John rounds the weather mark in sail # 22.Tuesday was the fourth day of racing, and once again it was windy in the morning when we arrived. It was a shifty northerly fading to north-east, and the breeze was quite unstable in direction and velocity, making for big gains and losses throughout the hour and ten minute races.
In race 1 I had a solid start and stayed in phase with the wind, hiking hard in the 18 knot puffs. I was able to round the first mark in the top group, and then pass boats on the run, rounding the leeward mark in 2nd behind Andrew Campbell. On the second beat, I choose to be conservative and sail up the middle of the course, while regatta leader Brad Funk took a risk and worked out to the far right side, finding the new easterly wind and passing me and Andrew to win the race. I finished 3rd.
The breeze dropped to 8 to 15 knots and became very shifty for the second race, and I had a pretty bad start, forcing me to tack a lot on the first upwind leg to look for clear air. I was back in about 20th at the 1st mark, and passed one boat on the run. On the second beat, I tacked onto starboard right away on a big right shift. A few minutes later, I got a small left shift with a puff, and that was my chance for a jail-break. I tacked onto port and sailed all the way across the course, back into the new easterly wind, and up into 8th place! I passed two more boats on the way downwind to the finish, ending up in 6th place.
That comeback means that my worst score so far is an 8th, making me the most consistent sailor in the fleet so far. That is hugely helpful for the rest of the regatta, because it means I can be more aggressive in the final 8 races without fear of making a mistake and scoring a bad race. I'm in third right now, and hopefully I can maintain my consistency and stay in contention for the overall title. Wednesday is a day off from racing, so we can relax and rest before the last 4 days.
1 comment:
Code 10 Pearce!!
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