The final day of the Miami OCR had the windiest conditions of the regatta with the biggest waves. When we first got out to the race course the wind was around 10 knots, but right before the first race the wind picked up to 15 knots with even bigger gusts! Mac and I struggled to get the boat set up for the conditions and ended up making it to the starting line with only 2 minutes before the start. Due to the boat not being properly set up, we were pretty slow in the first race. We rounded the last windward mark in 14th, but unfortunately we flipped over while gybing.
Before the 2nd race we had enough time to get our boat tuned properly and were definitely faster. On the 2nd upwind they had set a new windward mark, but Mac and I weren’t able to locate the new white mark until we had over-stood the port layline by about 10 boat-lengths. This cost us a few boats and we ended up finishing the race in 15th.
Going into the last race we were trailing the Russian team by one point and were in 11th place. After a great start at the boat we rounded the first windward mark in 9th, and after a good set and rest of the downwind we rounded the gate in 7th. After a bad second beat though, we rounded the windward mark in 12th behind the Russian team. We finished the race in 12th and ended up being 3 points out of 10th place. We were also passed by a Swedish team and the Bermuda team, which put us in 13th place for the regatta.
Mac and I were disappointed that we didn’t make the medal race, but are still proud of how we did and are generally happy with the way we sailed. For never have been in a 49er before training, Mac was a great fill in for Nate. He picked the boat up really quickly and I think our inexperience as a team only showed on the last day in the windier conditions.
Right now we are packing the boat up for a container to go out to Europe later this week. After taking care of loading the container and taking a week off from sailing, Nate and I hope to be back out on the water and practicing. I am really looking forward to having Nate back out on the water with me!