OMG!!!! What a difference a day makes! Today was more like the England I always heard about. Cold, Windy, Rainy and Huge Waves were the big story today. Sailing Upwind.. fully sheeted out a foot or more steering in any direction you can to keep from pounding on the square faced waves.. Sailing Downwind.. hanging on for dear life on an endless roller coaster drop. All while praying that you don't flip or fill the cockpit by burying the bow. The waves tossed you around in all directions which kept you wide eyed and very focused. The short wave length (only ten feet apart) meant the laser had no place to go unless you kept it weaving and bobbing down the course. Most waves were the size of SUVs but some closer to motorhomes by the second race. Guys were wiping out on all sides of me out there downwind and on he reaches. My results were kinda mixed but I'm slowly improving on every leg. The ebb tide/current maybe has me holding back too much at the starts. I got rolled by a big group to weather of me both times. I was banking on it being a recall.. but no luck. I ended up tacking to port and ducking a lot of boats. First race I started middle and there must of been a lot of line sag I didn't account for. Wind was blowing solid 22knots with gusts every few minutes to 25+. Slogged it up the track filling the cockpit constantly. Not fast. Ebb was starting to rip by the time we got to the weather mark and I overstood badly. I rounded in the back third. Maybe in the 30's. We were sailing the inner course, so the first run was my chance to make some sort of comeback. Full sketchy conditions with some out of control rocking because of the confused sea state. Good speed and I started to pick off big groups of boats on both sides. Plus I passed every boat that flipped in front of me.. Rounded the leeward gate in maybe 25th and headed upwind again in what seemed to be an even more building breeze. I started working the high road that has served me before in these conditions. I know it frustrated more then a few people around me but I could tell I was gaining distance to the weather mark quicker then the bow down reachers. Rounded the next mark in about 23rd and headed down the first reach. In the first ten seconds I fill the cockpit flush to the deck as I plow through the back on a wave. Very slow. With cockpit full, I take off on the low road. After the good practice I got from high speed reaching at the ABYC Master's North Americans, I'm noticing no one has passed me to windward. And I'm closing big time on the guy 10 boat lengths ahead of me. We come into the mark going ballistic and fairly quickly he flips on the next run. Then another.. I look back behind me and I've stretched a huge gap from the guy I rounded the weather mark with. Time to go into full safety mode. routine gybe to the second reach and almost catch the French guy by the last mark. Just a short beat to the finish. I count at least 15 boats in front of me out of my fleet of 42 boats in my age group (Master full rigs are split into to two fleets for qualifying). Second race is blowing just as hard or harder. First I pick up my waters and power bars from a support boat they call the "mothership". It is anchored between the starting line and the finish line. They're actually separated by quite a bit. The mothership is owned and manned by my hosts which is great for me. It's like have my own coach boat to store stuff that I normally would carry. The second race I just plain sail smarter. Started near the boat end but still got rolled by guy I swear were over. I wait a bit and tack out to the right. It's blowing mid-twenties and I thinking people are not going to want to tack much because you lose a lot of distance. No one dumps on me.. Good lane going right. I notice a big group of boat that headed right early now coming back to the left. I've got them by a mile. I figure the left must be so favored by current or something. I tack in front of the lead group and head back left. I sail this for a while and start to see boats coming from the left. they look lifted so I tack again underneath them and head back right. This is a new group of boat I don't recognize from the fist race. All my tacks have put me right under the weather mark which seem good for judging laylines in this heavily current influence leg. I overstand the layline again! It's really tough to judge it unless you come from right underneath it. Good downwind speed. A couple flips and I'm now sure I'm in the top ten group. Andy Roy (CAN) and Hummel (NED) aren't too far away. The second weather leg is a tight battle with the guys around me. I could be slipping or I could be gaining.. hard to tell. I round the top mark in about the same place but with a bigger group all packed together. Surprisingly good breakaway reaching speed again.. I leave my group behind and start focusing on the guy in front of me. On the offset run, I pull even with two AUS boats and a SWE guy. Mad planning down giant monstrous waves beyond the edge of "out of control". Another guy flips in front of me. I end up out surfing the two other guys around me as we approach the lower reaching mark. I come flying out of my gybe totally "on fire" and quickly close on the next guy 10 boat length ahead. I round right on his transom and almost get him at the finish. There's no gas left in the tank at this point. I flipped on the way in from exhaustion. The day's results have me in 24th overall with a 19th in the first race and a 7th in the second. Not too bad I'm thinking.. Tomorrow could be a blowout with gale force winds forecasted to be upwards of 26-32 knots and heavy rain. I'm Ready! Peter
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