News / Results A Day of Transitions 
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Hyeres, France After the unplanned day off yesterday due to the wild 40-knot Mistral winds, today dawned sunny and mild. None the less it was a tough day on the water for Team 7 with finishes of 12, 12, 8 that has dropped us to 8th place overall. We woke up to a weather forecast that had the wind arrows pointing in opposite directions, literally. This felt sort of like the summation of Team 7's day. 
Photo by Linda Wright For Race one we anticipated a dying 10-knot Westerly gradient breeze. We were not able to hold our lane at the start but we were able to quickly get clear. With the unstable and variable conditions, the only option in this race was to take some risks and not play it safe. On the first beat we leveraged out to the left side port layline and rounded in the top eight. The wind was up and down with patchy pressure causing many place changes throughout the fleet. At one point the fleet inverted and no position was ever safe until crossing the finish line. The only safe place this race was in the coach boat. The final spin of the roulette wheel meant we finished close behind a tightly packed group in 12th place. Not too fun! For Race one we anticipated a dying 10-knot Westerly gradient breeze. We were not able to hold our lane at the start but we were able to quickly get clear. With the unstable and variable conditions, the only option in this race was to take some risks and not play it safe. On the first beat we leveraged out to the left side port layline and rounded in the top eight. The wind was up and down with patchy pressure causing many place changes throughout the fleet. At one point the fleet inverted and no position was ever safe until crossing the finish line. The only safe place this race was in the coach boat. The final spin of the roulette wheel meant we finished close behind a tightly packed group in 12th place. Not too fun! As we were preparing for race two and gathering data, coach James Lyne gave us the winning information of the day. "Watch for the breeze to fill in from the opposite direction." During the start sequence we saw the dark line of wind approaching so we were ready to set the spinnaker and sail downwind at the start, but unfortunately the Race Committee thought this crazy wind shift was a bit unfair and postponed the start. Too bad! So at this point the committee waited for the Easterly to settle in to a consistent direction and strength. We continued to gather data and tried to understand the way the breeze was channeling through the Porquerolles Islands producing alternating left and right angles and different pressure around the course. When we did finally start, it felt like we were always one step behind and couldn’t break free or even catch a break. This best summarizes the rest of the afternoon actually, except maybe towards the end of the day. On a day like today it is easy to get down and start second-guessing yourself and each decision. Instead we tried to just make it happen the best we could by getting onto the lifted tack and hope that it took us to more pressure and a better angle. It sounds like a winning formula, but some days no matter what, it’s just not going to work out, and it was just that way for us this afternoon. The last race we stuck with it and finished a respectable 8th place. A bit better, but looking on to tomorrow, a sea breeze is predicted and most importantly it will be a new day. Three races are scheduled tomorrow to finish the opening series. The full results online. Semaine Olympique Française website - http://sof.ffvoile.net. Please spread the word with your friends and fellow sailors to Join the Team to receive our regular updates and, if they wish, to make a donation. Our Join the Team page uses the secure Kintera support software which allows users to sign up for updates, make donations, and easily invite friends and fellow yacht club members to become involved. There is a live display showing a running total of all donations. You can even start your own fundraising team. The current top team is Bee Anderson’s Old Grands. Please check it out.
Carrie Howe |
