By Scott Sinks
Thank you so much for helping to assist my crew, Patrick snow and I in competing in the 2012 Chubb U.S. Double Handed Championship held out of San Francisco Yacht Club. It was an amazing experience, and getting to sail in the Berkley circle, which had strong current, heavy breeze, and big chop made it an experience I wont ever forget.
Day One consisted of winds ranging from 15-18 and a strong ebbing current, making the starts a key factor of doing well. We ended the day with a 1, 2, 4, and 1. However after coming in our coach reported to us that we were scored ocs in race two, putting us in 4th place with our ocs. We were very satisfied with our day and our speed, but frustrated knowing that we had a strong race that turned into throw-out the result of an ocs. Ouch, but we had to bounce back.
Day Two started off with similar conditions in the morning, and stronger breeze in the late afternoon. With good starts, and conservative beats we ended day two with 1,7,4,2, after a long day of racing. Putting us in 2nd place, 3 points behind 1st!
On Day Three of the regatta with only 2 races scheduled the goal of taking home the championship we had to be more aggressive mentality going into the day. We started off the first race of the day rounding the top mark in 3rd, with our 2 main competitors in front of us. Eager to catch them we were flagged downwind for pumping. And were forced to spin a 720, losing 3 boats, finishing the first race of the day in 6th. With 1st place out of reach, we set out to get 2nd in the regatta. With a rough start, and a few unfortunate shifts we ended the regatta with an 8th. Securing us the bronze medal – 3rd overall. On the podium. Although we were hoping for a better result we still got to experience a great regatta, which could not have happened without the support from SDYC. Thank you.