The Battle in Gdynia begins...
Day one of the European Championships was held in a steady, hot 4-9 knot "sea breeze” (I guess the Baltic is a Sea?). With all the organizers steadfast in providing an up-close visual of 49er racing to the city of Gydnia, our course(Alpha) was tucked right up next to the breakwater, this made the racing that much more tricky as a pretty serious chop was prevalent throughout the day. The other course, “Bravo” was a little further along the coast.
Now, onto the racing., the race committee split the 90 boat fleet in two, making for two large 45 boat fleets(the biggest fleet we have raced in to-date). In the first race, with the starting line bias towards the committee boat, we were battling near the boat, and with great positioning on the line with 25 seconds got swallowed by the pre-start muddle and had a poor start. After a predictably mediocre first beat, we were able to put together two good legs, playing laylines and some shifts leaving us in with a respectable race in the 30s.
Following our first race start, we were eager to put ourselves in a better position for the next race. And we did not disappoint! With the boat still favored, we managed to have our best start to-date. What an amazing feeling.! After 4 min off the line, we were still on starboard, holding our lane with a Danish, a German and the Italians (Siabello brothers). We fell from the top 5 to 10th near the windward mark as FRA4 slammed us perfectly leaving us to tack two more times to clear out lane. After a relatively uneventful downwind(maybe lost one boat), our second beat saw us round in a decent position and with a good breeze (comparatively), however, we missed a good chance on a lane and were forced too far left. Definitely frustrating, but we were able to minimize loss following our mistake and finished in the low 20s we believe.
In the final race of the day, with decent positioning about midway down the line, we were unable to hold our lane on starboard(Siabello Brothers are a little fast…), but we managed to find a good lane on port and get locked in. After coming back from the right on a good righty with a Canadian, we failed to recognize the priorities of “large fleet, Sea breeze style 49er sailing”, and crossed the middle too early. And to make matters a lot more worst, near the windward mark, on the port layline, a few boats who committed to gybe setting fouled us(maybe 3?), and completely stopped us in the water. We then just hit the windward market, and before we knew it, we were last. We managed to pick off a few boats, but were very disappointed to end on that note.
Consensus on the day: Having such a large fleet definitely changes the game from your average 20-25 boat fleet as there is much more chaos and clutter around the course. Oh, and what a battle starting is! With 45 boats each vying for a front row position, it becomes a serious fight to gain that nice spot on the line. And not surprising, we had three general recalls on the day. Our speed was pretty good, not great, but definitely in the ballpark. Tactically with such a large fleet, unless you’re in the top 5, finding a lane and maximizing your full speed look is essential to decent performances both upwind and downwind. The middle of the course is death (as we found out the hard way in the final race).
So after another long day in the heat and a sun that hardly ever sets we recuperate. Hoping tomorrow we get out of the gate in more than a race, and put together some tactically smart races(boat handling aside…)
Regardless we are excited to be able to be “racing” in a world class fleet and will look to continue putting all these lessons to work as the regatta unfolds.
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