MDR Wind Forecast

LMW Practice Day Video

Here is some video from my GoPro HD camera placed on my bow during a practice day sail.. These cameras are amazing little tools for recording lasering sessions for review later. They are easy to use, completely waterproof, small in size, record great sound, super sharp 1080 16:9 video, good battery life and relatively inexpensive ($285). I truely wish the International Laser Class would make them legal to race with but at this time they are not. The footage would of been incredible during this championship. Peter

Photos from the week...

This picture is of me sailing upwind looking surprisingly peaceful in this very confused sea. Photo by Chuck Lantz


panaramic gate shot by me.

GGM start.

Chuck heading for a spill.

Radial reaching.

Conner from MBYC going for a save.

Eugenio rounding the leeward gate.

Last Day of the Championship..

A very busy morning for our whole group (see previous post).. The racing was now the priority and time to finish this event in style. My goal of top twenty was in serious jeopardy with just a few points separating me from a large chase group in the standings. I needed one good race.. two would be even better. Of course San Francisco Bay wasn't going to give me an easy day to accomplish this goal. The wind was the... Windiest! day so far... Not much sleep.. But I was determined to give it my all. Hold back nothing.. race full out. Get aggressive downwind.. leave it all on the race course. Sounds like a plan huh? Well the first race was following the script perfectly till I experienced "pilot ejection" five hundred yards into the first downwind. Not just a simple capsize.. A swim after your boat ejection deathroll.. the worse kind when your needing to score well in a race. By the time I got the boat back up I had lost most of the fleet. I could ony count a few boat behind me. I sailed another lap in what seemed like 30knots to me (they said it was only high twenties). Caught a few boats but on the next downwind I "augured in" (buried the nose) and went down again. This time I hit my head on the centerboard as I dropped head first towards the water. As I rode the boat and got back in I told myself that I need to have a talk with my boat before I get started again. "Please! do not eject me.. and do not hit me on the head!" Once we got that straight.. I was off again in a blaze of whitewater. One thing about sailing in the back, the passing opportunities are more frequent. I shot by a few crashed boats at the gybe mark and pass another two going for the finish. I ended up 33 in race. That would not cut it for my goal of top twenty and I knew I needed to dig deep to reel off a good last race to make my goal. This was the windiest race!!! No exaggeration.. Started in 25-28 knots with gusts to 30. This is laser sailing with 1-3 feet of mainsheet out all the time and wave breaking over the bow on every wave. Well... I start near Laser class President Tracey Usher (210lbs?) and headed for the left corner. It better be the favored side because.. No way am I tacking! My good friend Vann Wilson is to leeward and sheeted out and on his ear. Vann is an amazing sailor and he looks totally overpowered in these conditions. I limp along with the rest of the fleet dreading the first downwind leg ahead. Staying upright in those conditions is almost like trying to win the state lottery. The chances of flipping are high and my track record from the race before wasn't too good. In the end, I had my "Complete Race" and crossed the line in 14th place. I only lost one place to my good friend Mark Bear right at the finish line. We congratulated each other for sailing a good series and for just being able to finish in those conditions. I ended this Laser Master Worlds in 20th place overall.. this was my goal for the regatta.. equally important I gained a massive amount of heavy air and tide sailing experience in these unique conditions I'd really hadn't sailed in before this championship. Most important to me during the last 10 days was renewing many old friendship and making new ones with sailors from around the world. Coming to the San Francisco Bay and testing my skills in truly this world stage for single handed dinghy sailing. I highly recommend those who can.. go to one of these events in any sport. For me, these are the memories that define who I am. The next Laser Maters Worlds are in Brisbane, Australia in March 2012.. Are you going? Peter

A Friend in need..

