Greetings Race Fans,

Today was a great day. After two races at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta we stand in second overall and the first American team. The French, third at the 2005 World Championships, are in first. Third, behind us, is the top British team, which was second at the Worlds. And the World Champions, the Dutch team, are further back in the standings after an OCS in the first race. There are 16 women's teams here, 6 of which were in the top ten finishers at the World Championships this past summer.

The first race was held in about 8 knots of breeze. We had a good start towards the pin (left) end of the starting line. Our fast forward speed was good but our height, although good compared to the majority of the fleet, wasn't quite as good as a couple boats. We are using a brand new main sail for this event that is a different shape than any sail we have used before. So we anticipated some touch and go learning how to best set our mast up to handle the needs of the sail. We rounded the windward mark in 4th. We had good reaching speed and were right behind the boats in front of us. On the first downwind leg we passed one boat and rounded the leeward mark in third. On the next beat we got passed by the French. We rounded the next windward mark in fourth. We almost passed the French back downwind but didn't have quite enough to get them before going onto the tight reach to the finish. A fourth place was a strong first finish to start the series out with.

The wind began to die down and the second race was in 5-7 knots. We had another great start at the pin end. We had made some mast angle and bend adjustments after the first race so we had solved the height problems in the first race while maintaining our speed. We were probably the fastest and highest boat up the first beat and rounded the first mark in first place. We held on to first on the first downwind leg and rounded with the French right behind us again. We rounded the right gate mark, which put us to the right of the French. A left shift came in, and they passed us by a few boat lengths by the next windward mark. We gained on them on
the tight reach and were right on their heels. We were unable to pass them on the last downwind leg or final reach and finished a close second with the rest of the fleet further back.

Having finished with a solid first day, we are excited for tomorrow. We stand in second overall, only 2 points behind first! Unfortunately tomorrow's forecast looks bleak with the possibility of no races due to lack of wind.

There were also some other great US performances in other fleets today. The US is in first in the 49er, Laser Radial and Yingling classes as well!

You can find results online at http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/rolexmiamiocr/results/470_06.asp.

Cheers,
Erin and Alice