Hello everyone,
The Midwinters ended up being a great event. We had 9 races in the last three days which meant really
long days, but good racing. The second day of the regatta we got three races in. I sailed a very good day
finishing on the water with a 3, 1, 7 but as it turned out, I was over early on the 7th place. After the day I was
sitting 31st, but that was counting 95 points from my over early. The next day was good breeze...light to
medium...and we got off 4 races (a very long day as each race was just over an hour long). I had another
great day finishing with a 5, 2, 4, 1. Other great news on this day was that almost everyone else in the top
ten was over early in the second race which evened the playing field a little now. After day three we had 7
races counting which meant we could drop our worst one (for most of us our over eary). I was in the lead
now by two points. The forecast for the last day was big breeze and chilly...and it was. When we were sent
out the race committee reported the lulls in the breeze to be at 18 kts and the puffs around 33kts. The
waves too were huge which made for some fun sailing. (I think at one point on one wave downwind there
was a good 15 ft. drop between my bow and the bottom of the wave). We only got two races off and I
finished with a 5, 3. The regatta rules prescribed for a second drop race if we had 9 - 10 races completed
which we had, so with the second drop, I fell to second place overall. I was still very pleased with how I
sailed and had great fun the whole event.
I'm taking a week off to go home back to Pittsburg before I head to the Dominican Republic for a hard week
of training.
My next regatta is the Princess Sofia in Palma, Spain starting on April 8th. I'll send and update again before
I leave for Europe.
Until then,
Sail hard,
Anna
February 23
Hello Everyone
Today was the first day of the Radial Midwinters Championships in Clearwater, Fl. My training partner and I
have been here for a week training. Unfortunately, we only had breeze 4 of the 6 days and nothing over
6kts...but we got a lot of boat handling in.
This morning was foggy, but the breeze was already from the right direction at 8am which looked good for
the day. As it turned out, the breeze was excellent for the whole day, but the fog was not going to let us play.
We were under postponement on shore for a while, then we heard that we were going out, so we left the
dock (where the was no breeze), only to get to the entrance to the harbor and not be able to see more than
50 ft. So after we hung around for the fog to leave in the mouth of the harbor, we went out to the race
course. The race committee set up a course, got the full rigs off, and put us in sequence for a start just as
a new line of fog rolled in. So racing was postponed for the day.
We have a big fleet of 90+ boats and a better forecast for the next three days, so hopefully we will get some
good racing in.
I'll update you in the next couple of days.
Sail hard,
Anna
February 6
Hello everyone,
The regatta ended yesterday. It was a long regatta. We got 10 races in total with one drop race. The wind
on the second day was lightish with big seas. We got three races in and I finished with a 3, 2, 9. I was still
in second with a 3 point lead over 3rd. The next day we had the storm front come through, so we only got
one race off before we got sent in for the day. It was a great race for me. I figured out my downwind speed
for the day and passed 5 boats on the first downwind leg and finished 2 in the race. The last day brought
shifty puffy conditions. The first race was a bad race for most of the top of the fleet. For some reason, we
all went what turned out to be the wrong way and rounded the first mark in the high teens, but on the
second beat, I managed to pull back to 9. The next race again, was tough and shifty. At one point I was in
the top 3 and then next I wasn't. I again finished 9, but now points were getting close again between me
and third place. I only had a three point lead on Laura (GBR) with one more very shifty race to go. As we
were set up on the line to start the race, I got a yellow flag at 10 seconds to go for sculling??? Anyway, I
didn't recover from the flag very well and finished the race 16th. Luckily for me, Laura had a bad start and
only caught up to 7th place in the race. We ended up in a tie on points with me winning the tie breaker.
This regatta was a second team ranking regatta for the US Sailing Team in which I needed to finish top two
to secure the number one spot on the team. It all worked out in the end!!! I got it!!!
I'm taking a couple of days off before I start training again. Our next regatta is at the end of
February...Radial Midwinters East Championships.
I'll update again just before the regatta.
Until then, sail hard,
Anna
February 2
Hello everyone,
After recovering for a couple days from OCR's, we hit the race track again today with the start of our Radial
Women's North American Championships. We are sailing in Ft. Lauderdale (its nice not to have to travel
for once) and the place lived up to its reputation...good breeze and big waves. I was very happy to be back
sailing here. Anyway, we got three races off. I finished with a 2, 4, 2. I sailed very well overall, but again
slightly off the pace downwind...but getting better every race. In the first I had a terrible start, but hiked hard
and came out in 1st at the first mark. I lost a boat downwind, but we were a launched 1, 2 so we battled
each other for the rest of the race. The second race had an individual recall at the start. I don't know if I
was over, but I was pretty close so I went back just in case. I rounded the mark in 6th and almost caught
up to 2nd place, but ran out of race track before I could. The third race was a similar story to the first race,
but this time I was a lot closer to 1st place the whole race.
We will race through Sunday and are planning on a 10 race series with one drop race. The forecast for the
rest of the week is for it to be breezier every day...great news!!...so there will hopefully be a whole series
completed with some very good sailing. I will keep everyone posted on how the regatta is progressing.
Until then,
Anna