July 12 - 470 Worlds Day 1

Jen here,

It's day 1 of the 470 World Championships and our start was scheduled for 20 minutes from now.  However, there is a very large low front hanging out off of Belgium which has threatened us with up to fourty knots of breeze.  We're postponed on shore for the next four hours and so I'm up in the regatta office as I write this post.  So far there is no wind, but there is the type of rain that you usually find in Vancouver in February. Yuck!  All boat covers are on, though, and boats have been tied to the trailers in case this thunderstorm shows up.

Yesterday was the practice race and then there were opening ceremonies.  The practice race was held in very light conditions; so light, in fact, that it was difficult to tell if we were making any headway through the current on the course.  We're doing much better now in terms of pointing (just make the boat feel terrible!) and now working on the next step of switching gears between different trimming techniques for different conditions.

After the practice race, we all headed back in and fortuntaly today there was a regatta official guarding the entrance to the harbour from the bands of sailing hooligans.  I was pretty relieved to see that boat guarding things for us as the previous day, one kid actually tried to grab onto the side of our boat to climb in and I had to fend him off with the tiller.  Then of course I felt bad, probably because this is what we do as Canadians!  The boat ramp, though, was absolute chaos. There were over 200 470's waiting for two tiny little freshwater hoses to rinse the boats. Then, as you pulled your boat up the ramp, you had to thread your way through a concert band which had been strategically place at the very top of the ramp to play music for us as we came in.  Lovely gesture and the music was pretty fun, but it was hilarious trying to watch the trombonist play while having the back of his horn clipped by passing shrouds and forestays.  We took in the opening ceremonies and then watched the fantastic Spain/Netherlands World Cup Final.  As dissapointed as I was about Holland not taking the Cup, I was relieved that it was (relatively) quiet after the game and we could get a good night's sleep.


Jen