Update from Michael who was at Sail Sydney

Well I got a photo of my stuffing around at the start on sail-world.com…

Not a bad regatta, not too many 14’s came but 3 of us are current/ex national champions so the competition was good.

Day One was a bit on the light side for my liking but the 4 races were productive but the Hobie 16’s with the extra 5m² of sail area were able to fly a hull and escape upwind. Mick Colecliff gave me some good competition for the first two races with me following him across the line in Race One less than half a rudder off his stern after having been 30seconds behind at the top mark for the first time. I lead 80% of Race Two before Mick took the right side of the course on the final work and found some extra pressure, I however managed to claw back the gap and extend on the final downwind to beat him. Races Three & Four were fairly uneventful with Mick & his brother Mark heading in to attend an early Christmas party.

Day Two the breeze came to play, with  a steady North Easterly building from 15knts to a peak of 20knts. Race Five was a soldiers course with the right side of the course being the much favoured side and I used this to my advantage sailing away from the Maricats. Race Six was a bit more competitive with Mick & Mark Colecliff fighting for the lead for most of the course until Mick kindly capsized on the final downwind in an ill timed gybe.

Following Race Six all 14’s bar myself headed for the beach without my knowledge and when the preparatory signal was sounded I had a look an realised I was the only 14 left on the course. With that in mind I also headed for the beach as racing yourself isn’t much fun.

All in all a good event and some good racing too.

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Sail-Sydney-day-2---Summer-has-arrived/91990