Internationaux de France de Match Racing: Waka Racing Battle into Top 8

Video from Waka Racing on Day 2:


by Garth Ellingham

Day 2 of the Grade 1 here in Pornichet was similar to the first with gentle breezes in the morning building to a choppy, strong sea breeze in the afternoon. We had all the hard work ahead of us after an average start yesterday. Luckily with the format the way it is, it meant that if you didn’t finish in the top 4 after the round robin you had a second chance to race in the repechage and win to advance into the quarter finals.

As a top four finish was now impossible for us it meant we just had to focus on fixing our boat speed problem from yesterday so that when we got to the races that counted we could perform. After the round robin we finished 8th, meaning that we had to race 9th placed Mad Ebler (World Ranked 16th) in the best of 3 series.

The series went all the way after losing the first race and a considerable way behind, staring down the barrel on the last downwind of race 2, things looked grim. However we weren’t ready to give up just yet. We had been practicing all week “goose winging” the kite downwind, which can sometimes be faster than the conventional method if done properly. So the call went out to “goose wing” and we nailed it smoking like a freight train right up to him and passing him just on the finish line.

This put us on 1-1 and finally the tide felt like it might be turning for the boys. The final race was a tight one all the way around with a red flag penalty going against us but we managed to just keep ahead to sneak into the top 8.

Things still didn’t feel like they were gelling for us today but it was definitely an improvement. Hopefully tomorrow with the acid on we can step it up a notch and keep progressing in the event. One thing is for sure we will keep battling for the victory.

Waka Racing would like to thank our main sponsor Tax Management NZ and all the support we receive from the RNZYS, Frontend, Zhik , Wells and Co, PredictWind and Devine Consultants.

Waka Racing is Phil Robertson, Garth Ellingham, James Williamson and Sam Bell.

Waka Racing
Internationaux de France de Match Racing/Trophée Manu Minard