Friday, April 18, 2008

Halfway Report

Half way point through Farr 40 Worlds:
This World Championship is simply world class. The level of professionalism and perfection exhibited by all the teams is truly amazing, making every inch of race course not only hard to earn, but difficult to hold onto. We have come along in so many aspects of our racing it is hard to say where the biggest improvements have been. But where we have impressed ourselves the most is our absolute resolution to keep sailing our hardest, regardless of our current position.
Our starts have improved tremendously, and we started bow out and clear ahead in two out of 3 starts today. We have had consistently good first upwind legs, but have had difficulty putting together an entire race. While our boat speed is consistently good, and at times brilliant, we seem to let boats slip by at important crunch parts of the race course, primarily being the top or bottom mark. Our crew work has been superb in all elements at all parts of the course, resulting in very clean sets and douses of our spinnaker.
So far the highlight of the regatta was the 4th race of the series, where we had a wonderful start having managed some very close calls on the chaotic starting line, and rounded the top mark in 5th place. While boats stacked with America’s Cup tacticians and trimmers slowly caught up, it was an amazing feeling to be that far up the ladder in sailing’s toughest food chain, even if it was just for a bit.
The desire among everyone on our team for improvement is felt both on and off the water. Whether we are sailing upwind about to round in 5th place, or struggling to break back into the back pack of boats, the team is sailing as hard as we know how, leaving nothing left on the race course. There is a tremendous amount of heart onboard, and we are all truly sailing for each other. It is such wonderful opportunities to be apart of a team and from a school that can make this all happen. We are the luckiest college kids in the world.

Chris Branning, KP 2009

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