Thursday, September 11, 2008

Day 2 formula windsurfing world championships

The portugese coast delivered for day 2 of the formula windsurfing
world championship in Portimao with a late afternoon thermal breeze
kicking in for 4 races in the 85 board mens fleet.
The side shore breeze made perfect viewing from the beach where the RC
set a windwsrd leeward course.
With the breeze building all afternoon, most sailors chose their 11.0
rigs with some flying on the 10.0 rigs.
I had some trouble dialing in my 11.0 and was either slow upwind or
flying downwind, constatly trying to find the right setting. The 'big
Z' was a bit much to handle but saved me a few times in tight mark
roundings where I was able to keep my angle well. Some good moments of
racing for me today but some of my gambles didn't pay off as well as
I'd hoped- leaving me stranded near the shore waiting for the next
puff to come down the course. Other times, I was completely wound
downwind, exploding on race 3- taking my first discard. So far after 5
races, I'm sitting in 34th with room to get back into the top 30 to
meet my goal for the regatta..
Some noticable trends so far in the regatta:
Mid line sag- with a 85 board fleet, the line is huge but the black
flag has been keeping people back. I started 2 races today a full
board length in front of the boards around me.
Puffs near the shore- you can get really lucky gybing around the
windward mark set close to shore and carrying the breeze down the
shoreline.
Thursdays foecast looks equally as good with the breeze expected to
build but so far at 1:30 nothing has even filled in.
Both fleets are anxiosly waiting to get a few more races in before the
fleets are split into gold and silver.
Last nights AGM kept us on site till 11pm and back to the beach for a
10 am skippers meeting.
Check out the class website for results and photos, www.formulawindsurfing
. org


Sent from my iPhone

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