First Day Jitters

The first day of racing at the WH&O proved to be beautiful & fickle.  With all 49 boats on the line, people were anxious, but not too anxious to push a general recall on the first start.   The day began with a beautiful 12 knots of breeze and light green waters.  Stevie Dickinson/Martin Finegas of Bermuda in their black hulled boat nailed the pin end and led the fleet storming the left side of the course.  But it was Yasushi Kondo/Ginga Kubota of Japan who lead the majority of the race with a samba party of 6 Brazilians breathing down their necks.  As the fleet stretched their legs, the racers relaxed and fell into place.  With the left favored most of the race with a few righties here and there, the finish line showed a Brazilian 1-2-3 with Ricky Wanderley/Richard Zietemann, Bruno Bethlem/Dante Bianchi and Alexandre Tinoco/Matheus Goncalves in the top 3 with Kondo/Kubota breaking the dynasty in 4th.  3 more Brazilians were matching finishes with the local host Diego Garcia/Martin Dovat of URU in 8th. 

Race 2 began shortly afterwards with a slight increase in wind velocity.  Dickinson tried for the pin again, but got spit out the back and took the fleets transoms battling back the entire race.  At the first weather mark, double Women's World champion skipper Andrea Foglia with Olympian Laser sailor brother Alejandro crewing rounded first followed by Ernesto Rodrigues/Raul Rios of USA and SCIRA Commodore Pedro Garra/Diego Henon in 3rd.  Garra/Henon passed the group before the gybe mark (Olympic course) and didn't give up the lead......until the end (more on that).  Places switched with Bethlem/Bianchi, Rodriguez/Rios, Augie Diaz/Kathleen Tocke USA trading places throughout the race.  3/4 of the way to the last leeward, mark, the wind shifted dramatically and the RC signaled for a change to the finish.  The finish was now 45 degrees - above the reach mark.  Coming into the finish, Bethlem/Bianchi took Garra/Henon above the layline then bore off to lead them in - while Xandi Paradeda/Vitor Martins BRA snuck in for a 2nd. Rodriguez/Rios crossed in 4th followed by the Foglia siblings and Diaz/Tocke.

Preliminary results have Bethlem/Bianchi of BRA with a 2-1 and Paradeda/Martins with a 6-2.

2 more races are scheduled for tomorrow.