by Pam
Finally, the racing has begun, but what a long day! Results are here for the first three races; however, the Standard GMs and GGMs only got in two races.
The Radial and Standard courses are sailing so far apart that they are barely visible to each other, with the Radials being much closer to the sailing center and I believe starting a hour later. Doug said it took a full hour to sail back in after the racing on the Standard course. Hugh Leicester, the PRO on the Standard course, is super efficient and can be counted on for the best racing possible.
The Standard fleets left the harbor about 10:30 am and were on the course and ready for the noon start but the breeze did not show up until about 2:30 pm. The racing began shortly thereafter with each race lasting about an hour with almost no time between each race and the fleets returning to the harbor between 5:00 and 6:00 pm. Having been on the finish line boat in Kingston when Hugh was the PRO, I know that he keeps track of when the first and last boats in each fleet round the various marks and he adjusts accordingly to make sure they stay separate and he fires off the next race for each fleet as soon as possible.
I was relieved when the GMs and GGMs did not have enough daylight to finish another race and return to the harbor because I had enough sun and bobbing around on a small rib to last me the week. It was nice to be close to the action but I'm over it now. Plus, I even got to sail around a bit when GM Robert Bini (ITA) had me take his Laser for a spin while he relaxed on the rib and ate his lunch. Work has kept me from sailing the last two years so that was a nice treat.
Doug will be sending out his daily journal by email to the folks who have requested to be copied. In brief, he started the day in pain and not feeling the best. He went ahead and took the pain medicine before sailing but knew that meant he had to really go easy because his body would not give him reliable signals of when he had pushed too far. Given that he was not supposed to be sailing, he is pleased to be in 4th place in his fleet at the end of the day. He would have had a 2nd in one race but got passed on the last run and just did not feel comfortable trying to work the boat to hold his place.
Pics and videos may be added here later. Didn't get much but some might be of interest to some people.
Well done Doug! Keep it up.
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