Sailing Magazine
Jof Heathcote, the only South African in a fleet of 174 boats, reports from Sorrento, Australia.
We finally got a race in – a practise race for the worlds. One course only. A lot of people didn’t bother so we ended up with about 90 boats on the start.
It was blowing about 15 knots, but very unstable with masses of influence off the land.
I got away pretty cleanly at the boat end; the pin was favoured and left upwind seemed most desirable, but I really wanted to stay conservative. I hung in reasonably well but had a bit of a slow patch half way out to the left. I tacked away which was not a great move so bled some positions up to the top mark. (The fast guys were out of sight).
I held my position downwind, then played some nice shifts to pass a group of boats up the next beat. I then threw away a couple of spots at the bottom of the second run, but was still pretty happy with how it all went.
I thought I was about 30th although results up are showing 19 ??? – probably due to superstitious people bailing out before the line.
Anyway, overall I was happy enough with how it all felt. So on to the serious business tomorrow.
