Nikki and I have now been out here in Denmark for nearly a week now and we are starting to get to grips with the venue. Its a wacky one, with seemingly no real reason tot he breeze is incredibly unstable, large pressure and shift differences over worryingly small areas have made for some..... interesting sailing.
Sunny Denmark
During the weekend just gone, the local sailors hosted a training regatta for the boats who had already arrived. It was a great opportunity for us to get our eye in on the area, and as it happened the event was also well attended with over 30 boats racing. That said not all of the big boys were out to play but a good chunk of them made for some very competitive racing. Given the wackyness (yes that is a word, and the best one to describe the wind here) of the conditions, it was a case of snake and ladders, no one could string it all together, it was a case of getting as much right as you could. Over the 3 days of racing we became better and better at calling the wind, and in the final race we were leading until the final leg when we were jumped by a couple of boats. It was so valuable to do some on site racing, we learned a huge amount about the venue and already feel much better prepared for the up and coming world championships.
Warm up regatta results, we are '120'
Since the warm up regatta, and after a rest day, Our coach, good friend and past crew Marcus Lynch has arrived. We intend to use these final few days as a speed workshop. Having made a few small changes to the boat, we are keen to get his opinions and line up against some of the other teams around us. Yesterday was our first day of doing so and things felt pretty good. As ever we were on fire downwind, and seem to have made some good steps in performance upwind as well. Also the 'heat wave' has just kicked in and Denmark is quite stunning when the sun is shining.
Couple more days of training and then the World Championships begins. Not much breeze currently so we might end up on a slightly delayed start today.
Check back for more updates and tan lines soon!
T