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تحيات من الآباء والأمهات رائعة الذين يقودون السيارات ودفع الفواتير.
اليوم نحن نحتفل ليس فقط عيد ميلاد اليكس ولكن أيضا عدد من أعضاء الفريق الذين تمكنوا من أول رقم 2 الصلبة لفترة من الوقت.
Today saw big seas and medium wind. Well big seas for everyone except the Cape Town fraternity. Launching was was difficult for most as the waves were riding up the launch area and everyone was trying to launch backwards as per norm. Now as everyone knows, the transom of and Optimist is big, vertical and flat. So when it collects even a small breaking wave, the result is a resounding wallop and a boat full of water. Claire, Richard and myself quickly helped the team turn the boats around to launch forwards and the kids were out on the water with far less hassle than the rest.
Then it was time to convince Captain Mohammed, that our 68ft spectator boat (pictured) could take the huuuuge 5 ft swell. Capt Mohammed is quite a character who usually takes great pleasure in watching seasick Egyptians, and this was how we swung him to our point of view. It was a great opportunity we said, because the TV crew was back. And so off we went into the tempest, but late enough to miss the start of the first day.
Our host on board, Amr Abo El Saoud, is not only the President of the Egyptian Sailing Federation and former National Laser Champion, but also the owner of the island and the establishment the regatta is based at. His other guests include the senior contracts manager at the Suez canal, and several other VIPs. So Richard and I are being entertained proper. Before long there were Egyptians littered all over the place and Richard & I had the boat to ourselves with Capt Mohammed and Mr El Saoud.
Before the racing started I had a chance to meet with IJ’s to try and glean some info on something that came up on Sundays racing re Rule 42 and marginal planing conditions. This I will share in a separate email to the Worlds team. We agreed that the rule as it stands favours lighter sailor in light airs with waves, and he said that National Federations usually select teams at the latest hour to suit the impending conditions at whatever regatta. Wow – ironic, as there was 16 – 20 knots 2 weeks ago here and the current light stuff will change to 16 – 20 knots tomorrow onward. Life is so unfair sometimes! In the meantime I suggest all the Worlds team read this document carefully . . . http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/Rule42Optimist2013-[15691].pdf
Onto the racing. It was slightly strange in that the swell that was running was much larger than the 11 – 13 knot wind warranted. We missed the first start, but made it to the weather mark timeously enough to see our guys (except Chiara) heading to the right again. I can’t understand it. We discussed it so many times – the left seems to favoured. And then in Race 8 it came together for both Ross and Chiara with a 12th and 10th respectively. Bryan Carstens is having a great first Africans with very consistent sailing and is deservedly well into the top half of the fleet.
Tomorrow is the last day and the wind is set to increase to 14 – 16 knots. I really hope everyone can sail to their ability and go out on a high.
We left the racing early due to only 2 races scheduled, and helped Capt Mohammed tidy up the piles of seasick Egyptians and the TV crew. I then joined the manager’s volleyball team for a mini tournament with the sailors as audience. We had a great run, beating the coaches, then the Organisers, but lost to the Jurors (we had to score 2 points for every of theirs).
It was Alex’s Birthday today and I don’t know how Richard did it but he conjured up a big multi flavoured ice cream cake which immediately attracted all the kids from other teams and Alex found himself a very popular lad. So not a bad day overall.
I have just come back from an African Sailing Confederation meeting where it was agreed between the SA, Mozambique, Angola and Algeria to support, but not coerce, either the Laser or/and the 420 as a follow on boat for Oppie sailors. The Seychelles and Tunisia are also looking at this. So jump for joy Stefan Falcon.
That’s it for now until tomorrow.
ليلة جيدة وأحلام حلوة
كال
كال توملينسون
Overall Results after Day 4: http://2017africans.optiworld.org/uploaded_files/Document_6317_20170704162122_en.pdf
