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Looking to Advance »
August 12, 2011
It is common knowledge around marinas, coasts or any type of boating environment that when you get pooped on by a bird flying overhead, it is supposed to be good luck. I’m sure this is just a ploy to make the person who was just shat upon feel better, and thankfully up to this point I have not been able to experience this first hand. That changed this morning when our team was walking to the CMRC house boat at the end of Navy Pier when we spooked a pack of seagull’s and shortly after I felt the warm ooze of bird dook on my arm. Keeping the “getting crapped on is good luck” theme in my head, I casually cleaned it off, carefully leaving just a remnant so I did not wipe away the effect. As we were about to find out on Day 1 of the Grade 2 invitational, bird shit doesn’t bring much good luck when racing against some of the top match racers.
Our day started off pretty well as we won 2 of our first 3 matches, one of which was against Bill Hardesty and his team who only lost two all day. We did a good job of developing a game plan on the starts and first beats, and coming close to executing it, but we found ourselves making routine errors that would cause us to foul in the pre-start, eventually leaving us with 3 wins and 4 losses on the day. The teams we are racing against in this event have a lot of match racing experience and when a mistake is made, they do a very good job of making you pay for it instantly.
10 teams started the event, and only 8 will carry on to the 2nd round robin which will begin tomorrow. We have 1 race remaining in the first round robin, and with it still being mathematically possible to be eliminated, we will need to get a W against Anna Tunnicliffe and her team to control our own destiny. Our plan is sail cleaner than we did today, while still putting together a good race plan.
If you want to listen and watch live coverage, there is live commentary on the CMRC website, along with race footage and interviews.
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