Winds picked up by 11am to 15-20 knots, so the race committee started on the juniors, prodigy, then the four groups of Formula, which raced two groups together. This was done to enable the committee after 6 races to split the fleet into gold and silver.

The juniors sailed 3 races, while 4 races were completed today for the other divisions. Devon Boulon, Micah both winning two races each in their divisons and getting a second and third each. McGain however was able to get 3 bullets and a third, to be leading the fleet and his Masters division. Sam Ireland is in 4th and Jimmy Diaz in 5th within the fleet.

During the first three 3 races, the port tack end of the line was favoured and to add, the outside of the course was also favoured, so a lot of races started on port. One notable incident was Charles Allen, the 58 year old from Texas, managed to squeeze between two capsized sailors where there seemed to be no room, got the start of his life and rounded the weather well ahead of his other competition.

Sailors were using between 9.0 and 11m sails, the course was windward leeward and by the afternoon the winds were up to 24 knots and the course was filled with whitewater, ferry’s and container ships, so there was plenty of obstacles to avoid during these windy races.

Other stand outs for the day was the junior fleet who completed 3 races, although there was a range skill evident in the junior fleet they all performance admirality with Charles Ivy on the beach cheering them in. These guys and gals are the future of American racing and look to be on the right track to international success.

More racing tomorrow, stay tuned.

Phil

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Today the US National Championships got off to a great start with the San Francisco Bay showing what a great spot for wind she is. In the late morning the was about 11-17knots with it increasing into the afternoon with gusts as much as 28knots. It was quite gusty with a few shifts and alot of current wich for most of the day was running with the wind. They chose to run us Windward, Leeward, Windwar, Leeward with an upwind finish.

We had somewhere around 80 guys in the formula fleet along with a junior fleet and Prodigy fleet. The race director decided that he wanted to keep the starts small so he ran split fleets randomly dividing everyone into four fleets so that two would race against each other at a time. in green fleet was Micah, Bill Weir, and I. Yellow fleet was Jimmy, Sam, and Steve Sylvester. Blue fleet was Rob Hartman and Seth Besse. and Black fleet was Phil and Mike Zaichek.

Race #1 Blue and Black. Phil had a great start to starboard with Rob going to port to round windward with Phil, Rob, Mike and Seth. And basicly that was the way that it finished.

Race #2 Green and Yellow. I had a perfect port tack start right at the pin end all by myself and just cleared the whole fleet. i went straight out into the middle of the bay and tacked on the layline to round in first just ahead of Sam, Jimmy and Micah who had started starboard and gone in closer to the beach. i immediatley jibed to the outside with Sam following and Jimmy and Micah going to the inside. that didnt work out so well for them as i rounded leeward with a pretty good lead and the other places remaining the same. Jimmy had to drop below Sam on the windward leg which allowed micah to move into 3rd. Sam was just able to hold off micah to finish in 2nd behind me in 1st with Jimmy finishing back in 3rd.

Race #3 Black and Yellow. Phil had a great port tack start ahead of Sam and Jimmy to take a good comfortable lead for the rest of the race for his second bullet of the day. Sam and Jimmy battled it out for most of the race with Sam edging out Jimmy to take 2nd and Jimmy in 3rd with Mike in 4th.

Race #4 Green and Blue. it was getting a bit windier and Micah switched down to his 10.0 while i stayed on my 11.0 since i was liking it alot. Micah and i both went port tack ducking most of the starboard tackers but getting away clean with me above. We both held similar speed to the layline and i tacked first to lead around windward. By the time we got to the leeward i was still leading and we were well out in front of the rest of the fleet. i had to work as hard as i could to hold off micah’s excellent speed on the upwind. on the downwind he almost caught up to me but at the end i was able to pull out away again to lead comfortably around the leeward or so i thought. right before i was about to tack for the finish line i hit a good gust and my outhaul line slid all the way out bagging my sail out, which caused me to lift up and almost fully crash to windward. i was in the water but still in my footstraps and harness. while i was trying to recover Micah tacked to the pin end of the finish and just beat me by less than a meter. i didnt really enjoy losing the race like that but stuff happens.

Race #5 Black and Green. Phil Micah and I all went Port tack start. but Phil got hit by a starboard tack and quite an amazing crash. I came out in the middle with Micah down below. Micah got some good lifts and with good speed pulled out and up in front of me. i tacked early for the mark and just made it ahead of him. he had great speed on the downwind and passed over the top of me but then made the mistake of jibing to early for the mark so that he had to slow down and pump to make it. i saw that and went pass his line and jibed to come with speed to the mark to round in first. i held him off on the upwind and downwind to take my second bullet with him in 2nd and Phil coming back to 3rd. Blue and Yellow. Sam took the bullet with Jimmy 2nd, Seth 3rd and Rob 4th.

Race #6 Blue and Yellow. Sam took the bullet with Jimmy 2nd, Seth 3rd and Rob 4th.

Race #7 Black and Blue. once again Phil took a long comfortable lead to get his third bullet. with Seth fighting to take 2nd ahead of Mike in 3rd and Rob in 4th.

Race #8 Green and Yellow. last race of the day. and this time we all went starboard. right after the start the wind switched and when we all tack I who had started in front and below had overstood the mark by a little bit and had to close reach all the way to the mark. i crossed just in front of Sam at the mark but after the tack i was in 4th behind Sam, Micah and Jimmy who had come with speed inside of me. Micah passed sam on the downwind to round leeward in 1st with Sam, Jimmy and Me following. Jimmy was forced below and well down from us. Sam had good angle and was able to tack inside of Micah to beat him to the mark only to be passed again on the downwind. so Micah took his second bullet and and sam got his third 2nd. I just cruised to the finish in 3rd after Jimmy double tacked the windward.

Results after 4 races each with no discards

Phil 6points

Micah 7points

Devon 7points

Sam 7points

Jimmy 13points

I’m looking forward to some more great racing tomorrow with some good San Fransisco conditions. for full reports every day please check out the news section on www.devonboulon.com

Best Regards

Devon