Jan 6th: last day of qualifiers
wind was SSE 12, with gusts to 15. We were coming down the first downwind when i heard creaking from the back of the boat. Looking back, i saw that the 'cassette'(a kind of carbon sleeve that holds the rudder to the boat, was flexing with every turn of the rudder. ack. so we dowsed and headed in. it must have got cracked somehow, but we don't know how. Anyway that added our second DNF in the qualifiers, putting us deep in the rankings. Brent fixed the cassette overnight and we were ready to go the next day.
Jan 7th: First day of Finals races. (three laps, windward leeward) Wind ESE
Now firmly in silver fleet, our race was at 1300. Wind was less than 10 knots with flat water. Pretty similar to our normal conditions. Hilariously, all the Canadian boats in the silver fleet finished in the top 10. We come all this way, and we are STILL racing against each other ;-) After that race we went upstairs to our apartment and watched the Gold fleet race. We have an excellent view of the start line and most of the upwind downwind, with only the top part of the course hidden. Orange whip? had a great start off the pin end, and continued to work well all the way up the course. Around the first windward, when we saw the first chutes coming down, the Whip was in second!! A cheer went up from the balcony. We followed the battle all the way down the leg to the leeward mark rounding. Wind was getting very light now, no doubt frustrating for everyone out there.
Tactics : most people found a lift off the left hand shorelines, which had to be balanced with a little less wind in certain places. Downwind, we noticed that the shoreline down the right hand side of the course kept the wind for longer, and helped those boats that stayed in there for longer.
The Whip continued to work it around the course, first getting distance from the boats behind and then tryng to get ahead of Archie Massey, the leader. At the finish they were just 12 seconds behind the leader. Way to go!
Jan 8 status : It's about 10am now, with Gold fleet supposed to have two races, starting at 11. They have put up the AP for gold fleet as the wind is not looking good right now- very light. Weather doesn't bode well for a significant change, but there will be some sitting around while we wait for the wind to do something. Direction is still southerly, so if they do get some racing off, we'll have a great view from the apartment. There is talk of them having to use the designated lay day, which is set for tomorrow. ....
stay tuned
t.
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