Greetings Race Fans,
Day One has come and gone at the Miami Olympic Classes
Regatta. The weather this morning was perfect -- crisp breeze and not a
cloud in the sky. It was perfect Miami weather, and a lot of people decided
to enjoy it with us. Over 600 sailors are competing in the OCR this year,
140 of whom are sailing 70 boats against us in the Star class.
Whether it was nerves or just a crowded launching area we're not certain,
but the day began auspiciously for us as we were hit by some of our
competitors on the way to the race course. Later we broke a cleat on the
main sheet. While we were fixing it with one of the spares provided by
Harken, we ran aground. Thankfully we shook it all off before the start of
the first race. We decided to be a bit conservative by not being too
aggressive on the starting line, not sailing out to any corners and not
pushing the kinetic limits downwind since there are judges on the water.
We started the first race one third of the way down from the windward end
and after two quick tacks we found a lane. We worked the middle of the
course and rounded the top mark in tenth. As the densely packed fleet
worked downwind, we decided to gybe onto port at the first opportunity. We
gained several boats on the run and rounded the leeward mark in fourth.
Upwind,
the right side seemed strong, so we followed the big clouds and the wind
they traditionally bring up the right side to round the weather mark in
third. On the last leg, we continued to sail fast and finished the race
second overall, trailing only current world champion Xavier Rohart from
France.
Between races, the wind lightened and after the first general recall it was
light enough that most of the crews were up on deck. We had a good start
but the Japanese team on our windward hip was quick enough to prevent us
from clearing our air on the right side of the course. We didn't feel fast
and spent too much time looking around the boat to figure out why. That
made matters even worse since we stopped focusing on the wind. The
traditional weather pattern had inverted and there was less wind near the
clouds this time, but we sailed for the clouds anyway. Once we got caught
in the middle of the fleet it was hard to find clear air, and we were only
able to manage a 25th place finish.
Thankfully, it is still early in the week and the regatta will be a war of
attrition. There are ten races scheduled and we can only discard our worst
finish. Some of the top sailors in the fleet have even larger numbers and
letters in their scores and will have to sail eight good races in a row.
With a 2-25 we are in 10th place. Although we know we can sail much better,
the overall result was not terrible and we are well positioned for the rest
of the week. Tomorrow is forecasted to be light and shifty with a front
coming through on Wednesday that could make Thursday and Friday very windy.
Andy & Brad
Wow, what a long day! Three races in a shifty northerly breeze
takes a lot out of you (we only had two races per day on Monday and Tuesday).
We sailed conservatively, knowing that the northerly breeze would provide
plenty of passing lanes all day. We wanted to be patient since we think we
are somewhat stronger in shiftier winds -- if two guys from the northern lakes
are good at anything, it is
hitting shifts. We were fast and smart in the first two races (with a touch
of luck), finishing 4th and 6th. In the third race, we showed good speed most
of the way around the track but ended up on the wrong side of a shift at the
end, finishing 23rd. In spite of this, we moved up to 2nd overall in the Star
class with 7 of the 10 races in the books.
We had good starts a third of the way down from the boat. We had good speed
and led the fleet to the first mark first in the first race. On the final
legs, we sailed up the middle of the course as the fleet split sides. Three
boats who gambled and won passed us and we finished fourth overall.
Photographer Dan Nerney snapped another photo of us on the final run, which
can be found at
http://www.regattanews.com/photo_enlarge.asp?id=3832&eid=136&gid=0 -- we
are battling downwind with former German Olympian and 2002 OCR Champion Marc
Pickel and crew Ingo Borkowski (they finished 7th in the race).
In the second race, we would have made it to the first mark in second place
but decided to duck several starboard tackers at the weather mark on the port
tack layline. The fleet was tight all race and we finished sixth amongst a
big pack down wind.
In the final race the wind became patchy -- lulls as low as 10 knots and gusts
around 20 knots. The puffy breeze shifted through 30 degrees and the final
shift on the final beat was a 60 degree righty. We were all over the place
trying to stay in phase but got caught on the left in the final right shift
and dropped a dozen boats. Ah well, sometimes you miss one!
In these conditions it is tough to consume enough food and water. It is even
more difficult to keep your body and mind focused for
three races in windy conditions. We always joke about keeping the emergency
Red Bull energy drink on the boat if one of us gets in a foul mood and needs a
jolt of sugar and caffeine. Today, we went through three Red Bulls and are
still ready to crash. Thankfully our dutiful press corps can edit this and
send it to all of you while we are fast asleep. In case of emergency, pull
tab...
