Greetings from San Francisco. Just a quick note to update on what's happening around St Francis YC in the lead up to the 2009 5O5 Worlds. With 100 boats registered, competitors have spent the past few days going through the usual pre-regatta routine of registering, measuring, fiddling with their boats and sailing, in that order. Racing in the pre-Worlds regatta starts today (Tue) with 2 races down on the Berkeley Circle. Its a fair way downwind to the race course, not sure if I'm looking forward to the long slog home after 2 hard races. We'll see how it pans out.
An interesting feature of the event will be the ability to track what's happening on the race course as each boat will be carrying a GPS unit. This will allow "live" tracking of each boat during the actual race. You can follow the action by going to this website TracTrac

As far as the weather goes, San Francisco in summer seems to have a some schizophrenic tendencies. You need to dress for summer in shorts and t-shirts but rug up with a polar-fleece top to ward off the biting, cold breeze. Then there is the fog! My home town of Melbourne is renowned for being able to turn on the weather from 4 seasons all in the one day. San Francisco it seems has the ability to turn on all 4 seasons at the same time! As for the breeze, in the two days I have been here, the renowned SF wind has been in.

I've posted a few images from around SF and the club on the website. To view, go to the SF Worlds photo gallery - click here.  I'll attempt to add more images and posts from a competitors perspective as the regatta unfold.