Star North American Championship-Day 1

Oxford, Maryland

It was a long day on the water. 3 races starting at 11:00 and finishing at 16:45.

So I am writing fast and there may be typos.

It was a perfect clear blue sky today following thunder, lightening and rain last night. The wind was 6-9 knots form the west but at times it dropped to 4 knots.

Brian and I had an up and down day. We sailed well and finished second in race 1 to John MacCausland with Arthur Anosov just behind us in third. Torbern Grael in 4th after a big comeback.

In the second race, we were about 10th after the first lap but we missed two big shifts on the second windward leg and finished 25th or so.

In the third race, we got to the first mark first and the wind dropped to 4 knots on the run, we got to the leeward mark 12th. We went with the leaders up the right side (the side that had paid on the run) and the left was much better. So the leader of the race, Mark Hollowesko went from first to 15th and we went to 25th. Down the final run we manage to pick off a few boats and finish 17th or so.

Upon arriving at the dock, we learned that Torben Grael, who finished about 30th in the 3rd race was protesting the race committee for running the 3rd race. It was 18:30 when we got the boat out of the water, so Brian and I did not need to stay around to find out what happened.

We are taking our very kind hosts, the Tom and Alexa Seip, out to dinner.

For complete results go to www.starclass.org

Forecast for tomorrow is 2-5 knots of wind from the west.

Paul