The Reach Mark Photo: from ILCA Web Site
Karatsu, Japan - By Anna Tunnicliffe
It was a windy and wavy day for day three of the 2009 Radial World Championships here in Karatsu, Japan. With the swell already kicked up from yesterday, the overnight wind made the water choppier, so the sailing today was tough. We had conditions from 14-16kts with the waves and these made for a very physical day. We had two races, the final two from the qualifying rounds, and I finished with a 3, 6 to be lying 3rd overall, two points from first.
The racing was very simple in that you had to start near to the boat end, get a good lane and hike as hard as you could to the right hand corner. When you just about hit layline, you tacked and headed for the mark. It was tough if you didn’t have a good lane or a good start because you were playing catch up a lot, which was what I had to do. I gave it my all and was able to sail through the fleet up wind to get some decent results for the day. I was a little disappointed in my 6th as I ran out of energy and got passed by two boats on the last downwind leg. Luckily I caught back one on the last beat to the finish, but it was a silly point to loose.
It was a windy and wavy day for day three of the 2009 Radial World Championships here in Karatsu, Japan. With the swell already kicked up from yesterday, the overnight wind made the water choppier, so the sailing today was tough. We had conditions from 14-16kts with the waves and these made for a very physical day. We had two races, the final two from the qualifying rounds, and I finished with a 3, 6 to be lying 3rd overall, two points from first.
The racing was very simple in that you had to start near to the boat end, get a good lane and hike as hard as you could to the right hand corner. When you just about hit layline, you tacked and headed for the mark. It was tough if you didn’t have a good lane or a good start because you were playing catch up a lot, which was what I had to do. I gave it my all and was able to sail through the fleet up wind to get some decent results for the day. I was a little disappointed in my 6th as I ran out of energy and got passed by two boats on the last downwind leg. Luckily I caught back one on the last beat to the finish, but it was a silly point to loose.
Tomorrow's forecast is for a little lighter breeze, but still decent. I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow's racing. It will be the first time I have raced some of the girls here, since we haven’t met in the split fleets yet. The points are close in the top ten, so every point will matter from here on out to the finish of the event in three days time.
I fueled up on some excellent pizza tonight so I’ll be ready to go again tomorrow after a good night's sleep. We have found three good places to eat in Karatsu, and have been rotating between the three of them. One is the pizza place we went to tonight, one is an Italian restaurant, and the third one is the little restaurant in my hotel. Last night, I had a fantastic rice dish. It comes in a sizzling hot bowl, rice on the bottom and on top are raw vegetables, raw meat, and a raw egg. The idea is for you to stir it up and cook it in front of you. The first couple times my friends had it I was a little skeptical, and instead just had a noodle dish, but last night I was hungry so ventured for it, and it was delicious. I haven’t been too adventurous with Japanese food since I’ve been here, but I’ve found my dishes that work for me.
As I said, tomorrow is the first day of gold fleet racing and we have two races scheduled. Going into tomorrow, China’s Lijia Xu held on to her lead from yesterday finishing with a 5, 1 in today’s races, whilst Finland’s Sari Mutala moved up to second overall with a 1, 2 today. I am in third tied on points with Sari. You can check out the results on the regatta website.
I would like to thank Carmeuse for their continued support of my campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London. I would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics for their support.
Sail Hard,
Anna
Anna
