Home - Carl Williams - Day 5 - Race 4 Windy Windy!!!

Day 5 - Race 4 Windy Windy!!!

Posted 7 months, 5 days ago

Day 5 - Race 4 Windy Windy!!!
Conditions: 20-30knt Offshore (NW)Placings: Top Mark 3rd, Bottom Mark 2nd, Top Mark (2) 2nd, Bottom Mark (2) 2nd, FINISH 2ndToday the order of the Day was Breeeeeezze! And as it was blowing offshore it was always going to be EXTREMELY shifty.Its always hard on a really Windy day in big regattas like this because everyday you have to push hard and sail at your absolute limit. The reason its hard is because Survival is added to the elements (Risk Management) and this was prudent today as of the 105 Starters there were 27 Boats that did not finish the day due to either damage or gear failure! Broken Masts, Sails, Holes in boats you could park your car in!!After 2 attempts to get the Race underway Race 3 was signaled with the Infamous Black Flag. As the Race Committee was attempting to get the race underway the breeze was building and significantly. But to their credit they got the 3rd start away with only a handful (4 or 5) Boats being called over. We started at the Committee Boat and tacked out to the Right straight away. At this stage all the Sails were doing is Ragging! But despite the fact that we had flags for Sails we picked up the first shift of the beat and were able to get some leverage on the fleet. Battling it out up the first beat with about 10 others, although at times the shifts against us had us deep in the fleet. Sticking it out and staying in phase we rounded the top in 3rd place behind the POLISH and the IRISH. Due to the windy conditions the race course was set with a Reach Mark, which is very Old School Style of racing but a Hell of FUN! Blast reaching in 25knts we rolled the Irish and set on tracking down the Polish, rounding the Bottom mark in 2nd. By the next up wind we had a good jump on the fleet and were able to focus on passing the Polish. They did a pretty good job of defending and we rounded just a little closer than at the bottom. From the top it was then a traditional run downwind, but this is when it really started to blow!! Gybing was limited to the lulls and there was times when all Hamish and l could do was have a little laugh. There was a group of boats bringing the breeze down with them and closed the gap on Us and the Polish. We rounded the bottom just behind the POL in 2nd. As we sailed up wind towards the finish we witnessed the carnage that had started to ensue amongst the fleet, many were forced to granny gybes (tacking instead of gybing due to the wind). 5 rigs lay in the water all on the approach to the bottom mark. But onto our end of the race the BRA, FRA, SWE had closed right up and while the POL were defending us in a Match Race style the BRA and FRA took a flyer out to the left. Hamish and l focused on pinning our ears back and and sailing as fast as possible. This worked as we closed in on the POL. As we all came together at the finish (upwind) the BRA picked up enough of a shift to sail through and take the Bullet, we were able to cross the FRA and also beat the POL by about 1 foot!! But thats enough. So pretty happy with today, we were able to push hard and finish which as explained is what these days are about if your out there to win.Standby for some Epic photos of today! 2 Races left and after tomorrow we get to drop the BFD 105 result putting us right back up there!! Looking forward to it as these World Champs are shaping up for a pretty awesome battle at the top! Full Story »

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