Friday, July 8, 2011

Formula world champs day 4: charging the reef




Another day of up and downs for me on the racecourse today.
Despite looking like a major front was going to park itself over Peurto Rico today, we actually got 4 races off in 14-18k. Most we're in either their 11 or 12m rigs.

The big change at the top of the leader board saw Gabriel Brown jump from 6th to 2nd with a solid show of 1,3,2,3. Antoine is still dominated with a 15 point lead and 2 bullets and a 2nd & (10th) to show for today. There was plenty of action on the course with the Dutchies continuing their unfortunate streak of bad luck. After Caspers unfortunate injury on day 2, Dennis Littel got clobbered at the windward mark today as Arnon ran right over him as Dennis tried to make a quick tack at the top mark.
Sean Obrien was the other unlucky one who got taken out at the start of race 3 in a rather large collision just after the start.
Here's a view from the boat end of the start of race 11


I had my moments today but the rest of my scores seem to have balanced me out and have kept me firmly planted in 28th for the last 2 days.
Race 3 today saw a rather big mid line sag in the starboard tackers so I jumped out in front of the fleet and charged off to the port lay line blasting right over the reefs And rounded the top mark in the top 10. Talk about an adrenaline rush. I managed to hold on loosing Jesper on the downwind and a few mlre boards at the leeward rounding as I rounded behind a big pack.
Back upwind I charged to the left side again after getting knocked at the shore.
The rest of the was breathing down my neck the whole downwind and I managed a clean rounding just behind Victor Melo from Brazil. 2 guys got inside my lane but I timed my last 2 tacks perfectly cutting them off at the last rounding and finishing 15th.

Here's the video from the finish of the 2nd race of the day with the last tack at the pin end of the line towards the finish
My other races were a bit off as I couldnt quite find my groove around the course, nor did i have the confidence to charge the reef again full speed on a borrowed board. I stuck with using the replacement starboard hwr as my repair on my ML10 didn't pan out as I thought.
(I'll leave that to the expert when I get home.) I sailed the 10.7 in all races with the 70 kashy and Z fin in the first race. It's not often you get the chamce to change boards in the middle of a regatta but after my board got a hole in ,one of the organizers lent me his spare board. Very cool!
In the girls fleet local SF junior Marion Lepaed is holding onto the slimest of leads with a 3 point lead over her nearest competitor from France. Huge props to her at her first formula world champs. I think she'll have what it takes for her big event of the season in 2 weeks at the techno 293 world champs.
I cant say enough about the hospitality of the event with shade, food and water every day.
There's a big scaffolding with an announcer on the boardwalk in front of the beach and loud music pumping all day. Several of the event sponsors have set up booths on the boardwalk with samples of all their products for the public and competitors.
One more day of racing left and if I remember how Bruno runs things, it's going to be all the racing we can fit in before the last possible starting time.
Results, photos and full ticker of the event at www.formulawindsurfing.org

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