Hi all,
Tricky Day 1 out on the water with some storm cells moving in. Some big wind shifts and patchy gusts moving down the course.
I went out today with one word in mind. Consistency. I was nervous because I am still recovering from a training impact injury to my back but some good motivational and sports psyche related videos got me ready to fight and I ate loads of carbs, protein and kept some quick energy sources for the water.
In race 1, I watched the breeze pattern for a while and thought it would be going right more often then left. Especially as the storm to windward was moving out to sea. I started midline but was too conservative and got quickly rolled by Jean Baptiste (FRA) and tacked out and started ducking sterns and making little jumps over packs of guys. I footed hard to the right hand side and waited for the bigger phase to come. About half way up I made a big chip back to the left and then tacked underneath the lead group and then continued right to find another right hander and rounded in about 10th.
Caught a few guys downwind and then chipped away again upwind. Rounded the reach mark in 6th and just got inside Buhl (GER) at the wing mark and close on Goodisons (GBR) stern. On the downwind I noted the marks a little to the right of a ‘wind’ rhumbline so gybed and moved to the new pressure. I caught Goodison and finished 4th on the final reach, good start to the day.
Race 2 I started midline again but felt the breeze oscilating more commonly as the storm cell had passed out to the right. I started conservatively again but this time had a nice gap to leeward. Game on !!! Dropped sheet and rolled forward footing so I could punch out and tack when the breeze did go left and it did …
So I tacked and footed back across the right hand side guys and managed to tack inside the lead group from the right. I switched to low mode again to try and get to the next left hander and made it just before lay to round in 1st. Great beat … On the downwind I messed up by not moving to the new pressure and being on the wrong gybe. Frustrating but I lost Pavlos, Bruno and Yuval. On the beat I caught Bruno and almost caught Yuval but he tacked in my face and so I footed out and tacked back and almost got back inside him on lay. I held on to 4th and then Yuval got a yellow flag, so I was 3rd but on the final run JJ just caught me and won himself the 3rd. Good effort!
So two 4ths today. Solid. A long time post racing getting treatment for my back, accupuncture and an ice bath. Again the aim here is to make it through the whole regatta. Not a great sign seeing muscle spasm on day 1 but i’m doing everything I can so thats all I can do and of course remain postive.
Stay tuned, tomorrow looks more of the same!
