Robert Davis – Miami Training Dec 2006

December 24, 2006
Today was my first day back on the water since the National Qualifying Regatta in B.C. in October. After unloading the boat, I headed out at 11:30. On the long way out through the channel I was able to start working out most of the cobwebs, and get back into sailing mode. Once out in the bay, I started a short windward leeward course. This aimed at working on boat handling, and getting used to the boat again. After a while, the course was made longer, and I was able to work more on things related to course sailing. By now a cloud front started rolling in, and the wind began picking up, and stayed a steady 14. I decided to take advantage of the wind, and did a longer upwind. This allowed me to get used to sailing in the bay, particularly the chop created from motorboats and the wind changes. I finished the day off with a long downwind sail.

Weather: 28 degrees, 6 knots increasing to 14, sun.
Session time: 4.5 hours

December 25, 2006
Today, I decided to have a short session so I would not become too tired before the event. After breaking and jury-rigging my outhaul, I sailed out the channel, tacking every minute for 20 minutes. Once I got out in the open I sailed upwind for another 20 minutes. This showed me the area I would be sailing in a typical upwind, and gave me a better idea of the wind changes and the waves. Then I had a big downwind, all the way into the club. I am now fully comfortable in the boat again, both in light air and in heavy air. Tomorrow I will do some boat work and a light session, before the event starts on Wednesday.

Weather: 30 degrees, 15 knots gusting 18, partly cloudy.
Session time: 1.5 hours

December 26, 2006
Today was the last day of training before the event started. In the morning I finished up some boat work, ensuring my boat was in top condition before I started racing. I had initially hoped to have a training session with fellow OST member, Greg Clunies, but he was missing some gear so I was forced to go out by myself. Just as I was heading in from my session, Greg was launching so I went back out for a short while. We did some speed tuning, and some work on boat manoeuvres. While we were out a big front came through and the wind rapidly increased to 18 knots and we were able to train on some heavier air manoeuvres and boatspeed as well.

Weather: 25 degrees, 5 knots, when the storm hit 18, partly cloudy, then storming.
Session time: 4 hours

December 27, 2006
Today was the first day of racing. Over night, a front had come in and the wind had swung to the north. In the morning, it was quite windy, but it gradually got lighter through the day with some occasional heavy gusts. In the first race I had a poor start, but had a great first downwind and I was able to finish 9th. In the second race I had a better start, but was left on the wrong side of a shift on the first upwind. On the second upwind, I managed to get to the correct side of the shift passing back some of the boats I had lost, and I finished 17th.

Position: 14th  
Places: 9, 17

Weather: 23 degrees, 20 knots, easing to 10, partly cloudy.

December 28, 2006
Today was the second day of racing. It was warm enough in the morning to kill the front and it was quite light. In the first race I had a great start but tacked too much on the first beat, and was left on the wrong side of a shift, and finished 26th. After the race I learned that I had actually been OCS. In the second race, I initially had a poor start, but got a clear lane on port, and was quick to get to the right side of the course. I gained on the right shift, rounded the windward in 5th, and held that position until the finish. In the third race I won the pin end and decided to tack to the right since it had worked in the previous race. Unfortunately a left shift came in and a pack on the left passed me. I had a great second half of the race and I managed to finish 5th. Unfortunately I was once again OCS. In the final race of the day I was once again close to the pin end. After losing my lane off the start, I footed off below the leeward boat, and I got a clear lane heading out left. I stuck it out until the first left shift came in, and I took it right to the mark. I lost a couple of boats on the second upwind, but managed to pass some on the last downwind and I finished 3rd.

Position: 12th  
Places: 9, 17, OCS (26), 5, OCS(5), 3

Weather: 26 degrees, 5 knots, increasing to 15, partly cloudy.

December 29, 2006
Today was the 3rd day of racing. After my two OCSs yesterday I knew I needed to be more conservative on the line. In the first race I had a good start, and a clear lane heading out to the left side. I remained in a steady position throughout the race and finished 7th. In the second race I had a great start, and was 3rd coming into the windward mark, but I fouled another boat and had to do a two-turn penalty. Several boats passed me, but I was able to finish 10th. In the third race I had a poor start, but was able to find a clear lane. I sailed well, and passed boats on both downwind legs to finish 8th. In the final race I had another great start at the boat end, passed two boats on each of the downwind legs and finished 5th.

