Feeling of Deja Vu

Now I have a stable platform to work with, i.e. the VISS, I can focus totally on sailing technique and that will be the flavour of the blogs going forwards.

So what happened at the ranking. The results were not to expectation. I was just outside the top 10 in a fleet of 57 boats but there were so many positives. Great starts with clear air and speed and mostly had freedom to tack when I wanted. Good speed and then ability to go high or low and fast when I needed the speed.

On both days I started well in the seeding race with results to place me in A heat. In race 2, I scored a 5th and a 6th which was OK by my standard. In the third race on Saturday I struggled to finish 11th which I naively thought would be my discard. In the third race on Sunday I battled with Brad for a win but at the end of lap 3 we thought we had another to go and set off up the beat with several of the fleet. Rob McIntosh could count and sailed straight for the finish and by the time I realised, 8 places were lost, the downside of being well ahead of the fleet. So what should have been a second ended up an 9th.

It all went wrong in race four on both days. On Saturdays fourth race, I was slow and finished in the bottom 3. However I got another chance as there was confusion on the scoring of 4b which could not be resolved so we had a resail. My optimism for a reprieve was short lived as before the start I managed to hook a 2 foot strip of plastic around the fin. Rounding the windward mark last by 20 yards I brought the boat into the shore to remove the plastic. Unfortunately the fleet was gone although I did manage to catch a couple of boats. On Sunday events took an even more unusual turn. In practicing, I rounded one of the leeward gate marks and hit something which slowed the boat. It wasn't the rope holding the mark but I thought no more of it. On the first rounding of the leeward gate in the fourth race, Brad Gibson was right behind me and as I rounded the boat stopped dead. Brad bumped into my boat but managed to work his way outside. By the time my boat was free the fleet was gone. I did not hit the mark or hook the mooring rope so I think the bulb hit the anchor.

The disappointing part of both days in race 5 was I failed to escape the subsequent B heat.

Despite the events of the two days I took a lot of positives from the weekend. The boat was quick in light weather. I started well creating good gaps to leeward. I could have had a second place. All the setting seemed to deliver performance.

On the downside, failing to escape from B heat was not good. In one race a boat sailed down the line and blocked me as the gun went and in the other I finished 7th, losing one vital place on the final run.

The results could have been very different. 2 races with bad luck is not an excuse but did not help my cause. Not counting laps is unforgivable. The next opportunity to target a top 10 result is the Nationals over Easter.