Day 1 of finals was a lot more civilized that the qualifiers.  Although the 12 MPH northwest wind was more than the expected 8-10,.  We had a postpone in the AM to validate some results, but once that was done, down came the postpone flag and we were on the way out to race.  It was tough getting out to the race course with the tide and the wind against us and several boats tacked back and forth in place for a while trying to get to the Newport Bridge,  Once we got out to the committee boat south of Gould Island, we had the wind we needed and were less affected by the tides.  

The first race saw a significant windshift requiring a course change.on the second upwind leg.  Between races, the RC moved the marks twice with another significant windshift that eventually came right back to where were originally were.  Hopefully, during the delay, the sailors were taking in the local scenery which is just so pretty.  With two races down and 3 to go, 

Zeke Horowirz and Brian Hayes from North Sails gave a great chalk talk after racing with lots of participation and great questions from the racers.  Hopefully we can all use what we learned on the race course tomorrow.  After a nice Italian dinner under the teant ont he Newport Bay waterfroint, we all headed back to rest up for tomrrow's raced. 

After Day 1, Zeke and Jay Horowitz are leaders of the Championship Divission and Rob and Maggie Foster are leading the Challenger Division.  Full resutls are here.