With Rome Kirby at the helm in his second regatta in the Melges 24 and a young but talented crew (I think our average age was 23), we managed to earn marked improvement during each race of the regatta. For instance, in the first race of the regatta, we were in the teens going up the second beat when the main halyard knot slipped and down came our mainsail. After sending Nick our bow guy up the mast to fix the issue, we managed to re-hoist and pass a couple boats to get a 44th. So we had our throw-out firmly established from the get-go. Every race was a battle from start to finish. Rome finally started to get more comfortable with the furled jib pre-start style that the 24s use and our starting culminated with a race on Friday where we started bow out on the group, and went tack for tack with the best in the world to round the windward mark in 1st place. After a wacky windshift (50 degree righty) put us on the ropes again, we made a mini-comeback for a regatta-best 3rd place in the race. Going into the last day we had the potential to pass a couple of boats, and break out of the teens. We managed two good races and finished 12th overall just behind Alan Field, Bill Hardesty and Terry Hutchinson. There’s some pretty good company for young Rome Kirby to be on the scoresheet with.

The week was a lesson in patience for all of us. To start the week in the high twenties, there were some dark personalities on board. I pressed on Rome to stay focused and all of our guys to stay upbeat, confident that we could chip our way up the scoresheet and into the top 20. We managed to do more than that, fighting for some good races and improving in leaps and bounds against sailors that have been racing 24s for a long time. I’m excited to continue in the class in the future. To have the opportunity to race with some young guys who managed to have fun even in the light air and brain-thumping conditions was a reminder of the reason we’re all out there doing it. Lots of sailors were about fed up with the long grinding motor out to and in from the race course, the cold and dreary weather, and shifty light air, but I while other teams were imploding into screaming brawls at leeward marks, we calmly continued on our mission up the scoresheet. Mission accomplished: 12th.

http://www.melges24worlds2009.com/results/Sheehey_Lexus_of_Annapolis_Melges_24_World_Championship.html

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1101/index2.asp

This past week has been quite a week of sailing. Lots of firsts. It was my first time to Bermuda. It was my first time racing the IODs. It was my first Grade 1 match race. It was my first time racing as a bowman. It was the first time I’d seen a judge boat sunk by a competitor. And it was the first time I’d commuted to a regatta by scooter. The regatta is a rare glimpse for amatuer match racers into the World Match Race Tour as more than 20 teams compete with the best in the world for $100,000 prize purse. From my perch up on the bow, I was calling tactics and struggling with the spinnaker pole for Dave Perry, along with Doug Clark on the mainsheet, and IOD whiz Jonathan Farrar on the jib and spinnaker trim. Making it out of the opening round was the first major task of the week, and one not easily accomplished considering that names like Sebastian Col and Peter Gilmour were eliminated from the event after the first round. With major victories in big breeze on Wednesday and Thursday, we almost qualified for an automatic quarterfinal berth as one of the top two in our group, but readied ourselves for the repechage. In the repechage we struggled to get off the starting line and were only able to snag one win from Damien Iehl (pictured in the link).

There were some major lessons learned from the experience though:

1. Wins are hard to come by at Grade 1 events. Take them when you can get them. We took three critical wins against Col, Hansen, and Marinho that made the difference in getting into the second round of the event. Minor mistakes against Ainslie, Minoprio, and Viltoft cost us a spot in the quarterfinals. The good teams really know how to pick up your misakes and make you pay for them. There are no bad teams…
2. We watched more than a half-dozen people get black flag penalties (which means DSQ in match racing… don’t be confused with teamracing!!!). So do your turns as soon as you can, because the jury was out for blood if you waited too long.
3. We watched some gnarly wipeouts on the windy days (check out the video to come later this week). I learned that nothing can prepare you for heavy air in funky boats like the IODs. We sailed more than one race in non-spinnaker conditions. There were other races with full spinnaker-up broaches as well as chinese gybes. Sometimes you just had to go for it, and other times a little conservatism went a long way. Knowing when to apply each plan was paramount.
4. We watched some seriously close-to-the-wall-action that made for some very non-traditional racing situations. Great teams made grave mistakes and mediocre teams looked like heroes because of weird boathandling mistakes in close quarters with the seawall and heavy air. Having a go-to plan as well as a back up plan in case of a boathandling mistake was always a good idea, and control was not always a luxury you could count on.
5. Remember the dress code for Bermuda (as confirmed by Jonathan): shorts, blazer, straw hat, sunscreen, and leathers so you don’t get scooter rash like a couple of other guys in the regatta.

Next regatta on the docket is the Melges 24 Worlds coming up next week in Annapolis. Video and photos from the Gold Cup are coming up later this week!