Reports by Brad Nichol:
Day 3, Races 5 and 6:
The final day of the Spring Championships of the Western Hemisphere proved to be the most windy of them all. Andy and I spent some time last night trying to figure out where we were lacking speed in the big breeze and came up with some things that worked better. In the first race we worked our way to the right side of the course, which had been working well all week, and we led around the weather mark. Up-wind was fine, but we lost boats in the reaches yesterday. We figured out the problem and extended our lead but Paul Cayard was charging hard moving from fifth to second on the second reach. We were able to hold off Cayard all the way back to the weather mark and worked our way down wind. Cayard jibed away and we let him go but he came back to beat us right at the finish line. John Dane finished third and he and Cayard headed for the docks locking up first and second for the regatta.

Before the last race Andy and I tallied up the scores and we were tied for third with Ross MacDonald with 16 points and Mark Mendelblatt and Rick Merriman one point back. At the start the line was stacked up at the boat with all the contenders battling it out in the heavy wind.

Andy and I were tacked on twice in the first few minutes and could not get to the right. At the weather mark we were in 12th and were determined to pick up boats. We passed the Irish and George Szabo on the first reach and made it to the bottom mark in the top ten. At the leeward mark I told Andy that we were in 6th for the regatta and every boat we pass moves us up a spot in the results. With that in mind we took some risks on the left side that did not pay. At the weather mark we were back in tenth. We jibed early on the run and caught the most amazing wave and rode it for over an minute passing three boats on the run to finish seventh in the race and sixth in the regatta.

Day 2, Races 3 and 4:
For those of you who have seen the movie "Groundhog Day," that's what the weather feels like here in Nassau. It was another perfect day with a bit more wind and a bit bigger waves. Today we ran two course one's (triangle, windward, leeward) and Andy and I learned a lot.

Andy had never reached in a star boat and we were a bit off the pace on the reaches, and we kept getting beat by boats who we forced to tack away.

In the first race we held fifth place around the first triangle only to lose Ross MacDonald on the last beat to finish sixth. In the second race we did a masterful job at the top of the beat to position ourselves in the right place to win out over a big pack of boats to round the weather mark second.

On the first reach we got the high-low from Mark Mendelblat and Paul Cayard and lost them both and then lost John Dane too. On the second reach Mark Reynolds caught us and we rounded fifth. We continued to lose boats on the final beat and run to finish a disappointing eighth.

If a seven-eight is a bad day for us then life isn't too bad but we have high expectations for ourselves. John Dane continued to sail well notching a 6, 3, and Paul Cayard continued to dominate racking up two more second places. Mark Mendelblat had a solid day moving into third with a 1, 4 and then things get tight from 4th place all the way to 10th. Andy and I are in fifth and in order to take the number one spot on the US Sailing Team we have to finish top 10 and beat John MacCausland who is in 10th place after today.

More wind and waves are scheduled for the final day of "Groundhog Day," hopefully Andy and I get it right!

Races 1 and 2:
It was another perfect day of sailing in Nassau. Big breeze out of the east quickly built up some huge rolling waves and some big chop. Andy claimed it was the best day of sailing he has ever had.

Race one was a course four (windward-leeward, twice around) for a total of eight miles. We started below the pack stacked up at the boat and worked our way to the left up the first beat. After a few tacks to shake off some of our competitors we worked our way across the course and rounded in the top five. It took us some time to get comfortable down wind as we had not sailed this boat together in the big wind and waves but after some time we started catching waves and flying by boats. We rounded the leeward mark in third and went right up the beat. Half way up the course we caught our shift and rounded the weather mark in first with Paul Cayard close behind. We had a great duel downwind and were able to hold off Cayard to win the race with John Dane in third and the next seven boat within 45 seconds behind.

Just before the second race the wind went ten degrees right and we tried to go left off the line again. This time it did not pay and we rounded around tenth at the first mark. By this time we had the downwind sailing figured out and we got into open water and ripped by boats. At the leeward mark we were in fifth and put the bow down to the right side. Half way up the beat we were looking good but the left came in just before the mark and we dropped a few boats. We had a good run and came close to catching the two boats ahead of us but in the end finished sixth. John Dane and Austin Sperry won, with Cayard in second, and Howie Schiebler in third.

John Dane tops the standings with 4 points, Paul Cayard and Brian Sharp have four also, and Andy and I have 7, followed by Ross MacDonald (8), and Mark Mendelblatt (12).