Sailing Blog
In Need of a Cooler Dive after Day 2 of M20 Nationals »
August 28, 2010
During my Bachelor’s party a few years ago in Northern Minnesota, prior to an evening of revelry, a few us decided to challenge each other to who could last the longest doing a cooler dive. A cooler dive is when you submerge your head into a cooler filled with ice and water… not an easy task by any-means. After 3 hard races in 8-10 kts with leftover lump, confused Lake Michigan seas and 20-30 degree shifts, I was not sure if my hat was too tight, or if I was just thinking too hard, but the idea of doing a cooler dive for a minute sounded much less painful.
Day 2 started very similar to how Day 1 ended, with Michael Kiss winning another race. For those that could break away in the front pack, life was good, but if you fund yourself in the middle of the pack, it was a challenge to find clear air and lanes making it difficult to make any gains. Race 2 saw a dying breeze and halfway up the first beat, the breeze shifted 40 degrees to the right, leaving those on the left side hung out to dry, us being one of them. After looking great on the left side, we found ourselves looking at a large amount of starboard tackers and having to battle back to a 10th place. With 1.2 mile beats in a dying breeze, Race 5 fried a lot of brain cells on a lot of boats. Michael Kiss would again go on to take the victory.
The final race of the day, the course was set to a very manageable .75 miles and this race would be all about boatspeed. After a tough start, George did a great job of battling back and we managed to use our boatspeed, find clean lanes and round the top mark in first. After a quick gybe-set however, we coughed up a few boats at the bottom mark and found ourselves rounding the right gate, going left in what would be a right handed program. We did our best to get back right, but with the majority of the fleet pegging the favored side, we would drop a few and finish 7th place. Bora Gulari calling tactics for Chuck Holzman would finally break the string of bullets held by the team on Baccio who took a disappointing 2nd place.
Overall, a tough day with marginal results (11, 10, 7). The good news is we have great boat speed, and if we can manage to take care of the basics tomorrow, we should be able to pop a top 5 finish for the regatta. With only 9 points separated between us and 2nd place, it should be a competitive 2 races.
Full results can be found here.
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