Anthony and Cy

Last few days before the big event.

Hello all,

The last few days have been nice but the wind has been playing games with us. A huge high pressure moved in to make sure there was plenty of sunshine for the Holiday beach goers. The result for us sailing type has been very long periods of no wind. However, two days ago, it went from zero kts in the morning to about 25-30 in the pm. The change period was almost non existant as all of a sudden it looked like a helicoptor puff on the water and with in 3-5 mins it was dogs off the chains. We made it out but most people came in as it started to get a bit hairy. We saw a team break a mast for the second time in three days. Yesterday was very hot again and no wind. We went out for the only wind of the day in the pm.

Today was the big heat day as it went up to 39-40C and thats is in the high 90’s/100’s. Cy and I went sailing right as it started to get hot and avoided the heat by being out on the water. The bay temp is upper 70’s or lower 80’s so it is very nice offshore. We spent the first hour sailing against the famous Italian brothers who are known for their speed. It was the conditions were we needed a bit of speed help so this long session helped. We did two long beats and runs with them and then joined in on the British squad speed testing. It was two British boats including the world champions and us so it was a great learning experience. We did about an 15 min straight line test and we didn’t loose or gain anything so that was very satisfying. We then joined in on some racing run by the Brit coach that included another world champion from the Ukraine and some Polish. We didn’t win any but on most we were competitive. For me these small practice races with a super quality fleet is the best experience. The days before, the afternoon sessions had races with 35-40 boats and that is a great deal of fun as well. Again we find we are supper fast in the light stuff and are slowing getting better with our medium stuff and have a ways to go in the big wind. However, we have spoken to a number of famously good heavy air teams and asked for pointers. Now we just need some wind to test out the new techniques.

70% of the teams have measurement tomorrow. We are sloted for 10 am on the second, so we will do an early session tomorrow and then start to break the boat apart for measurement and finish up putting all the good regatta gear on the craft. We have practice race on Thur and regatta starts on Friday.

Tonight is our New Years celebration as we are a day ahead of you guys. I thought Newport had lots of laws but the town is basically shut down. No cars or bicycles. No booze and tons of laws for the night. We are going to go over to the Amerian’s house and see what they are up to for the night.

Thats all for now!