In my last blog we were on the eve of a BDOTW (Big Day On The Water for those who aren't familiar with my ridiculous acronyms), Our start time was brought forward and the maximum number of races per day was pulled for the sailing instructions. Over the day we had a fairly strong breeze which slowly fizzled out, we also had 5 races! For us guys without a coach at that stage, it was a bit of a struggle to ration food and water to last that long, but fortunately it hadn't quite turned into a 'Lord of the Flies' chapter by the end. Nik and I sailed well and were going pretty quick, conditions were hard with gusts and shifts all over the place. We sailed a very consistent top 10 day and ended the regatta in a respectable 7th overall.
It was great to be racing in Miami again and was the perfect reminder of the tricky and changeable conditions which are so common here. Following the punishing day on the water and after an unrelenting training block we had earned a rest day. Not that we needed it but to help us off to sleep that night, we participated in a very cultural engagement. Nik and I to on the beer pong table. Following a rapid education we were actually quite good at it! But before we had a chance to get too good, tiredness took over and we retreated to home.
After a well deserved lay-in, we used our rest day to get lost in what I can only believe is the worlds biggest mall, Jan and I made our mission to try and visit all of it, however I think we may have just wandered in circles as we seemed to pass the same shops fairly often. A few new t shirts and and roughly 47 million steps later we escaped. That evening we were lucky enough to get tickets to watch the Miami Heat play basketball. Despite all my best cheering and shouting the heat didn't quite pull it out of the bag, but we had a great time buying a big foam finger and waving it at a bunch of very tall men chasing a bouncy ball around a court!
Since then it has been back to business, Marcus our coach has arrived so we have spent most of our time checking in with him. We have done a lot of speed work to confirm the new sails which are feeling good. As i sit here now we are on a non sailing day before Miami world cup starts, we have registration and some boat work to do, and short sail and polishing tomorrow and then things kick off on Monday.
The event website is here,
http://miami.ussailing.org/
Cheers all for the support, you are Legends.
TP