Kiel, Germany
June 28, 2008

I’m not really sure how to describe today’s racing at the Grade 1 Kieler Woche Regatta. I was black flagged out of the first Laser Radial Race and sat it out. Then I led the fleet home in the second race only to be black-flagged. Finally, I finished second in the last race of the day. That means I won’t be competing in the Medal Race tomorrow, but at least I accomplished many of my little training goals.

With Tania Callas Elias, discussing the breeze before starting

We were greeted again with a light rain in the morning, and a breeze that was forecast to go right and build as the front went through. The breeze did build and the rain stopped on our way out to the course.

There was a general recall for the first race. I was called over in the restart, so I had to sit the race out. I watched from the sidelines and did a bit of tuning up to stay warm, and to get an idea of what the wind was doing.

I had a good start in the middle of the line for the second race. My game plan was to go right, so I eventually tacked and headed out to the far right side of the course and came in to the weather mark in about seventh place. I sailed a great downwind leg and rounded the leeward mark in second before I grabbed the lead and held on to it for the rest of the race.

When I crossed the line, my coach Mitch Brindley came over and told me I had been black-flagged again for starting early. I was very upset, because I really didn’t believe that I was over on that start. Besides, I had worked very hard to win the race. The positives were that despite being over early, I didn’t get an advantage on the fleet and I executed my game plan and had great speed and tactics all around the course.

Battling for second with Lijia Xu

So with today’s results, I dropped back to 17th and won’t be sailing in the Medal Race tomorrow. We do however have one more fleet race for those not in the Medal Race. You can follow the full Kiel Week Laser Radial Results here.