Midwinters Photos

Here are some of the photos of me at Midwinters. These are linked over from the Calema website. I think these photos are all from Race 4 (2nd Kona race on Saturday).

Joachim (1679) fast and low off the line, Gottleib (425) just behind, Nevin (1007) fast and high, and me up the highest but a bit back.

Nevin in 1st on the way to the leeward mark. I'm on the green sail in pursuit.

Nevin's rounding, I'm still chasing...

Coming to the leeward mark behind Nevin

Honing in...

Round it strong

Head up and start chasing Nevin

Locked and loaded

Joachim in 3rd with Steve Gottleib in pursuit

Joachim's rounding

I also just noticed the following pictures in the album. It is the start of R5. Joachim and I were both over early, so DNS scores. We were pushing pretty hard, and you need to do that to find the edge. Too bad there wasn't any more racing after this one :(

Pre-start: I'm hoping for a good start at the pin on port

I know I'm a bit early so I bear away to run the line...

Jumping the port start with Woody (1343) and Nevin (1007) putting on the pressure

I got away clean, but not sure if I was over early. Also notice how much the starboard tackers have to pinch just to make the mark. Pin was V-E-R-Y favored...I shouldn't have pushed it so hard and still would've had the advantage.

Another picture from Calema.

Me and Nevin on the beach

Here are a few more pictures from Midwinters.

Powered up

Bearing away to the leeward mark

Some photos made it onto the poster for 2013 Nationals

Calema Midwinters Results

Results are posted on the Calema website: http://calema.com/events/calema-midwinters-2012/calema-midwinters-results/

I finished 4th in Kona fleet. Congratulations to Nevin Sayre on winning the event and to all the other Kona sailors as well.

Midwinters is done

Midwinters is complete. No racing for any fleets on Sunday. Curious decision in my opinion.

Lunch

Verdict is: lunch time. Decision on racing is supposed to be at 12:30.

Beach Pic

Water's flat and wind is strong. Only one sailor on the water and he's free sailing on a slalom board.

The waiting is the hardest part

10:45 and we're still waiting to race. At first we were waiting for direction to clock to the predicted direction, and it looks to me like the wind has been stable enough for the last hour. Not sure why we can't just race with the wind we have. It's 20-30 mph with some larger gusts. The water is dead flat by the launch (upwind shore), and doesn't look too rough elsewhere.

Not all wind is kona wind

Kona Fleet had three races earlier today and were on deck for a fourth race after the last Formula race this afternoon. The Formula fleet was eventually called back in when conditions were deemed too light for them. As Kona Fleet headed out the wind picked back up and we had good wind during our start sequence. But a couple of minutes into the sequence the powers that be aborted the sequence deeming it too windy.  L A M E  ! ! !


I sailed the course anyways, with my sail rigged for light winds no less, in 13 minutes. My opinion, again, is that the cancellation was completely, utterly, lame.


To cancel racing for one fleet (formula) due to light wind and then cancel racing for another fleet (kona) due to excessive wind within 30 minutes is perplexing. A bit of patience for the weather could go a long way...

R5

A bit more wind. Had a solid start planing off the pin with Joachim and we ran out front to the upwind mark. I caught him and passed on the leeward run when he seemed to get stuck in a lull a bit further outside than me. On the second upwind Joachim and I were close and worked over to the right again, but found lighter air. When we flopped back to starboard I went above the start/finish  boat (as the last reach was very broad/almost downwind), and Joachim went under the boat and I think went through the line. We'll have to talk and see if that is a penalty. We got upwind with Joachim in a couple second lead and ran down to the finish together. We ran into a lull with around 100 yards left, and Joachim made it across in front of me (not sure if that will count though). Nevin caught some puffs and used good speed to catch up to me as I was still accelerating. The boat said I beat Nevin in a photo finish.

Day 2, R4

I got 2nd following Nevin around the course. Good winds - sailing on fin (no centerboard) all the way around the course. Headed out for R5.

Calema Midwinter photos

Calema posted some pictures to facebook. Scroll through them backwards (to the left) to view in chronological order:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=393075487375300&set=pu.112387462110772&type=1&theater

R3

R3 was disappointing since I had a good start again at the boat and had position on the fleet. Ended up overstanding windward mark by around 200 yards because I mistook the upwind mark. Reached in the straps to the top mark after the mess up. Finished 7th I think. Andrea did a good job on the top reach and was able to get past on the last part of the reach.

Kona rig 1680

I'm number 1680. There may be updates at www.calema.com as well.

Formula lineup

Formula racers include:
Micah Buzianis
Paulo dos Reis
Gabriel Browne
Tati Frans
Fernando Martinez
Alex Morales
Matthias Pinheiro
Willhelm Schurmann
Dave Kashy
Ron Kern
Brad Couden

R1 and R2 results

Course is upwind, downwind, upwind, reach across to a finish line at the top of the course.

R1: Nevin Sayre, Jochim (sp?), Jochim's daughter (katjas?), Andrea Gauthier (maybe swapped with steve), Steve Gottleib, Woody, me in 7th.

R2: Nevin, Jochim, me, katjas, ?

R1 I had a decent start at the pin on port. Running upwind decent in the light, shifty wind and when I a couple tacks up I tried crossing someone while on port and they tagged the last foot of my board, so I ended doing penalty turns. Probably around 10th at the windward mark and made up a couple on the run down. Held my own coming back up and reeled in a couple more places. Woody had been a ways back from me at leeward mark but sailed a fantastic second upwind to beat me to the top. I followed him to the finish.

Race 2 the wind filled in to a nice 10-15. I got a nice start at the boat with Nevin and was able to get out on him. I played shifts up the middle and got to the top in first. Jochim got around in second after banging hard left (he went off the start on his fin/no centerboard when he went left). There appeared to be a puff on the outside of the course when I rounded, and Jochim and I planned over there on a fairly high course hoping to catch it. No dice. Nevin and Kasja sailed dead downwind and made ground on us with Nevin getting to the bottom first. Jochim caught a nice swell near the bottom mark and got past me with board speed. We held that order back to the top and across the reach.

We came in for lunch and formula fleet is out racing in the breeze.

Midwinters quick R1 R2 update

Nevin Sayre is top dog with two bullets. Race 1 was pretty light, maybe 6-8 mph. Race 2 was puffy 10-15. I have 7th and then 3rd. Brand owner Jochim (sp) has two 2nd's. I am feeling faster in the breeze. Led to upwind and 1/2 downwind of R2 before Nevin passed me. More later.

Midwinters Tomorrow

It's been a while since I've been to Calema in Cocoa Beach, FL. I think my last trip was around 1999 or 2000, so really looking forward to some sunny Florida weather for the upcoming race. I'll be in the Kona fleet, so that will be a first for me.

Racing is Friday - Sunday. I'll be in the middle weight (8.2 sail size) division.

The forecast looks great:

Friday: Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 84. South southwest wind between 5 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. South wind around 10 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Windy, with a south southwest wind between 10 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. South southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69. Windy, with a west northwest wind between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.