Today was windier than yesterday. So rigged the 7.0 and left the board choice to the last minute. Skippers meeting was at 9 and the 1 hour countdown started 30 minutes later. Same course as yesterday. 40 km long. After the skippers meeting the results for the previous day got posted. I ended up one place ahead of Victor Fernandez at 73. He must have been on his wave gear. James came in at 67th.
The start for the first race today was not good. The wind dropped so it was a slow start for everyone. I was waterstarting for the start. Grovelled over the line and a further 500m before getting plaining. Even on the slalom 66. Was frustrating but everyone was in the same boat.
Once on the plane, it was a matter of working up the fleet. One by one just picking off slower sailors. Over a course of 40km, its easy to pass but the further you get up the fleet, the harder it becomes. There is pretty much a pecking order and the 40-50 minutes it takes to complete the race, you end up slotting into the pecking order by the end.
Race one done, sleep, lunch, next skipper meeting and race 2 at 3.30pm. Race 2 was a lot windier. Chopped down to the 58 slalom. That board is a rocketship. Unfortunately it did not blow hard enough for it to light up completely. This time the start was sweet. hit it fully planing even though there were some 100-200 sailors ahead and around me. Arms were struggling to hold one. But managed to make it most of the way. Got through the finishing gate to head toward the finish line but then the wind dropped. Noooo. Could not keep on the plane and could not lay the line. Had to tack back and then retry. In the meantime, the 10 guys that I'd passed 4 minutes ago came screaming past and got to the line before me. Merde as they say in French. James got into the top 20 for both races today. He's going very well.
