Robert Davis – Miami OCR

January 25th, 2008
Today was my first day back on the water since the training camp after Orange Bowl. I am back in Miami to compete in the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, an ISAF Grade 1 event. The event starts on Monday the 27th, so I have a couple of days of training before the event. Today I sailed with Evan Lewis, another sailor on the Ontario Quest for Gold team. We lined up and sailed upwind for a while, working on boatspeed and making sure our boat handling was still up. Next we went downwind, working on the same areas. We sailed another upwind, a downwind and did some reaching. With only 4 hours of sleep before traveling down this morning we cut the session a bit short since I was hurtng a bit. Tomorrow we will have a full session.
Weather: 23 degrees, 18 knots, cloudy.
Session time: 1.5 hours

January 26th, 2008
After a good sleep I was able to hit the water with a lot more energy today. It was lighter so we worked on some boat handling, positioning, speed and starting. The first drill we ran worked on all of these areas. Later a couple of other competitors joined us and we ran a couple of practice starts and races. I will do a short session tomorrow before racing starts on Monday.
Weather: 26 degrees, 3-6 knots, sunny.
Session time: 4 hours

January 27th, 2008
Today we had a shorter session planned to make sure there weren’t any issues before the regatta. We ran some starting and short course races and speed tuned a bit on the way in. Racing begins with 2 races scheduled for tomorrow.
Weather: 26 degrees, 12-14 knots, sunny.
Session time: 2 hours

January 28th, 2008
Today was the first day of racing. Due to a conflict with the Laser world championships, there is a smaller fleet here, but the caliber at the top is still quite high. In the first race I had a good start and rounded the first windward in 10th. I gained on the bottom half of the second upwind but lost it again right at the top. I lost another boat on the final downwind and finished 11th. In the second race my start was not as good and I was forced to tack out but I found a clear lane. I was up in the top group but again lost a couple of boats coming into the windward mark. I gained on the second beat and passed one boat on the final sprint to the finish and finished 9th. Three races are scheduled for tomorrow.
Weather: 24 degrees, 4-8 knots, sunny.

January 29th, 2008
The laser fleet was postponed on shore for an hour to wait for wind. Once we got out there the conditions were very similar to what I had seen at the Orange Bowl regatta. In the first race I had a poor start but found a lane out to the left. A big group of boats that went right overstood the windward mark by a lot and I was able to tack under them and rounded in 4th. I lost a couple of boats on the reach and downwind but gained some back upwind and finished 5th. In the second race I had a great start and held my lane out to the left and led by a solid margin at the first mark. I lost one boat on the downwind and another on the second beat but held on to a 3rd. In the last race I had an okay start but was forced to tack out and find another lane to the left. I played one right shift correctly and led at the windward mark again by a solid chunk. I extended on the reach and held my position throughout the race and finished first. With scores of 5,3,1 I also won the day. Three races are scheduled for tomorrow.
Weather: 24 degrees, 8-12 knots, sunny.

January 30th, 2008
There was no wind again this morning so we sat onshore until 12:30. Racing got underway in very light wind. In the first race I had a poor start and was forced to tack out. I had a tough time finding a good lane, but gained some back at the top of the first beat. I stayed about even throughout the race and finished 12th. In the second race I had a great start with a clear lane which I held out to the left, but I missed out on some pressure on the right and was back of the leaders. I gained a couple of boats on the first downwind and another on the second beat and finished 10th. I am still sitting in 6th place overall with 2 days of racing plus the medal race left. Two races are scheduled for tomorrow but the race committee may try to make up for the lost race today.
Weather: 28 degrees, 5 knots, sunny.

January 31st, 2008
This morning there was more wind than the previous day so racing got underway on time. In the first race I sailed a good first beat, but lost a bit on the downwind. I sailed a good second beat and worked my way back up to 6th but lost a pack of boats on the final downwind and finished 12th. In the second race I had a good start and sailed a solid race and finished 9th. In the last race of the day I had another good start and sailed my way up to 8th at the final windward. I lost two boats on the final run but I was able to pass them back on the sprint to the finish and held the 8th. After today I am in 7th place, with two races scheduled for tomorrow.
Weather: 28 degrees, 6-10 knots, sunny.

February 1st, 2008
The first race of the day got underway in a light wind. I didn’t have a great first beat but I passed two boats on each of the following legs and managed to finish 8th. This secured my spot in the top 10 and therefore guaranteed my spot in the medal race tomorrow. This also guaranteed my top 50% finish and therefore completed the performance criteria of my Youth Worlds qualification. After sitting around for two and a half hours in no wind the race committee decided to give another race a go in minimal conditions. I was not very motivated to sail and the race ended up becoming my drop race. After today I am still in 7th place and I will sail in the medal race tomorrow.
Weather: 28 degrees, 5 knots, sunny.

February 2nd, 2008
Today was the medal race – a relatively new format where the top 10 boats in each class race in a final race with twice the weighting to determine the final standings. After watching the radials race in a very light north easterly breeze the race committee postponed the laser start and waited for the wind to fill in from the east. Once it did our race got underway, a 30 minute twice around windward leeward course. I didn’t have a great start, but was able to find a clear lane quickly. The chop from press and coach boats combined with low winds and lots of weeds made for really tricky sailing and I lost a couple of boats coming into the windward mark. I also fouled another boat and took a penalty leaving me too far behind to catch up in such a short race. With one boat being disqualified I finished 9th in the race, and 8th overall. I finished tied with 7th place but ties are broken using the score from the medal race. Now I am heading back to Kingston for a couple of weeks before I head back down to Clearwater to compete in the Laser Midwinters East.
Weather: 28 degrees, 5 knots, sunny.