Trofeo Princesa Sofia - Sara Winther shows more form in Laser Radial

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 31 Mar 2016 A hard day for Sara Winther in the second day of Finals racing in the 2016 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatt in Palma, Spain.

'Doing some good stuff, but making some ruleand traffic errors which is costing me a lot! ' was her summary of the day.

'Conditions in Palma were once again a good onshore breeze again today. Still pretty good swell rolling into the bay, but a super messed up chop!'

Aftre scoring a yellow flag for pumping, and with a retired on her scorecard from the start of the first race of the Final, the Kiwi sailor is now in a difficult position for the regatta, in that she can't afford to push too hard downwind and risk another yellow flag penalty (gets sent home for the race). Equally she still has to mix it in the congested traffic at the starts and rounding marks, or she concedes valuable position and places. But mixing it in this fleet increases the risk of rule infringement.

The first race of the final proved to be her best effort of the regatta, given the quality of the fleet in the 40 boat final over that in the Qualifiaction Round.

'Was pretty breezy during the warm up, so just decided I wanted to have good clean lane, and sail fast, nothing too fancy. I wanted to start at the boat and was happy to tack if i wanted needed to.

'So I was 1/2 a boat length from winning boat end, so had to tack straight away. After about a minute to started to feel a knock, and all the boats on my hip were looking low. I had a feeling at this point the right was going to pay again like a lot of other races. So I held almost to lay line and tacked over.

'Rounded to top mark first. At the next mark they had changed the course but I couldn’t read the direction so was a bit lost.

'I am also in yellow flag jail, so took it real easy on the downwind, so three boats bought me up, as I also was heading in the wrong direction. Anyway, sailed around rest of course losing one more boat but stayed fifth. Didn’t want to attack the downwind, as I would be stupid to have another yellow. '

That fifth place gave Winther her fourth place in the top seven in the regatta indicating that she has the speed and potential to place amongst the front runners - she was placing fourth overall in the regatta after the second day, but her traffic management technique is still a work in progress.

'In Race 2 I semi-planned to go right, but just wanted a clean lane off the line. Fell out of my start gap so bailed early and just made it around the boat end…sent it right, but the left had more pressure, and we had no angle, so was about 30th at top mark.

'So chipped away and had a solid last downwind and finished 19th…not great, but much improved from the worlds when i was doing bad. BUT - I infringed a Canadian sailor atthe top mark, and hit the top mark. I thought I was in the right so didn’t do my turns, but turns out I was in the wrong and got DSQed. Not good.'

'So in summary, good and bad day today. Good that I executed Race 1, didn’t get a yellow and just locked in fifth.

'Bad that I was aggressive enough on start line, and failed to recognise that the day had changed, and they had played the pin more favoured. And I infringed at the top mark, so paying the price. Good protest practice tho. '

The DSQ, from race 4 of the Finals cost Winther dearly, dropping her down to24th in the points table. Even with counting a not so great 19th finishing place from that race she would have have climbed up to 12th overall in the points table and within striking distance of making the Medal Race on Saturday.

The last day of racing in the Final Series is tomorrow. Winther says her goals are - 'Two clean races. Two clean starts. No hitting things! Maybe need to go a little more conservative now…maybe i have found the happy medium.'

'Sail fast downwind, without getting a yellow. trust my technique, don’t get sucked into pushing it. '

'Chip away if behind…small gains. '

Conditions are expected to change tomorrow to an offshore breeze.

The Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta has attracted a fleet of top Laser Radial sailors who are using the regatta as a warm-up and try-out ahead of the 2016 Laser Radial Championships which get underway in Mexico on April 12.

Many of the countries, including New Zealand, who have qualified for the 2016 Olympics are competing. If those who have nominated competitors for Rio.

Winther is self-funded in her campaign to earn NZ Olympic nomination for the event in which she has qualified New Zealand.

A second New Zealand competitor, Susannah Pyatt is also sailing in the Gold fleet and is lying 36th overall.

Coaching support for this regatta is coming from Ian Clingan, who is part of the Singapore team. Singapore also qualified in the first round of 20 places that were allocated in Santander in September 2014.