Racing Lasers in Florida

Carey Jones is in Florida racing in three Regattas. Here is an update from him:

Finished these 2 days (Tues and Wed) at 35 out of 51 so moved up from Palm Beach which was 40 out of 46.

Yesterday, Day 1 was flat water (but rough for Baseline) with 5-10 kts.  The first race started with 3 general recalls so the RC expressed its displeasure with the I flag and then Z flag thrown in. Still many boats OCS (over the line early), but I followed the rules and wasn’t over early so that helped my standings. My 3rd race yesterday was the best yet at 23 out of 51 with most of the boats learning by then not to be OCS so a big chunk of the fleet wasn’t thrown out.

Today – Day 2 – Wed., was survival conditions.  Winds 15 to 25 and 1-3 ft waves.  We raced from 10:30 to about 3:30 which gave us all a good beating. I capsized 2x just on the way out to the course. Then 4 races with my death roll/capsize to windward count for each race at 3, 1, 0, 1,  plus a couple other capsizes thrown in at random places such as top mark and bottom mark. I call that 3,1,0,1 trend a big improvement because I got advice on how to control the roll. If I could stay up right I was fine off the wind but struggled going to windward with speed. With all my capsizes and near bottom finishes I still ended at 35 out of 51 overall because so many people either didn’t go out at all, or stopped racing early today, plus 1 person broke their mast. So the key was not give up and just  finish.  Also this was an ideal way to combine the hobbies of sailing, surfing, and swimming.

Now the entire crew of about 70 lasers move on to the Tampa regatta (Davis Island) is 3 days on Fri, Sat, Sun– then home.