Day 4 of the Rolex Miami OCR seemed like a repeat of the last few days with 6-10 knots and shifty conditions.

Race 1 got off after a few postponements and we got a pretty good start near the pin end. We werent able to hold our lane so well and we had to tack out to find another. We worked our way left and were able to round in the top 10. We worked our position and managed a few passes to take 7th at the line.

Great news was that 1st and 2nd places had bad results so with one regular race to go we were in 2nd!

Race 2 got off to a good start but unfortunately we couldnt find a lane to the left side and were playing catch up from the start. We sailed as hard as we could but in the end could only manage a 20th.

With the regular series over we stand in 6th overall with just the medal race left. Heres the breakdown:

1. ISR 7 60pts
2. AUS 11 61pts
3. SWE 338 61pts
4. GBR 828 62pts
5. FRA 44 68pts
6. USA 1713 70pts
7. GRE 81 81pts
8. FRA 27 88pts
9. AUT 3 92pts
10. FRA 7 93pts

Wish us luck!

Day 3 of the Rolex Miami OCR was a very important one with only 4 races left in the series. Conditions were very similar to what we’ve had he last few days and we were eager to have a good day.

Race 1 we got a pretty good start towards the pin end after much debate in the pre-start. We went a little too far left and missed our biggest opportunity to have a good top rounding and managed a top 15 rounding. We took the low lane on the reach and caught 3 boats to put us just off the top 10. We passed another 2 boats downwind and turned the corner for the final beat. We played to the right side of the fleet and looked good until we missed the final lefty. We were in striking position on the downwind but couldnt manage our position and we got caught jibing in the middle. We didnt lose but we didnt gain, and crossed the line in 11th. However 2 boats in front of us were OCS which moved us up to 9th.

Race 2 got off great but maybe a little too great… We had an awesome start at the boat end along with the Aussies and NED 77. NED turned around after the individual flag went up but us and the Aussies held tight. We tacked off to the right and then caught a great right shift to sail across the course on top of the fleet. We tacked in a near perfect lane on the top left to round 1 boat length behind 2x Silver Medalist Nick Rogers (who had to ask us for the course) but quickly managed a pass with some good kinetics. We got down in front of them and surprised jibed away from them to get away clean. They got jibed on by the Swedes and we were able to extend to the bottom mark. We played our position against the fleet on the upwind and continued to extend. On the reach we nearly doubled our lead and then came the final run. Hardly a word was said other than to jibe or where the marks were. We were in so much fear that we may have been OCS’d that not much was said. We held our breaths on the the final reach and stared at our coaches across the line to see what the reaction was. We crossed the line and BEEP we got a horn! 1st it was and our support team and coaches were ecstatic! We gave each other a big high five and a big fist pump for our solid day.

At the end of the day our 9-1 has put us in 4th with only a few points to a podium with one final day of racing to go before the medal race. Full results here.

With day 1 behind us we were excited about racing with a chance to catch up and that we did!

The day brought similar conditions to where we left off yesterday, light, shifty, and puffy with winners coming from the sides.

Race 1 we finally got a good start but unfortunately found ourselves going the wrong way with a big shift to the right. We played our way that way to consolidate and got in a good position to make a lot of gains. We had a good downwind and decent second upwind but made a big move at the last mark to pass 2 boats on a skewed run to take 14th.

Race 2 we decided to go for and we took it! We had an excellent start at the boat end and tacked away and extended with our group. We called a brilliant layline from a mile out and it was the perfect call to put us just in front of our AUT training partners. We battled with team AUT the rest of the race but in the end held them off to take the race win! Very pleased!

Race 3 we decided to follow our strategy of winning sides and took it to the pin. We nearly had a horrible start after being boxed out but funny enough were given a hole after the race winning Brits tacked out and we filled in. In front of us were the Aussies who we let go on a tack and they came 2nd. We slung it out to the left side to catch our shift to round in 4th, and managed to pass a boat to take 3rd.

All in all a very good day considering how difficult the conditions were. The scores are really tight and it will be a battle the whole rest of the event. Our good day has put us in 6th overall with only a few points to 3rd. Full results here.

Welcome back race fans!

Yesterday we were postponed onshore all day waiting for severe storms to pass over the race course. By the time they passed it was a little too late to get everything going so they just decided to call it quits.

So with today being the first official day of racing, everyone was pretty keen to get out and race now being 2 races behind in the series. Today brought pretty good winds from 6-14 knots but rather shifty which made for some interesting racing.

Race 1 we didnt have the best start but were able to eject and catch a lane going right where we thought the best pressure was. Unfortunately the left side paid off and we were caught in the back. We sailed pretty well catching up to 17th by the end.

Race 2 we again didnt get a very good start but were able to catch a shift near the top to round mid fleet which put us in a pretty good position for a good result. We had a tough first downwind but hit all the shifts on the next upwind to round in 7th. We held off the pack to the finish and were pretty happy with that one.

Race 3 again started with a bad start, and we got bounced around in the middle until the top mark. Luckily enough for us it was an inner and we were able to have a good downwind to put us in a good spot for the next upwind. We played the shifts pretty well to come back to a 12th.

At the end of the day we’re standing 13th which is pretty good considering how difficult the day was. We know we could have done better but tomorrow is always another day. For full results check here.

Miami Yacht Club is hosting this year’s 470 North American Championships here in Biscayne Bay and today was a great start to the event. The last week we had very low temperatures which has dropped the water temperature to some unknown degree for Miami. The warm weather was a relief and we saw 18-20 knots on the race course.

Racing was excellent with many of the top teams from Europe using this as a tune up for the OCR next week. Our speed was good and made okay decisions to have a 8-6-4 on the day. Our scores put us in 4th overall on the day.

