First Day of Racing 17 July 2012

First day of Racing

Today marked the first day of racing for this year's World's 2012 which also
marks the 50th anniversary of regatta. The racing conditions were right as the
sailors lined up to race under what would be a new racing format. Under the
new format, the racing fleets are changed at the end of each day's racing. In
addition, for the first time in recent memory IODA has implemented a one drop
regatta. There are a total of 12 races planned.

Race one featured Makai and Chase racing in the Yellow fleet; Race two
featured Rory and Peter racing in the Blue fleet; Race three featured Antonio
racing in the Red fleet.

In race one Makai was scored an OCS and according to team coach Martine, Makai
was marginally over the line. From the start Makai went left which placed him
near the top twenty in his fleet a position he would maintain for the race
however, the OCS was his final score.

In the second race, Makai got off to a reasonable start; however, he lost the
line of boats and slipped to mid fleet; and finished back of the fleet.

In Chase's first race had a good start but did not stay with the fleet. He
rounded the top mark mid fleet and maintained this position to the reach mark.

Rory was the most consistent of the Bermuda sailors today. In the his first
race, Rory sat at the Pin End of the line where he had clean air and managed
to get off to a good start. He headed left and was well placed in the top 10
around the first mark. However, he slipped back on the downwind and the last
upwind to finish in the top twenty. In the second race Rory also got off to a
start. Once again he headed left however, this time the wind had shifted
making the left more challenging. He rounded the top mark in the top 20 and as
the race progressed he lost a few more boats causing him to end up in the mid
twenties

Peter who is sailing in his first World's had good starts but lacked the
acceleration that would have kept him with the fleet as a result Peter
finished back of the fleet in both races. Coach Martin felt that Peter was
playing the right when the left side was a bit better than the right.

Antonio had a bad start in both of his races. It was not clear if having two
Black Flag starts was the cause of this. However, in his first race, he was
unable to recover from having a slow start and ended up back of the fleet. In
the second race, Antonio dug deep to pull back a few boats to finish in the
top thirty. Coach Martine felt that Antonio lacked acceleration off the line.

Note: Results may change owing to Protests.