This update is coming along halfway through one of the most incredible regattas I’ve done in a long time, and that’s not in a good way! So-far in this regatta (3 days) we’ve managed to get in 4 races. Let me tell you what that was like. On the 1st day, there wasn’t too much wind and it was shifty. We waited around for a long time and then got one race in. This wasn’t too bad because we started at 2. The second day, there wasn’t much wind and it was shifty. We waited around for a really long time and then got one race in; A bit ridiculous. Today…. Well, today there was a whole new level of “wow”. We launched at 11 for a 12:00 start. The wind was shifty again, but there was wind today. Maybe 30 degree shifts for the most part I’d say. I was in the Blue Fleet for the Radials and we didn’t even get our first start sequence until 5:30pm. There are words to describe how I was feeling (along with the rest of the radials) but they would not be appropriate for this blog! Somehow the race committee finally managed to get the swing of things after 5 hours and squeezed 2 races in at the end of the day. I got to shore no less than eight hours after I launched. WOW.
As for my racing so-far… besides feeling as though I was comatose in the very first race of the regatta, things are going okay. I am not really too happy with how I’m playing my shifts upwind, I think I have to keep my head out of the boat more, but my reaching speed has been good as well as my downwind, (except for the first race of course). It has been really shifty and the velocity of the wind has been up and down just as much. To stay in the breeze and on the lifted tack is the key to success, the problem I’ve been having has been deciding where to place myself and when to ‘dig’ into certain shifts. The other difficult thing has been the starts. The race committee is letting so many of the starts go, but occasionally they’ll catch some boats for starting early. Therefore the fleets are all pushing the line pretty hard, making for some extra long days. It doesn’t help though when the line is disgustingly biased.
Not everyone had a terribly frustrating day today though as my buddy Mike Leigh managed to jump about 40 positions to land in 20th after today. Not too shabby I’d say! Go Mike!
This is only the halfway point. I do believe that I have JUST qualifed for the Gold fleet which means that I can only go up from here. There are two more days of racing before the medal races. With any luck, the race committee will have learned how things work by now and we will be able to have some good old fashioned fun out there! Keep watching the regatta website for news and results! http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/
