I never thought I'd spend Thanksgiving in Uruguay, but I'm thankful we are able to be here and I'm thankful for all of the support I continue to have that makes racing here possible. I hope anyone reading this is happy, healthy, and fortunate enough to have many blessings to count. Since there was a yacht club organized fiesta dinner at a nearby restaurant tonight, we'll be having a traditional thanksgiving dinner here tomorrow night (thanks to my mom and Rusty) with the sailors sharing our two condos with us.
We were supposed to have a lay day tomorrow, but we'll be racing instead since light air is predicted for Saturday and they'd like to have 9 total for the regatta. We did get two races off eventually today after many shifts and postponements (6 hours of sailing for two races just like yesterday). For conditions and reports on the action in the front of the fleet, please check out Jerelyn Biehl's daily blog report which has a link from the WH&O 2008 regatta site's results and photo page.
I'd love to be in the front of the fleet, but I'm just hoping to get more finishes in the 30's (20's would be amazing). I've heard the level of competition in this particular Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship is the highest it has been in 8 years (many of the sailors are current/former national, world, and Olympic champions). Christin and I are definitely improving and enjoying small victories even if our finishes don't show it. Considering this is her 3rd Snipe regatta and my 4th (my 1st international regatta), and I haven't skippered many dinghy regattas since college, I think we're doing well against such skilled and experienced sailors.
Since we've had another day of windy sailing, I'm exhausted, so here is my quick list of best/worst parts of the day ("best and worst" is a dinner conversation we often have with our sons):
Worst:
- breaking three separate but very important little shock cords on our boat
- waiting for races to start and getting chilled
- starting second row even though I'd been luffing at 1 min. 30 sec. within a boat length of the line...I am still working on timing and aggression
- getting rolled by 4 boats on the first reach
- sailing toward the harbor against huge gusts and drenching waves
- other U.S. team members' struggles and disappointments
- my very sunburned legs from wearing a shortie wetsuit yesterday (and sunscreen that kept washing off with all of the spray)
- sore elbow and knees
- not getting to talk with my dad on Thanksgiving
- finding out we race during the lay day and probably last one Saturday
- news reports about terrorist attacks in India
Best:
- spending a little time with Rusty, Mom, and my boys before leaving this morning (Taylor and Barrett happily greeted me with their beach towels tied on as capes over their PJ's)
- having Doogie's efficient help with making a new rudder pin with shock cord
- hearing Leandro's praise about how much we're improving
- playing the shifts and keeping our boat trimmed well so we made gains upwind
- successfully getting around a very crowded windward mark from the port layline
- crossing tacks and jibing with even more aggressive sailors in 2nd race today
- doing better on the second reaches with boat handling and keeping up with other boats
- passing out thank-you munchies to everyone on the U.S. team during derigging because everyone has helped us at some point
- hearing the voices of my in-laws and Rusty's brother via Skype
- having a nice evening with my family
- sharing dessert with Peter Commette and hearing sailing stories--he's a proud dad, accomplished sailor, and now a friend I'm very honored to have
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