9th at CORK

This past week I placed 9th at the CORK regatta in Kingston, Ontartio. This made me 4th American in the 120 boat fleet against the best competition that we have had in North America this summer. Canada's Bernard Luttmer, who is ranked 12th in the world, won the regatta on his home turf in tricky conditions that made it very hard to be consistent. A frontal weather system was fighting the normal southwest Kingston lake-breeze, which made the wind shifty and random throughout the five day event. Many sailors were heard screaming at the wind mid-race as it shifted away from them or as a huge puff filled in on the opposite side of the race course.

I sailed well overall, although I kept myself from having a really great result by being too conservative on the second day of the regatta. The Pin end of the starting line was heavily favored, but there was a black flag up throughout the day, meaning that any sailor who sailed over the starting line before the starting gun would be automatically disqualified. I didn't want to take that risk, and so I started away from the pack. It was a safer move, but it essentially gave half the fleet a head start in each of the three races we did that day. I learned my lesson, and I will certainly be on the attack throughout the Olympic Trials Regatta in October! It is a winner take-all event, so the challenge will be knowing when to make aggressive moves and go for the win, and when to play it safe and mark down some consistent scores. Ah, sailboat racing!