Dear Friends,

So, again, for the abreviated version, we are 33rd overall after three days of qualifying races, just missing gold fleet by 3 points. If you want the skinny on the action, please read on!

Yesterday, Friday, September 8th, was the second day of racing here at the 470 Worlds in Rizhao, China. We sailed 3 races in light to medium winds. In the first race we got a great start, too great in hindsight, heading to the left side of the upwind leg. We were caught on the outside a 30 degree right shift. With the race course skewed to the wind, there were not many passing opportunities. At the end of the race we learned that we were over the starting line early, earning us an OCS (On Course Side = last place + 1 in the points). Later on another American team who had been watching the start told us that we were only about 1 foot over!

The second race started out much better than the first: after getting bounced around off the starting line, we had a great lane going left on a rightie lift. We stayed on starboard until a good leftie came in, tacked over, and were... 2nd at the windward mark! As we dropped the spinnaker at the end of the downwind we broke the bungee that helps pull up the spinnaker. Not a problem then, but it would be a problem when we went to set the spinnaker on the next downwind -- Erin had to manually pull up the spinnaker, and we ultimately lost about 10 boats on the next upwind as we untangled a knot that had developed in the halyard, preventing the spinnaker from going down all the way. On the last downwind we had a great leeward mark rounding, hanging tough in approximately 16th, fending off a big pack from behind. The finish reach was very deep, and we were disoriented right at the finish as we had to gybe to get down to the left end of the finish line. We forgot to gybe across the line, and lost all of the boats that we had held off, finishing 21st in that race.

The third race would be our best. We had a great start going left, like the previous race. We were in the top pack the entire way around. The only hiccup was a minor incident where we fouled another boat port-starboard and had to spin a 720, losing four boats. We crossed the line in 11th. The icing on the cake of our day of snafu's was that we forgot to sign in on land, adding another 3 points to our score (DPI--Discretionary Penalty Imposed).

At the end of the day we were 35th overall with one race left in the qualifying series, 7 points out of qualifying in 30th. We knew we needed a good race today to make up those points.

Today was a beautiful day -- the best we've had here! We could actually see a clear, blue sky (it has been "hazy" every other day)! It was sunny, warm and windy, mid-teens. One of those days where you feel extremely lucky to be exactly where you are! We only had one race. We started near the pin end of the line, the left end, in bad air and went left. A big right shift filled in and we found ourselves towards the back of the fleet. On the second upwind we caught a huge left shift, passing about 12 boats all at once! We passed boats and were passed back here and there, crossing the finish line in 12th.

This evening, after all the protests and penalties, we are in 33rd overall, only 3 points out of qualifying for Gold Fleet. Looking back on yesterday, there were many, many different opportunities for us to have gotten those three points back. While it is extremely frustrating to feel like our scores were self-inflicted, those problems are also the easiest to fix.

While disappointed about not qualifying for Gold Fleet, we are looking forward to five great days of racing in the Silver Fleet against many solid teams, including other Olympians. Racing in the Silver Fleet will give us a chance to work on our racing tactics at the front of the fleet, and give us more opportunities to win races (something we both dearly love to do!). At the end of the Worlds, we will have sailed 12 days in a row, racing against the best in the world. Our time in the boat together will have increased by 300%, and we look for our skills and results to be much improved!

For the other American teams, Stu McNay/Graham Biehl and Mikee Anderson/Dave Hughes made Gold Fleet, as well as Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler in the women.

Thank you all for your support. We appreciate it very much, especially from half way around the world!

Erin & Isabelle