10 th August 2008
Karyn Gojnich reports from Qingdao
Hi everyone,
A mentally tough day at the office but also really rewarding. We won the first race of the day!
It was the Qingdao that we know. The wind was 4 to 5 knots and oscillating from around 115. Current was just starting to crank at the 1pm start time. The challenge was not to be swept over the line at the gun.
Race 1 we started fast and clear of the other boats. We all came to the top mark pretty close together but it was the long down wind, sailing back into the current where we started pulling back boats. It was a "pressure is king" day and Angela did a fantastic job keeping us in it. At the bottom mark 1st time we were pretty happy that the current was now even across the course and we opted to go left up the next work. We had to sail wide around France but this was the less traffic option. The next work did see the breeze swing left and had us rounding the top mark in second place, behind France. We were able to sail over the top of them with a faster spinnaker set.
The final run was still nerve racking - with lots of gybes, but we kept our nose out in front. All that counts.
Second race our start was not as good. The Dutch team that started below us won the race. We were a bit close to them so after about 5 minutes sailing they were able to cross in front of us. The Dutch led from start to finish. An infringement by us at the top mark the second time had us doing circles. At one stage I thought we were going to be doing fiberglass repairs all night - with both the German and the Russians. We finished 11th in that race.
To follow the racing try these sites:
http://www.australiansailingteam.com.au/
http://www.sailing.org/olympics
http://www.sailing2008.org/
Thanks everyone for your wishes and support. Tomorrow is another day!
Cheers,
Karyn
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