On Sunday morning we arrived at
the boat in perfect skiing conditions; nice powder snow was
falling down from the sky in just below zero temperatures. But
we went sailing...
After removal of the snow from the
deck and preparing the boat we went to the Yacht club for a cup
of warm coffee. We left the harbour and sailed to the starting
vessel where we discovered some problems with the new mainsail
halyard. So we dropped the main and fitted the old halyard back.
After a upwind practice run we decided to set the mast for 8
knots of wind in anticipation of a decreasing wind speed.
We started the race in about 12
knots of wind at the middle of the line; clear of the bigger
boats all starting at the vessel side. We had a good start, but
struggled a bit with the softer mast setting. With a nice port
side approach we reduced the damage somewhat. With the three
X-35s in front of us we had a nice challenge for the rest of the
race. Downwind in the confused waves the speed was quite good
and with some nice boat handling we got back to the X-35 fleet.
Upwind we had a reasonable leg
keeping our position, downwind we were able to pass the last
X-35 (Waku-Waku). The wind was now finally dropping to the
forecasted 8 knots. After again a nice spinnaker drop we passed
the second X-35 (Maas) with better speed and pointing. Upwind we
passed both the FRD-experience and the Moshulu and downwind we
passed the third X-35 (Loyola X) and thereby seizing the fourth
place.
Sadly (for us) the race was
shortened at the downwind mark because of the decreased wind. On
rating we finished 8th, as was expected with the long upwind
legs against the tide. Daikin dominated the race on the water
and also won on rating.
Team Triple P:
1 Ernst Jan van Housselt
2 Alex van Ommen
3 Martin Rinckes
4 Ko Stroo
5 Koen Verhaeghe de Naeyer
6 Fezi Khaleghi