Our first day of World Championship Gold Fleet racing reminded us what we are working towards.  The skill level is incredible.  While we know we are nearly there, we did not necessarily show it in the three light air, shifty, and puffy two-lap races.  We came away with a 19-24-23 in the stacked 25-boat fleet, which puts us in 25th with five races to go in the final series. 

We awoke this morning to another cold Northerly breeze, though this one was much lighter than the past few days.  The Race Committee moved the start up to 10 AM in anticipation of the gradient dropping off as the day wore on.  Our efforts to move beyond the thrill of slipping into Gold Fleet after a fantastic final day of qualifying proved to have fallen short.  The emotional roller coaster ride of sailboat racing is a harsh teacher, and we thankfully have time still to learn her lessons. 

The next two days we quite literally have nothing to lose.  We are at the bottom in our fleet, so there is no place to go but up in the standings.  We will look to get back to the same frame of mind we had on the third day of the event, which got us into gold.  By making sure to get off the starting line well and sail the way we know we can around the course we will certainly be able to make some forward progress on the scoreboard. 

Thanks to all of our supporters!  We will not let you down!