Monday, October 22, 2007

2.4s in Weymouth

From the RYA press release by Lindsey Bell:

RYA National Ranking Series winners crowned at Weymouth.
The RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series drew to a close this weekend, with both seasoned campaigners and young guns clinching victories after the final event of the three-weekend Series at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (20-21 October).

The 2.4mR class missed out on the two previous Series events due to a clash with the IFDS World Disabled Championships in Rochester, USA, but they were in action for this final event this weekend. With racing open to disabled and able-bodied sailors, Skandia Team GBR’s 2.4mR coach Adam May took the opportunity to race against his charges Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe, and clinched victory with four wins from the six races – Lucas finished second with Pascoe in third.

For results from the 20-21 October event, visit www.wpnsa.org.uk



I'd talked about sailing in an open meeting for ages, but timescales and boat logistics had never quite allowed it. Fortunately this weekend worked out nicely. Helena's second boat had just come back from the USA, and we'd been based in Weymouth all week for a squad camp.

I was slightly nervous as I've only done a little bit of tuning in a 2.4, and a few practice races. Helena got the march on me in the first two races, but I managed to get it all figured out eventually. I was vulnerable downwind, as I wasn't very used to the angles downwind, but managed the shifts okay upwind to gain more upwind than I lost downwind. I won the remaining 2 races on day one, and then the two races on Sunday, but it was much closer racing than the scoreline suggests. I often managed to make my biggest moves on the final beats of the three lap races.

So I might have to retire from my 2.4 sailing and remain in the coach boat now! It was very fun close tactical racing though, so I'm likely to be tempted back for more. I learnt a lot from the weekend, and it was great to sail against my squad sailors, Helena and Megan. I picked up a lot of things from actually racing them.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Back in the UK

Just got back from China, where I couldn't access my blog or any others that run a .blogspot account actually. I'll do a full update soon, once I've caught up with everything. Great trip though and we even got to do the Great Wall of China on the way home!