No Meat, No Fish

The Italians have a saying "no meat no fish." Translation: you don't have much going for you. The last two days on the Rolex Miami OCR Laser course, you had to be either aggressive and confident or smart and fast to do well. None of these things presently describe my sailing the last two days. I've mainly been reserved at the starts, shying away from either end by starting in the middle. I'm also not fast off the line (hence the "no meat no fish"). Therefore, getting the first couple of shifts correctly is difficult, if not impossible, and without anything special in the speed department taking risks becomes a default mode.

All is not lost because today I actually got two clean starts (an improvement) and my speed is decent at times if not a little inconsistent.

The star of the USA Laser team so far is Kyle Rogachenko, who is sitting in 11th place. Kyle attends Old Dominion University and has been on the US Sailing Youth Development Team since its inception three years ago. Kyle is followed by Rob Crane in 19th and Clay Johnson in 26th. These three among other development team members will be pushing each other in the next few years leading up to the Olympic selection trials. It will be exciting to watch.

Kyle Rogachenko and coach Ron Rosenberg at Rolex Miami OCR

Tomorrow the fleet is split into the Gold and Silver fleets. I'm in the Silver fleet and will try to be more aggressive and continue to work on consistent speed and the ever elusive downwind technique.

I'm thrilled that my performance is much better then it was last year. With the exception of a missing few, these are the best Laser sailors in the world. Every race I am learning new things and relearning old lessons. It is a great adventure.