Jen here,
A great day for us here in Helsinki! We had two races in really nice conditions, about 12-15 knots from the west. Today was definitely a new day from yesterday, and our focus was very much on achieving a good clean start, holding our lane after the start, and then keeping things simple ie. tack on the shifts, go to the favoured side of the course, keep our manoeuvres clean. I'm happy to report that for the most part, we did just that. Our starts in both races were clean and we enjoyed clear air off the line. Unfortunately in the first race we thought we'd caught a shift and so started at the starboard end of the start line...but the breeze shifted back and we were on the wrong side! However, we ground back five boats throughout the first race and then found that we'd gained five more positions due to boats that had been disqualified on the black flag at the start.
Second race we started at the favoured end of the line with full speed and clear air. We managed to squeeze out four boats in the first minute of the race and continued to focus on clean and accurate sailing. This simple plan seems to have worked out for us, because when we finished the race I looked back to see how many boats we were ahead of...and for the first time there were too many spinnakers to count! I think the best part of today's racing was the feeling that we're actually starting to implement some of the things that we've accomplished in training. Here's hoping that we can do the same tomorrow. The forecast for tomorrow is light again...only four or five knots, so it will be another test of focus for sure.
But now it's time for bed!
Cheers,
Jen
Way to go ladies!
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