SPA diary - Hugh Styles day 2

Better downwind pace today

So day two of SPA regatta and a windier day for all. The day began with more wind than yesterday and when we got to the boat park at 9am there was already 9 knots. All setting up well for another good day of windy racing. The forecast was for an increase in wind throughout the day up to about 17 or 18 knots.

Three races scheduled, starting earlier today at 12 noon. Out on the water at 11am to check the course area. We started on time but had a little bad luck just before the start as our spinnaker bag broke with about seven mins to go. We were busy trying to fix the boat as the warning signal went and were not the best prepared for the start of the first race. We started at the starboard end and tacked out early towards the right side of the upwind leg. Unfortunately this was not the favoured side of the course and we were deep at the top mark rounding in the thirties. We had changed a few settings with the spinnaker from yesterday to improve our downwind speed, but these tweaks did not work and we were still slow downwind. This made it even more of a struggle to climb back up the order through the race. In the end we pulled through to 15th at the finish but it was all rather dissatisfying.

We elected to change the spinnaker for the next race, and had a hectic period of repairs and changing equipment. Fixing the spinnaker bag and changing the upwind set up as well. All done just in time for the warning signal for race two.
We started well this time at the right hand end of the line and were soon to tack out right into clear wind on the right side of the course. This proved to be a good move and we were just inside the top ten at the first mark. With the change of spinnaker for this race we had pace to spare and started making big gains on the
downwind leg. We had taken a couple of boats and gained again on the next upwind to get to sixth at the last windward mark. Again fast on the downwind we pulled out all the stops down the last run and clinched fourth at the finish.

The wind had built for the last race and we had about 16 knots at the start, this built during the race topping 19 knots towards the finish. An excellent start for us, making the most of a wind shift to the left during the final two minutes before the start. We reached at top speed to the left hand end of the line and hit the start at pace, getting a jump on the rest of the fleet at the beginning. A combination of good speed and great tactical awareness got us to the first mark in third place hot on the heels of the leader. With the increase of the wind the downwind leg was getting pretty hairy with the bows of the boat submerging in the steep waves frequently. We got to the leeward mark still in third but had a bit of a horror of a mark rounding and lost ground on the two boats in front. We recovered up the next beat with some excellent boat speed and were third or fourth at the next mark. But turning on the downwind speed again we sped past the boat in front to seal the third place in the last race of the day.

A satisfactory day but a little disappointing in the first race, all to play for now in third place a little way behind the Austrian Olympic Gold medallist in second and Mitch Booth the Australian/Dutch skipper in first. Seven races left and a good forecast for tomorrow.