I am in Clearwater, Florida for the Laser Midwinters East regatta. Racing runs February 23-26.
Results can be found here.
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Thursday, February 23
Today was the first day of racing. We had 12-16 knots from the south with big waves slightly skewed to the wind. In the first race I had a decent start and was in the top 3 coming into the weather mark, but got into some trouble and had to do a double tack and rounded around 8. I passed a few boats throughout to finish 5. In the second race I had a good spot on the line, but did not have good speed after the start. I made some gains, but was not quick on the first run, and was left a bit back. I passed a few boats on the last run to finish 10. In the last race I had a good start, and held my lane nicely out to the left. I rounded the weather mark around 5, and was a few spots up and down throughout the race but finished 5. After 3 races I am in 5th, with more of the same conditions forecast for tomorrow.
Friday, February 24
Today we had very similar conditions to yesterday. In the first race I got nicely punched off the start and rounded the weather mark 5, and held that spot until the finish. In the second race the wind died down to about 6 knots. I had a solid start again, but after a couple of minutes I fell into the boat below and was forced to tack out. It was a big duck on a large portion of the fleet, and I was left pretty far back. I was able to make a few gains throughout to finish 17. For the last race the breeze was back up. I had a good clear start again and rounded the weather mark 4th. I lost a couple of boats on the reach, passed them back on the run, and went on to finish 6. After 6 races, I am still in 5th overall. Tomorrow's forecast is for a strong northerly with big waves.
