US Nationals Day 4 - Course Racing with Video
Yesterday was the first day of course racing here at the US Nationals on Maui and after a cloudy up and down start it turned into another beautiful, sunny, windy day. The racing started around noon and the winds were cranking in the upper 20s. The fleets chose their sails accordingly started to race and Maui's wind pulled the carpet out from under them so to speak, with the wind dropping several sail sizes in the course of a few minutes.
By 1:00 or so, the skies had cleared and the wind was returning back to it's earlier stronger levels. I took a break from watching and filming and sailed very powered on my 4.7/85L combo, scoring some cool little waves at Uppers. Meanwhile, some of the course racers were out holding down 9.5s and bigger.
Unofficially, it looked to me like Phil McGain dominated the big boys fleet today with Matt Pritchard usually right behind him, followed by Micah Buzinas. Very interesting watching the formula guys handle Maui's strong winds.
The QuickTime video footage from yesterday mostly features a crowded start, 20 yards from the beach and some finishes. After the first few clips in the video, you'll hear Conner Baxter doing the play-by-play. Conner has been sidelined on the beach the last few days with an ankle injury. Today's video clip is bigger than most formula boards, 11.1 MB, so go get a cup of coffee while this thing downloads.
Overheard an interesting tidbit from Wednesday's long distance race. Apparently Conner's dad, Keith, was following some of the long distance racers on his jet ski. His speedometer showed him going 38mph, following Phil McGain (I think) and he was unable to keep up with him. Keep in mind this was out in the open ocean.
Today's weather is looking like a carbon copy of the last few days. Today is the last day of racing action, more coures racing on tap, followed by BBQ and award ceremony afterwards.
By 1:00 or so, the skies had cleared and the wind was returning back to it's earlier stronger levels. I took a break from watching and filming and sailed very powered on my 4.7/85L combo, scoring some cool little waves at Uppers. Meanwhile, some of the course racers were out holding down 9.5s and bigger.
Unofficially, it looked to me like Phil McGain dominated the big boys fleet today with Matt Pritchard usually right behind him, followed by Micah Buzinas. Very interesting watching the formula guys handle Maui's strong winds.
The QuickTime video footage from yesterday mostly features a crowded start, 20 yards from the beach and some finishes. After the first few clips in the video, you'll hear Conner Baxter doing the play-by-play. Conner has been sidelined on the beach the last few days with an ankle injury. Today's video clip is bigger than most formula boards, 11.1 MB, so go get a cup of coffee while this thing downloads.
Overheard an interesting tidbit from Wednesday's long distance race. Apparently Conner's dad, Keith, was following some of the long distance racers on his jet ski. His speedometer showed him going 38mph, following Phil McGain (I think) and he was unable to keep up with him. Keep in mind this was out in the open ocean.
Today's weather is looking like a carbon copy of the last few days. Today is the last day of racing action, more coures racing on tap, followed by BBQ and award ceremony afterwards.
posted by Jeff at
8:07 AM
1 Comments:
Great commentary! The kid's got a future. But don't let him quit his day job, not quite yet.
By
Anonymous, at 11:54 AM
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