Gold Cup 2008 - One race to go.

I haven't had time to sit with a computer since I've been here for more than 10 minutes... but now I have that time.

We finished 6th today, but a boat ahead of us was black flaged so we were 5th. We are sitting in a tie for 6th over all and it is very unlikely we move up to 5th. Even if we tank it in tomorows last race I think we hold a top 10 finish. Today's race was such a challenge. We had 2 general recalls; we really wished the first one had not have been called... we had room and speed and were exactly where we wanted to be. The "I" flag seems to be always up, but in the 2nd start the "Z" flag was up as well which means if you are over the start line 1 minute before the gun you are DSQ unless there is a general recall, then you can make the next start. In the 2nd start we were very happy a general recall was made because we were deep in the 2nd row. 3rd time was a charm and we had a good start. We had room to leeward if we needed it and the boats above us were not over taking. Everyone wanted to "go to Denmark" and tacked onto port and we found ourselves on the left edge of a nice right shift. When we got to the windward mark we were 7th and did a jibe set a the mark to dial down into the better pressure. We held our own and at the leeward gate we went left gate and back to Denmark. Made some good tacks on shifts and found ourselves 2nd at the windward mark. We lost a boat on the downwind leg and went left gate again hoping to repeat our luck. A few boats went right, including DEN 994... this guy is amazing. He was 30 boat lengths behind us at the leeward rounding and ended up 20 boat lengths ahead of us at the windward mark... along with 3 other boats. So, now we are 7th at the windward mark, make the same left gate move, clear our air and look for the shifts. We passed one boat up wind in the last 3rd of the course and crossed the line 6th, but like I said another boat was DSQ'd so we get the 5th. We stayed ahead of the boats we needed to move up and with a little luck, tomorow we keep our 6th and doubtfully make a 5th.

The competition is top notch and the boats are as diverse as Iäve ever scene... Iäve taking a few "spy" photos, but will share them when I get back... I'm so bummed not to have the camera on board today... while we were in 2nd place, going down wind with 64 boats behind us looked real good.

My camera battery died today, but as soon as I can I'll put up a few pictures, Iäve got some good ones from this trip!