Get down low and go go go
As Riss said a few days ago… which was good advice for today as 20+ knots and epic waves made for some awesome downwind conditions.
We only got two races off for the UAE Nationals, by the last race only 4 boats finished. Plenty didn’t make it off the shore, happier to sit and watch the carnage only two days out from the Worlds.
My races were a bit tough. I snagged a plastic bag on the rudder with 30 seconds to go and had to capsize to clear it. Though after that I rocketed upwind and rounded in 3rd with Arnaud behind Chris and Bora. Downwind was not so kind to me. I pitchpoled 3 or 4 times down the first run, a few times more than the guys infront. By the bottom things were pretty spread out, and I went round in 6th behind JPZ.
I just held things together for the last lap and finished 5th, with a few more pitchpoles for good measure. Arnaud took the win by 10m over Chris. Rob was 3rd with Bora 4th.
The next one the fleet had thinned a bit, but I got off the start ok and went around behind Arnaud and Brad. Brad didn’t make the spacer mark and I was almost the same, blasting away without a mainsheet trying to weave between the waves and the mark.
By the time I got a chance to look around, everyone behind me seemed to be in the piss in the same place.
I still put it in a couple of times, but Chris’ advice to wind it down helped, and I spent more time plowing but less time upside down.
At the end Arnaud must’ve capsized a couple less times than I did, crossing ahead by a few hundred metres. Rob and Chris were similar distances behind. And that was it.
Given the number of people making it around, the RC cancelled racing for the day.
Amac did head out when everyone else was packing up. Given the Black Rock-esque conditions he was showing us how it was done. Flying high and aggressively downwind, with some similarly spectactular pitchpoles along with it.
Unfortunately the rest of the time here will probably be nothing like that.
