After a 13th place in the first race of the day, things weren't looking as bright anymore. Especialy since our main competition (Joel Ronning, sailing with Bill Hardesty) had just scored a 1st! Conditions were the most challenging today out of the three days of racing we experienced. Our course was set up so it was influenced by the outflow of different bodies of water, which generated all sorts of local currents, most of which I identified wrongly in the first race.
We knew that we needed to finish no worse than 7th in any of the two races if Ronning won both of the races. So for the second race I opted for a more conservative approach. Again a great start by Michael put us in the front row in the first upwind leg and we rounded in 3rd, just ahead of Ronning. On the downwind we matched his gybes and pulled a way a bit. Then on the second upwind we positioned ourselves just ahead of them, just so they could live and would think twice about tacking. I really like this move, as usually that boat will end up loosing several boat lengths as they think they are doing o.k., but in reality they are slowly loosing ground. During this second upwind leg more favorable current was developing on the left side of the course and the fleet once again condensed at the windward mark. Again downwind we played it safe, but a knot in the kite halyard made things interesting in the douse! Once we had everything sorted out we got our heads back in the game and realized just in time how well the left was playing out, again.
A couple of boats passed us and we were suddenly in 8th place half way up the beat, but still ahead of Ronning. We continued to play the current well for the second half of the last beat and were able to reel some boats in to finish 4th. That gave us a total of 20 points and the overall win. Joel Ronning ended up second and Robert Wilber in 3rd.
So far I have had good luck in Charleston. Last year I did tactics for Scott Nixon and we won the Melges 24 event and this time it's the Melges 20. What will it be next year?
Charleston has done it again. Great, challenging racing, southern hospitality and awesome weather...
Now it's back to school for me for a couple of days and then off to Long Beach for my 2nd Moth Regatta (which will surely again be a humbling experience).
We'll have some awesome sailors, including Charlie and Jonathan McKee and a guy called Bora Gulari his blog (I heard he's pretty good) sailing.
Full results of Charleston Race Week can be found here
Chris out
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