Today was the last practice day for worlds, and we were lucky enough to have the Race Committee put together a practice race for us. I was not expecting much from it other than some good line ups and practice starts in the lighter than usual breeze that we had today. I would only think of it that way because of how I remember practice races organized by the event for the Optimist being. None of the sailors seemed to care, and most of them thought it was bad luck to finish the race correctly. It was for the most part exactly what I thought; unorganized, lots of general recalls, and people deciding at random times to head upwind and start racing.
I was still doing my best to get Blair on the line and get him used to being aggressive in the passive aggressive fleet that we had today. We got up on the line and had a few good duels with some of the south american teams upwind, but I am betting that tomorrow teams will be more aggressive. No matter what the conditions are tomorrow, I will still have to work with Blair on the small adjustments to pick up boat speed and then use it to gain height like I was doing today.
Blair and I have no real expectation for this event but I will be doing my best to help him get smoother with his steering so that by the end of the event we can be catching as many boats as possible on each leg. Our current goal is to make Gold Fleet, which is quite possible as long as we can both stay focused and calm on the water.
After Worlds I am transitioning into a strict focus on my campaign and will be sailing with some amazing women in the sport. Read about my concerns of mixed multihull sailing here!