Lihan Sailing

It is with great excitement that I write this post, for while it means the end of Lihan Sailing by its lonesome, it is the beginning of a new chapter in my sailing career. I am switching classes, from the Radial to the front of a 470. Many have thought I should have made this switch ages ago, but it took the likes of Amanda Clark, 2008 US Olympic representative to finally bring me over to the dark side. In the few weeks since the conclusion of Miami OCR, we have spent all but a handful of days on the water together, training hard to figure out what exactly a twing is and why precisely my feet have to go in this bay rather than the other.  It’s been an incredible ride so far–if you ignore all the bruises, at least–and I’m looking forward to the next couple weeks of training before our first event, the World Cup event in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, which begins on April 2.

Please continue to follow me as I travel this exciting, new, if not slightly bumpier road to the 2012 Games.   I am proud to join Team GOSAIL!!

Well, the forecast was correct, and breeze was anything but abundant today.  Though we set up and sailed out for a 1115 start, the tail end of a cold front prevented the RC from getting a race off until well after 1400.  Just as we were about to string up and head home, an unexpected SE’ly filled in despite the ominous clouds that had settled in on the bay around noon.  It held just long enough for the Radial fleet to get in one super light race before completely shutting off for the day.  I took advantage of a left shift with pressure up the first beat to round top 12 or so before beginning the epic battle against my collapsing main on the downwind, which went well–I picked off a couple boats and rounded 9th, choosing the gate that set me up again for the left pressure.  A sneaky rightie near the top of the beat allowed a couple boats to get ahead, but patience sailing rhumb line on the downwind and some leeward mark moves learned college sailing put me back to finish a safe 14th.  I sit now in 18th with three races planned for tomorrow.  Medal race is pretty far away, but with the NW’ly forecast, anything can happen!  Follow along LIVE here, and find results here.

A lack of downwind speed continues to plague my racing– despite rounding in the top ten nearly every beat, I still lack the wheels to keep myself there on the runs. A building southeasterly on day two reminded us all why hiking hard is so fast–but also why its critical to stay eyes wide open.   After a mediocre first race, a review of the weather forecast with our USSTAG coach Luther Carpenter reminded me that though the breeze was nearly to its forecast right numbers on the compass, the big surge in velocity that was forecast to drag it all the way had yet to come through.   Around two minutes to go, the breeze picked up noticeably and I decided to throw my usual conservatism to the wind and go for it, sending it nearly all the way to starboard lay before tacking.   Sailing alone and setting off for the corner is an approach I rarely have the confidence to try, but I certainly better understood its appeal when I rounded in first around the top mark… the course never feels quite so long as when the whole fleet’s behind you!   I finished that race in fifth, still hemorrhaging boatlengths on the runs, especially to the girls at the top.

Day three dawned wet and sloppy as a weak cold front passed through Miami in the morning before our racing, leaving a shifty, puffy westerly in its wake. Velocity was up and down, 5-15 kind of stuff.  The biggest battle, though, was with the weed!  Heaps and clump and shifty little submerged bits made efficient board-clearing techniques a huge factor in boatspeed all around the course.   The first race of the day was decidedly my drop–after deciding pre-start that the breeze was going to continue its right trend throughout the race, I executed what turned out to be precisely the wrong game plan for the first leg, what some would call the ‘anti-beat’.   A giant leftie with pressure filled just after the gun and never came back.   I then went on to choose the wrong side of every leg following that, trying desperately and ultimately in vain to make a come back.  The second race was marginally better, but a dying, right-trending breeze got the best of me on the second beat and I watched a top ten score sail away as I battled up the left side in a mess of chop and weed and less breeze.

Tomorrow is another day, though forecast looks pretty dismal, we’ll see how it plays out.  Results can be found here

Though the conditions were near perfect, my scores on day one left quite a bit to be desired.  Solid starts and first beats weren’t enough to make up for shockingly poor downwind speed–despite rounding both first marks in the top ten, I suffered on the runs.

Photo Credit: Dave Hein

After regrouping with USSTAG coach Luther Carpenter, I am refocused and ready to tackle the big breeze forecast for day two.  Follow along live here, results can be found here.

After nearly a month of training on Biscayne Bay with the US Sailing Team Alphagraphics, RMOCR 2011 is upon us.  Racing begins today for all classes–follow along LIVE with Facebook and Twitter here.