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.

Welcome back fans!

Last we left you was a poor result in Weymouth, GBR but a 2nd place finish in the overall World Cup Series.

Since then we have relocated to Miami and have been training very hard.

We are now in Melbourne, AUS for stop #1 of the 2010 World Cup Series. Day 1 of racing concluded today and it was fantastic.

A perfect Melbourne sea breeze filled in peaking at 18-20 knots bring some good waves with it. OUr start times each day are 3pm which is a little interesting trying to keep the energy level up. Its 6:50pm right now and we’ve come straight from the boat to the internet lounge!

Race 1 got underway on time in a fresh breeze. We were a little asleep it seemed as we took the boat end and watched the people out at the pin just sail away. We held it together for the first upwind rounding about 6/7 but on our bear away heard a loud BANG and found that our vang had broken from the mast. I quickly got to work tying it in for the rest of the race as Stu tried to fly the kite. A few moments later we were off sailing again but had definitely lost a few spots. We sailed as hard as we could and really caught up a lot. At the final mark we almost pulled a killer move to catch 4th but mis-judged the angle of the reach and finished 5th instead. Still a pleasing race considering all that went wrong and a good opener to the series.

Race 2 started quickly after the finish. We had just enough time to collect ourselves and change our rig settings. This time we started at the correct end. We didnt have the best start but made do with what we had. We sailed out to the left corner and got a great shift with pressure which put us 2nd at the mark. We extended on the reach with the leaders and continued on the downwind. The rest of the race continued on with not much drama, holding 2nd and never really catching the leaders.

At the end of the day we finished with a 5-2 which is good enough to put us in a 3 way tie for 2nd! And we win the tie breaker so we’ll be sporting the blue jerseys tomorrow.

Full results here.

If you’re struggling to find some Christmas present for friends and family Team MB has a great idea!

We’ve recycled our old racing and training sails and turned them into quality bags! Use the bags for the beach, groceries, whatever you can think of!

Each bag is unique, cut from a different part of our sails. Bags may have sail numbers, USA country code, 470 class insignia, a sail window, or stamps from some of the events we’ve competed in!

Besides having a totally one of a kind bag, you will also be supporting the US’ top mens 470 team! The bags are selling for $100 (tax deductible) and all proceeds go to Team MB to help us in our quest for Olympic Gold in 2012.

To purchase a bag please email Graham and we’ll get it to you right away!

  

To say the least Worlds didnt quite end up how we expected and we are a little let down and disappointed after the event. In the lead up to the event we showed a lot of promise and our training partners from CRO took the win this year by sailing a great series.

Our pre worlds strategy was to sail as consistent as possible. Time and time again this proves to be the key ingredient to a successful event. The qualifying series went great and headed into the finals is where we had some road bumps.

The first day of the finals wasnt a perfect start but it still kept us in the game. Our BFD in race one was a let down but 1/3 of the fleet received penalties, and of those who sailed that race, many of the top also received their drop score. We came back charging for the 2nd race and rounded the top mark in 2nd but lost a few boats in the tricky downwinds. Our big hit came in the last downwind when a massive left shift came through and sent 6 boats past us and we salvaged a 10th. After that day we were only 4 points out from 4th so the racing was wide open.

The second day of finals is where we met our match. In the entire 3 weeks of training we had prior to worlds we never saw the conditions we got on this day. We had a solid breeze and short steep chop. We learned a lot that day but the damage was done after we scored a 18-22. We were way off in our set up and learned that we needed more rake to compete with the rest of the fleet in those conditions.

From the second day of finals we took what we learned and applied it to the 3rd day. In race one we battled all the way around the course starting in 12th and moving up to 7th at one point. Unfortunately a giant left shift filled in and we were caught out right. We finished in the 20s. The shift was unpredictable and boats from last ended up top 10 which goes to show a little bit of luck is needed now and again, and it wasnt our turn. After a let down like that its hard to get back into things, and our next race suffered as well. At the end of the day we slipped down to 20th.

For the last race we went out and really gave it our all. We won the pin end and hit the shifts correctly until half way up and decided to head left instead of right. At that point we had a healthy lead but gave it all up. The rest of the race not much changed and we finished 12th. At the end of the series we came 21st. Not our best to date and certainly not what we expected, but there were a lot of lessons learned.

If we were to start the worlds again tomorrow we would not change a single thing. Our planning has been rock solid thus far, we just got a little unlucky.

We now have a week off to relax and we’ve gone our separate ways. We’ll meet back up in Weymouth, England on the 7th to begin a little practice for World Cup #7, the Sail for Gold Regatta. We have a legitimate chance to win the World Cup title this year and that is our focus at the Sail for Gold.

Until then we’ll be on blog silence on holidays unless some other interesting news pops up! Continue to check our Facebook Page “Team MB” for news and updates. Thanks everyone!

Today was the first day of the finals series and the tension was definitely there. Everyone was very edgy and pushy today about everything! We had several general recalls under a black flag which means immediate disqualification for that race…

Race 1

Never got to actually sail because we scored a black flag penalty on the first recall. However, there was a second recall which meant that 1/3 of the fleet scored a BFD. Of those that didnt get a BFD it was a big opportunity to score very valuable points. Of the leaders, CRO and AUS were the only boats who didnt sail a drop. We were laughing as we followed everyone around, because it meant the racing was still wide open.

Race 2

Got a great start near the boat end and bailed out right hard because thats what the major play has been. We rounded 2nd at the top mark but unfortunately lost 2 boats downwind who carried better pressure outside on the run. Upwind we worked everything we got and held onto 4th. For the reach things started to get a little scary with the fleet coming from behind with pressure. We elected to jibe because 1st, 2nd, and 3rd did, so we figured to follow. A few boats went straight off the mark and caught a super random puff/shift that carried them down in front of our lead pack. We lost 6 boats to finish 10th. We salvaged what we could and although while still disappointed, realized that the Aussies fell from 2nd to 11th in the downwind!

At the end of the day things are not nearly as bad as we thought. Somehow we managed to gain points on nearly everyone! Heres the quick breakdown with 4 races remaining:

1. NED 1 24pts
2. CRO 83 28pts
3. JPN 4340 32pts
4. SUI 11 39pts
5. AUS 13 40pts
6. NZL 212 40pts
7. GBR 834 41pts
8. AUS 11 41pts
9. AUT 3 42pts
10. USA 1713 42pts