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Christchurch UKWA Raceboard 2015

Saturday saw winds of about 11-20 knots, with plenty of bumpy swell and chop to go with it. It had been a while since I sailed a raceboard in windyish, wavey conditions like this, but I’m glad of the sea …

Saturday saw winds of about 11-20 knots, with plenty of bumpy swell and chop to go with it. It had been a while since I sailed a raceboard in windyish, wavey conditions like this, but I’m glad of the sea training I did the last two summers at Polkerris and St Andrews. It actually wasn’t as windy as it looked, just really bumpy for the wind strength.

I didn’t time my start perfectly in the first race, which let Mark Kay and Tom Naylor lead up the first beat. However, I tacked off and found some good breeze out to sea, and rounded the windward mark just a few board lengths behind Mark. I caught up with Mark and took the lead for the second upwind, but couldn’t keep Mark behind me upwind for long, and settled for 2nd in that race.

I got a much better start in the second race, but Mark and Tom had the best upwind speed and were first to the windward mark. I passed Tom downwind, but then he passed me again upwind, before a poor layline let me pass. Then I hit a wave and fell in, but pumped hard downwind and all down the reach to take the race win by a couple of board-lengths ahead of Tom. Mark was disqualified from that race for crossing the start line too early.

The wind built considerably by the last race, I felt pretty quick in this race, having tweaked my technique a bit to keep the sail and board driving upwind whist still staying in control and letting the board sail freely over the waves, and this was enough to keep Tom at bay, but I couldn’t keep up with Mark’s blistering high wind speed.

Conditions on Sunday were less choppy, but very gusty with a sizable cross-swell. We managed one race in the morning before threatening fog gave us an early lunch. It was incredibly close between myself and Mark, coming down the top reach less than a board-length apart. I lead down the last downwind, but gybed a little too early and left the door open for Mark, handing him the race victory.

After a lunch break, visibility was good enough for another race, and this time it really was windy! Tom changed down to his 8.5, Rob stuck to his 9.4, and me and Mark wished we were on 8.5, but clung onto the same 9.5’s we always use! My start was ok, but not the best, and remarkably, with max downhaul and outhaul, mast track at the very front, and a slightly lower boom, I felt fairly comfortable, and stayed in touch with Mark Kay and Andy Gibson who lead upwind. After an exciting downwind and some decent gybes, I was within about 5 board-lengths of Mark. Whilst he continued in towards the shore, I tacked back out to sea, and took advantage of the stronger tide to take back the lead and managed to hold it all together down the reaches and downwind to win the race.

Final results: Mark deservedly won the event, just one point ahead of myself. Tom took 3rd place with an excellent and consistent performance, clearly ahead of the rest of the fleet. Rob Kent, like Tom, had opted for the easy handling and incredible upwind speed of the 9.4 Tushingham lightning, but these weren’t quite his conditions, and he finished the event 4th.

I was pretty pleased with the performance of my sail in the medium-strong wind; it was really flying downwind and I could go upwind with great speed and angle, and especially by the end of the weekend, I was keeping up with powerhouse Mark Kay, who weighs about 15kg heavier than me. I used a 46cm fin, which worked great with my Phantom 377: plenty powerful enough in the lighter conditions, but with a higher top speed and easier handling in the waves than my big fin would have given me. I was really happy with my board speed, which is definitely improved compared to say, two years ago, when I really struggled in stronger winds and waves. Now, I really love these conditions, and can’t wait for the next 20 knots race J.

Next event for me is the World Championships! Probably not going to be so windy in Poland, but you never know…

Authors: louismorris

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