Melges 32 Worlds
Written by Paul Goodison | 05 October 2010
After a good week at the Rolex big boat series it was nice to have a day of rest to take in San Fran, the city was pretty cool and it was nice to see Alcatraz after sailing around it for the last 6 days….
We had a good start to the worlds with a top 10 but followed it up with a bit of a shocker, out of the start of race 2 we came close to tangling with the leeward mark gate costing us dearly. The team turned it around well to finish the day with a 5th in the final race.
On day two the breeze built through out the morning for some classic San Fran conditions, after a couple of top 10’s disaster struck in race 3. On the second lap we rounded in 4th bore away and hoisted only to get knocked over in a 25 knot gust. The boat behind hoisted and and set off and sailed straight through the side of the boat holing us below the waterline. We were pretty lucky to get away with out any serious injury.
I came away with a scrape and black eye loosing my sunglasses and cap on the tack line.
For the video see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCM2bizpQOs
After a quick tow in the guys did a great job of patching the boat up while we headed to the protest room for redress. After a long evening the protest committee decided we altered course too quickly preventing Bronco to keep clear.
It was pretty hard to swallow but the lads did a great job of picking themselves up for day 3 to post a 6 – 8 and put us back in with a bit of a shout. On the final day it was a big change and light winds. With no light jib on board we sailed well to chalk up a 6th in the first race leaving it down to the wire. After a difficult first beat we rounded in the high 20’s with a lot on. We kept it together to pull back to 17th which was not quite god enough leaving us 8th Overall.
Congratulations must go to Blin sailing who sailed a great regatta to take the world Title. It was a bit of a frustrating week with a few things not going our way, the racing was close and exciting and I really enjoyed it. Onwards and upwards……
Paul