Palamos Review

Hi everyone, just a quick update and review of our performance at the Palamos Christmas Regatta in Spain.

18 European 49ers were at this event, four of which were Brits.

We didn't let ourselves get disheartened by a slightly disapointing first day. We felt we had actually sailed relitively well but lacked the finishing touch. This may have been partly because it always takes us a while to get back on racing form with such long gaps between events.

Racing was cancelled on day 2 due to lack of wind. The breeze had switch round to the south and it had gone from close to freezing to 15 degrees c in one day! Shirts off football on the beach resulted in a good few minor injuries.....Still felt good to be doing this on the 19th of December!

Day three and we showed some form over 5 races. We were on the water for close to 5 hours making it an extremely tiring day. We got 3 3rds, a bullet and a 6th shooting us up the overall results. We were easily the most consistantly performing boat of the day and we felt we had sailed well in quite challanging conditions at times.

Day four brought large swell and a stronger southerly breeze. We didn't sail as well as the previous day but came out of the day with some great positives to move forward on. By the end of the day we were lying 5th overall but extremely close to 2nd.

Medal race day and we are keen to gain as much experience in this situation as possible. We are 19 points clear of 6th and therefore have nothing to loose. At the last windward mark of the race we are second and choose to gybe hoist with the leader. It was the long gybe and seemed the sensible option in the extremely light conditions. Unfortunately the wind filled in on the right looking downwind comprehensively meaning we finished the race in 5th place with our close rivals both just ahead meaning we stayed were we were overall.

So 5th overall in an international regatta and first Brit (unfortunately all the best Brits were not here), but still it was good to get some racing practice and give us some clear goals before the 2011 season.

Our next event is Palma at the end of March in which we hope to improve from last year's result of 41st. Our support from sponsors Ocean Air Blinds, RS Racing and English Braids allows us to compete at this level and concentrate solely on performance (and passing a few exams).

All the best and a Happy New Year,

James&Ed