Finishing only 4 of the 13 scheduled races, three in the first day and one on the last, we were disappointed at what the weather permitted. Having funded ourselves to Kiel, Germany, to do this event as a lead-up to the World Championships in 3 weeks, the lack of racing proved disappointing.

Race Day 1 saw winds of 16-25 knots. Beautiful sailing conditions except for the freaking cold temperature(11 degrees celsius on water)! A capsize at the top mark in the first race from a high-risk maneuver saw us drop way out of the top 10. A quick recovery from it and we managed to salvage a 19th in that race. The following races saw us float in and out of the top 10s with mistakes that were costly but also with opportunities that were captured, landing us in 28th position.

Light winds prevailed the following day and after 3 hours of waiting on the water, the Race Committee(RC) cancelled the day’s racing at about 1.30pm which I felt was too early for that call as the forecast for the next few days were similar if not worse. True enough, Day 3 saw us waiting on shore till 3pm when the RC made the call to cancel racing that day as well. Day 4 was slightly better and we were sent out after two hours of waiting on shore. After almost 2 hour’s wait at the race area, the RC managed to squeeze one race in before the wind shut down completely again, totaling the 4 races we have. We finished 31/81 boats which proved disappointing results-wise but we know we have gotten a lot more gains in our race-craft which we will bring to the World’s on July 12 (day 1 of racing).

For now, it’s the drive to the Netherlands and a solid block of training before racing starts.

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