After a long day of sailing.. I was with a great group of old and new friends eating dinner at the sensational StFYC Grill Room enjoy the exchange of stories of the day. Adjectives like, "augured in", "pearled", "ejected" were just a few of the terms that summed up the day for some of us. Others in the group had a stellar day of top five scores in there respective fleets. Kevin was in 3rd place overall in the tough Standard Apprentice Master fleet (35-44), Chuck was moving up in the equally tough Standard Grand Masters Fleet (55-64). Both these fleet are packed with World and Olympic champions from around the world. Russ was in 4th place overall in my fleet which is arguable the hardest fleet. He is a world class sailor in many different classes and travels all over the globe racing for St. Francis Yacht Club. Our entire group was beyond tried from a long day of high speed planning around the bay but happy about surviving it's challenging conditions. After dinner, we were all heading for the door when we were confronted with some sort of terrible accident that just occurred in the club parking lot. I was walking out a little behind my friends to see two fire trucks and two police cars with all their emergency lights spinning. A small crowd was standing there as they were putting someone into the ambulance. "What happen?" I ask someone in the crowd.. I was horrified and shocked to hear one of my good friends and a sailor from our SoCal group had been hit by a car in the parking lot. I was able to speak to him in the ambulance and told him we would take care of everything at the scene and would meet him at the emergency room. Our whole group went into immediate crisis mode and shifted all our energy to getting our teammate the care he needed. Five of us drove to the San Francisco General Hospital that was located across town to assist in any way possible. The San Francisco ER on a Saturday night was like what I 'd imagine a wartime MASH OR would be like. People on stretchers lining the hallways. A packed waiting room with no place to sit. We were lucky in that an excellent orthopedic surgeon was on staff and took him right in for x-rays. The good news that night was that his injury may now be as serious as first thought and his doctor said the chance of a full recovery are very good. No broken bones were seen in his initial x-rays. It was getting very late and the five of us still had a championship regatta in the morning. There was no need for all of us to stay... I volunteered to stay on to drive our buddy home. I also had the later afternoon start (2pm) and it made the most sense.. on top of that I have a pretty good working knowledge of how hospitals/clinics work because of my job at DISC. This turned out to be very helpful in getting his paperwork completed in the minimum amount of time. We got back to Russ's house pretty late (2am) and I setup our injured friend downstairs to avoid him climbing any stairs. The next morning we got him on his way back to LA (his wife flew in) early and the whole group rallied to get his gear and boat broken down and ready for travel. Jorge was car topping his own boat but had a trailer hitch on his car to tow an extra boat back to LA. This whole event was a complete flashback for me and my own experience of getting injured in the UK last September at this same regatta. I badly fractured my collar bone which required surgery back in the states. What I remember most about the whole event is how my friends and even friends I didn't know came to my aid in my time of need. In some ways I was feeling that I was getting to repay this incredible act of friendship and kindness extended to me a year ago. Anyone of our group would of done the same. It truly represents what these Laser Master World events are about and what keeps me coming back. Speedy recovery my friend.. We all look forward to seeing you out on the water soon. Peter

Day 5 Roared through the Master Standard fleet...

OMG!! Could it get any windier!?!?!? San Francisco Bay delivered again today with big wind and waves in the second to last day of the Laser Masters Worlds. Today was a day I was hoping to move up in the standing with only four races left. With the big breeze showing who was boss even before we left the beach.. that was a tall task. Maybe just keeping right side up show be my goal for the day after yesterday's RAF score. An RAF is a retire after finish or start but not finish score for a race. The points are the number of entries (55). With two throw outs from your twelve race series, I most definitely will be dropping my RAF. I now have a small margin for error with only one throw out left. A single capsize in this competition usually means a score of twenty or worse. I see several boats each day that capsize even on the way to the race course is a good indicator of how challenging the conditions are for our division. Setting up the race course is being expertly accomplished by StFYC each day. It's been a battle for the race officers with the ever changing San Francisco Bay current. In the Laser Masters Worlds, the upwind legs cannot be more than 25 minutes, with the goal of getting approximately 60 minute races. The races are extremely hard work for the sailors, using their quads and core to hold the boat flat (ish) upwind, and then squatting down inside the boat on tip toe downwind to keep it stable. With an ebb tide and 20+ knots of breeze, the Race Officers can afford to make long upwind legs, thanks to the Laser's ability to surf downwind in sometimes surprisingly short - time wise - legs.

