The end of International Week

The last day of racing for international week had wind from the normal southwest direction and was again around 12 knots. The first race took a while to get going as the tide was ebbing and pushing the boats over the start line too early. After 4 attempts at a start, including a general recall under a black flag (if you get caught over early you can't race), we finally got the race going. We nailed the start and went to the left side of the course. We worked our way up the left side and rounded the windward mark in the 30-35 range. We then went low on the first reach and picked up around 10 boats as we were able to sail a hotter angle and used the tide current to push us up to the mark. We then were fighting for a top 20 position and battled it out with a couple of the top boats in the next reaching leg. We managed to hold our own for the most part. The next upwind we went to the left side again and managed to hold our position and gap out on the boats behind us a bit. We then had a pretty uneventful last 2 legs and finished a very respectable 23rd. Another great result.

The final race of the regatta wasn't as good. We didn't have a good start but we managed to have a good first leg upwind that got us back in the middle of the pack. We then struggled downwind and lost a lot of boats by getting sucked high on the 2nd reach. We were getting a little frustrated at this point and continued our march to the back of the fleet. We ended up 44th which isn't too bad, considering.

Overall I am very pleased with how we did this week. 35th overall is very respectable but if we can get rid of the 40+ finishes we can move up hopefully. Next week will be tougher but will be equally as fun.

This is the link for the Results

Oooo... Barracuda

Day 2 of racing was very similar to day 1. In race 3 the wind was upwards of 12 knots at times but mostly around 8-10 knots, from the southwest and a pretty slack tide maybe slightly ebbing. After a few restarts due to some very aggressive starting. When the race finally got going we had a decent start and were up in the top half of the fleet at the first mark, we were sailing a low course down to the wing mark on a screaming reach with the spinnaker up. Then we had some gear failure, the cleat that keeps the spinnaker pole in place gave way a few times and we lost a lot of distance to windward, and ended up having to douse the spinnaker and two sail reach up to the mark. By that point we had lost a lot of the fleet. Unfortunately we also found a small hairline leak in the front of our boat and our front tank was filling up with water so we weren't able to punch through the waves and pop up on a plane downwind near the end of the race and that also cost us some boats. We ended up in 45th place.

Race 4, the wind had died down a bit to a more consistent 7-8 knots. We started on the right side away from a lot of the boats which was a little unnerving. We went right and kept going right up the first upwind and halfway up I noticed that we were absolutely destroying the boats that went left off the start. We worked our way up and rounded the top mark in 9th. We then on the downwind we managed to keep out spinnaker cleat from busting out and kept our position through the rest of the race for the most part. We finished 15th, a race of a lifetime!!!

The Lay Day we went on a dive boat with a bunch of the Canadian contigent. Some went Scuba Diving and some of us (including me) went snorkeling. The boat was Russian run and we had to get pulled aside after every speech to get the english version. We went out to one of the last local islands and the first stop was for the certified divers and we just hung out on the boat and soaked in the sun. The next stop was a real shallow beach area where we went out and snorkeled. There were a lot of sea urchins and it was a little freaky when you were in the troph of a wave and getting real close to the spines of the sea urchins. It took me a little bit to get used to snorkeling again but once I did it was a lot fun. The next stop was one for everyone and while the divers were down below we spent our time either jumping off the boat or snorkeling. The snorkeling was so much better, the water was a little deeper I had to dive down a couple times to get a better look at the coral and fish. I ended up seeing a Barracuda that was 3-5 feet long, that was a little unnerving, I kept a good eye on that fish while I could see it. After the trip we went into town for dinner, and we stopped off at a local restaraunt where we downed a lot of beer and had good food. We then went off to see some of the sights and tour through the shops. While walking home Frank and I walked by a bar and one of the bar girls was very aggressive and literally tried to pull us into the bar, that was an experience, lol.

Day 3 of racing was a little more windy than what we have had up till this point. 15 knots of wind from the southwest again. Race 5, the first start attempt was postponed as the tide and current was pushing the boats over the line. When we ended up starting we got pinched out by an Aussie boat but we tacked off and then climbed our way back up the fleet. We managed to fix the leak in the front tank for the most part. We were still struggling with the spinnaker cleats but this race we were lucky and didn't lose many if any spots when the cleat busted. We ended up finishing 35th, a good race.

Race 6 the wind was a little lighter and we had a very similar race to the race before. The waves were slightly bigger than they should be with the wind and I ended up taking a few waves with my shoulder and was knocked off my feet a couple times, but we didn't end up capsizing which was good. We finished 32nd and had a decent gap between us and the boat in 33rd. After those races everyone was tired and fried from the sun. We are currently sitting 38th but close with a lot of boats and have a lot of room to move up.

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.