Midwinters Races 1&2

[Intro Video] http://youtu.be/RHkNeoZrtlU The weather looked perfect for Day 1 of racing. After battling the cold, wind, and waves in the Warm Up regatta (there was nothing warm about it), we welcomed the sunny skies are warmer temps. Chris and I hoped that all the bad starts (there were many) were behind us. We finished a respectable fifth even though we were over the start line in race 1 and hit the pin at the start of the third race. We were doing better in each race and getting the rust out from the long, cold winter. We were eager to see how well we sailed vs. the other 6 boats in the Challenger Division. We were confident that we can keep up with the faster sailers. Ryan Malmgren and Joe helped us measure our mast and ensure that were rigged corrected. It is awesome going to regatta the sailmakers help you personally and Ryan's always willing to help! Unfortunately, I made a horrible mistake at the start of the first race and was slow in bad air. Now there are only 6 boats on a huge line, so why end up behind two boats behind the line? Good question, right? The wind had died down and was shifty. I am not good in those conditions and the horrible start were pretty much nails in the coffin. We had a good port tack start with plenty of speed in the second race. I was determined to be fast at the start and you can see us moving pretty well in the video above. The boats to the left went further left and the wind was favorable over there, but we were in a solid third place until I somehow rounded the wrong downwind mark. Not only did we lose a spot or two, but I didn't know I sailed the wrong course until I was summoned by the judge. He apologized for breaking the bad news to me and I had to apologize to my crew for being a dumbass. Ugh. We were sailing fast and confident at this point, so we decided were going to go out and win the third race. We nailed the pin end start. We let two boats go left and I should have covered, but we were in contention for the lead in a solid third place. We were telling ourselves we could pass them and give them and make it a fun finish, but the wind died suddenly and they abandoned the race. I suppose that is a fitting end to our day, but there was ice cold Miller Lite in the cooler and trip to Bourbon Street planned for the evening. It's hard to get too bummed out when you are racing in New Orleans. I'm happy that the sailors in the Challenger Division are fast. I feel we can win any race and end up DFL in any given race, so the competition is solid. Check out FSSA.com for race results. The regatta has also been picked up on scuttlebutt.com. That is pretty cool! Hopefully we can start putting together some respectable finishes. Here is video of our solid pin-end start that ultimately didn't matter because the race was abandoned. [pin end start video] http://youtu.be/_uMFdCc5Sac Thanks for reading! Eric