Sailing, sun & a steep learning curve

P1050438
Racing on day four of competition

 

ISAF Sailing World Cup, France is well and truly over now and I think it’s time for an update. The regatta consisted of two days of qualification and three days of racing in finals to make a total of 11 races in a very strong 120 boat fleet. The weather really turned it on for us and we raced in a wide range of conditions but it’s safe to say most of it was hiking quality.

The first two days of the regatta were really good and despite making some errors in my races I felt content with the way I conducted myself on the water and I found some good consistency to place myself in 29th overall after 5 races. Unfortunately that is were the party ended as I entered into my second golf fleet finals series for the season. My first day was a shocker with two very poor starts leading to two massive scores on the board.

broken tiller
Emotions run high when racing. Sometimes you need a vent but maybe next time I won’t use my tiller 🙁

I rallied a little the next day with a 23rd in race 3 of finals but backed it up with a dead last. Having said that the current Olympic silver medalist was just in front of me so it’s hard to feel too bad. The final day of the regatta saw lots of tired faces as we hit the water. It had been a long, hard regatta. I had a mid fleet result in the first race and to top off my awful finals series I got a BFD (Back Flag Disqualification) in the last race of the regatta, meaning I was over the start line when the gun went. I finished 49th overall.

The day after the regatta we all packed up and I was lucky enough to go out on a coach boat and watch the medal race (the top ten in the regatta do a final race to determine the winner) and saw teammate Tom Burton take the lead from New Zealands Andy Maloney. A day later we were on the road and driving to Italy. Stay tuned for updates.

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