Laser Radial Midwinters West were held at ABYC this year during march 23rd to 25th. This regatta I had placed 10th at last year so coming into this regatta I was hoping to attain top 3. People from all over North America came to this regatta, most from the west coast as this was the west coast midwinters.
The regatta started on Friday and ended Sunday. The first day began with small amounts of rain in the morning as a heavy weather system was expected to roll in on Sunday. There was not much wind however. The fleets started sailing out in light air after having been postponed on land for half an hour and the first race began by 12:30. The wind was fairly left throughout most of the day but towards the end of the last race it began shifting right.
I rounded the first mark of the first race in 15th after a shaky start and battled my way back to 6th at the end of the race. Then in the second race, after having a punched start, rounded the first mark 10 boat lengths out in first and from there my lead was only extended. By the last leeward leg I had caught back up to the back of the full rig fleet and was finishing with most of the full rig fleet at the end of the race with the next radial boat half a leg behind me. The final race of the day placed me 9th however I was over after at the gun and resulted in me having an OCS.
The second day proved to be recovery, as it began with medium to light air conditions and a 14th for me. However by the second race I had my groove back and pumped out a 7 and then finally to end it a 3rd. The next was calling for 20-25 knots out of the north with 5-6 foot swells, the weather forecasts did not lie. Going into that day I was in 5th with no throughout to spare, due to my OCS. We were postponed on land for an hour while we waited for the worst of the storm to pass and when the AP flag came down only 3/4th of the fleet went out in the weather, which wasn’t as bad as some had thought. The 20 knot day resulted in one bad race for me as I had received a 20 for that race.
Overall this regatta was quite a success as it showed me that even with no throw out I was still able to maintain a top ten finish in a 63 boat fleet, finishing in 7th.
Thank you so much to the BYC Maritime Sciences & Seamanship Foundation for further supporting my Laser sailing!
Gregg Kent