Full results here.

Team MB would like to present the Logo or No Go Contest for our fans to have the opportunity to design our team logo for our 2012 Campaign!

Logo must include ‘Team MB’ and 2012. Inappropriate designs submitted will be removed.

Rules are simple:

1. Design your logo
2. Submit your design into our Team MB Facebook Fan photo sectionÂ
3. Fans will vote on what logo is the best and it will be the header on our website!
4. Winner gets one of our Team MB Sail bags
5. Runner up gets a signed photo of us sailing

*Contest ends January 31*

Day 5 of Sail Melbourne turned out to be a little more of a waiting game like the day before.

Upon arrival the wind looked pretty good at 12 knots and from the forecasted direction. However, as the day went on the wind dropped substantially and looked pretty dismal as we headed out. We waited around for 2.5 hours before starting a race in a SE sea breeze.

Race 1 we opted for a boat end start because it appeared much more favored. We were forced to tack by SIN and took a quick double tack to get back with the fleet. We had great pressure and okay angle but the left was slightly better. Matt/Malcom crossed us by just a few lengths so we were already chasing. We played the shifty wind up the beat and nailed the last 2 shifts to round the mark in 2nd. We chased Matt/Malcom downwind and separated at the gate. We got good leverage out left but not quite enough. They tacked on us up to the next mark and we put the pressure on them again downwind closing more distance. The last upwind was a similar story and same with the last downwind. There was a moment where we almost got to their wind but we just didnt have the space to do it. Again we crossed the line in 2nd only just a few lengths behind them.

Tomorrow is the medal race and we’ve extended our points lead over 3rd to 7 points. Wish us luck tomorrow in our first medal race of the 2010 World Cup Series! Full results here.

Day 4 was a complete write off.

We waited around for 2 hours while it rained and the wind did circles on the water. After that we were sent out ad it looked promising for a little while. But as soon as the gun went off the race was abandoned and we were all sent in with an approaching storm with big breeze. We set the kite and had an epic reach in passing everyone to leeward who didnt have kites up. Good breeze reaching practice today!

Tomorrow is the last full day of racing, with one more and a medal race on Saturday. Results stay the same!

Day 3 brought 100 degree temperatures and plenty of wind as expected.

We sat inside the club house and watched the 49ers rip around in 25 knots before we had to head out ourselves.

Unfortunately as we turned the corner the breeze dropped significantly to around 15 knots.

Race 1 we decided to hit the left hard and that we did. We started at the pin and headed out left and didnt tack until we hit layline. It was looking pretty sketchy for awhile but we got enough pressure and shift to make it around the top mark as the 1st mens team. We had a great downwind to move into the lead but chose wrong when it came to the upwind. We forced Matt/Malcom right thinking the left would still be good. As it turns out the right actually offered some current relief and had a lot more pressure. We kept at it and held onto 2nd at the line after having a brief battle with the NZL kids on the last downwind.

Race 2 was looking much lighter, but at the 5 minute gun we saw a big breeze line filling in and we quickly changed pins. We got a little upset with the fleet at this moment as the 4 minute warning was up and the fleet began to change pins. Under class rules you are not allowed to change pins or spreaders once inside 4 minutes. We sailed around a let a few know as a warning but still not the coolest thing to see. We started to leeward of the boat end and had a decent start. We looked for a tack out but had trouble and were forced slightly left. We got a decent lane on top of the fleet but misjudged the layline to round about 8th. We jibed straight off the mark and immediately were in 5th. We stayed in 5th until the next upwind when we got right and passed a boat. We got close to 2nd and 3rd just before the reach but didnt quite have the opportunity to really pass them. 4th it would be.

At te end of the day we held onto our 2nd place and are looking forward to another days racing. Full results here.

In other racing news, the Access Dinghy Championship took place after sailing and it was epic. Winner got $500! The Access Dinghy is a sit down boat with joy stick steering. Our heat was pretty stacked with Graham, Stu, Harry Bethwaite, and Will Ryan (470 crew). No slouches at all. Graham took the start on port and went on for the race win with Harry coming 2nd, Will 3rd and Stu a respectable 4th. Unfortunately Graham couldnt pull off the racing winning start he almost had in the Semis and was booted from the round. All in all still a great afternoon spectator sport!

Day 2 brought much lighter conditions as expected which was a nice relief after the long windy races we had yesterday. It was very much a go left play with the sea breeze trying to push in, but it never really happened.

Race 1 we got a nice start off the pin and pulled out to the left side with Matt/Malcom who are leading the series. We pulled up underneath them after we both tacked and sent them left. We had a chance to follow but decided not to go since we were lifted and saw pressure ahead. Turned out not to be the best call as we lost a few lengths to them. We turned it on downwind and really pressed hard rounding right on their transom. Again we got forced out and lost some distance. We caught up again on the downwind but upwind didnt have the position to gain. We sailed the rest of the race in 2nd about 25m behind them and comfortably ahead of the rest of the fleet.

Race 2 was a little more of the same except we had a chance to pin out Matt/Malcom on the first upwind but decided not to. Instead we were lee bowed by the NZL girls and lost just enough to lose Matt/Malcom. The rest of the race got pretty boring to be honest with it being a one sided race course. Every upwind and downwind was a repeat of the last.

The most annoying thing on the day would have to be the huge jellyfish on the racecourse. It was so hard to tell how deep they were and we hit plenty of them popping our centerboard up and cutting them in half!

Our 2-2 on the day puts us a few points ahead of the boats on our tail and still keeps us close to the leaders once we get a drop. Full results here.