Quick Update from the Caribbean:

Arrived in St Martin a few days ago and have been busy turning the 150 foot Lady B into "Racing" mode in preparation for the St Barths Bucket.
Looks like we have a great group on board and although the forecast looks light we are expecting some great sailing.

After being on the road for 16 days and sailing on the water for over ten of the days with Team Moneypenny/Vesper. I have finally had a few moments at home to kiss my wife and children and look back on my time away. The 
The Gaastra 52 Worlds the winds were generally light. I would guess without looking at the data that over 60% of our races were sailed in less than 11 knots of wind. For me this is one of the most interesting times on the boat. In under 11 knots on Vesper our play is for me to sit inside the cockpit and work the traveler, basically I am a mainsheet caddy aka Skip's Bitch. I love this position for the communication as it relates to speed and trim that passes by me on a constant basis. The direct conversation between our tactician Gavin Brady, our mainsheet trimmer Skip Baxter, our Headsail Trimmer Rob Salthouse, offside trimmer Ryan Houston, Runner Control Rodney Daniel and Helmsman Jim Swartz is constant and is a perfect example of how communication onboard should work. Its soft spoken, direct and clear. 
First you hear Ryan Houston. He is constantly interpreting the immediate wind velocity and change in direction. Depending on the upcoming changes Gavin will then tell the trimmers his tactical needs for any given puff. Depending on those tactical needs the trimmers will then outline a plan between each other and then communicate their needs to myself and RD. For instance in a lifting puff you will hear Skip call for an increase in runner and drop in traverler. At the same time Salty will be easing the jib to the lift and then Jim will be steering the boat up into the lift as the Jib gets sheeted back on. Then Ryan will call that less velocity in incoming in X number of seconds. At this point RD will begin easing the runner to straighten the mast, I will hear him easing and will start to bring the traveler car further to windward as Skip eases a little sheet creating more twist and acceleration into the mainsail. Everyone is always anticipating and setting themselves up for the next scenario. As the week went on you could hear the difference as our verbal communications became quieter, more brief and our ability to maintain our target boat speeds better. 
Ok, time to go pack the bags. Leaving this afternoon for West Palm Beach to load Vesper on the ship to St. Thomas. Then fly to the Caribbean myself for the St. Barths Bucket with the 44 meter Dubois S/V Lady B.

Rob Douglas and Alex Caizergues are at it again over in France. This week the Mistral wind came piping in and offered both sailors the opportunity to clock in some impressive numbers. 

With Vesper out of the water and ready for shipping I had a quick opportunity on Monday evening to get out and kite at Singer Island. I hadn't kite there before but after calling Damien Leroy and asking for a little advice on Singer vs. Juno he encouraged me to keep the driving to a minimum and hit Singer. Maybe he was just trying to keep Juno to himself and the rest of the South Florida Cabrinha Crew but either way I scored a great session. 
The entire South Florida Coast was under a high seas warning as the low pressure system further north in the Atlantic was pumping swell back at Florida. Arriving at Ocean Reef Park I found a super nice lifeguard who couldn't have been more helpful in encouraging me to rig anywhere and enjoy the surf. The wind was a little light at 14-15 Knots but with my 17 Meter TS Kite from BEST I was all sorted. I had recently gotten a hold of the 2013 Armada 135 board and I was really excited to just go out and play in the waves. 
The board was super fun and I was perfectly lit on the 17 Meter so for the next two hours I just played, crashed, swam, swallowed water and boosted off some great ramps. 
Half way through my session I came into the beach and little boy came up to me. He was a little shy but you could tell he had something to say. " I hope you don't mind but I moved your bag further up the beach so it wouldn't get wet...That looks like a lot of fun." I was absolutely flabbergasted, I love it when you come across a young kid who is completely and utterly selfless. Who is thinking about someone else other than himself and just enjoying seeing someone else have fun. After my session I discovered a note in my bag from his mother Janine Robinson who had taken some photos. Evidently her son at age 10 is already taking surfing lessons and after seeing Kiting thinks that maybe one day he will be tossing some big airs. 
Janine took a couple of really nice shots despite the fact that I am a completely goofy mofo on a twintip. Thank You Janine.

Congratulations to the crew of Ran Racing for winning the Gaastra TP52 World Championships. It was a close fought battle between Ran Racing and Azzura going into the last race but Ran pulled it off. Quantum Racing sailed a really nice event to round out the podium position and we on Vesper were right behind in 4th Place.

Despite a great start and leading around the first two marks the race was abandoned today. Hoping to pick up where we left off.

Short update from the 52 Worlds in Miami. Vesper is currently in 5th place after 4 races. Day 1 saw very light south easterly breeze of less than ten knots. We were able to sail well but miss out on a few pressure changes due to traffic.
Day 2 saw the breeze build with the approaching cold front and by the top mark we were seeing over 20 knots of wind. This made for an exciting downwind run with our A2 in the flat water and shifty wind. Unfortunately two minor breakdowns on the boat cost us a few places and we slipped to 7th by the end of the race.
In between races the team hustled to change mainsails, fix the two breakdowns and still make it to the right end of the start line. We caught the first shift and didn't look back posting a second in race 4.
Today is going to see slightly lighter winds from the west which should see the course be flat water and again very shifty and dynamic.
More to come.

After three great days of practice in everything from 2-24 knots of wind speed we are sufficiently ready for the start of the Gaastra 52 World Championships.
Day 1 saw a two hour period with 4-24 knots of wind and after a few light air practice starts we enjoyed a long beat up along the shore of South Beach and then a very quick run back down to Government Cut.the video above is from our run back down. Flat water and 25 knots of wind had us all in the back of the boat doing 22-23 knots. It was great to see all 8 boats out on the course warming up and pretty funny to see all the chase boats buzzing around taking pictures of the other teams. including the US Sailing Team 49er Class for both men and women as well as a few of the Nacra Teams.
Yesterday was a really difficult and shifty day. We did 9 practice starts and 3 practice races and it was a great opportunity to warm up and test our boat handling skills. The lulls and puffs were huge and the shifts were even bigger, at times oscillating through easily 30 degrees. There were numerous lead changes on the practice races and it gave everyobe a chance to feel the highs and lows.
Tomorrow looks to be a very light start to the Worlds with only 5-10 knots of wind as the high pressure settles over us and dominates our wind patterns. Luckily Wednesday looks better with the possibility for 13-18 Knots of wind.
More updates to follow.