Over 30 knots of wind today (windforce 7) at the IJsselmeer. That was a bit too much for our small Star boats. We went to the starting area (an hour sailing), started, and were send back after half a beat. The situation became to dangerous according to the race officials and we had to sail back upwind for another hour.
But we had fun and we didn’t have any damage to ourselves or the boat. We were able to find the right trim of the mast and the sails so we were pretty fast in this field of professional sailors. But we’re rusty and I was glad that we didn’t have to sail downwind with force 7. All races were cancelled today so there is another chance tomorrow. I’m having more fun than I had expected beforehand. All the water has a positive influence on me.
May 27
Two races with a lot of wind, similar as yesterday except that we were actually racing today. Sailing has become much more physical. It was impressive to see how Ian Percy was pushing his boat. We couldn’t keep up but were able to finish in one piece what not everybody could say. Above are the Olympic Champions loosing their mast.
Short interview with Torben Grael and his kids who has won already 5 Olympic Medals:
http://youtu.be/-cjs47-QaQo
May 28, press release:
The Stars suffered from the breeze and steep waves, the last downwind saw four masts snapped! Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson still managed to sail across the finish with a broken mast, holding the sail at arm length in the air! Surfing the wave of success, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) took another bullet and are discarding a 5th! They are going into the medal race tonight with a 11 points lead on Olympic champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR). Kusenierewicz/Zycki (POL) are conserving their third position but get closer to Silver, two point only from the Brits. The podium is opened to the top 8.