NZL Team reports Day 4 Optimist Worlds in Cesme

by Peter Dawson on 23 Jul 2008 Report from the NZL Yacht Trust Optimist Team on Day 4 of the Optimist Worlds in Cesme.

Worlds Report from Cesme – Day 4

The boats were held ashore for light winds again and racing got underway at 1345. The wind speed was less than 5 knots and decreasing. Most of Race 9 was sailed in 2-3 knots.

Race 9 Flight 1 – Logan and Naomi
The course was moved up the bay a little today to try and find a bit more breeze. Naomi had a nice start in the middle of the line. Logan was not so good at the pin. Both went up the middle of the beat and by the top mark Naomi was in the mid teens and Logan in the mid thirties. On the last beat there was fading pressure and we recorded finishes of 25 for Naomi and 31 for Logan.

Race 9 Flight 2 – Sam and Erica
Both Sam and Erica had good starts at the boat end. Sam carried on starboard and Erica tacked off to the right hand side of the course. The breeze faded quicker on the right to leave Erica about 39th at the top mark and Sam took a middle course to be 18th at the top. Neither recovered from there for Sam to finish 35th and Erica 51st. Singapore were 1st and 3rd

Race 9 Flight 3 – Andrew
Andrew started at the boat, tacked away to the right. The breeze line was in the middle left so he ended up mid fleet at the wing mark. Again the breeze was very soft at about 2 knots to finish in and he finished 34th. This race finished about 1520 and they moved the course up the bay even further to try and find breeze.

Race 10 Flight 1 – Logan and Sam
Flight 1 got off at 1600 in 2-3 knots of breeze. At the top mark Logan and Sam were in the forties. The breeze continued to die around the course and became a bit drifty. Logan was 49th and Sam 47th. Croatia 1st, Brazil 2nd, Denmark 3rd and a first appearance from Slovenia.

Race 10 Flight 2 – Andrew and Naomi
1-2 knots from the start across the course. Andrew was 14th at the wing and Naomi was 35th. The race finished in about 1 knot of breeze with Andrew 18th and Naomi 23rd. The flights were starting to cross over for the first time in this regatta.

Race 10 Flight 3 – Erica
This race sailed in 1-2 knots of breeze. Erica was 25th at the wing and drifted her boat into 31st position. The race committee decided they could
not sail any more fair races for the day. A significant talking point was the amount of sculling and boat rocking taking place as the wind dropped with no response from the jury. With the expected light forecast tomorrow this could have quite an impact on the regatta as unless they sail the full 15 races there will only be one drop instead of 2.

Update: Naomi had an OCS in Race 9. The windmills on the horizon have stopped turning completely.

Worlds Report from Cesme – Day 4 - Update

We have just heard that Flights 2 and 3 of Race 10 have been cancelled by the Jury. Apparently the Jury believe they lost control of the race for these 2 flights due to the lack of wind and the amount of Rule 42 infringements which they did not rule on. This creates a bit of a farce but also is backed up by the Kiwi sailors who said that many sailors were 'going for it'.

Apparently it does not affect Flight 1. In effect sailors who did well in those 2 races are disadvantaged and those that did poorly get another life. As can be imagined there are now another 18 protests seeking redress already with undoubtedly more to follow.

The website now shows Race 10 removed.

Regatta website is http://www.optiworld2008.com/