Kieler Woche

I’ve been meaning to write this the last couple of nights, but dinner and beer run late, so I might as well do it now, as some people are probably getting antsy for it. Lets see if I can do this on 1.7 liters of German and Czech beer, which is what, 5 cans of beer? I should be fine.

As you all might have read, my scores for Kiel Week did not quite meet the high held expectations, as I only raced the first day. Well my mum decided to take it upon herself to trip and fall on the way to the bus stop and break her left arm near her wrist, and a section of her hand, which required a plate and 6 pins, and 4 different casts. There goes her life long record of never breaking a bone. So I was able to race the first day, and I did terrible. I had lost a lot of weight coming over. Before we left, I weighed about 171- 175-ish, but the trip over really did it to me, as I can loose up to 3 pounds by skipping a meal, so sitting on a plane and in airports for 20 hours will takes its effect, that and all the walking involved every day, and it took us an hour by bus to get to the Olympic Center every day, we also missed a couple of meals, as pretty much EVERYTHING closes by 8. By day one I recken I was at a slim 160 pounds, which is no good for 30 knots in a Full rig, and when I went out the second day, I went up wind for all of 2 minutes at the start line, told the RC I was heading home. It just wasn't going to work. Its interesting because it took me 39 minutes to get out to the course that that, and about 2 hours to get home, and about 6 flips. The reach there was great, a once in a life time kind of reach, especially if your come from California. You can't complain about a 30 knot reach, with flat water. The beat home was a different story, 2 hours, upwind, 30 knots, and your too damn light.So from there on out, family came first, with my moms surgery, getting her to the hospital, and all her multiple casts. But even though I didn’t get to race as much as I would have liked it was still a great experience, and one that I will never forget. It was probably one of the greatest regattas that I’ve ever been to, with food and beer stands, gear and boat bits shops, shopping, a market BMW cars for trailering, music, everything you ever needed all on site, I had no idea what to expect, but this tops it all. Being the site of the 1972 Olympic games what more would you expect? (I never did find the changing/locker rooms, but there are rumored to be showers.)

Lastly, I want to thank my parents, my sponsors, BYC, the BYC dock crew, LMVYC, SAYC, and everyone that has gotten me this far. I might have fallen short of meeting expectations this time at Kiel Week, but there’s always next time, and I’ll make sure to give em hell at Baltic Sprint Cup, and US Laser Nationals. In the end, I might not have won Kiel Week, but I win this awesome board game tonight, so I guess that counts for something?