Yesterday was day one of serious racing and it all went really well. Up front the big guns are slogging it out with lots of place changing going on. The winds were medium and variable (12 -18) with lots of holes on the course which seemed to be where I headed for on every run!
Upwind I am happy with speed although there is no consistency as I am so unfit so there tends to bursts of good speed followed by bouts of non hiking foolishness where I am pretending to go upwind.
I had a good few battles with Doug Culnane and Martin Fear which was good.
So the results of day one in such a highly polished fleet were a little under where I expected to be… I scored three 50 + placings.
Top story of the day was the first full speed downwind collision at a moth regatta with Tim Penfold and one other piling in to each other. Fair play to Tim who escaped with a cut under his eye and one broken wing and tramp! I’m not sure about the other boat but I know the pilot escaped unhurt.
Then today the winds arrived in earnest and it must be said that I was properly scared heading down to the start. There were gusts coming through around the 25 knot mark and with so many boats in so confined an area, there was concern for the health of those around me! For the first time, I managed to hit a new top speed (I’ve no idea what it was) signalled by the fact that I was tearing downwind at full tilt on glass flat water, with the foils whistling as they do, then I got hit by an even bigger gust and suddenly the whistling stopped, I accelerated and was absolutely convinced that the boat was about to explode. Thankfully Ninjario kept it together and we were able to race in the strong winds.
There was a drastic turnaround for me in the results as I went from 58 in the first race to 39th in the second and then 30th in the third. It was all down to a mental attitude thing I discovered… I am getting really good starts but then by the time I get to the top mark, I start dropping places due to a lack of concentration so that is a big area I am going to work on in the coming months.
On the flipside, I’ve now pulled off two proper foiling tacks and they are fast improving (ie. I’m not just throwing myself in to them and hoping for the best). Not so with the gybing in strong winds. I really need to nail that if I’m going to get any better.
We were supposed to be having a lay day tomorrow but they are planning to run another three races. My body is battered however, the hotel spa, jacuzzi and sauna really took care of that today!
We had a good evening just now with the whole fleet heading up the mountain via cable car to a restaurant with a three course meal laid on for us.
It must be said, now the weather has cleared, this place is starting to look magical.
More from Silvaplana tomorrow….