Photo: FriedBits.com
We’ve had two very warm days here in Rio to start the 2010 Star Worlds. Temperatures neared 100 degrees again today even under partly cloudy skies, but the seabreeze could not quite switch on like it did for yesterday’s regatta opener inside the bay.
Yesterday we raced in the confines of Guanabara Bay just beside Rio’s downtown airport and in the lee of Sugarloaf mountain. The current swirled around the points and bays within the harbor making racing very difficult to figure out. Team USA had a rough go at it, but Brad and I managed to survive the day taking a 12th in the 75 boat fleet.
Today’s racing started with a hour tow offshore to the racecourse and a short postponement. The current was running upwind at almost a knot making starting tough for the fleet and prompting two general recalls and a black flag. Five boats ended up taking the starting penalty. Brad and I started in the windward third and worked our way left into better current. When we tacked to port I realized that our starboard lower shroud had come undone. We had to go slightly slower for about two minutes up the beat so Brad could go to leeward to solve the problem, but still rounded in about tenth. After a two runs and another beat we rounded the favored leeward gate in about fifth. We were overlapped with the second place boat across the finish line to take third in the race.
Now we sit fourth overall. Four races to go.
Stay tuned with twitter updates and results at StarClass.org and StarWorlds2010.com.
Photos at FriedBits.com
Lindsays
Well done Brad- keep it up.
Alan & Irene
