Having taken a break from 49er racing after the European Championships to allow my team mate to complete his medical board exams, it was back to business this weekend with the aptly named Red Bull Tide Ride sailed from Hayling Island Sailing Club, Portsmouth. For us, the regatta was an opportunity to 'wash out the cobwebs' before a string of five consecutive International and UK Circuit events that will see us through to the end of the season.

The obvious benefit of having excellent 49er teams in the UK is that many of the best teams from around the world come to the land of the mushy pea to train and compete against the top professional teams. Many European 49er teams are in the UK for training and events, with 7 of the top 10 in the world at this event.

The Red Bull event proved to be a sailing regatta with a difference. Four skiff classes were represented, namely B14, International 14, RS800 and 49er. An unconventional elimination format and some innovative changes to the ISAF rules provided for televised short-course racing with plenty of spectator appeal. The entry form included a 'rider profile' that supplied the commentators with abuse-material for each sailor, and included questions like 'Which body part would you most like to make bigger or smaller and why?'

For the qualification series, the 49er class was divided into five groups. The top 20 teams went through to the elimination series (knock-out format). Racing started at 10h30 on the first day of qualification in moderate breeze and plenty of current. After an unsurprisingly rusty start and a couple of stupid mistakes (being carried onto the weather mark by the current), we returned to the clubhouse to find surprisingly good results, as there had been many blackflags and disqualifications by jury decision.

The next day of qualification saw breezy conditions and a strong incoming tide running in the opposite direction, which made for very challenging 49er conditions with large standing waves. We finished the day with one capsize (relatively good considering the general downwind carnage) and finished all the races, which left us with positions of 10, 8, 8, 7 - nothing spectacular but enough to qualify for the elimination series.

Unfortunately we did not have the speed to live with the professionals in the knock-out stages, and were eliminated before the final race. A good regatta nevertheless with some eye-opening conditions. Our next stop is Weymouth for the second leg of the Gold Series Regatta, which should be hotly contested with all the international sailors still in the country.

We will see out the remaining events of the season with our existing ship carrying our traditional 'bag of dogfood' handicap, but will replace the heavy '005 beast' with a new weapon by the first event of next season.

Greg Barker