Extreme 40's Oman - Dean Barker reports on Day 4

by Dean Barker on 24 Feb 2011 Dean Barker reports of the Extreme 40's in Oman:

Day 4 In Oman

Today was a great day for us on the water. We managed to win the first and last race of the day and had a 6,3,2,4,3,2 in between. This has elevated us up to 4th on the overall standings 18 points behind the leader, 11 points behind 2nd, and 7 behind 3rd. With 6 or 7 races still to go tomorrow and 11 points for a race win there is still plenty of potential to improve further with a strong day.

Conditions were similar to yesterday with a 6-10 knot breeze and a very confined race course. There is certainly plenty of action around the race area and if you can sneak around the firts mark in the first 2 or 3 it is normally easy to capitalise on the position. However if you get caught up in the pack it is very difficult to make inroads into the other boats.

It is very satisfying to have made improvements each day and to feel like we are sailing at a much higher level than when we started the regatta. However it is very easy to have an equally bad day and so we will be very focussed on trying to do all the basics well again tomorrow.

The guys all wore armbands today to show our support for the people of Christchurch. It is still hard to accept what has happened.

All for now

Dean
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