Its been nice to get away from the wind and rain in Weymouth for a short to trip to Miami for the Melges 32 Gold Cup.

I was sailing on Red, the Melges 32 team helmed by Joe Woods. The team was a great bunch of guys which made for not only great sailing but good fun. It was my first time sailing on a Melges 32 so it was all quite new with lots to learn, luckily as tactician I didnt have to pull any strings which made life a bit easier but there was still a lot on especially when the breeze was up.
It was easy to see why the fleet is so popular, the boats are quick, the racing super tight and the fleet is staked with talented sailors.

It took me a while to find my feet and get used to the tricky conditions, it was quite shifty with a good swell and the boats powered up. After a slow start and a few mistakes we got better as the the regatta went on. Consistency was the key on the final day as we pulled through the fleet each race to finish with a 6 – 4 – 3.

Unfortunately this wasn’t quite enough just missing out on winning by a point to Ramrod, helmed by Rod Jabin with Gavin Brady calling tactics.

It was still good to finish 2nd in the first regatta with plenty to still work on Im really looking forward to joining the team again in Key West in January.

For Results see
http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=295