Well, why such poor preparation for a regatta…. The truth is Fort Lauderdale was hosting the US Nationals and we decided that this would be the perfect warm up (training regatta) for the World Cup in Miami. It was close enough to have the same accommodation for both events and gave us the opportunity to get in some much needed racing, having not raced since September/October in Japan.

Actually, I quite enjoyed the logistics:  while the boats went by road from the container in Miami and back to the US Sailing Center,  the RIBs went by water. Alberte Dahlbery very kindly drove my RIB up to Fort Lauderdale and then we both drove back in convey after the regatta – full speed! We even beat those who went by road and I had time for a cup of coffee and something to eat at the nearby Starbucks whilst waiting for the Radial girls.

Whilst not all the Sailors were there: we had Paige Railey, Sarah Douglas, Erika Reineke, Hannah Snellgrove, Josefin Olsson and Mari Erdi to mention a few. So, there was definitely a high-quality fleet and difficult conditions as you can probably tell from the results… all of which lead to continued improvement. Tuula Tenkanen made a top 5 finish despite 3 results out of the top 10, showing just what a high scoring regatta it was. The results may be found:

http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/16691

For me this was a timely reminder of how important good preparation is, and even sitting in a coach boat you really need the focus. Hopefully my next blog will make more sense when I have adjusted correctly to the time zone. Fortunately, we have many days before the Miami World Cup!