Sunday, September 20, 2009

Day 6 Formula Worlds

With just minutes to spare before the last possible start at 5pm on the last day of the championship, the RC managed to squeeze one last race off which ultimately determined the fate of both the men and womens fleet.
Both Allision and Wojeck were winning their fleets by the narrowest of margins and let victory escape them. Another hour and the conditions would have suited them but sometimes in sailing, luck is a big part of the game.
The conditions were testing us all day with the offshore breeze and seabreeze fighting each other. Finally at 4:30pm, we got 10-12k on the course and headed out. Under the black flag, I started on port with the top guys as I wanted to get to the right side where the clouds were filling in. I ducked most of the starboard tackers and began to foot to the favored side. Sure enough by overstanding a bit I was able to lay the top mark ahead of the pack and managed a strong downwind. The next upwind was really lightening up and I really made a big effort to overstand again to mantain a plane while the guys that tacked too early struggled to get going. With Sean and Adri on my tail I held on and finished on a strong note- especially as the conditions were not in my favor.


Overall pleased with regatta but as always so much to learn. Next year, I'm really going to focus more on my weakest area- lightwind and make a big effort to overcome the things that have been holding me back.
Getting ready to fly back to SF today after a long night out on the beach celebrating and letting loose.
As always the Spanish know how to throw a good regatta and am even better party!

Sent from my iPhone

2 comments:

bry said...

Light air practice on your agenda? Sounds like the shoreline slalom series is in your future :-)

great reporting steve and congrats for being there!

Anonymous said...

Steve,

Bryan said it well. Nice to hear the reports and hats off to you for a respectable campaign in the Worlds!

Cheers,
Eric Christianson