Hello from St. Petersburg, Florida.
We are here to sail the 470 Nationals (10-11 October) and the 470 Pre-Olympic Trials (15-18 October). We flew into Tampa late Thursday night (8 October). Thank you, CompuCom, for flying us here!
When we got in, we discovered that every single rent car in the city was booked already, so we had to take a taxi to our accommodations. The next morning we managed to rent a car from a second-hand car rental place. Our car is very interesting: it has over 100,000 miles on it, we can start it without a key, the back right brakes rumble/grind when we come to a stop, and the whole car shudders at 65 mph. There are only two dents on the passenger's side, and the paint is peeling just a little on the roof; but we like the car because the back seat folds down and our long sail box fits just right going into the trunk from the front seat. The radio even works after it warms up for fifteen minutes and we hit a bump so the speakers come on. The lady at the rental car desk said not to drive the car over 100 miles a day; we have determined that this is for our own safety. A regatta car indeed!
Friday we unpacked our boat from the forty foot metal container that was shipped from the Worlds in Spain and rigged up to go sailing. We went out at 2:30 p.m. and sailed till about 5:00 p.m., with flat water and wind of 6-11 knots. We had a few boats to practice with. Fourteen are registered; men's and women's fleets are sailing together.
We tried out a new spinnaker design that is supposed to be better on the downwind legs (running) and it looked pretty good. We measured the new spinnaker on shore and compared it to our normal one. It is a little wider.
Today, Saturday, we were scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. We got out to the racecourse and the breeze died. So we sat around until 4:00 p.m. and started in a little breeze out of the southeast. The current was going about 0.8 knots downwind. We started on port in the middle of the line, wanting to go right to the predicted sea breeze.
We had okay wind, but it was shifting back and forth and slowly going left. We caught a couple of small shifts trying to work back left to most of the fleet, but after about twenty minutes we were halfway there when the breeze died. We had the last of it along with a couple of other boats, but then the race committee abandoned the race, so we drifted back to the starting line with the current.
Not long after that, the committee abandoned for the day and towed us all in.
There are fifteen boats here, and one is actually from Jamaica. [Note from Beanard--not sure whether Paul really means fifteen, or only fourteen as he states above.] Morgan Reeser is here, so it might be a good test.
Unfortunately, no wind is expected for tomorrow and it is our last day of sailing for the 470 Nationals. Per the race instructions, one race constitutes a regatta. Hopefully, we'll get at least one race in.
More tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello from St. Petersburg, FL. Today is Day 2 of the U.S. 470 National Championship Regatta, and is the last day of racing. Fourteen boats are here--not a lot, but some pretty good ones. The course is a windward leeward twice around, finishing downwind.
Start today was at 9:30 a.m. Forecast was for light and variable winds, so we were not sure how many races we would get in. We got lucky, however, and had a good north wind of 5-10 knots. The wind was coming off the shore, so we had a lot of shifts. The current was going upwind at 0.8 knots (pretty strong).
We had seven races today and finally got back to the dock at 5:00 p.m. It was a long day.
Race 1
We got off to a good start, but at the end of the first beat we got
tacked on a few times by Morgan Reeser, and that hurt us.
We rounded the last weather mark in fourth, but were able to pass one boat downwind. Morgan Reeser and Kevin Burnham were second (these guys have been to the last three Olympics and earned a Silver Medal in 1992), and Tracy Haley and Louise VanVoorhis (a good womenıs team) won.
Race 2
We rounded the first loop in third, but on the second beat we got
past the two boats ahead by getting a good right shift in the wind,
then a puff. We held on to win. The Steve Hunt/Mike Miller team
(good college All-Americans) came in second, Tracy/Louise third,
and Morgan/Kevin fourth.
Race 3
It's pretty foggy in my mind now, but I think we played the left side
of the course this race. We were watching the smokestacks on
shore, and they seemed to be telling a left shift compared to what
was on our racecourse. We still had to play the shifts, but we
generally worked left. We won, Tracy/Louise were second and
Morgan/Kevin were fourth.
Race 4
We were leading this race at the top mark, but got passed by
Tracy/Louise on the first run. We caught them on the next beat, but
they got the last shift and went on to win. We were second.
Race 5
It was starting to look like a race between Tracy/Louise and us.
