************* Report Race day 2 ******************

Source : http://catsailingnews.blogspot.com/search/label/F16%20Europeans

Race 4.

The southerly breeze was in early and the fleet got underway in a steady 15 knots. It was Froukje Feenstra and Bundy that hit the right hand side hard first and led the fleet around the first mark. Just when everyone was comfortable that it was a right hand track but it was Carolijn Brouwer and Liz Wardley that confused the fleet on the second down wind moving from 4th to first after venturing to the other side. Feenstra and Bundock persisted with the right hand side upwind and regained the lead. At the finish it was Froukje Feenstra/ Darren BundockBundock first closely followed by series leaders Thijs Visser/Diemer Feenstra.


Race 5.

The fleet was eager to get started and many boats broke the line. Brouwer/Wardley, Visser/Feenstra, Van Helden/Goodall returned to clear themselves. Froukje Feenstra/Darren Bundock continued only to find they were OCS after finishing 3rd. Race 5 was great as it was not a one way track with the leader coming from the left hand side of the course. It was Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin that took the lead but had to defend off the Sicouri sisters that were sailing extremely well and showed outstanding speed in the stronger breeze and pushed Waterhouse all the way for a photo finish but Waterhouse prevailed. There was a bit of controversy after the right hand bottom gate mark came adrift and the race committee pulled it out of the water after the first 4 boats rounded the gate. It was Thijs Visser in 5th that paid the penalty and was disqualified rounding the remaining mark to starboard where as the sailing instructions state that if there was a single mark it must be rounded to port.


Race 6.

The left hand side was working with a nice lift up the eastern shore and the breeze had settled in at 18 knots. Thijs Visser/Diemer Feenstra had the peddle down upwind in the breeze and led the fleet for 2 laps with Froukje Feenstra/Darren Bundock and the sicouri sisters in chase. Feenstra/Bundock crossed for the lead on the last down wind with only one gybe to go for the finish and with a rush of adrenaline rolled it over and lost 7 places and handed the lead to Thijs Visser/Diemer Feenstra. The Sicouri sisters slid into second.


Good for the class to see some mixed results in the top today, Paul Warren with two 3rds and Gill with his best result yet with a 4th , both with Falcon.
Report by Gill de Bruyne: "Day 2 is over and it was perfect. A bit more wind than yesterday for all 3 races. Very close rasing, closer than yesterday. It was very exciting. And the downwind races were so fast, whow! We loved it. But now I (Kathleen) am totally knackered. I feel my arms!
We managed to get in the top 5 today with our last race, a 4!! Paul and Ann were flying on their Falcon, they scored an 8, a 3 and another 3, great!
Our final scores for today: 10, 7 and 4, getting better yet again :-)
There were some protests and some OCS, so could be the scoring changes a bit. We had again 3 races, but the course was a bit smaller, so it all went a bit faster. Our downwind speed was great and we were overtaking boats, sailing deeper and faster.
Upwind was another story, we had great laps, but also not so great laps. Paul and Ann were able to point higher and they were faster. So we will have a talk to them I guess :-)
Now off to eat something, bon appetito!" <Gill de Bruyne>


Wouter