After I registrated I joined Kurt to rig our sails. I measured an average 20 knots with peaks up to 25 knots. As we were getting ready for some slalom (long distance) racing I choose to rig the 6.7 together with my SL61 (92 liters). By the time the gear was rigged I noticed the wind was dropping a bit from time to time. I also rigged the 7.2 together with the SL78 and a 39cm fin just to be sure. Kurt had rigged a 7.8 (I don’t have that size) together with a Fanatic Falcon 105.
We bought went out for a test run. I was a bit too big on the board, Kurt was spot on.
I went to the skippers meeting. The race was a figure-eight slalom with reaches of 1 km. Start-Buoy1-Buoy2-Buoy1-Finish. The course was about 4 km in total. We were going to do full fleet starts. About 42 competitors had to start together. The race-directors made a nice wide starting zone to avoid collisions.
We started for the first heat. It is always difficult to get a good start and certainly important in such a big field. I started at the boot but still I immediately lost some places because I had to pump to get going. Two heats later I tried to start at the pin end. I got some very good tips from Nick D. but I didn’t start fast enough. Not a good result in this race but in the future I will try this starting position again because I noticed that the event winner was always starting there. I think you just need to be sure that the sail you’re using is big enough to plane through the wind holes that the other competitors are making starting upwind.
I learned a lot today. From time to time I could overtake some competitors although I wasn’t please with my speed. At the jibes I was also able to win some places due to solid gybing. I never fell once during the 7 races but I often loose speed at the end of the gybe. I have to start practicing these gybes seriously.
A fantastic day of windsurfing and thanks again for the great organization.
Race
Finish
Gybe
Event Winner
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