Position: 10th  
Places: 9, 17, OCS (25), 5, OCS(5), 3, 7, 10, 8, 5

Weather: 28 degrees, varying from 10 to 15 knots, sunny.

December 30, 2006
Today was the last day of racing. I needed two races to get to a second drop so I could discard both of my OCSs. Today it was quite windy so I had a tough time upwind against some of the bigger sailors, but I was very quick downwind. Despite capsizing on the first downwind, I was fast enough to not lose any boats and I finished 9th. In the second race I had another good start, passed two boats on each of the downwind legs, and finished off the regatta with another 5th.With two races completed, I was able to drop my second OCS and I moved up to 6th overall.

Position: 6th  
Places: 9, 17, OCS (25), 5, OCS(5), 3, 7, 10, 8, 5, 9, 5

Weather: 28 degrees, 15-18 knots, sunny.

December 31, 2006
Today was a rest day before the training camp starts on Monday the 1st.

January 1, 2007
Today the training camp started. However, both the RCYC team and the Quebec team took the day off so there were not many sailors around. Also, we were forced to wait a long time before our coaches arrived. After finally being fed up with the situation, Greg Clunies and I decided to head out and go for a sail. It was the first day of light air, so I was able to work on some light air manoeuvres for the first time since the NQR in October. The session was cut short as the sun was beginning to set. Tomorrow, more of the sailors will be around and we will have some more constructive training.

Weather: 28 degrees, 4-6 knots, sunny.
Session time: 1 hours

January 2, 2007
Today I sailed with Chris Dold, Graeme Lockett, Colin VanSchoor and Greg Clunies. My coaches were Mike Milner and Matt Johnston. We focused on starts and positioning on the course. Drills:

• Points drill
• Starts, around mark, back down
• Transits
• As many tacks as possible 1 minute after start
• Downwind starts
• Reach starts
• Line-ups for boat speed

Session time: 4 hours
Weather: 30 degrees, 4-8 knots, sunny becoming partly cloudy.

January 3, 2007
Today we towed out to the outside of Key Biscayne, and on to the Atlantic Ocean. The aim of the day was to do some sailing in big waves, and to particularly work on downwind kinetics. After the hour-long tow, we started off with the points drill to warm up. It was quite tricky to judge starts, laylines, and crossing/ducking with the big waves and 3 knot current. We then moved on to short course racing to get more practise in all aspects of racing in the different wave conditions. Luke Ramsay, Laser Youth World Champion and Canadian Sailing Team member, was also sailing a Laser today, giving us some extra coaching. Individually he took us aside to work on specific things. We worked on hiking endurance and maintaining a lane. We would line up, and the windward boat would try to roll the leeward boat, while the leeward boat attempted to stay bow out. To end the day we had a big downwind sail, in conditions ranging from 5-12 knots, and waves ranging from 0 to 6 feet.
 
Weather: 26 degrees, partly cloudy, 5-10 knots
session time: 1 hour tow + 5 hours sailing

January 4, 2007
Today we had some more wind, so we decided to work on short course sailing to focus on manoeuvres, to put an emphasis on how important it is to quickly change gears from upwind to downwind, quick thinking, and positioning. Once again we started off with the points drill to warm up. Next we did tacking on the whistle. Once again Luke Ramsay was in a Laser so it was good to gauge my speed and tacking against his. After going upwind we moved on to a drill where we had a start line and two windward marks, one farther than the other. We sailed to the top mark, middle mark, top mark and then down to the finish. To end off the day we sailed a mini regatta, 3 races, no drops, twice around windward-leeward. By sailing smart and fast I won the regatta with finishes of 2, 3, 1. Tomorrow is the final day of training.

Weather: 28 degrees, partly cloudy, 8-15 knots
session time: 3.5 hours

January 5, 2007
Today was the last day of training. It was a shortened day as everyone had to pack up their boats after the session. We ran both normal races and team races. I was very quick, and won every race, except for one I placed 2nd in. My team also won the team racing. Overall, I had a great time this past 2 weeks training, and I learned a lot. I will be back in Miami again on January 19th to compete in the Miami OCR regatta. This event is an ISAF Grade 1 event, and is also the second part of the Canadian Senior Team qualifier.

Weather: 28 degrees, partly cloudy, 8-12 knots
session time: 3 hours