I have not been that keen to write updates this week, given the fact that the first half of this regatta we were a bit off the pace. It’s funny because in our training leading up to this regatta, we had great boat speed in the practice races, winning 75% of them.
One of our coaches, Steve Erickson aka" Wonder", thinks we may have been here in Miami too long and came into this event a bit crispy. I don’t disagree with him. I am feeling good, but it’s been a long month.
In addition, the entire team house was riddled with a serious case of the flu and it took some good antibiotics to sort it out. I was also recently drilling a hole in one of our masts while the mast was in the boat, using a bit that was too small. As I was trying to make the hole larger in diameter, I broke the bit! While doing this I had so much force on the drill bit that I hit myself in the face with the drill. Big problem! Full on bloody nose, front teeth out of place not sure how it went so ugly, but I am all sorted now. In any event, there was a new team rule passed. I am no longer allowed to use power tools and I think the team is voting on taking away my hand held screwdriver privileges!
We are fortunate that the US Sailing team has a full time physiotherapist on staff. Shawn’s been at our team house at 0800 every morning and comes back again at 1600 when we are fresh off the water. It’s nice I roll out of bed with toothpicks in my eyes, go face down on the training table, get stretched out and a rub down. Then after we return from a long day on the water, Shawn is at the team house with the cool vest ready to go and fixes all of our aches and pains.
Our days start and end the same every morning:
0800 wake up
0805 face down on the training table that is set up in the kitchen
0815 breakfast
0900 team meeting, weather, current etc
0930 tender to yacht club
0945 rig check, launch
1015 dock out
1355 warning signal for the one race of the day
1500 race is over
1600 return to dock
1630 team meeting at yacht club to discuss day, including areas we can improve on and what we did well
1700 back to team house via tender
1715 face down on training table, rub down, stretch and hydrate
1900 dinner
2200 lights out…
Sound pretty militant? It sure is.
Well, the Star Worlds started last Friday and we had a solid 10th place finish in race one. It’s a keeper and was a nice way to begin the week. In race two, we had a below average start and when we made it to the weather mark in not so good shape we saw our bow number on the weather mark boat, identifying us a OCS on the black flag earning us a DSQ and 105 points for the day. Big problem… and not what you want on day two of a world championship. In addition to us being disqualified, there were 24 other boats with the same issue. Look this wasn’t the first time this has happened and I promise you it’s not the last. You have roll with the punches and tomorrow is another day.
Day 3 saw us in the same situation. Average start but this time we made a few rig adjustments that were just plain wrong. I can honestly say that this race was the slowest a star boat has gone upwind. Heinous, just heinous. We rounded the top mark in 90th position, We could have complained about this bad race and our speed, but that wouldn’t help (in all fairness I belted out a few profanities and got it out of my system) but we managed to pass 50 some boats and ended up finishing the race in 40th place.
Looking back on the first three days, we did some really good things. We also ticked a few things off our list that were geared towards the Olympics and we learned a ton about our new gear package we have been running. Still blows me away how much we learn on a daily basis. When you have the kind of coaching talent we have, we make huge gains in short periods of time, which is good, because when you have a well funded team you always run out of time not money. Things need to get ticked off the list sooner than later or August will be here before we know it.
After race 3 we had a lay day. The team and I changed masts and went with our normal set up. The past two races have gone well. We had a 6th place finish in race 4 and a 3rd place finish in race 5 on Wednesday.
Race 4 was full on. It blew between 20 knots and over 30kts in the puffs. In a star boat when it’s this windy you have your hands full. The race committee sent the fleet in a course 0 which is upwind, followed by a reach on starboard to the gybe mark, then a port reach to the leeward mark, upwind again, downwind and then upwind to the finish. Each leg is about 2.1 miles long. The race started great, with us getting a good start near the boat end of the line. We rounded the top mark in 4th, we blasted off on the first reach and were able to extend on the guys behind us and keep pace with the top 3 boats at the gybe mark. Things were all under control but during the last half of the second reach, the top three teams extended on us a little. Up the next beat, we played the shifts nicely but the French and Swedish teams managed to pass us. At this point the wind is really blowing hard, so hard that JD and I needed to scream at one another to hear what the other was saying. “Full on” is an under statement. We rounded the next top mark headed for the downwind run. In a star boat downwind in 30+ kts of wind is fun, scary but fun! Well the breeze didn’t let up it kept coming. About ten boats lost their masts, one boat flipped over and a few people fell out of their boats. We were up in about 4th place with 100 yards to go to the leeward mark and all of a sudden I looked back and what I saw was insane, white foam… the monster puff was coming in hot! Two boats about 50 yards behind us both lost their masts, so I made a quick executive decision! I told JD we were taking the pole down ASAP! This puff had to be 35 kts! I was sitting behind JD on for the last 75 yards to the bottom mark, it was all we could do to keep the bow above the water. We managed to get around the bottom mark in good order (wasn’t easy) and finish the race in 6th. Great finish in such trying conditions.
Wednesday was race 5 and from the start of the day it looked like a carbon copy of Tuesday with heinous puffs and a day destined to be filled with more carnage. Well, the breeze shifted hard right, clouds moved over the race course and the breeze died. They started us and we made it around the top mark in 6th place. We made some nice gains down the wacky run. Guys in 50th place around the top mark managed to pass 40 boats on that leg alone. Huge pressure differences down the run but we managed to hang in there and get to the bottom mark overlapped with the leaders. Well, it was a close situation with the leaders and I was on the bow going downwind the SUI team took us past the mark. I thought JD was going to turn the boat down but instead he turned up and I fell off the bow into the water! Imagine this leading the 104 boat fleet and I fall off the bow five yards before the leeward mark! Lucky I have been in this situation before and I went under water with my hand raised above the water when the boat when over my head I was able to grab the mainsheet get myself to the transom and pull myself out of the water (with a little help from JD). Then I took the pole down and we rounded the mark. It went so fast that I still can’t figure out how it happened.
We actually didn’t miss a beat, had a great rounding and put in a quick few tacks on a few shifts. We managed to pass the guys who rounded with us, we hung on and finished the race in 3rd.
We have one race to go and are sitting in 13th position overall. Not where I thought we would be given the fact that we had an outstanding training camp before this regatta. This is life, this is only a sport there are bigger issues than me falling in the water or hitting myself in the face with a drill.
I love being with my team, we have such a great group of guys. What a journey, what a journey…
Austin