Our division, the Standard Masters had an upwind leg today that started near Alcatraz and went upwind with the ebb current to the Golden Gate Bridge. I looked up and could see underneath the Golden Gate! It was spectacular but there wasn't much time to enjoy it because I was in total survival mode and focusing on keeping my laser dinghy in control. I use the word "control" very loosely. Regatta leader Arnoud Hummel said, “We had the longest beat ever today, and I was hating the race officer, until I finished the downwind leg.” My race was going great.. Good start near the boat end. Height and speed kept me with the lead pack as the wind built to mid-twenties. We're racing more and more into an ebb tide which mean the current is pushing us up the course towards the first mark. This all sounds good to make a quick leg of the most demanding and exhausting part of the race.. but the ebb creates a wicked chop or wave every boatlength or so that is almost impossible (for me) to steer through. Correction.. I can get through it.. i just can't get through it without filling my cockpit full of water. The average amount of water I carry in my self draining cockpit is slow. I was told that 2 inches of water in a laser cockpit weights 35 pounds! I seem to sail upwind with 4 to 6 inches all the time. It's experience and technique that separate the best from the rest.. but I'm gaining both by just being up here. I rounded the first weather in 12th.. I sailed conservative on all the downwind and only lost 1 or 2 boat each downwind. I had enough game upwind to hold my place and scored a hard fought 16th place. The second the wind build to the strongest of the regatta so far (notice a pattern here?... I said that every day I've been up here!). We started the race in the mid-twenties and saw gusts maybe to the low thirties. Everyone was overpowered but some more then others. It really come down to where you sail and how often you see this condition to be good in it. Let's just say in Southern California.. we cancel races before it gets this windy! The race was going really well.. my strapped sail technique downwind seem as fast and functional as any in that condition.. I was sailing right around the top ten boat for the first two laps when one of the several huge San Francisco ferries lined me like a bowling pin. Is he going to move for me? I don't think so.. So I better tack and go the other way. A tack in a laser in 25+ knots on wind is never fun. It's an ticket to flip and you general only when you have too in that kind of breeze. I tacked and was head across the grain of traffic but it didn't seem so bad. One other boat was doing the same thing. So I continued in the direction. Unfortunately it turned out to be a costly move. I went from a solid 14th to 25th at a shorten course finish that finished us up at the second weather mark. Ugh! Oh well.. that racing! Last day tomorrow... Time to pull out all the stops! Peter

Conserving Resources...

Yesterday was a day of good and bad... the good was that I was going fast upwind and getting good starts. The bad is that I was painfully slow downwind. I arrived at the weather marks in the top 5 or 6 boats.. turn to go downwind and immediately lose 2 or 3 boats. it would be the same leaking of places all the way down the run. At the leeward mark I had fell back to the mid twenties! Depressing because I'm normally very fast or at least even speed in most of the regattas I go to. I caught a few boats on the second weather leg and limped into the finish in 20th. The second race I was determined to better my score. Being near or with the leaders of the regatta gave me new motivation to sail my "complete race". My second start was brilliant.. punched out from my group and heading to the left with speed in good company. As I got to the first mark I was battling for 5th place. I worked up the left side of the course and I was coming into the mark on a tricky port tack layline. Tricky because port has no rights and has to keep clear of other boats rounding. The winds had piped up to the mid-twenties and boats were moving fast. I crossed Hummel the regatta leader but couldn't cross my friend Tracey Usher. I went into a crash duck to try to go below him but ended up getting almost clothlined by his mainsheet. We touched so not I was obligated to sail a 720 penalty turn before continuing. 720s are hard enough in 15 knots of wind.. But in 20+ they are outright dangerous in a laser. I managed to pull off two pretty clean turns and rejoined the race. Exhausted from the upwind and the 720, I was maybe too slow to react and the first big wave sent me into the dreaded "deathroll". That's all she wrote.. I was done. By the time I rode the boat and got back in I was well back in the fleet. Time to conserve my strength and equipment and call it a day. The world Championship allows for two discard races from your overall score card and that's what I did. I took my throwout. Racing today may be lighter winds. Well see how it goes. Peter

First a good Breakfast, then the Apple Store..

