Hi Everyone,
Well, here is our second update from Haifa, Israel. It has definitely been a busy few days so we hope you enjoy reading about it and you are all having a good time back at home and it’s not too cold!
Saturday was the invitation race so it was the first day out on the water with about 200 boats from all the different countries so it was pretty hectic! The racing is done in two separate divisions, Open and Womens, and within these two divisions they are broken down into two smaller fleets of approximately 50 boats. However, for the invitation race they decided to start all the Open fleet together, and then all the Womens fleet together so there were two very big groups! The races wasn’t a great gauge against our competitors as many people were starting up to 2 or 3 minutes early, however, it was great to sail around the course and check out the conditions.
We were very excited the next day for racing although we had no idea what to expect as we really didn’t know how we would go compared to all these people from all over the world – everyone looked so professional! However we decided our goal for the regatta would be to make the Womens Gold Fleet. On Sunday the Womens Fleet was being raced in the afternoon with a 1pm start so it was fairly windy by the time we got out there and the waves were pretty decent. We had a fairly average (very average) start in the first race so we couldn’t believe it when we reached the top mark inside the top 20! The downwind was pretty crazy with waves on top of the swell so we were having a great time and seemed to be going ok against the other boats which seemed promising. Unfortunately we had a bit of an issue with our vang on the next leg of the race which cost us a few places but we managed to fight back and finish 15th which were very happy with. The next two races were good but it ended up being a pretty long day as we spent about 6.5 hours on the water.
We had an early start on Monday for the second day of qualifying (there are two days of qualifying to determine the gold and silver fleets, and then four days of finals within these fleets). The breeze appeared to be slightly lighter in the morning, however it gradually built throughout the morning whilst we were out there. We had a good start in the first race, however, the shifty conditions were hard to pick and we got caught out on the wrong side so we had to fight back for most of the race. However, our next two races were fantastic – we were thrilled to finish with an 8th and a 4th as we were amazed to find ourselves inside the top 10 which was something we hadn’t expected at our first world championship!
At the end of the two days of racing we qualified for the Gold Fleet in 22nd position so we were really excited. The next day was a lay day so we had a quiet morning, and then went to the Sea of Galilee for lunch but it was incredibly hot – the thermometer on the car read 52 degrees at one stage!
Today (Wednesday) was our first day of racing in the Gold Fleet. We knew the competition would be tougher now that the fleets had been split but we were keen to get back out there and keep racing after a day off. Fortunately we had a late start again however the breeze was coming from a different direction to the previous days and there was fairly big swell so we knew it would be interesting! In the first race the conditions were tricky to pick and we missed the first shift however we managed to fight back and finish within the top 20 so we were happy. By the second race the breeze had filled in a little more and was a bit more consistent so it was a really exciting race, particularly downwind in a bit more pressure which made it great fun in the swell, and we were thrilled to finish inside the top 20 again. The third race of the day was definitely our race of the regatta so far. The first start was a general (so many boats are over the line that they decide to call everyone back and re-start the race), then the second start was a black flag general and 12 boats were called but fortunately not us although we thought we were close! Finally, we got underway on the third start and we had a pretty good start and felt like we had good speed and were focusing on staying in phase with the boats around us so we were a little surprised when we went round the top mark in the lead! We sailed a good downwind, but the breeze had started to die a bit so the pumping flag had been lowered. On the next upwind we sailed well and covered the boats closest to us but we dropped back to 6th round the top mark as a few boats found some better pressure to the left of us and managed to sneak past! A solid reach and downwind and we were able to sneak back into second position which we managed to hold for the last reach to the finish.
So, all in all it has been a pretty exciting few days and we still have three days left of racing to go! We have to go now as we have another early start tomorrow morning however please look at the regatta website (http://www.haifa420-worlds2010.com/) to follow our progress over the next few days. We hope to email again soon!
Thanks again,
Sasha & Jaime
AUS 420
51858
