Team Isigungu Fairs Well

 

 

Yesterday was the first day of racing for the South African Yngling team, competing for a spot in the Olympic Games.

 

With 18 – 20knots predicted (for the whole week…!) we knew we had ‘a bit on’ for the next few days. We shared a course with the Finn class (Men’s single-handed boat) yesterday, which means that they were supposed to start their first race at 13h00 and be finished in time for us to start at 16h20.

They were delayed by about 1 hour due to conflicting breezes, which meant that we could only start after 5pm. It seems crazy to just be starting work, when normally you are on your way home already!!

 

What did we know before the start – line was close to even or maybe 5 degrees committee boat bias, head to wind was 005 degrees, right hand side looked strong from Finn racing, pressure was even.

 

Headings changed about 5 degrees, current was coming from 300 degrees and decreasing to evening (7pm was high), Starboard was the longest tack and Port was a very short tack.

 

Our game plan was to do a port approach and start close to the bunch above us, head right in clear air and go for it! We did the start perfectly – pretty close to the line I imagine (I know I had my crew slightly nervous..!) but all was clear.

 

I do realise though, that starting below 60% of the fleet is not the best thing to do when you want to go right…. But we were on a slight lift!! As soon as we could we tacked and had the entire fleet to lee and ahead of us.

 

We were in clear air and going well. We could see the top mark not far off us and we weren’t very far from the Starboard layline. We under-tacked the leaders and got lifted even closer to the mark with the current, we could see the whole fleet overstood.

 

Two more tacks and we rounded the top mark second….. OK, don’t panic I can hear you say….., We really tried not too! Our downwind sailing was very cautious, maybe too much so, but we really didn’t want to mess this up.

 

Being a little nervous on the gybes, we over corrected on one and broached out for a few seconds but got it back soon enough to be able to round the left bottom mark (looking up wind) and still in good shape.

 

We made some ground back by staying on the left slightly longer than the rest of the boats that were close and sailed hard, we rounded the top mark the second time in 3rd, with AUS right on our hip, they managed to catch a few big surfs while we were fighting the halyard and got on the inside of us at the gibe.

 

We were still hanging on to 4th at the bottom. Final beat we played criss-cross with AUS, catching them each time. We all had a fearless spirit upwind and gave everything.

 

Still hot on the tail of AUS at the final top mark, all that was left was for us to run down to the finish, we can do it!!! Getting a bit nervous for the gybe – the wind had picked up to 25 – 30 knots!!

 

But all was in good shape, great gybe and we were on the final approach for the best race of our lives, 4th across the line, high fives all round!! Shjoe, My heart is racing just thinking about it again.

 

Now, I am not sure I should tell you about race two, just yet. Maybe I should give you some time, to get a coffee??

 

Race two will be a little shortened – as the result just wasn’t quite as impressive as the first one!!

 

Nothing much had changed with the conditions, except the current was less now (almost gone). I know I should have started more in the bunch, in fact could even have decided to go for a late start – just to be able to tack off first to head right.

 

But instead we did another Port approach, but on the line and going fast. We bounced off a few boats – probably to their benefit in the end….

 

We just couldn’t seem to get across to the right and had a battle on, sailing in the fleet is so much harder than sailing in the front!! having to deal with choppy water, boats leebowing us, boats tacking on top of us – it really not as fun!!

 

Anyway to cut a long story short, we fought hard – gained a few, but lost a few and ended near the upper 20’s. We only got back to the harbour at 9pm so I am not sure where we came.

 

Today we are on course 4, a bit further away from the shore and maybe more wave sailing. Starting at 13h00 our time. Here’s to another great day of sailing in Cascais!
 
‘The wind is calling’
 
All the best
Dom, Pen and Kim
Sailing Team Isigungu
Yngling Olympic Campaign – Beijing 2008
“The Challenge Ahead of Us is Nothing Compared to the Power Within Us”