Day 2 = Better!!!

Yesterday has to go down as one of the best days we have put together in Europe so far. We nailed a 15th and a 16th, after starting with an average 25th in the 38 boat fleet. Many of the players in the fleet are here and any finish in the top half is very respectable. The breeze started as a weak southerly and then faded into a moderate sea breeze northerly. The key was largely nailing two good starts and then managing the tricky breeze well. The reason for our worst race (race 1 of the day) was because of a bad start. We had managed to work ourselves back into the race, but got on the wrong side of a few bizarre windshifts. In the light air, a breeze we have practiced in a lot recently, our speed was good enough for us to play the game with anyone. If not for missing a few shifts in those two light air races, we could have had better scores than we got.

In the final race, with a solid (compared to early in the day) 8-10 kts, we had a great start up at the committee boat under a black flag and found ourselves in the top pack off the line. However, we lacked the pace to hold our lane for too long, but were able to stay in the race because we hit a nice shift at the end and rounded the top mark just outside the top 15. We had a great gybe set to pull us back into the top 15, but had a bad gybe later on the run which limited our gains. Final beat we lacked the pace again, especially because the breeze had died slightly and we lost a few more boats. After the race, we were trying to figure out why we were slow and lacked the power. We did find we were fast on guys whenever the breeze built a bit. So when we got in we measured our rig settings and found our rig far too bent for that 8-10 kts...our lowers had loosened up after the first couple races without our knowing. It was a case of us putting throwing a couple turns on the lowers to straighten the rig and power her up. Live and learn, but that setting cost us finishing out of the top 5! That's what it is at this level! So at least we are really seeing what is needed for a great race at this level (good start, correct settings and smart tactics, we had 2/3 of these and hence deserved our 16th).

-Zander

ps. windy here again. all boats remind grounded to wait for weather to pass, hopefully we get out later.