Hey well back from my event in Jersey! Every 2 years there is the Small Island Games which allows small nations to compete with each other. I've done it 3 times now and really enjoyed the atmosphere.
Was a little eventful getting there and probably lost a bit of focus as a result.
Basically things got off on the wrong foot with flight cancellations and needing to be rerouted the following day having us arrive late the night before the event. When we did arrive very jetlagged out kit never came, so no wetsuit, harness, boots adjustable outhauls!
We were on brand new Kona One boards. I knew it was going to be challenging for myself as never sailed in current and rarely would go out in the super light winds we had for 3 of the days! The boards are fairly heavy for their size and don't rail up and accelerate in the light winds like the Phantom, but being one design we're all in the same boat. Rigging is quite different than I'm used to, far less or practically no twist to the sail.
The first 2 days struggled a bit, the borrowed waist harness didn't allow for hanging on the boom to level the board with MFP and the lack of adjustable outhaul not ideal either. On the first day lost 4 places in two races with a sticking centerboard forcing me to drop the sail and by hand fight with the thing! I did swear a bit! Discovered forget the silicone spray and go with a bar of soap!
Day 2 must have been about 3 knots of breeze and I swear the current was more effective in getting upwind at times! Still down the back was feeling a bit down with it all.
Day 3 our kit arrived so outhauls and seat harnesses on! Amazingly found myself leading the first race on the first triangle, but lot out on the second upwind leg only to find the outhaul had slipped messing my upwind angle! My one change for a bullet shattered!
On the flip side my teammate got his first win! The next 2 races had me mid and front positions so was feeling better!
Day 4 came and again no wind!
But in the late noon it came in with a bang! All the Lasers were being blown over and race committee had us racing our kit in the water like a WW2 Spitfire squadron! lol This was the day to spin things around! They set up a long distance figure 8 slalom course. The wind was super gusty and patchy so could be 17 knots then 6 knots! The outer gybe mark was crazy rough with the current causing a standing wave.
First race I totally got the start wrong so was last over the line having to then reel in the rest. It was at this point that I discovered all the lightwind specialists were totally not in their element!
Was able to slice and dice through the gybe marks and put myself in 4th.
The next race with a better start things went better even if it was super tough! Everyone was flicking the centerboard down and up perhaps 10 - 15 times in the race as the lulls and gusts came through! No pumping is allowed so getting the most through the lulls super important. got a 3rd that race.
The final race dumped almost all the downhaul, sail was a bag! But of course 2 minutes before the start the wind came in something serious! It was a total hang on for grim death and survive the gybes! Was fun battling with the guys from Jersey, swapping places thought the race. Lucky for me he slipped up and fell in on the gybe letting me get a second 3rd.
My teammate blasted out 3 wins, putting him up to 2nd overall. That was the end of the event and as typical the wind came in very nicely for the next 3 days when we were there!
This was the 3rd race of the final day, the drone footage seems to dilute the actual conditions. I'm BER3 my teammate BER2, gybing with the sail so bagged was pretty challenging.
scottydog
> 9 months ago, 22 Apr 2015
