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17 July 2005
Europtis finished today with the Race Officer getting in the final two races. He was one short of the scheduled 12 but a 14h00 last start put paid to getting in the 12th. The wind was a westerly and characterized by very shifty conditions. The first race was held in a light 4-5knots. The breeze built dramatically for the second race gusting through at up to 14 knots but probably on average more around 8-10. The swell picked up in just less than 15mins. The wind shifts were huge (+30-35 degrees) and largely random – we could see up to 4 or 5 shifts per beat. On one side of the course we had skippers sitting in their boats pointing low while on the other, helms hiking out full and creaming along. It was extremely difficult if not impossible to predict. Several sailors who did all the right things at the start and went the right way and were in the top 10 half way up the beat ended up getting knocked from nowhere and rounding the mark in the mid 30’s!! What was pleasing for me from a coaching perspective is that Team RSA had no bad results in the way of BFD, DSQ or the like. We also had no protests or measurment altercations. I would have been happier to have seen them less conservative on the start and could have lived with an OCS if it meant they were more aggresive and going for front row. The prize giving and closing ceremony was a magnificent affair. Lights, music, action and from what I could guess virtually the whole town turning up!! The prizes were awesome; the top 5 in boys & girls getting sails and the top boy getting a brand new Opti – the rest got serious sailing clobber. The organisors recognized the top 15 in the ópen’ champs (i.e. incl non European countries) and the top 10 of the European countries. In addition the youngest sailors in each (boys & girls) were awarded prizes – both were just 11. Now just the long haul home. Thanks for all the support and e-mails/sms’ of encouragement to the RSA Team – it makes a huge impact on the sailors to know that folks back home are rooting for them.
Unofficial Results: Open Champs Boys 139 Girls 93 two discards Rob Walker
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