED) were also deep and for a while we had the points on them to pass them in the standings. But they were able to pick off some people too and we missed them by 2 and 4 points respectively.

Final standings are:

1-Rohart (FRA),

2-Loof (SWE),

3-Percy (GBR),

4-Presti (FRA),

5-Mansfield (IRL),

6-Bromby (BER),

7-Neeleman (NED),

8-Cayard (USA),

9-Spitzauer(AUT),

10-Kaats (NED).

In hind sight, where we lost a lot of points was two days ago with an OCS when we finished 5th and a 13th when we had been 2nd all race long. We ate about 17 points that day. This was my second worst finish in nine Star World Championships. My worst was a 10th in 1989. Some other notables had a hard time too. Torben Grael (BRA), who won the gold in Athens in August and the European Championship in early September, finished 32nd. He never beat us in one race in Cadiz. Mark Pickle (GER) who got Bronze in Athens finished 19th in Cadiz.

Yet, we are the top Americans again this year. Second American was Mark Reynolds in 18th. Last year we were top Americans, finished 4th at the worlds and qualified the country for the Olympics.

So looking at the big picture, which is getting ourselves prepared for the US Olympic Trials next year and then onto a medal in Athens, we have built a good foundation. We have some long-term projects under well way; like me gaining 20 pounds for the weight rule and being happy that we have our new boat sorted out and on its way to Miami. We have to work hard between now and March 18th to keep making gains.

We have already mapped out our training sessions in Miami this winter