Women's NA's and Finn Midwinters 2010

The Fort Lauderdale YC hosted the event again this year,back to it's original dates of Feb 5-7,(the weekend after the MOCR).

John Romanko, (in the Finn) Isabella Bertold, Keamia Rasa and Jen Spalding (in the Radial) attended the regatta under the Royal Van burgee.

We picked up Isabella on the Monday and began training for the 4 days prior to the event, this included gym workouts , on the water sessions and continual discussions about sailing strengths and weaknesses. John had stayed in Miami over the Final weekend to train with Chris Cook and others, (he had a poor regatta in Miami and was keen to get up to speed again with a different boat).

On the first day of racing we had 20kts of wind from the south east. This direction produces large ocean waves with swell and was a true test of sailing and fitness.

There were quite a few significant wind sifts as well that could really make or ruin your day , and a pretty solid push of current out in the left corner that could get you to the weather mark a little quicker.

John looked very comfortable in the breeze and after a few hickups, (over early in the first race and a capsize near the finish), he found his stride and was well up the fleet. Zac Railey , the Silver Medalist, and 3 of the top British sailors were there to guage his speed.

For the Women, we had some time before the event to work on large wave technique but the racing on Friday was invaluable to assess where we were at. The Dutch sailor put on a display of heavy air technique and won all 3 races comfortably. She was 5th at last years worlds.Keamia, Jen and Isabella fought hard and were in the top 10 thru the day.

The next day of racing brought off shore wind from the West in the 15 to 20 kt range. Flatter water with plenty of "auto" tacks. The trick was to carry a lift as far as possible then quickly get onto the other tack and continue up the beat. The downwinds were a completely differnt technique as well, less carving , more point and shoot.

John was gaining cofidence thru the day and was in the top 5 a number of times and looked to be able to finish right behind the top 4 sailors.The women fought hard and learned valuable lessons on a very different day. Keamia, who has liked the breeze in the past had a few bright moments in the top group.

The final day we saw another solid offshore wind with a little more north in it. 15 kts most of the day. This was a day when you had to head to shore and then decide weather to go all the way in or short tack up that side.

John did a nice job thru the day and only stumble slightly in the final race to end the event in 6th overall (top Canadian), a satisfying result after a tough Miami.

Keamia made a nice charge to be the top Canadian thru the day and was in the top 5 a number of times. Isabella , who had excellent boat speed thru the event, had good moments , but was capsized and hit in the head by the boom in a big blast of wind in the final race. Jen had become ill with flu on the 2nd day, fought hard but given the conditions slipped in the standings, out of the top 10.

The final synopsis for the regatta was that Fort Lauderdale has conditions that are important for our team to train in and the event this year tested the fitness as well as assorted techniques necessary to win at the highest levels.

We packed up the boats on Sunday afternoon and droped John and Isabella at the airport.
Next stop is Clearwater Beach, Florida for the Laser/Radial Midwinter's where we will have 13 sailors.

Finn results -http://www.lyc.org/files/finn10.html
Radial results-http://www.lyc.org/files/radial10.html

Al Clark