RC44s in Copenhagen. Image copyright Per Heegaard/RC44 class association.
by Paul Cayard
I think this was the worst start ever for me at a match race event in 25 years. Onboard Katusha, we were 0 and 4 to start. The worst part is that we were first to the first mark in every one of those races. Basically, one way or another, we managed to give the races away. The wind was pretty steady, both in terms of direction and velocity, so no strangeness there. Just rust and bad decisions.
The weather cooperated nicely today. The rain of yesterday was gone and the sun even came out a bit. The wind was from 150 all day, at 10 building to 14 knots by the end of the day. We raced with the #2 jibs on all day.
We finally managed to win the last race of the day against Sea Dubai and that was the only race we were not first to the first mark. We passed them on a tight situation at the top of the second windward leg. Then they hooked the mark and we were gone.
TeamAqua had a blinder winning 6 out of 7 races. Cereef is second with 4 wins out of 5 races and then 5 teams are on 3 wins and 3 teams on one win like us.
So, hopefully we can keep the good from today like the starts and get the rest a little better. We have a new crew member with us here, Peter, who is a great young Dane and is doing a good job. One thing I realize more and more is that consistency with the crew is important and we have not nailed down that one spot on our crew since inception. I think Peter may be our man so we need to build on what we are learning here.
One thing I know is that when you think things are bad you can come back.
Cayard Sailing
RC44
