We managed to finish third overall in the “IX Semana Asturiana de Vela”, so a podium finish for the second year running!
Here’s a brief summary of how the three days went for us, for anyone interested!
Friday
Race 1: 2nd
Race 2: 3rd
We gave our new sails their official debut, and we went pretty well. Race 1 saw us leading around the windward mark, but we slipped back a place going downwind and never managed to claw it back.
Our start in race 2 was a shocker! To get back up to third was a good effort, but you can’t afford to start from the back and win!
Saturday
Race 3: 5th
Race 4: 5th
A frustrating day. We seemed to find all the holes in the wind, and my attempt at tuning of the mast to better fit our new sails didn’t help. I wasn’t happy with how well the boat was pointing on Friday, so had looked to get a little more bend to flatten the main, but I think we went with the rig too tight in the end.
Both races gave further evidence that our starts are an area to work on. Enough said!
Sunday
Race 5: 3rd
Sunday’s format was slightly different from the previous two days, a longer course, and sailing with the big boats. This made for some interesting moments! We got a reasonable start (for a change!), and we had good speed and we pointing well, after further playing with the rig tension. With hindsight we made the mistake of not covering (arguably!) the quickest boat when we should have, allowing him to get ahead picking the shifts better than we did. Having said that, another 500m of track, we’d likely have caught them, as downwind we were quick.
So, all in all, three good days of sailing, despite the light winds. I’ll post links to any photos I find.
Update: Photos added!
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