I think it is fair to say that both Zennor and I were pretty disappointed with the end result in Palma OCR, As much as we knew it was going to be tricky, and was more of a learning experience than an outcome based one, there is always something within you which says what if we do smash it! But now looking back at it we really couldn't have asked for more. We know a lot more now, some good and some bad.
Lets start with the good, when the wind is light, are quick, really quick. This showed through in the practice regatta, which was primarily fairly light winds. Our great pace saw us racing straight at the front of the fleet. scoring a couple of top 3s. And we felt comfortable there, quite often when you find yourself at the front, you feel as though you’re clinging on by your finger tips, but that definitely wasn't the case. Despite being in the top 3 we were always looking forward.
Now the tricky part, Palma was definitely a game of 2 halves. the first being generally light, but the later half most definitely being windy. That was when we struggled, mainly due to a lack of time in those conditions along side other boats. While our downwind performance remained good in the breezy stuff, the upwind side of things was hard. The combination of a lack of experience sailing in that stuff, combined with a minimal knowledge of set up, made our lives pretty hard. Though over the week, we watch and learned from other teams and became increasingly competitive, we both know that there is a long way to go. But now we know what the areas are that we need to work on, and we are extremely focused on making it happen.
Now following the regatta, we are having a short 5 day break, Zennor is remaining in sunny Palma, while I am heading home for a few days of seeing friends and family. We are reconvening next weekend back in Palma to make the trip to Hyeres in France for the next of the OCRs. While initially a bit down after the racing had finished, having reflected we are now rallied more than ever to make this happen. We know where we need to improve and we will do everything we can to make it happen.
Thanks for the continued support
TP