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
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