Report from David Suda and team, competing in the J24 Worlds in Sardinia Italy.We are having a great time over here competing in the j24 world championships, hosted by Italy and held in the crystal blue waters of Sardinia.
The large fleet of 77 boats is extremely competitive and a bad start spells disaster for even the most professional crews, as can been seen by the results, with everyone having at least a short spell at the back of the fleet. If you manage to get away in the generally light and tricky conditions, your race is much easier with the ability to settle in to a clear lane of breeze and start to play the shifts.
We have had a fairly consistent regatta to date, with four excellent starts and three bad starts where boats have come in late and filled the gap created to leeward, ultimately destroying both our starts and making the race very difficult.
We had a little more breeze today and finished ninth this morning and this afternoon we won the start at the pin end and led the fleet for the first two legs before we missed a 20 degree right hand shift and lost about 20 boats, which is standard practice for this regatta!
We are having a great time though, and considering the standard of the fleet we are very happy.
Currently 22nd with the next Australian in 63rd, with mostly professional crews filling the top 30 places overall.
Check out the results at the following address www.j24arzachena.it
Cheers
Dave Suda
Pacemaker AUS171