Blanes, Spain
April 1, 2008

¡Hóla! from the picturesque little town of Blanes on Spain’s Costa Brava where, after three races on the first day of the Yngling Class 2008 European Championship, we’re in first place.

Photo: www.photoboat.com and www.yngling.org

Our goal here is to reach a consistent new level in boat speed and boat setup and it’s proving to be an excellent location for this purpose. It’s only five months to the Olympics and the push is on. We want to get more comfortable in the boat and spend more time on the water. The Pyrenees to the east of us blocks the Mistral but there is still a strong northerly swell in the Bay of Blanes. The swell is very reminiscent of Fusan Bay in Qingdao where we’ll be racing the Olympics and it has been especially valuable for light weather practise on the few days the wind has been light. However it does blow sometimes in Qingdao which means the heavy air big swell combination also makes for good training.

The forecast for today was for a strong northerly but it never arrived. Instead, after a wait of a couple of hours, we were rewarded by a nice, if slightly chilly sea breeze, around 12 to 14 knots. It moderated a little as the day wore on but it delivered great sailing conditions.

Complicating life somewhat we had a current that was running upwind, making for interesting starts, quick upwind legs, long runs and crowded mark roundings. Our game plan was to stay out of trouble, take a few risks and make some good calls when conditions permitted but basically keep things simple.

We finished fourth in the first race of the day, then won the second and took another fourth in the last race. That put us first overall with nine points. Mandy Multder and her Dutch crew is second with 13 points and another Dutch crew skippered by Renee Groeneveld is third with 19 points.

You can find detailed daily results from the Europeans at Blanes Results.

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Carrie Howe
  for Team Seven Sailing -
  - Sally Barkow, Debbie Capozzi, Carrie Howe