Bland consistency
Day 3 of the Moth Nationals was a long one.
We started off on time at 10 am in a shifty light nor-westerly. Off the line I didn’t foil off with the boats around me and then got stuck in irons for a while while the fleet sailed away. I was in good company with Nathan stuck at the other end of the line. I ended up heading into good pressure on the right with Robbo. We headed off to the layline, but I left the tack back too late and didn’t fly again that leg. I went from the top couple to deep in the 20s as everyone sailed around me. By the time I got around the leaders were already at the bottom mark.
On the downwind I headed out into pressure and blasted past almost everyone into 4th. Not bad.
The next upwind, the same thing. I went a little too far right and fell out of the pressure on the way back to lose the bunch I was in, and then another 10 or so boats. Robbo, Simon, John and Nathan led on the way back downwind.
And even though there was only 1 leg left on the shortened course, there was plenty still to play for. I flew downwind with Les, Arnaud and Alan, past another bunch of boats, then John when he ventilated, and Robbo when he stuffed the gybe, into 3rd over the line a second ahead or Arnaud.
So saved a good score from what could have been a very ordinary finish.
Simon ended up first with Nathan second.
We then went ashore and waited around for a couple of hours til the afternoon scheduled start time. Then when we did finally hit the water, we postponed for what felt like hours waiting for the breeze to settle.
We headed back in then back out at 5pm when the seabreeze settled in.
With a nice 15 knots or so I managed a good start and picked a good layline to be next to Simon and then ahead at the spacer mark, but only by a little. Then Simon left me for dead downwind and Dave and Luka started gaining ground. The shifts claimed Simon’s lead on the last work, and Luka took the win followed by Dave, Simon then me.
There was a bit more pressure for the last race, but still plenty of shifts.
Nathan, Simon and Bora led on the first upwind, with me in the top 5 or so. Around the next couple of laps I lost ground on the boats around me, slowed by some of the weed that seems to be stalking certain people.
In the end I crossed 7th, making it a pretty consistent day, but not quite good enough.
I’m running 3rd overall behind Simon and Nathan. I’m a couple of points ahead of Dave, but my drop isn’t so bad (or good). Consistency sucks sometimes, except when it’s consistently 1st or 2nd.
2 races scheduled tomorrow, before the final morning lottery on Sunday to finish the regatta.
