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Race 2 - Day 2

Posted 7 months, 6 days ago

Race 2 - Day 2
A tough pill to swallow today. Black Flagged (BFD) alongside 25 other offenders . For the non Yachties out there this means were we seen over at the start with which automatically disqualifies you from the race :(It was very similar conditions to yesterday, slightly less shifty. We got out to the course and did some tuning (boat speed work) with Marc Pickel and Mark Reynolds. The boat was set up well and we were confident for the days racing.Again it took 3 tries to get the racing underway, the first two starts we were positioned at the middle of the line, the first went well for us then it was postponed, the second not so good but that was also postponed. The Race Committee were very keen to get the racing underway so the Third start of the day was signaled with the dreaded "Black Flag" in order to calm the fleet down.Again we were positioned at the middle of the line and with 30 seconds to go it was obvious that we were close so we decided to sacrifice the start and bear away to avoid being over, but what this does is places you under other boats not being so cautious. The gun went and the race was under way with the Race Committee signaling some boats had been seen over (Individual Recall).We had a real tough next 10 minutes trying to find a clear lane to begin our assault. Boats everywhere! Dipping, crossing we managed to get clear and focus on boat speed. Hamish did a great Job and we started extending and catching the other boats. There wasn't a huge favour to one side of the course it was just a matter of sailing the shifts in phase.As we rounded the top mark and started the reach to the offset buoy the White Board displaying the Black Flagged boats had a big 87 (Our Bow #) in the top right corner, a quick check that yes our Bow # is 87 and we sailed off the course to head home. We were 1 of 25 other boats Black flagged today, and in that a lot of the real top contenders which was really the only consolation.Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki of Poland went on to win the Race AGAIN today, impressive with such a large fleet but they are sailing very well.Overall the Boat 8187 felt really good. This is a big goal here in Miami to line 8187 up against the World and help us confirm that she is the boat of choice for the Olympics. You never like sailing home early but its important to keep the big picture in mind of why we are here. A different story for some of the other countries who are still trying to qualify for the Olympics, a Black flag has cost them dearly.So we live to fight another day. After 4 races we will get to discard this race, just adds a little more pressure to perform at the level we are more that capable of anyway. Nothing like a little heat to help keep the pace on!!! Full Story »

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