Cadet World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Day 3

by Roger Wilson 3 Jan 2002 08:16 GMT

Day 3 was a much better day for the GBR sailors (it must have been the excellent New Years Eve party - Half a raw cow each washed down by free beer/wine/coke and a wild Argentinean Disco).

Race 4 was held in 5-6 knots of wind in the nasty short chop we have learnt to hate so much. The fleet got away on the second (black flag) start. The port end bias was exaggerated when the wind swung to the left unfortunately leaving a lot of GBR boats on the right hand side of the course. At the windward mark Pippa wilson/Charlie Hatfield were 1st Brit at 9th and managed to pull up to 6th by the finish. James Hughes/Anna Graves did extremely well to get from 25th at the first windward mark to finish in 12th place.

Race 5. 3-4 knots. Again a black flag start with a lot of line sag in the middle. A couple of Argie boats at the pin end looked over but somehow managed not to be penalised. Hughes/Graves sailed an excellent race arriving 4th at the windward mark and finished 6th. Ian Watson/Ed Thomas also sailed extremely well to finish 10th after an difficult first beat. Wilson/Hatfield had a poor start and then got caught in a bundle at the gybe mark which resulted in a protest against them by an Argentinean boat which they later won.

Race 6. Held in slightly more breeze (9-10 knots) Again a black flag with a lot of line sag and a big pile up at the pin end with 9-10 boats hitting the pin. The GBR boats favoured the slightly stonger wind. At the first windward mark Wilson/Hatfield were 3rd, Hughes/Graves 7th and Laura Wade/ Jenny Sudell were 15th. Laura pulled through to 8th place overtaking 4 Argentinean boats on the run, Hughes/Graves finished 6th and Wilson/Hatfield 3rd.