CISA Regatta

The last day of the CISA clinic was a day of racing. It was light in the morning but picked up to around 12knots by the time we got the first race off. This was the time to put the three days of training to the test and to work on what I had learned in a racing situation.

The first race I had a good start but let two people get leveraged out to the right side of me. I came to the windward mark in third place and proceded to pass one of the two on the downwind and kept my position for the rest of the race. The second race did not start out so well, having weeds on my centerboard for the first half of the upwind. That put me in 7th at the windward mark, however I was able to stay attatched to the main pack and on the next downwind I went to work. With my newly aquired skills for sailing downwind I was able to keep the boat moving and worked my way past three boats by the bottom mark. That was a great accomplishment for me and I ended up in fourth in that race overall. There were three races to follow, one of which I fouled into a bad postion, and my scores were 6-2-1 which was enough for second place.

The CISA clinic is an overall great experience and I suggest it to anyone looking to improve their laser skills!

CISA Day Three

After three days of morning work outs, two sessions of intense training on the water, and debriefs after every one I feel like I have gotten lots of somethings accomplished. A couple things that stuck out to me was the improvement on my starting ability, a change in my downwind technique, and the ability to handle mark rounding both tactically and from a boat handling perspective. Zach and Brett have been great coaches each bringing something different to the table.

Zach has driven in the importance of goal setting for everything in sailing and also outside of sailing. Once I get on board with writing my long term, short term, and sub goals I believe it will help drive me to my destination. This along with the coaching, the sailing, and the great enjoyment I have gotten out of this grueling schedule tells me that I am ready to commit to full time training when the time comes.

CISA- Training in Long Beach

Exhausted is an understatement. After waking up at 6:30, arriving at the club at 8, doing a morning work out, sailing for 6 hours, debriefing, and listening to a speaker it is now 9pm and I am finally back to the house. It was a productive day however, the coaches (Brett Davis and Zach Riley) are amazing, both having great sailing careers with Zach having got a silver medal at the last Olympic games. This is a great oppurtunity and I look forward to the three days I have left here!

Mid-Wests Day Three

This past week has been a busy one. With adjusting to the time change, catching up on missed school work, chores, and piano. But back to the last day of Mid-Winters in San Francisco the sailing turned out to be great.

Before we left the dock I was sitting in third place ahead of fourth place by two points and ahead of fifth by 5 but knowing that by doing the 6th race they would drop high scores. As we headed out to the course we new we were in for a classic San Francisco windy day. The first race was started when the wind was still a bit patchy and staying in the pressure was important. Down wind the waves were easily surfable in the breeze but in the lulls those who could keep surfing gained huge distance. The first race after several place changes I ended up third.

The last race of the regatta was just once around the outside. I had a clear start yet I was on the wrong end of the line so I knew I would have some fighting to do in the solid 18knot breeze. Rounding the windward in 7th I wasn't too bad off because the top of the fleet was still close. On the reach I dove low and passed one person right off the mark. After rounding the next mark in fifth after someones mast step had broken, I managed to pass one more person down wind. Then I flipped at the leeward mark getting pasted by three boats i got right back up. Fortunately they went too high on the long reach so I passed them back along with another leader who had flipped twice. After rounding the last leeward mark there was no time to gain anyone else so I rounded out the regatta with another fourth.

Unfortunatley this was not enough to stay in third. After a good day from both fourth and fifth places I slid back to fifth. Loosing the tie breaker for fourth, one point out of third and five out of first. Though it was I finished on the disapointing side of those points it was a succesful regatta in the fact that I was very consistant never finishing worse than fifth after the first race, and had a good start almost every race.

Mid Wests. Day 2

Two more races were held today. The day started off very slow with the wind never staying still and never getting much past 4 knots. After an hour of postponement the race committe decides to go for it. The black flag was in effect so I wanted to be careful especially with the current pushing everyone over the line. I managed to squeeze out a lane for the drag race to the windward on port and was top ten rounding the first mark. After that I passed a few boats on the downwind and scraped a 5 out of that very slow race.

Once that race finished, the wind died and we sat around for about an hour and a half. What happened next was close to a mirracle. After hours of nothing the wind shifted and the breeze filled in from the west at 15 knots coming right under the golden gate bridge! This race was solid from start to finish, after a good start, rounding the windward in third and someone dropping out from a bfd I finshed 2nd to end the day! Im standing in third overall after two days.

Mid West

The 5 hour flight out was quite uneventful, and it's the first time I have seen mountains from the air. The streets of San Francisco are very steep and the cab driver was crazy! Thankfully I arrived at the venue unscathed, found the boat I am staying on, found my laser charter, and ate a pizza. Last night I got a solid eleven hours of sleep and the first race today started at a chill one in the afternoon.

The first race was cancelled due to a large lefty as I was in the lead. The wind picked up to around 12-15 knots and we had three races to follow. I had a slow start in the first one but ended up finishing seventh. The next two races I had clean starts and finished out the day with a 5 and 3. Two more days of sailing to come!!

Laser Mid-Winters San Francisco Bay, CA

Laser Mid-Winters will be my first competition of 2010. It is an ISAF sanctioned event and one of the many regattas that earns points for the 2010 Grand Prix . This years goal is to place well in the Grand Prix standing in the Radial division.


After several months of being confined to the gym and looking at frozen lakes I am very excited to get on the water and test my new fitness level and see what progress has been made. This is going to be an exciting start to what is sure to be an eventful year!