This race we had a really good start in the middle of the line. A
left
shift came in and we were looking good, with Tracy and Louise deep.
We played the shifts well and went on to win, while Tracy/Louise
were fourth.
Race 6
We started at the pin this race, and the wind went left and we got a
puff. We took the gift and went on to win by a bit with Tracy/Louise
finishing third.
We were pretty far ahead now, with one race left, but we did not know if we had ever had a Premature Start (which would have cost us a big penalty in our score), so we sailed that last race hoping we were okay.
We tried a new technique with the jib this race. When the wind got so light that Bob was sitting inside the boat, we let the jib lead (a control on the boat that helps determine the shape of the front sail) up instead of letting the jib sheet out. This still keeps the proper twist in the sail, but it also keeps the sail flat for the smooth water. We will have to try this more to see if it really works.
Race 7
The wind picked up for this race to 8-12 knots and shifted left 40
degrees. I think a little of the sea breeze came in. The current
had
shifted to going straight upwind.
We tried to start at the pin but ended up going backwards at the start. We struggled for clear air and finally found some going left, which was the way we wanted to go.
We rounded the weather mark in fifth but had a great run to catch up to the lead pack. The pack rounded the right gate mark and we rounded the left. We instantly got into third with the Hunt/Miller team winning and Louise/Tracy in third, but we were close.
We hit a good right shift to pull even, then ducked the leader to stay away from the lay line. We got one more shift and rounded ahead and covered on the run to win the last race.
We are the 1998 U.S. National Champions in the Olympic 470 class.
We sailed well, but know we can sail better and faster.
Very good racing and very good practice. Today was similar to Sydney Harbour racing except that the current was a little stronger and we had a little more chop.
Yea, Team!!!!
On Thursday, 15 October 1998, the U.S. Pre-Trials begin in the same waters we sailed in today. Instead of running windward/leeward courses, the committee probably will run trapezoids since that is what will be used in the Olympics.
More then.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Thanks to everyone for their help in getting us here.
Especially, thanks to Jay and Robin Kuebel for letting us stay at
their house during these regattas.
Thanks to CompuCom for the AAdvantage miles to get us here.
Thanks to American Airlines for letting us take our large sail box on
the airplane free of charge (Carrie made some phone calls to make
this happen).
Thanks to RCYC Commodore Jeff Kerr for keeping the Team 2000 web
page up to date.
Thanks to Beanard and Mr. Beanard for editing and broadcasting the
reports.
And, most of all, thanks to Carrie for putting up with all this,
especially during our 4th wedding anniversary.
Note from Carrie:
The main competition for Paul and Bob at this regatta did not turn
out to be Morgan and Kevin as might have been expected. Tracy Haley
and Louise VanVoorhis were constantly either in the lead or battling
Paul and Bob for it. Morgan often was not far behind, but never had
what it took to catch up. After six races, Morgan and Kevin sailed by
the chase boat I was on and Kevin complained to me, "Carrie, I'm sick
of your husband beating us all the time!"
I smiled and told him, "Go kick his butt then, Kevin!"
At the next start, Morgan shadowed Paul closely and was part of the cause of Paul's sailing backwards at the gun instead of forward. I wondered if I had spurred the heat Morgan needed to muster up all his energy and wipe Paul out, but two marks later Morgan was history and Paul won the race comfortably.
Morgan and Kevin haven't sailed together for maybe eight months, so they are rusty as a team. Kevin is forty years old (maybe a little older) and will tell you himself, "I'm too old for this!" None of us are doubting, however, that a rebound in their performance is imminent; but will it be enough? That is the exciting part that remains to be seen.
Morgan is leaving the day after the Pre-Trials to get married in Italy, and he also recently started a new job that occupies twelve hours a day at work. Plenty of factors are coming together to make this an exciting journey. Thanks for your support--and stay tuned!
Final Scores - 1998 U.S. 470 National Championship Regatta (top five places): Foerster/Merrick [3] 1 1 2 1 1 1 7 Tracy/Louise 1 3 2 1 4 3 [5] 14 Morgan/Kevin 2 4 4 [5] 2 4 2 18 Hunt/Miller 6 2 7 7 [7] 2 3 27 Suter/Buhler 4 8 9 3 6 6 [15] 36