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Delta Lloyd Regatta - Day One, Races 1&2

Posted 3 months, 10 days ago

Delta Lloyd Regatta - Day One, Races 1&2
Day One is now out of the way. It started with a extremely cold 12knts blowing onshore which saw Pepsi and l scrambling for every piece of sailing gear we owned!! The good news was that the breeze dropped and the sun came out.....eventually!Race 1Positions: Top Mark (1) 6th; Bottom Mark 1st: Top Mark (2) 1st; FINISH 1stWas an awesome way to Christen the NZL 8358 with her first day racing. In light shifty conditions we started at the boat, due to a few people below us being over the line early we decided to take away onto to port and hunt out the first shift. Was a lot of work to stay in phase but patience payed and we rounded the top mark in 6th. Down the first run we sailed really well, sailing past all 5 boats to lead at the bottom mark, the second beat was again testing but it was mainly about covering the our nearest rival the Swiss who rounded the Second top mark just behind us. Sailing down the last run we focused in our boat speed relative to the Swiss and managed to extend before the Finish to Win by about 10 Boat lengths.Race 2Positions: Top Mark (1) 1st; Bottom Mark 1st; Top Mark (2) 6th; FINISH 6thAfter the very simple advice from Coach Rod Davis after the First race "just do that again" we set out up the first beat strong. Staying in phase as the wind went left to right we rounded the top mark in 1st place, the first downwind leg was a straight run to the bottom, simple tactically but just puts more emphasis on the boat speed. We rounded the Bottom mark 1st with the Swedish in 2nd and the Brazilians in 3rd. The breeze had dropped right down to about 6knts, all parts of the course had different breeze directions and speed, a small group of boats managed to get out side us half way up the beat and a very strong shift in the favor pushed us back to 6th at the top and again it was a very straight run to the bottom which meant no real passing lanes.All in all, it was a good day. We enjoyed being back racing, the new boat showed some potential and the short course racing is exactly the same format as the Olympics, so lots of corners and maneuvers to practice! Full Story »

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