Le Havre, 4 June 2010
I first have to correct myself: When you make a small mistake, you will not lose three boats, but you will lose at least five. When it is in the wrong position, you will lose 7-10 places… The level is incredible high, boats that finished first and second on the first day are behind in the races today. As Remko will show (he made a few pictures from the nearby cliff) there is "one bundle of masts" on every mark.
Today four races, plus points: Boatspeed upwind is ok, We are improving every race, tacks & gybes are getting better and better. Today there were also a few very important learning points, we lose (a lot) during boat to boat situations, switching gears, tacking close to other boats, solving small situations that cost meters, and eventually places. During the next few races we will try to improve communication between Rikst and Laurent (who is doing a fantastic job in coaching, teaching and improving the team) to catch different boat to boat situations more.
The Mumma Duck Team here as third from the left
The four races are ended up 14-10-10-12, a far from perfect result, but the differences are very small and we are in the middle of the pack with plenty to improve. Both Safran and TUDelft are doing a fantastic job at respectively 5th and 7th place, in the middle of the 8 pro-teams. Tomorrow we will work hard to catch Bred, who are placed just above us. The offshore will be 105 miles, with three different options to shorten the course. In the current setup, we expect to be home somewhere during the day on Sunday. Dockstart will be around 9.30, start on the water around 11.
Signing off (and off to bed), Ties
PS. Our shoremanager, PR, Chef and everything else REMKO is doing a fantastic job keeping us happy. We all realized that being our shorecrew is probably the most thanked, celebrated, complimented and revered job in our team….
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