We ate a nice breakfast at trendy cafe on Chestnut St. called "The Grove". Chestnut Street reminds me a lot of like Montana Ave in West LA. Bottom line.. nobody is in a hurry to get to work there :). Well.. maybe late for yoga or the spa.. It's definitely the good life. Eating a good breakfast is critical for me to have the energy to sail effectively up here. When I'm out on the water, I only get to drink my special mix of water and a product called "Hammer Gel". I't very limited on what you can bring out with you on a laser.
I also eat a high protein Cliff Bar to help refuel the body for a quick recovery between races. This being my seventh Master Worlds, I've found that being properly hydrated before, during and after a race, plus eating right is the key to me being successful at these regattas. The promise of sustained energy and rapid muscle recovery from these types of products is enough for me to buy into it and the science behind it. But this morning I'm at the Apple Store in SF getting a new iPhone. I'm with my good friend and host Russ Silvestri who needed his previous one replaced. Russ was a Olympian in the Finn class from the 2000 Sydney and finished a respectable 6th place. Russ and I were also teammate at USC back in college. He's currently in 4th place in this regatta and always in the hunt to win any race. He grew up sailing in San Francisco and knows the bay well. He's been an incredible resource for all of us and stay at his house couldn't be a better setup. Truly a great friend and competitor. Being in the Apple Store reminds me how badly I need an iPad!!! I actually started this blog entry while I was waiting for Russ.. Got to get back to the yacht club.. Racing starts at 2:00pm today.

Where's Chuck??

The Rest Day?...

On the layday Chuck, Kevin and I rode bikes to our regular breakfast place on Chestnut Street. It's our favorite San Francisco spot and we go there whenever we're in the bay area. Afterwards the plan was to ride over to Tiburon via the golden gate bridge. It was perfect weather but a bit windy :) . Riding or walking across the the bridge has always been on my list of things I wanted to do.. so today was the day. The ride started through Chrissy Field then up to the city side of the bridge. We were just getting to the top of the uphill climb when Kevin's chain broke on his SoCal beach cruiser. This hill to most standards would be considered a very "lite" but my quads from three days of full hiking up and down the bay were screaming... "What are you thinking?" "It's a rest day stupid!" Regardless we made the trek to Tiburon, have fish and chips and a few beers.. and then took the ferry back across to the city. The breeze as we crossed the bay was ripping in the high 20's. Maybe even more the Tuesday's grinder on the bay. After a short ride back to the Marina District from Fisherman's Wharf.. we were back at the StFYC. I'm looking forward to the racing on Thursday.. More to come. Peter

Day 3 Photos from the course...

