The Alex Caviglia Bluewater Classic is a regatta held annually at Shake-A-Leg Miami, a well-known and organized facility focused on providing access to sailing and the water to disabled folks and less-advantaged community members. The proceeds benefit the Caviglia Bluewater Foundation, which assists the families of victims of traumatic brain injury using sailing as a medium. The Caviglia regatta is attended annually by international RS:X sailors training for the Miami OCR. For the past two years, I sailed Formula at this regatta, but in preparation for the critical 2011 season, I used the regatta as a test to see how well my newly acquired light wind technique held up against some of the world's best women's RS:X sailors, including the British silver medalist and Spanish world champion.
Caviglia Foundation mission, printed on the regatta T-shirt
The focus of the regatta was reinforcing the skills I learned over the past month in a competitive setting. My goal was to break down each race and apply the new pumping and pointing techniques as much as possible and treat the regatta as a training camp. We had light and marginal wind for all three days of the event, conditions normally seen also at the OCR. I was really pleased at the way I am now keeping up better with the faster sailors in the lighter conditions. I'm definitely more in the game than I've ever been, and I'm happy with the results of the hard work I've put in over the last months. With only about seven or eight days of coaching, I've been able to correct things that have frustrated me for years, and I'm looking forward to applying my new experience at the OCR.
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