After an ungodly early flight for anyone (but especially for a teenager) I arrived in Los Angeles yesterday morning and headed off to ABYC to find the boat and those that had already arrived. Well, I did have to stop off at In-N-Out to get my fill of the best fast food ever since I don’t get to sail out on the West coast too often, I have to make sure I stop early and often while I am out here!
Anyhow, I got to the yacht club and found the boat in time to get in line for pre-regatta
measurement. I figured it best to get this out of the way before my skipper (and owner of the boat), Blair got out late in the evening.
So I took down the mast, measured and weighed the boat and then found a place to store her for the evening. Then it was off to Costco to buy provisions for the event. Water, goodies and lots of protein bars for the regatta are a requirement!
On nutrition, I have learned (thanks to Coach Brad Funk from Lauderdale Yacht Club) that eating a lunch on the water can be a huge killer to my performance. When I started sailing at LYC, it was common for me to take the provided lunch from any event (typically a Subway Sandwich) and eat it between races. Brad explained to me that when I am out racing my body uses a lot of energy to keep my muscles fed and working properly. When I stop to eat, the body diverts all your energy to digesting that food, and so your mind and muscles suffer while digestion is taking place.
So, with performance in mind, I keep my on the water eating to simple to digest protein bars and jells, and save the fine dining for dinner and breakfast ashore and my energy is reserved and maintained for making quick decisions and moving the boat faster across the water!
This morning, I met Blair at the boatpark and we did a little boat work before getting ready to head out on the Pacific Ocean for our first practice sail of the event! We have only spent three days on the water together, so we still have a lot of coordination to get down but we are confident of our abilities to sail strong in this high performance fleet consisting of some of the top names in the sport of sailing today! 
Make sure to check this blog often for updates as we move through the World Championship experience! If you want to help me in my campaign to win the US Olympic Trials for the 2016 Games in Rio, please consider donating a dollar or two to my efforts!
[donateplus]