By Paul Didham
Laser Midwinters East was held, as always, in Clearwater Florida. Over the three (first day was canceled) day regatta, I saw a wide range of conditions. This tested my transition between the wind ranges. There were two big take aways from the regatta. First was timing on the start. Second was timing on the shifts. All things considered the event went well.
The first day was canceled due to the strong cold front, with winds gusting up to 37 knots. The second day of the regatta there was less wind. Plus chilly weather it was 35 degrees. With three races scheduled for the day, and it being the first qualifying day I decided to sail conservatively. This came to haunt me in the first race. After the start the two radial fleets combined, I lead out to the right side with a pack of boats that were in my fleet, but as I came back to the top things did not look good. The majority of my fleet had gone left. This was a devastating blow, one that I was unable to come back from. With one big score, I changed my tactics. I would sail aggressively; I would fight to be the first boat on the lifted tack. This new approach worked even though I missed a few shifts I was able to finish in 6th the seconded race and 7th in the third race.
The third day, the last day of the qualifying series, I was greeted by similar conditions as the day before. The breeze was up and down, gusting to 15 knots and lulls down to 10 knots. Using the same strategy as the previous day I was able to finish in 12th and then 7th in the fourth and fifth races. Then things started to get weird, the forecast predicted for the breeze to shut off. Then fill in from the sea breeze direction. After the start the breeze was starting to decrease. I took this as an indication that the sea breeze would soon fill in. At the bottom gate I rounded and protected the right side. During this beat the breeze died on the right (where I was) but not on the left. Next thing I knew I was close to last place, the fact that I had been in 10th made it worse. This taught me a very viable lesson, you can’t predict the weather.
The last day of the regatta was tough. During the first race I had a bad start. I was able to play the shifts to come back to a 25th. The second race was the complete opposite of the first. I had a great start rounded the top mark in 6th, yet during the seconded upwind beat I got out of phase with the shifts. That costed me heavily.
In the end I finished 19th/118. I now know what to work on: timing the starts, and timing the shifts. That will be my focus for the weeks leading up to Laser Midwinters West. As a finial note, I would like to thank the competition fund for supporting me.