More news from Laura...

Coconut Grove Yacht Club hosted the Europe & Mistral Class for the first Grade One Olympic Class Regatta 2003.

Krysia & I arrived on Sunday in her big American style van with one boat on the roof, one inside the van & one on top of a coach boat towed behind us.

We stayed on a friend of Krysia's Yacht, "Vitamin Sea" that was moored just outside Coconut Grove Yacht Club. There is a 24hr Launch service that took us to & from the boat. The weather stayed really good all week so it was really pleasant.

We rigged up and enjoyed three days of training in 12-16 knots with fabulous sunshine, more dolphins, palm trees and even parrots singing overhead, flying freely.

In the flatter waters I had a lot more speed. The mast I borrowed from Krysia is stiff in the side-bend which suits flat waters. A mast stiffer in the back-bend would be better suited to the bigger waves in Ft Lauderdale.

I spent a morning speed tuning with the Greek girl, Georgia and I blew away from her, it was a great feeling. Georgia went onto race very well and finish 3rd overall in the regatta.

The racing started on Wednesday in a good breeze that softened as the day progressed. The wind was offshore all week and therefore tricky with big shifts and pressure patches. I got it right a lot more than I did last year. Still, I made some big mistakes. In one race I was fourth up the last beat but was Very slow to realize I was stuck on a big patch of weed and lost 10 boats!

In another race there was a big black cloud that came through the racecourse. I now the theory of head towards it because it's sucking the wind into it so there will be a big header in followed by a huge lift out. Nothing changed in the wind direction up the beat but once round the top mark the wind died. The front four boats went into the cloud where I saw no wind. I decided to sail around the outside, to the right of the cloud where there was more breeze. I looked to have over taken all the boats and be on a good heading into the bottom mark when the wind 'wooshed' in from the sea (left of course) and I was left tacking up to the leeward mark, loosing everything.

A 180' shift and the race committee continued to race us 'Mickey Mouse Style!' I was not impressed and RTD, probably not wise but I couldn't believe they would count the race. The leaders protested the race committee at the end of the day but the race remained?! Hum!

I finished 9th overall, my first top ten result at a Grade One Olympic Class Regatta so I was pleased with that and know I could have done better too.

1st - Lenka (CZE)

2nd - Meg (USA)

3rd - Georgia (GRE)

4th - Tory (CAN)

5th - Krysia (USA)

I have one more week in Florida before flying back to Palma for a few days training with Mark Littlejohn. We have moved all the kit back to Ft Lauderdale for the US Pre-Olympic Trials this weekend.