- Training Day 1
The 2005 mids East Training session with Rob Fox has gotten underway with 10 29er attending. This is a great turnout for a winter regatta session so early before the actual event.
Regatta organizer Tyler Bjorn " I am really impressed with the turnout so far. I have not seen this type of enthusiasm in a while. We had 10 29ers out training for the second day in a row and more will be here on Tuesday."
Coach Fox debriefs the group
This is really Positive!!!
- Training Day 2
Today was an even better day than the first. Coaches Rob Fox and Brigitte Smutny were putting the team through the final paces before the pre regatta day. Teams were again focusing on the fundamentals with tacks and gybes, Spin hoist and gybe roundings. The second half of the session team worked on boat control for starts and finished up with some short races.
On shore coach Fox gave and excellent and informative talk on boat setup. Again it was really encouraging to see so many teams here in preparation of the one winter event.
While it is disappointing not to have any USA teams at this year mids we are really encourage to see the seriousness of these Canadian teams.
Coach Rob Fox " I am really impressed to see these sailors putting inthe efforts that are needed to move up the rankings. We have the 2004 NA champ here and he was pushed really hard by a lot of the up and coming teams."
"....after some short discussion with regatta organizer and coach Tyler Bjorn we are really looking to step it up over the next few years. We think that if we can get teams to put in this type of training 4 times a winter we can eventually break into the to ranking in the world."
Wednesday will be short training session with some racing and a talk on what the pros do to prepare for a big regatta.
- Day 1 Racing
The 2005 Mids started of in great fashion. Winds were out of the SW at 10-13 kts with gust up to 15kts. Waldie/Bougie-Bastien continued to show there east coast dominance with a solid day scoring 2 first and 5 top 3 finishes.
2004 NA champion Murray McCullough and new partner Andrew Greer were hot on their trail with 5 top four finishes as well.
The Bougie-Bastien Sister were top females followed by Manitoba sensation Katcha Smutny.
The top performers of the day has to go to the Race Committee who managed to bang off 6 races with what the competitors said were excellent courses.
Waldie mentioned ".... it is great to be down here in FLA as there first opportunity to get some sailing in as we start to focus on our last opportunity to compete at the 29er worlds.
- Big Breeze welcomes sailors for Day 2
Dropping temperatures and high winds greeted the sailors at the USSC of Martin County. "We are looking at over 20kts form the North" said Campbell Rich, PRO " should we send the them out?"
With a little contemplation we all agreed to postpone for a hour then hit the water.
Winds diminished to under 20kts but gust were consistently over 16kts.
We managed to get 4 races and the fleet put on a great show. "With conditions like this, flat water and high winds, the skiff just Fly!" Said regatta organizer Tyler Bjorn.
"I don't think the race committee has ever experienced a fleet like this and it was evident they were impressed when ( overheard on the radio) "......WOW did you see that boat fly by?!!!"
We are now half way through the event with 10 races still scheduled. Waldie/Bougie-Bastien and McCullough/Greer have starting to extend their lead. Waldie/Bougie-Bastien were very impressive and were dominant with their downwind skill and technique scoring 2 more 1st in todays 4 races. Murray/Greer also placed well with 4 top 3 finishes.
Bougie-Bastien Sister and Katcha Smutny are having a great battle for top female with only 2 pts separating them.
- New Boat, New Crew, New Title....Day 3
Murray McCullough and new partner Andrew Greer had a consistent day to take 25 pt lead over 2nd and a strangle hold on the 2005 Mids East Championship.
2004 NA champ McCullough was elated on shore saying"...We were only 1 pt out of 1st going into today. When Waldie and L.P. won the first race of the day I knew we were in for a fight and the most consistent team would end up on top."
Regatta leader heading into today L.P/Waldie were not as happy"....We really sucked wind today!" said Waldie, " we started off just as we needed to by winning the 1st race but then the wheels fell off in race 2 and we just couldn't get back on track. We had no speed downwind."
Bougie-Bastien Sisters were the 3rd most consistent of the day and moved up into second place passing L.P./Waldie and created a great battle for 2nd place going into the last 3 races Sunday. Katcha Smutny Pulled off 2 bullets in the last 2 races to move into 4th with 1 pt out of 2nd.
Andrew McEwen Had the best day scoring 3 1st, 2 2nds and a 3rd to really pull up in the rankings but since he missed the first day due to travel delays he won't be able to pick up any hardware. MeEwen mentioned " It was really frustrating to just sit on the tarmac back in Detroit and not be able to get here for the first day. I was actually sitting right next to the plane I was suppose to be on but what can you do. This is really just training for the 2005 Canada Summer Games and I wanted to see how I fared against the top teams."
The race Committee again did an outstanding job getting 7 races off leaving just 3 races to complete the 20 race series. Light winds are expected for Sunday and with only 1 point separating 2nd to 4th it should really be fun to see this unfold.
- No Wind, Results now final, day 4
There was no wind today, so the results didn't change
