Right was right.

And we went left. End of story. The local guys had it figured out, and took 2 of the top 3 spots. Start at the boat and immediately tack onto port and bang the corner. That was the secret to race one. The wind was blowing from the East. I had reviewed the last 5 years of June wind data for Chicago and found the winds blow East less than 2% of the time, so I didn’t spend much time analyzing it. We started on the left/center on a square line with the center boat punched ahead by about a boat length. The boat ahead of us was OCS and gave us his dirty air which also didn’t help us get a jump off the line. We worked for a clear lane, heading left, and waited for a knock and lane to go back right. By the time we did it was way too late. EVERYBODY right of us had us beat. And in this fleet, everyone is fast like Andrew and tough to catch. We had some good speed downwind and passed a few boats, but struggled getting upwind speed in the shifting and dying winds. We made some good moves in preparation for the second race, and felt we were faster, but after waiting about 45 minutes they blew it off and sent us in.

Bottom line, thank God we have a throw-out. Day 2 will be a better day.

The race committee organization here is unbelieveable. 41 people, 8 boats, not even counting all the safety boats. They even have a separate boat for check-in. The start line is 3 boats, one on each end and a signal boat in the center. They use 5 mark boats to for each windward, leeward end, and one to wander and feedback wind info to the PRO. Last is the Judges Boat. In addition there is a press boat and a spectator boat, and probably 15 or 20 teams have coach boats which also function as safety boats. Quite an operation.

We were really pleased to see Eric and Justin win the first race. First they are amateurs, second they are great guys, humble, friendly, open, and helpful. Also, they are damn good sailors. They previously had USA 1101, but decided to trade up to a new boat gearing up for this Worlds. They have lacked the chance to practice for this event as much as the pro teams, but are very focused, they know Chicago conditions, and they are smart. They very well may end up being a real surprise team in this event.

Good Luck sailing tonight, and wave to VooDoo when you head out. We’ll miss you.
Best regards,
Ralph