Waiting for wind made for a long day and a late start. At 4:00 pm the flags were raised and by
5:00 pm race #2 of the series was on.
Ferg watched the Apprentice fleet sail the first beat and all was
obvious in his mind, according to the forecast and what he could see, the left
was favored and so the left it would be.
 |
| Check out the breeze at 6:00 pm - slight right phase. |
The line seemed square so Scott started in his favorite,
low-density spot - the middle. At
the gun he sailed off with Arnoud just off his weather hip where he was pretty
happy until he noticed the far right guys winding up on the inside. Arnoud hung
for a while on Scott’s hip until he was forced to tack away. With the right
looking really good Scott went into his “minimizing the damage mode.” In his
words, “You have two choices: A) Take a lot of transoms trying to get to the
right and spend your time fighting for a lane or B) Chip away. You can only do
what you can do with the breeze you are in and the breeze that you can get to.
Most importantly, stop thinking about ITA with the blue life jacket and how he
is doing compared to you. Start to imagine that it is only you on the race
course and missile lock in on the puffs and your immediate opportunities.” He chose option "B".
Scott arrived at the weather mark in about 26th
place along with the latter half of the fleet all cramming to get around.
Struggling through the crowd and trying to find a lane was tough and the group
at the leeward mark was, in Scott’s words, “an even bigger cluster fu@! than
the weather mark.”
Scott is usually super fast in these conditions but being
bunched in the pack, finding clear air was the key. At the leeward mark he knew
that he didn’t have the best race going but despite the rattling first beat, he saw that the breeze was coming left. The water was darker up to the left
and now it was a matter of getting through the mass of boats to get to it. He
cracked off a bit and waited patiently for the masses to peel away. After
digging in 2/3rds of the way up he had clear air and could start playing the
puffs. I think that being able to read the breeze and how it’s moving across
the water is an art and I do know that Scott is very attentive as to how the
breeze is moving and knows when to go for it and when to hold back. As it was, he gained back 10 boats on that upwind leg, whittling his place down to 17th. He then focused on ticking them off downwind. After catching four more downwind he
came upon a cluster of three sailing super high on the reach and was able to
pass the three-pack on the final beat landing him a 9th place
finish. The conditions were light and choppy and he knew he was fast but the first beat pretty much sealed the deal.
What’s your walk away from this? His answer, “You make
mistakes and have to move on. Focus on the next thing. It’s a long regatta.”
Then he smiled and said, “And I love being interviewed by my lovely wife.”
To date Scott stands in 7th place only five points out of 1st place and in good company with some very strong players!
Results
 |
| About 5:00 pm |
 |
| Getting late ... around 6:30 pm |
No comments:
Post a Comment