Very sorry that I am so late on my latest update. A lot has happened in the last 6 weeks and I have been running non stop. Finally after the Princess Sophia regatta in Palma, I was able to get a little rest at home in Annapolis. It was much needed as my schedule following this was completely full.
I flew back to Barcelona April 15th, picked up my truck and Kanaloa and drove her to Hyeres, France, the location for the final USA 2.4 M Team trials. I collected Fuzz Spanhake the next day in Nice, and we went to work. It was a very productive window of time making sure my boat and myself were competition ready. Kanaloa felt faster and knowing this gave me the confidence I needed to pull these trials off.
Fast forward to the trials, if you remember, I was going in 3 points down after my Murphy’s Law regatta in Miami. I needed to have 2 boats between Charlie and myself to tie on points and win the trials. I felt a ton of pressure because all the work and help that I had received over the last year would have been a waste if the points went the wrong way.
The regatta started off with a normal, windy day in Hyeres, 28+ knots. We got in 1 race and I finished 4th. I sailed very conservatively in these conditions, as I did not want to swamp out. As luck would have it, Charlie was not so lucky and he and 7 other 2.4’s were not able to finish.
Click on to see video
The rest of the regatta was very light and I was nervous as Charlie is quite good in these conditions. Fuzz and my strategy was to give him some big number races so he could not recover from his DNF. I sailed with the idea to put as many boats in between us as possible each race. I was successful in doing this, and by the last day, I was able to finally look ahead instead of behind and just sail. That day was my best, and I finished the last race with that good lead was the icing on the cake for me. Ultimately I finished 6th, 7 points out of 3rd place. I had some good races and sailed consistently to win my spot on the US Team for Rio 2016. WOW!!!
1 | AUS | AUS-41 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | (7) | 1 | 2 | 24.00 | 17.00 | |
2 | NOR | NOR1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | (10) | 1 | 2 | 6 | 35.00 | 25.00 | |
3 | FRA | FRA13 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | (10) | 5 | 41.00 | 31.00 | |
4 | GBR | GBR 175 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | (12) | 45.00 | 33.00 | |
5 | GER | GER 1 | (20)
DNF |
4 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 55.00 | 35.00 | |
6 | USA | USA 7 | 4 | 7 | (9) | 4 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 47.00 | 38.00 | |
7 | GBR | GBR 141 | (20)
RET |
6 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 60.00 | 40.00 | |
8 | ITA | ITA 104 | 2 | 9 | 4 | (14) | 5 | 5 | 14 | 7 | 60.00 | 46.00 | |
9 | FIN | FIN 173 | (20)
DNF |
16 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 82.00 | 62.00 | |
10 | FRA | FRA 5 | 7 | (18) | 12 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 88.00 | 70.00 |
Fuzz and I packed Kanaloa up straight away, and the next day I drove off to Lake Garda, Italy for a quick set up before flying out the next day for NY and the USA Olympic and Paralympic Team fund raiser at the NYYC. The NY Sailing Foundation put on a great event that night. They raised some serious $$$, all of which has since been passed along to each USA Olympic Sailing and Para Team to help out with the ongoing costs of running our campaigns. The next day saw Joc and I flying back together for a nice change to Lake Garda. What a beautiful place! Everything that everyone told us was all true. I can’t believe we have never had the pleasure of sailing there before.
The Garda Trentino Olympic Week regatta started well in light air. I had a 1,2 and was happy with a good lead. Coming from salt water it was interesting racing on a fresh water again. Lake Tahoe sailing was a long time ago for me. The 2.4’s were racing with 2 other classes on their course. As a result there were lots of tell tales and with the 2.4 being so low in the water, it definitely helped me see the wind and shifts that 1st day.
No wind and no sailing on the 2nd day, but on the 3rd day there was plenty of breeze. I was not really ready for the breeze, wrong choice of sails, as I thought it would die out. But no, it came in harder. After an ok but not great 1st race, I finished 4th. Next race, I was leading in good breeze and short chop. Went to gybe into the gate and stuck the bow in, next thing Kanaloa was 1/2 full of cold water. I had to get through the gate and bail out. Made it through, only to have 2 big waves from the passing Sonars swamp me. Another DNF. I really have to stop doing this. After bailing the boat out with help, I was being towed back in thinking I was to lose 2 races that day. Closer to shore and into some smoother water, I had a change of heart and decided to head back out and try to sail the last race. After being almost 4 minutes late to the start, I went on to pass 5 boats to take an 11th.
