Front Row, race 4
Front Row, race 2
FLAT and FAST!!!
We have had three days of racing in progressively better conditions each day, with the highlight being today’s fresh 13-16knots- though there was a nasty short chop. The first day was in a really soft and fluky 3-6 knots, and yesterday was a solid 7-12 knots. After nine races, we are lying in 47th place, but only 20ish points out of a mid fleet. The conditions have been really shifty with the course tucked up right under the shore of Helsinki leaving the fleet very close. With half our races still to come, we have the room to make a good jump up the leaderboard.
The course that we were put on for our races has been very difficult and unpredictable leaving the tactics and strategy that much more tricky. However, one thing that we can pride ourselves on for most of this event is our starting. We have had some really good starts in the middle of the line allowing us to be a little more conservative with the oscillating breeze. Our downwind speed and tactics, and leeward mark rounding’s are constantly improving as our boat handling and confidence improves. Another big part of the racing so far has been to manage the risk/reward trade-off. Since it is such a shifty venue with massive pressure differences throughout the course, understanding when to take the risk and leverage out on the fleet is critical.
We had been making gains with our rig in our most problematic area(essentially what we have raced in), though on the second day we really lacked speed. Today saw a much better look in our speed, and we look to continue that into tomorrow and beyond. So, the frustration and annoyance at our speed in the 7-14 knots is still present, though addressing our biggest weaknesses now only make us stronger down the road.
With three days of sailing left, there is still much to fight for in this event. We hope to continue our good starting and rig settings to put together some results. We are getting close!
-Jesse
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