We apologize for not writing more, but our brains have stopped functioning.
We are now in second overall with finishes of 2, 25, 2, 19, 4, 6, 23. Our
25th place finish from Monday is our discard race, so we have 56 points. This
puts us in second place overall, and we are the top American team with
three races to go. If our finishes seem erratic, consider this: only
one team (George Szabo and Eric Monroe) have finished in the top TWENTY in
every race. It is a testament to the competitiveness of the fleet (there are
many talented sailors farther down in the standings who can win at any time)
and also a sign of the difficult conditions we've seen this week. We are
pleased to be in second but it will be difficult to recapture our OCR title,
as the first place team, reigning World Champions Xavier Rohart and Pascal
Rambeau, are sailing extremely well and have 35 fewer points than us.
Tomorrow's forecast is for stronger, steadier breezes. The race committee
will try to complete two races, setting up a Friday final race showdown that
simulates the new changes to the Olympic racing format -- we'll describe that
in tomorrow's update though. Thank you all for your support.
Stay tuned,
Andy & Brad
Horton-Nichol 2008
HortonNichol2008@gmail.com
Coming soon!
http://www.hortonnichol2008.com/
Final Day
Greetings Race Fans! We're sorry for the delay -- we were
exhausted after the drama of the medal race, the long week of sailing and a
series of post-regatta meetings. For those of you who can't stand the
suspense or who haven't seen the final results yet, we came from behind on
the final day and were able to put the necessary points between ourselves
and the boat in front of us to place second in the race and second in the
regatta. We were the top ranked American team in the Star class and were
named the #1 ranked boat on the US Sailing Team for 2006, the second
straight year we have achieved this milestone.
To refresh everyone's memories, the top 10 boats after the first four days
of racing were separated from the other 60 to sail a final "medal race" on
Friday. The medal race is a new change to the Olympic format that will make
debut in Beijing. In the meantime, regatta organizers have incorporated it
into recent events. This was only the second time it had ever been used and
the first time ever in the Western Hemisphere. The final race counts double
for everyone's scores (so a first place finish is worth two points, a second
place finish is four points and so on), and it cannot be discarded from
anyone's scores. As any change is, there was some controversy surrounding
the new system and some concern about how it would change the racing.
While we knew we had to do well and put several boats between us and the
second place team, our gameplan was to try to sail a clean race and not lock
up into a two-boat race unless the situation naturally presented itself. It
was windier than it had been all week, with a gusty, shifty northeaster that
was at least twenty knots. The course was also shorter than the previous
races to compact the fleet (in fact, the final race only took 36 minutes,
whereas the others were at least 90 minutes). We did not see a situation to
push our closest competitors over the starting line early so we began to
sail our own race. After the start there was a large left shift. We wanted
to tack but were pinned by Phillipe Presti and Jean-Philippe Saliou on our
windward hip. Up the course, other boats began to tack on each other
furiously. The tone was set and we no one wanted to give an inch. In fact,
the boats who were able to avoid the rest of the fleet began to separate
from the pack of disturbed air and constant tacking. John Dane and Austin
Sperry began to extend on the right side of the beat and we tried to follow
their lead.
We rounded the windward mark in fourth and were immediately able to
calculate our position in the regatta due to the smaller size of the fleet.
This was a pleasant benefit and made the racing very interesting for us and
the sizeable fleet of spectator boats who came out to see the action. Every
decision became ultratactical. We gained a place on the run and tacked
around the leeward mark out to the left side of the beat where we found
better pressure and a favorable shift. We gained another place to move into
second around the third mark and were able to hold that position into the
finish. The second place team of George Szabo and Eric Monroe finished
ninth, allowing us to move into second place in the final standings.
At the awards ceremony, we were awarded silver medals for our
efforts. While we were unable to defend our 2005 OCR title we were the top
American team again and combined with our second place finish at the 2005
Pacific Coast Championships, we were named the #1 ranked team on the US
Sailing Team in the Star class for the second consecutive year. We have
proved we belong and are more focused than ever on being the U.S.
representatives in the Star class in Beijing in 2008. We hope to continue
our success at the Bacardi Cup in early March. We have an ambitious
schedule planned for 2006 to train and race against the best competition
across the world and hope to keep you posted at each step of the way. Thank
you all for your support and assistance.
Andy & Brad
Horton-Nichol 2008
HortonNichol2008@gmail.com
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