The final day saw light air conditions again, but the committee got us out on the course earlier for 2 more races. I had another 2,1 day. I know I should have had a better regatta, more rookie mistakes, so I was thrilled with a 2nd place.
Numero | Nome | Punti | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
1 | AUS 41 | Bugg Matt, Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania | 10,0 | (7) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
2 | USA 7 | Smith Dee, Golden Gate YC & Storm Trysai | 21,0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | (dns) | 11 | 2 | 1 |
3 | FIN 173 | Salomaa Niko, Turun Pursiseura | 21,0 | 1 | (12) | 8 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
4 | ITA 104 | Squizzato Antonio, Canottieri Garda Salò | 23,0 | (11) | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
5 | ESP 879 | Melgarejo Borja, RCMT PUNTA UMBRIA | 29,0 | 6 | 2 | (ret) | 5 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
6 | AUS 38 | Patterson Neil, RBYC | 32,0 | 4 | (9) | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
7 | ESP 15 | Montes Vorcy Arturo, RCMT Punta Umbria | 39,0 | (14) | 8 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
8 | ESP 7 | Maestre Antonio, RCR Cartagena | 39,0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | (10) |
9 | ESP 509 | Andarias Rafa, Club Náutico de Jávea | 39,0 | (9) | 4 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
10 | ITA 2 | Arasio Andrea, clud del mare a.s.d. | 56,0 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 10 | (14) | 14 |
All packed up, prize giving over, the following morning Joc and I sadly said goodbye to Lake Garda and all the other teams staying at the hotel,and headed towards Geneva airport and Joc’s flight home, while I kept driving to Calais and the ferry to England to pick up my new mast tube at Super Spars. It was a good excuse to catch up with an old sailing mate Eddy Ward Owens and Sue before leaving for Medemblik, Holland the next day for the last of my 2.4 races in Europe, the Delta Lloyd Regatta and the 2016 Para Worlds.
I was very fortunate to have some free housing compliments of Marc Blees from Gaastra. This ended up being a wonderful blessing in disguise as I was going to need all of his local contacts in a hurry. Maru Urban, my new coach arrived from Brazil, and our set up went well. Fernando brought up some new sails to try out from Quantum, Barcelona.
Day 1. Felt pretty good going in. The sails were the best so far. The boat felt good all around. But I never got to race that day.
Six minutes before the first start, I was holed. Boom!. Now we really had a bit on. With great help from the locals, Maru, Fernando and Marc, Kanaloa was taken to the Contessa Yard where they worked on her over night. Those guys did such a great job putting her back together. I went on to get redress that night, and was back on the water ready to race the next day. She still needs some work, so now what should I do with my boat? I had planned on racing her in Rio. Should I send her down there, or do I have to get a new boat at this late stage? So all week I was racing physically and mentally under pressure, my head was not really in the game and I ended sailing just ok, choking in the last 3 races. I think I just ran out of gas at the end. With all of this happening around me, I managed to finish up with a 5th in a very strong fleet. I even won a race. If I got through this, then I think I am ready to do battle in Rio and I am taking Kanaloa with me to do the job.
Results here: http://www.deltalloydregatta.org/results/
Immediately after the races were over, we dropped Kanaloa off at the boxing place. She was professionally crated up and should be landing in Rio today.
The new plan is to send the part below and have it scarfed in to make the repair as good as new in Rio.
Should be good, right? Brazil is not the easiest place to get things into. I am flying down to Rio this evening, hopefully Kanaloa will have cleared customs without any glitches, and I can begin my 2 boat testing with Maru. On June 15-21 there is a local regatta which be a useful gauge of where I am at with sailing in the Rio currents and interesting winds conditions down there. This is what I have been working towards for 15 months and I am really looking forward to putting it all together and have all the pieces fit. Stay tuned.
Dee