all photos copyright Chuck Lantz

Day 3 Grinder

Day 3 was the windiest day of the championship so far with both races sailed in over 20 knots of wind. My first race started well but my decision to go hard right out into the ebb current didn't pay off like I planned. I was looking good going upwind in my group of boats till the big left shift launched half the fleet in front of me. This all happened right at the first weather mark. From that point on I was in major catch up mode trying to get back in the chase. When you're in the back of the fleet, you take more chances and more often make more mistakes. I was able to sail a good 2nd weather leg and get back into the high twenties for the last downwind and two reaches. The wind also started to really nuke by the end part of the race and stay upright became my first priority as I planned downwind. My fleet is packed with talent and experience but these conditions started to show its teeth. I shot past many a sailor who either lost control in the steep tide and wind generated waves or was just pushing too hard. The most common mishap is a maneuver known a "death-roll." A death roll is a long a is long and tiring personal disaster for any racer. You can lose many places in the race so I try to avoid this them at all costs. As I quickly approached the gybe mark at high speed I could see 3 boats with their centerboards pointing at the sky (flipped over). It resembled a sailboat graveyard when me and an Australia boat arrive on the scene. The AUS boat entered first and weaved between two flipped boats but lost control and flipped. It was my turn so I took a slightly different line through the chaos and make a cautious but clean gybe. I quickly gathered myself, hiked and sheeted and was shot out the other side. The short beat to the finish was merciful as I crossed the finish line in 25th. I was so exhausted I just luffed my sail and sat for a few minutes. My energy level was not good going into the last race of the day and I was feeling pretty spent. My goal was to just hang on and finish the next race. The race ended up being a grueling test of skill and endurance as the conditions just kept getting worse. We started in winds in the mid-twenties and I was in full survive mode... again. As I got on my final approach to the starting line, my position was shaping up to be pretty good. I noticed that I was starting right next to the regatta leader Brett Beyers from Australia. Brett is a 7-time world champion and arguable the fastest guy at this regatta. My start line strategy was once the starting gun goes off, he'll be moving so fast.. the bad air from his sail would be minimal as he drove over me quickly. Well.. it didn't quite work out that way.. Brett eventually did move to the front and lead from start to finish. But to my surprise (and my tried legs protest..) I moved up too into the lead group! Force by circumstance to play full out, I finished a respectable 12th at the finish. I was so exhausted I didn't think I could make the sail in but the thought of a hot shower and the layday ahead got me in safely. No sailing tomorrow.. more racing on Thursday! Peter

Be Fit or Go Home...

The San Francisco Bay issued a fierce warning yesterday... "Be fit or I'll send you packing." By the time I sailed out to the starting area it was a solid 22 knots of wind and building. "Fire hose conditions" in a laser. It was spray hitting you continuously in the face with the tops of the wave breaking off and adding to the drenching. Lucky from my pre-regatta intel I'm properly dressed and I'm relatively warm under my full winter sailing gear. The winds peaked for our races just under 30 knots and body is feeling every bit of it today. My regatta scores for four races (14-21-17-20) are starting to average out to the 16-20 spot but I think there's a lot of potential to improve. I haven't sailed my perfect race yet.. "perfect" is maybe not the right word... "complete race" is a better term to describe this experience. Breaking into the top ten should be achievable. Coming off a full broken collarbone just last September, my goals are to be competitive try to stay in the top twenty. I'm just achieving that now. But we are only approaching the 1/3 mark of the twelve race series. With a 2pm start each day, I got plenty of time each morning to go to leisurely breakfast on Chestnut Street. Organize my gear, repair or change any tweaks on the boat. Even watch a little of the morning group race out on the course. Today looks to be sunny with the forecast of maybe just a little less wind. I'm learning a ton about race in San Francisco with all it complicated tide changes and handling my laser in mid-twentys conditions. Tomorrow is our layday which means "rest day" and I know every master sailor is looking forward to that. More on my LMW adventure tonight.. Peter

Windy first day of LMW..

