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Just back at the apartment off the water, what a day.
The lighties sailed the second race of the day in a rapidly building wind that peak at 29 knots. They did a great job, knocking over Moz 3. After some indecision, the race committee then raised AP over H, sending all boats ashore. In less than an hour the AP was dropped and the D flag hoisted, signalling time to launch. We launched into a squall with cold hard wind and intermittent rain. After a considerable wait sailing in cresting waves (we saw at least Oppie get rolled over and had a few close shaves on the duck), the race committee reconfigured the competition given the time constraints.
The remainder of the heats were rattled off, with the RSA heavies beating the Mozambique 1st team. Luckily for Mozambique they got a pass to the next round as a lucky loser. The lighties then came up against Egypt and despite a gallant effort, were knocked out. The heavies came up against Oman and appeared to be knocked out too. The team kept a brave face and were soon delighted to hear that the result actually went in their favour as one of the Oman sailors was OCS.
Into the semis! In the semi’s they came up against a very good Angolan team. SA looked to have the better of them until a really strong blow hit mid race. The Angolans were better able to deal with it and pipped us to the post. In the 3rd place sail off SA came up against Egypt. We were in a skinny winning position with 1,2,6,8. Karl was number 6 and had three Egyptians trying to send him to the back. He sailed for his life, with his fitness and strength paying off. Instead of falling back he drilled all of them and ended the race third. SA taking a 1,2,3 in the race, sealing a podium in the team racing.
Awesome to watch, well done team. Ironically Mozambique capitalised on their lucky loser status and went all the way to the final, winning it against Angola. Very happy for the home team. Tomorrow back to fleet racing with a little less wind forecast.
Michael Kavanagh