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.

Good Practice..

Three great days of laser practicing in Marina del Rey.. We had in some of the best conditions I've ever sailed up here! Winds were a brisk at 14-18knots all three days. Frightening huge waves covered the ocean. My laser (14') seem like a cork in a big bathtub. I mean these were really big waves! Sailing in breaking ocean wave made it extremely challenging for all sailors both upwind and down. Some great surfing brought my boom to the middle of the boat more then once. All in all it was big grins for everyone. Our group consisted of Vann & I out practicing for our LMW.. Terrance, Sumeet, Michael and Sanjai were out getting ready for the Laser Nationals at California Yacht Club that starts on Thursday. Unfortunately the two events overlap and I won't be able to sail the Nationals at my home yacht club. But my boat is all loaded and I'm ready to go! Three more days of work and I'm off! The excitement is building!!!

Good to Go!

I've been cleared by my doctors.. got in some training.. gained 10lbs for the bay.. now it’s time to race again!

I'll be competing in the 2011 Laser Master Worlds in San Francisco hosted by Saint Francis Yacht Club next week for seven days. I’m excited to get back out on the water in my laser in the event we call “The Show”. It was less than a year ago at Hyland Island, UK where I badly fractured my collar bone at the Laser Masters Worlds. Much credit needs to be given to DISC Sports and Spine Center for doing a fantastic job of getting me back out on the water and able to compete at my sport at this high level. Thank you to Dr. Robert Bray, Jr. and Dr. Andrew Bulczynski and the entire DISC team for expertly performing my surgery and overseeing my recovery.

In this recent X-Ray you can see my titanium plate that is still in. More importantly you can see my collar bone is almost one solid color which means the bone has fused together nicely. The plate and all eight screws are tentatively scheduled to come out in October.

Check back here for more updates,

Peter