Everyone... Start Your Engines
Measurement Day 2 was a lot less stressful... for me. In the morning Frank and I joined up with a couple Victoria sailors and went to the local go kart track to do our best Michael Schumacher impressions. We ended up paying 300 baht for 10 minutes ($1/min) for go karts that go 60-70km/hr. We had an absolute blast and plan to go back with a few more of our fellow sailors so we can have some good carnage in the corners. For lunch we went to a local place and I was laughed at by the locals because of my order of the spicy dish. I showed them... somewhat. We then went back to the yacht club and went for a swim and then chilled out until the Opening Ceremonies. The Opening Ceremonies were a lot of fun, the Aussies have arrived and well they know how to party. We talked with the guy who organized pretty much the whole travel and boat transportation for the Aussies, Ben is one crazy guy. I also met the guy who owned my boat before Frank and I bought it, he is also a character (well what Aussie isn't, lol). The regatta is sponsored by Heineken and we are getting free beer out of that sponsorship, WOOHOO!!!!
Racing day 1 was a lot of fun, but challenging. The wind was coming from the Northwest at about 10 knots with gusts up around 12 knots, and lulls down around 6-7 knots. The wave pattern here is very different. You have the ocean tide rollers going one way and the wind waves going the other, which makes it harder to read the wind and where you need to be on the course to get the best wind. We finally got the 1st race started after 3 restarts. Frank and I couldn't seem to find clear air on the first upwind and were unable to get any boat speed. We then made up a few boats but still ended up 52nd. It was a frustrating race, but we learned from it. In the 2nd race we had a good start and were very focused on keeping clear air and it payed off we were up in the top half of a very tough fleet at the first mark. We had a bit of bad luck when we gybed to early and hit the wing mark and lost a few boats doing our 360 penalty turns. We managed to real in some of those back and ended up 37th. A much better 2nd race, and we applied what we learned from the first race. As of right now we are sitting 43rd in a 69 boat fleet so we are quite happy but still feel we can do better.
Racing day 1 was a lot of fun, but challenging. The wind was coming from the Northwest at about 10 knots with gusts up around 12 knots, and lulls down around 6-7 knots. The wave pattern here is very different. You have the ocean tide rollers going one way and the wind waves going the other, which makes it harder to read the wind and where you need to be on the course to get the best wind. We finally got the 1st race started after 3 restarts. Frank and I couldn't seem to find clear air on the first upwind and were unable to get any boat speed. We then made up a few boats but still ended up 52nd. It was a frustrating race, but we learned from it. In the 2nd race we had a good start and were very focused on keeping clear air and it payed off we were up in the top half of a very tough fleet at the first mark. We had a bit of bad luck when we gybed to early and hit the wing mark and lost a few boats doing our 360 penalty turns. We managed to real in some of those back and ended up 37th. A much better 2nd race, and we applied what we learned from the first race. As of right now we are sitting 43rd in a 69 boat fleet so we are quite happy but still feel we can do better.
posted by holmes156 @ 8:19 PM
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