- So quite quickly my first event of this 100 day adventure is over. The final 3 days in gold fleet went really quickly and were always jam packed from start to finish so keeping you all informed was almost impossible. Now I have some time to give you a recap on the events that occurred.
Day 3 was a complete wash out. We waited around on land for a few hours, then got on the water and waited around for another couple of hours. Then the wind finally did come in but it was too shifty to start a race in. Eventually we got a start away only to have the race abandoned. 5 hours on water and not a race to show for it. Safe to say it was tiring.
Day 4 was on from the beginning. Cold and windy with big wind shifts, rain and some of the largest swell I have ever sailed in. This would normally be my favorite conditions because its what I normally sail in back home and I love to work hard. This day though I just couldn’t get it right. I seemed to be on the wrong side of every shift even when my starts were good. My experience in top level big fleet racing is still limited and while I can definitely say I learnt a lot, I felt really disappointed with myself at the end of the day. I know I could have done better. Still, even when I am having bad results I still enjoy what I do and the epic waves we got to surf on the way in made the whole day worth it.
Final day of racing saw another new wind direction but yesterdays old swell was still hanging around. It created some really shifty and variable conditions with the wind blowing straight from the mountains. I had a good start in the first race but with the wind so up and down it was hard to consolidate it. The second race the wind became really light for the start and I got myself in a bit of a sticky situation with Robert Scheidt (the regatta leader) sitting just below me. We both had poor races which turned out to be UFD’s anyway, meaning we were caught over the start and disqualified. My final race, and the last race for the regatta was, at last, a good one. I had a good start and got the first shift correct to round the top mark in 4th and held onto 6th in the race. If only I could of had a few more of those.
In all the regatta was a lot of fun and I learnt heaps. I finished 45 overall. I was aiming a bit higher but the result definitely shows a big improvement on last year and shows that even when I’m not sailing my best I can still compete with the top guys. Now It’s recovery time before hitting up a big week of cycling in the mountains. Can’t wait.