We’ve had another day of racing here in Pattaya yesterday and then a layday today to lick our wounds (bruises, blisters and small cuts can be found on almost all the sailors… not to mention those nasty burns).  As has been the case throughout the past week here, the short waves and chop are very difficult to sail in.  Keeping the boat moving at speed in relatively light winds requires fulltime concentration.  The shifting wind means that the waves are very seldomly coming from the same direction as the wind.  In fact, sometimes they are coming from the opposite direction.  A few bad waves and we lose a few places.  Sail well over some waves and we can gain a few places.  Add into this the shifting winds and several knots of current from the tide and we have a good challenge out on the race course.

Other than being a little off the pace to start the first race, Mike and I are still quite pleased with the speed of our boat, the “Fert’le Turtle”.  Having not raced it in a competitive fleet or with new sails before, our boatspeed was a big unknown.  There was also some concern over measuring in easily because of how close the hull’s rocker (curvature on the bottom) was to the rules in the measurement we did in Calgary.  However, we can safely say that the Turtle has been weighed, it has been measured, and based on our boatspeed, it has been found worthy!  Tactical decisions of it’s helm and crew are another matter, however.

Some of the Canadians had a better day, but in the whole, it would seem that most of us are still shaking off the rust from the winter without regattas compared to the Aussies and Brits who have been sailing much more recently.  We continue to be very pleased with our starts, generally being in very good position to start each race.  Our slight speed disadvantage to start the first race of the day dropped us down a bit in that race though, and some rough and rusty boat handling with the spinnaker downwind cost us some valuable places as well.  Good thing we have the tune-up regatta!  On the second race we had an excellent start as well as excellent speed.  Unfortunately, our tactics for the first leg of the course were not on par and we forgot to be alert and re-evaluate our decision until it was clear that we had lost a lot of places.  A large shift came in along with some better pressure (more wind velocity) causing all the boats on the right hand side of the course to gain a lot of distance and put us near the back of the fleet.  If there is any consolation, it is that we are in good company.  Several boats that we have been beating, or that were right around us have all finished in the top 3 in worlds previously.  And at the least, we’re having fun and getting our minds back into the racing mode while we’re at it!

Unfortunately, we’re always busy racing when on the water, so we haven’t had time or opportunity to take any sailing photos.  The closest I’ve got is this shot of Mike doing a bit of boat maintenance in the evening.

For those interested, here’s a link to the results so far: http://www.fireball-international.blogspot.com/

On the non-sailing front, today we took a little journey up the coast to a fishing village along with a couple of sailors from Montreal.  It was the first time we’ve been in a town that wasn’t full of English signs.  We didn’t see any other westerners, and the locals were the ones taking pictures of us for a change.  It was a nice change.  It was an adventurous day from bartering with the Songthaew drivers to checking out the fishing peer and watching the fishermen repair their nets.

Tomorrow, racing begins again!