Hello Racing Fans!

As we predicted, we raced three races yesterday, finishing 2nd, 5th, and 4th. We are currently tied with Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler for 2nd with 16 points, but losing on the tie-breaker. Stu McNay and Graham Biehl are winning the regatta handily. It was another beautiful day with a light sea breeze, fighting against the Santa Anna winds.

Overall, our tactics improved from yesterday, which was exciting. In the first race we gained a lot of boats at the first windward mark, tacking short of layline, while the other boats sailed slowly on layline. We were in 2nd at the top mark, and held there for the entire race.

In the second race, we had a beautiful start down by the pin. We tacked over to cross and cover the fleet, and Erin, while attempting to cleat the vang, one of her sail controls, accidentally dropped Isabelle in the water! It was way too early in the day to go swimming! We were in about 3rd or 4th for most of the race until we were caught on the right side in no wind with a big wind shift left. Amanda moved from 5th to 1st, and we dropped down to 5th.

In the third race we won the pin again and worked the left side of the race-course. We tacked and were in third place at the windward mark. We had a bad set, our first bad boathandling maneuver of the regatta, and were immediately rolled by the boat behind us. We held even in 4th to finish the race.

We have four more races to sail, and are excited for each minute. Today's forecast looks much the same as yesterday's, with a stronger sea-breeze filling in tomorrow.

Thanks especially to the Hogan family who has been letting us use their motor-boat as a coach boat for the whole week.

Best,
Erin and Isabelle

p.s. Thanks also to our coaches for the weekend of boathandling at YCYC, Jonathan Farrar and Stu McNay.