North American's

Just got back from the N.A.'s.we had a great time with a week filled with lot's of memories.We finished tied for 14th but on a count back we dropped to 16th.Little dissappointing as we lost about 6 boats in the last half of the final leg down wind.Overall I feel pretty good about our speed and fleet management,and are start's .We only had one incident all week when after a great start we tried to cross the majority of the fleet and a boat came up and clipped our rudder,the 360 rattled us a bit and we had our worst result.High lites where being 3rd to A mark,rolling Enrique Figurioa upwind,finishing top 10 in one race,meeting a whole bunch of great people.
The final day was just a hoot to be on the water 12-15 knts,with sun and waves,champian sailing.A lot of people complained about the wind but we were happy we raced every day and there was only one day where there was no trap work.
Always learn something new.We seemed to rig a little tighter then most other boats.A lot of the boats straiten up there mast down wind.We had an interesting start on the last day,we were about 2/3rd's of the way down the line toward's the pin with about a min. to go.Then a little lefty came thru and a couple boats got over top of us.So we tacked out and crossed on port at the committee boat after the last boat had crossed.We had Pedro Colon just ahead and to leeward.We sailed on his hip all the way out to the lay line and ended up rounding top 10.Kind of a nice tactic to have.We had clean air,no worries of being over early,and you could tack back into the middle at any times with right's,
Overall places where I could improve is I think I could sail a little more aggressively.We tended to stay more in the middle as opposed to committing to one side.Also we ducked a lot of boats we could have crossed,especially at A mark.Having the experience from last years North American's helped a lot.Doing this with my Daughter and having my Wife there made it special.

Division 7 Chapionship

Twenty one Hobie 16's on the line.Great fleet included guest expert Wally Myers.Six races total.Satuurday the wind was up and down very shifty,poor start line's(two races the start was so port favored you had to cross on port).First race,poor start did a nice job of recovering to 4th.Wally started way back and came from nowhere to pass us at the line.Top four boats crossed the line within 20 seconds.Third race of the day had a great start looked like we where going to blow every one away but slowly lost ground(got outside on a few lifts)and settled for 4th.Last race was delayed with some shifty winds.Race commitee decided to run a really short course(weather mark was only about 500m out.Made for a very tight pack.Had a good race going but ended up double tacking at A mark the second time around and lost about 4 boats,lost another boat at the finish(went to wrong end)ended up 9th our worst result.Sunday the wind was a little steadier.First race we got rolled at the start,hit the back of a boat that had stalled,did a 360 then worked up the middle and started picking off boats.Recovered to a very satisfying 4th.Last race had a great start went out about 500m got a nice header and port tacked the fleet(sweet).We where getting a nice lift up to A mark then the wind started to die a head us a little.We hung on to round second right behind Wally.We had a great downwind duel,we let him off the hook on one port starboard crossing.Wally used a real questionable tactic at the gate where he had to jibe and left a nice opening for us to go inside.He jammed his rudders over to stall his boat head to wind,we had to do a quick stop to avoid hitting him.We ended up bearing off and getting even and to leeward as the two of us raced off to the port lay line.When we both tacked over we sailed into light winds and a header.Slim came from the right and crossed us.On the last weather leg we all went right we tacked off a little early up the middle and passed Wally.Slim held on to first we held Wally off to finish 3rd.6th place overall not real happy with the result as I felt we had the best boat speed in the fleet(considering I was sailing with my son so our total weight was 330lbs.My Daughter finished 3rd with Slim.Sohn won and Wally second.
A bonus to the Regatta was I got a Wed. night Laser race in with the local fleet.I sailed a 1976 old vintage boat to first for the night over 15 other local Laser guys.