Le Havre, 7 June 2010
After 2,5 hours of sleep the whole crew started the last day at 10:30 at the harbor. Everybody felt a little bit tired but we had to go on. The day started cloudily with a light breeze and short little waves.
At the first race we had a good start but we were on the wrong side of the course so other teams did better than we did. On the downwind leg it looked really good for us but when we started to drop the spinnaker he wanted to go it's own way. Flying behind the boat and down in the water, the team reacted fast to get the spinnaker in but we lost different places. The good thing of this problem was that everybody reacted and wanted to catch some boats in the last leg. Like they say; It ain't over till the fat lady sings'. And we did catch a few boats in the last leg.
The second race we had the same start and took a lot off risk at the upwind mark. There was no place to go around the mark, we tried and failed. One single 360 turn and back on track. We were still in the middle of the fleet and one leg to go and chase the others…
At the last downwind mark all the teams in front of us had to hoist the jib to the finish. We wanted to leave the spinnaker and take the right side to the finish (shorter). Although a few boats came up to early so we broached. A lot off screaming and yelling in these last meters to the finish but we catched a few of them.
The conclusion of this great event is that we learned a lot on new and different positions at the boat. Also due to our first experience with Laurent as skipper and a lot of interesting hours with our opponents of the Tour de France a la Voile.
A few weeks to go and a lot of work to do in Holland. Preparing and planning everything to get ready for the Tour.
Keep in touch.
Rodny
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