Cracking Day

Today was the last of qualification before the bar dropped and we were divided into Gold and Silver fleets. I am not sure why it was necessary to do this after 3 days when it would have been possible to have done it on the last day. I did feel sorry for the Japanese team one of which made it into the Gold fleet and the other, one place lower, did not.

The wind today was 15-22 knots and now I understand the necessity of rake to get the boat going upwind. I dropped two holes and transformed the boat from a real struggle to doable. I completed two races but on the last run into the finish I put my knee through the tramp which ended my day. Two things went really well today:

1. Double gybes - on two occasions coming into finishes I landed two gybes within 30 yds of each other. I took places on both.

2. Adjustable wand - it kicks up here when it blows and I must have gained 3-4 places in each race due to people pitch poling in front of me. No troubles for me with the amazing Phil Olligario adjustable wand. Thanks Phil!

James, Peter and I all are going forward in the Silver fleet whilst Simon, Mike, Jason and Ben have made the Gold. This is no mean feat given the level of competition. Ben must be complimented on taking part today considering how broken his boat was after yesterday. His repair does not look pretty but it held together and got him into Gold. Well done Ben!