Nathan, my crew, and I had been planning to do The Heavy Weather Clinic in San Francisco for months. We thought any time on the bay would help us grow as sailors and, in turn, be better prepared for the C420 North Americans.
When we arrived, the conditions on the water were exactly what we came to San Francisco to train in. It was a solid 15 knots. After a few runs to the Golden Gate Bridge and back, we got in a groove. Everything did not require constant thought. We refined our centerboard height on the upwinds and sailed with more vang on the downwinds. We were pretty happy with the first day.
The second day, the wind was the same, but we had more ebb. We also did races, which emphasized how important it is to get to the ebb on the right. The first race we went left and struggled, but we won the right on the next race and won the race. It was the first time we’d seen the true “elevator effect” when someone below you gets to the ebb first and winds up above you.
Overall we were happy with the clinic and it helped our performance at the North Americans. We solidified our boatspeed and learned about the venue. Thank you so much for the BYCMSSF’s generous support, and I am looking forward to doing more clinics like this one in the future.