Sailing Blog
Texas Hot Sauce – Day 2 Melges 24 Worlds »
May 17, 2011
As the famous Texan George W said during his presidency, “I think we all agree, the past is over,” and our mission on the FT was to forget about the first day of racing and come back fighting for Day 2. The RC was looking very smart for postponing racing until 1pm the day prior to allow the seabreeze to fully settle on the racecourse as we were awoken with completely flat water and no wind. As the racers took advantage of a leisurely morning, the breeze began to fill from the SE and by the time we arrived at the boat around 11:30, there was already a steady 15-18 which was expected to build. After a very tough first day on the FT, we were anxious to get back racing and were excited by the conditions which suit our team well.
Both races today we again executed our plan of getting off the line cleanly, and we managed to hold our lane both times with very good boats on either side of us to get a small grip on the front pack. In the first race, reigning World Champs Uka Uka Racing tacked from the left corner, crossed us on port tack by no more than a foot and went on to lead around the first mark. We tacked on their hip shortly after they crossed, had a few narrow crosses ourselves and snuck around the mark just a few lengths in 2nd. The remainder of the race was a battle with the Italians on Uka Uka with only 4-5 boat lengths separating us around the track.
The 2nd race of the day, we got a little redemption as we were the ones who approached on port tack halfway up the first upwind, crossed Uka by the smallest of margins and went onto lead the race. Uka was breathing down our necks the entire race and we did a great job of staying focused, sailing clean and preserving our lead to beat them by less than a boatlength at the finish. Not only is it a special feeling to win a race at a World Championship, but it is a confidence builder to fend off the reigning world champs.
The word from the locals is that we will see this weather pattern the next few days, and the breeze will only build from here. The forecast is calling for 25-30 tomorrow, and the teams who can get around the track cleanly will be at the top of the leader board. We currently sit in 7th place, only a few pts out of 2nd, and need to have good races from here on to have a chance at a decent finish.
Here is some highlights from onboard the FT from races 3+4…
Full Results. Official Worlds Report.
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