Today was the start of the Laser Master Worlds and it came in with a roar. Our first race was manageable with winds up to 18knots and relatively mild currents running. We sailed in the tail end of the ebb tide (water leaving the bay) for the first race of the afternoon. I had a good start near the committee boat which got better and better as we got lifted 10 or 15 degrees. I was happy.. at one point halfway up the beat I thought I was maybe even leading the race. I sailed up the middle of the course playing the wind shifts as they came down off the bridge. The last quarter before the weather mark is where the wheels fell off. Both side had much better angle into the mark in what now looked like a shifting tide to a flood. Tide and current is everything in these races. Most of the time the deciding factor of the race. I didn't play it well and I rounded in 17th which was disappointing after a good start. The rest of the race went pretty well as I caught a few but lost a few here and there. San Francisco is tough to figure out! The second race was quite different.. The wind had piped up to 20+ and the flood tide was now quite strong. This makes sailing the upwind legs of the course very difficult. I lined up for the start near the pin end but with 45 seconds to go it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to cross the line on that tack because of the 3-4 knot current. I decided to tack to port and find a hole. Not too easy in 20-25 knots to duck and take transoms of oncoming starboard tack boats in our 50+ fleet. I ended up ducking almost every boat but even worse I was going the wrong way and heading into the stronger deeper current. I continued on for at least 10 minutes before tacking back to starboard and then realizing that I was going to be very far back the the first mark. I sailed on hope to catch as many boats as I could and maybe get lucky with a big shift or someone else going the wrong way like I did. It was slow going to pick off boats in what turn into a 25 knot grind upwind to the mile and a half weather mark. The race was shorten to first at the second weather mark and I managed to get back to 21 at the finish. A long day on the water with a difficult launching and land ramp in the shore break of Chrissy Field State Park. My boat flipped over while I was trying to come into the beach but I finally made it in. New day tomorrow.. Peter

Racing starts tomorrow...

A good practice session on Friday followed by a boat work and rest day today and I feel almost ready. Our fleet will sail together as one fleet instead of the planned two fleet series with the first two days being qualifying for a gold or silver fleet. I changed a few things on the boat today that will be un-test but I feel good about the modifications. Wind looked shifter today on the bay then the previous days I've been up here which could bode well for a kid who grew up on a lake where if someone opened their garage door at the right time you'd get a big wind shift that could win you the race. :)

Laser Heavy Air Slalom

The Laser Heavy Air Slalom from the 70's has been resurrected and now is in it's second year. Conditions for the finals approached some of my memories as a kid of this epic laser sailing event. Growing up laser sailing I was convinced that this was the coolest event in the world and some day I'd try it. Unfortunately it started the day before we arrived and make it up early enough to compete was not in the cards.. The conditions for the finals did noot disappoint. 25 knots and a huge floor tide gave the four finalist a track worthy of the event title. watched this mayhem from the yacht club bar with have windows that literally almost overhang the water. (this was on my watching bucket list for many years too), the single elimination finals had four masters from my age division and one apprentice master. This not a Master only event and featured radial women's olympic gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe. The champion was determined by who didn't flip to the delight of all the barstool sailors. Peter Slope outlasted all comers to take the title.

St. Francis YC's Webcam

http://207.150.197.186/

There's live coverage on the St. Francis webcam looking out at the "City Front" sailing area. This is almost like having a front row seat to much of the racing action during this week and next. the camera is user controlable by scrolling left and right, up and down and in and out to get the best view. The camera give you about 45 second to be the "controller", then it goes to the next person in line. You can see quite a bit.. but it would probably be hard to find me when I'm actually out racing. Just in case.. my laser sail number is 187366 with the letters USA pasted in the corner. Hopefully I'll be the one out in the lead :-) Peter

239 Entries!

239 entries for the Laser Master Worlds in San Francisco that starts this Sunday. By far not the largest attendance for a LMW .. but it's San Francisco! Laser sailors don't go to the bay to pleasure sail.. most won't even go there to race at all. Sailing on the bay is typically bitterly cold, windy as the north pole with the waves that are big and steep.. Mother nature laughs at a little laser going upwind and tosses it around like a shoe in the dryer. The tides and current rips like a spring river in full runoff.. Why go?? To our group from SouthernCal, it's basically like surfing 30 foot Pipeline in Hawaii or climbing Mount Everest in a snow storm.. It's survival more then racing. Tell me why again? Because you feel like you've won the championship by just surviving the regatta.. surviving the day.. the sail out.. the thrid flip on the last downwind.. those are all victories master laser sailors like to celebrate... over and over again.