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In perfect Garda-conditions the fleet had two races in 22 knots and more untypical gusts. The Germans from Eurolink showed a good speed out of the box and rounded the top mark as first. During the downwind the British from Pica took over the lead. CST, Hungarians and Hyde sails went right up the 2nd beat and pulled back in to the fleet meanwhile Magic Marine and the Danes lost places in the middle. However, Eurolink had an issue with a windsurfer at the bottom mark causing Yandoo's skipper John 'woody' Winning to exit his boat via the mainsail leaving them with a Woody size hole to replace before the 2nd race.
At the top mark second time Pica had a sizable lead enabling them to play safe downwind with 1 crew in to slow the boat down. Back in the fleet the racing was tight with The black dog, CST and Hyde Sails, who had moved up to 4th after having a bad start.
After playing the middle the remainder of the fleet had bunched up allowing the Danes to sneak through Magic Marine along with another German team 'remember the days'.
Due to the conditions places remained the same for the next leg as the conditions were testing the crews and machinery to the limits. At the finish the top 5 were Pica, CST, Black Dog, Hyde sails and Eurolink.
The second race was fired off with only 10 starters, after the conditions reaking havoc with the fleet. The fleet made a easy start with the everyone not wanting to do anymore bear aways than what was needed. Woody, with no surprise had patched up the Yandoo mainsail with sticky dacron and was back at the start and upsetting everybody with his boat speed as usual. The people who went into the cliff got burnt, not typical Garda! Cst tacked out 30 boat lengths early and lead from start to finish with Pica following. The Danes finally showing their viking credentials by sailing to a comfortable 3rd. Wheras, positions further back where being decided by capsizes and breakages. Remember the days snapped their mast just like Hyde Sails in day 1 and had to retire when they were right at the sharp end of the fleet also Magic Marine was sailing well as usual should have had a top 5 finish like earlier in the week but capsized on the last bear away but managed to salvage a 6th.
After seeing the carnage the race officer sent us ashore to see if the breeze would reduce, but there was no reduction, meaning Norbert organized a fantastic de-brief held by Soren, which helps the new teams learn the in's and out's of these awesome boats.
by Jack Grogan
Team Hyde Sails |
Posted on Wednesday, June 06, 2012 (Archive on Tuesday, September 04, 2012)
Posted by norbert peter Contributed by
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