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T-7 Days (June 12) — Race Week Begins — Drill Lock + TBD Lock

Calendar: 2026-06-12 (for 2026-06-19 race start). Race week starts in Newport.

TL;DR

  • Boat shakedown — first sail with full crew; calibrate "overpowered" on Lupo.
  • Drill cards executed — peel (×3), squall (×1), helm transition (×multiple), kite douse (×3).
  • All [SKIPPER CONFIRM] thresholds locked — every proposed value in the playbooks gets a final number this week.
  • Squall drill completion confirmed by Skipper or Watch Captain — locks the 20-nm rung as primary (vs the conservative 30-nm fallback).
  • T-10 brief Sections 1–2 filled by end of week (pattern + Gulf Stream situation).
  • Pre-race route hypotheses generated (3–5 labeled scenarios at S3).

Daily routine (race week)

On-water practice days are Sun Jun 14 – Thu Jun 18, per the authoritative day-by-day in the Race Week Prep Schedule. Jun 12–13 are arrival + the shore-side brief and [SKIPPER CONFIRM] / TBD lock below. The template below applies to each on-water day.

Suggested daily schedule
  • 0700: weather pull (GFS 06z + ECMWF 00z); log against forecast trend
  • 0900: navigator + skipper review yesterday vs forecast; update brief
  • 1000–1500: on-water practice (drill cards target window)
  • 1600: drill debrief — log what passed, what needs another rep
  • 1900: dinner brief — current weather picture, next day plan
  • 2200: secure boat; off

Two day-trips minimum should hit night practice for crew familiarity. One full overnight if possible.

Drill execution

Run each drill at least once with full crew. Required passes per the drill cards:

  • [ ] Peel drill — J1↔J2↔J3 peel × 3 in daylight; target under 10 minutes
  • [ ] Squall drill — 30/20/10 ladder × 1; every crew member knows their role at each rung
  • [ ] Helm transition drill — every driver-eligible crew gives AND receives at least once
  • [ ] Kite douse drill — A-sail leeward douse × 3 in 12–16 kts daylight

Skipper or Watch Captain confirms squall drill completion in writing. Without confirmation, all squall rungs collapse to the conservative 30-nm branch.

T-7 race-week brief (Skipper-led; all crew)

T-7 brief agenda
  1. Boat status: cert, ORR, any pre-race issues
  2. Crew final roster: who's on which watch
  3. Watch Captain assignments — Watch 1 = Joel, Watch 2 = Ryan (navigator-anchors lead; see Watch Roster)
  4. Lock all [SKIPPER CONFIRM] thresholds in the role playbooks (see Lock list below)
  5. Daily drill schedule for the week
  6. Squall drill calendar (target completion by T-3, June 16)
  7. Long-range weather outlook (still 7 days from start — too early for analog lock but trend is forming)
  8. Provisioning + safety check status
  9. Comms plan filled from the SIs (safety/comms_plan.md); safety-card blanks (MOB / emergency quick reference) scheduled to fill at the Day-4 drills
  10. Any open race-office / SI items

[SKIPPER CONFIRM] lock list (T-7 target)

Item Proposed value Locked value
Continuous-steering limit (driver) ≤2 hours ≤2 hours ✅
Stable-heading ± tolerance during peel ±5° ±5° ✅
Helm-transition overlap before solo ≥2 minutes ≥2 minutes ✅
Helm-transition stay-period after handoff ≥5 minutes ≥5 minutes ✅
Reef #1 in TWS trigger, upwind >22 kts sustained >22 kts ✅
Reef #1 in TWS trigger, reaching >26 kts sustained >26 kts ✅
GRIB update frequency offshore —
Wind-divergence wake threshold —
Instrument calibration cadence —
GRIB satellite path (SSB / Iridium) —
sail-iq integration —
Jib lead car positions per sail (J1/J2/J3/J4) —
Pit response-time target —
Bow response-time target —
Bow / pulpit nav-light config —
SS setup Poleless (sprit only, no pole) Poleless ✅
Reef #1 halyard mark —
WC slot assignments (Watch 1 / Watch 2) — Joel (W1) / Ryan (W2) ✅
Comms plan filled from SIs (safety/comms_plan.md) —
J2 races? (Owner: Skipper — decide by first sail, Jun 14) —

Skipper signs off on each. T-1 sign-off ladder (June 18) confirms no entry remains blank.

  • [ ] Pull latest GFS + ECMWF (model agreement at this range is still soft — track trend, not point estimates)
  • [ ] Draft 2–3 candidate analogs from 09_ai_briefs/weather_analog_framework.md
  • [ ] Fill T-10 brief Sections 1–2 stubs (synoptic summary + Gulf Stream situation)
  • [ ] Pre-load SST imagery for Newport-Bermuda corridor
  • [ ] Identify any cold-core rings or warm-core eddies in current SST data
  • [ ] Brief Skipper on initial analog hypothesis and routing-hypothesis shortlist

Cross-references