This last week, we had the opportunity to train and race in the 49erFX in Miami, Florida. We had a total of 7 days on the water, four of which were training and three of which were the US Open Sailing Series regatta.
During the training, we were a squad of three ODP teams, one from Miami and two from California, coached by Dane Wilson. Two of the days, we also trained with Olympians, Paris Henken and Anna Tunneclif, who were wrapping up their winter training block and being coached by Charlie McKee.
During the four training days, we had relatively light conditions, which allowed us to learn a lot about the techniques for sailing 49ers in light breeze. Having just stepped out of the 29er, we learned that the 49er has more power and can accelerate faster. We learned that we had to try and hold as much power in the boat as we could and press on it. While making sure that we didn’t put the boat too far to windward and have to restart building power. This was very different from the 29er. Working with the two coaches and the squad taught us so much in a short amount of time.
Racing for the US Open Sailing Series started on Saturday just as a cold front blew in. We were surprised at how cold it was, low fifties in the morning and having to wear the same gear as we would in San Francisco in the fall was a little bit of a shock. The first day of racing took place in 20-25 knots with puffs up to around 30. It was a crazy day of sailing!
Sailing the 49er was way faster than the 29er, but oddly we felt like when sailing it was easier than the 29er because you could depower the sails so well. We had a solid first two races beating Paris and Anna to win the second race.
The next two days of sailing we had our first start at 9 o'clock, which was a little bit early for our taste. The wind was forecast to shut off at noon, so we had to hit the water early to get the wind. It was strange to have the wind die off at noon when there was wind in the morning. This was definitely not like California where we only get wind at noon.
The racing on those two days was extremely competitive and we had some good battles. The super shifty and puffy conditions from the offshore breeze was a bit frustrating when we would be leading and covering the boats behind us and one boat would bang the corner and pass everyone. Being that we had not sailed the boat that much, we were focused on just working on locking in and sailing the boat fast and just trusting on our knowledge from sailing 29er to do the right thing on the race course.
It worked in the long run with us ending up second overall at our first 49erFX regatta. We had a lot of fun, learned a lot and are looking forward to being able to be a part of more 49erFX regattas in the future. Thank you for supporting us!
