Super exciting Lithuania championship - Slalom

Aloha amigos!


Just one week passed until the thrilling slalom session was done.
This fascinating event took place in current slalom heaven - Ventaine.
On the first day we had to stay alive for 8 races of which 4 were qualifications and 4 scoring races. The second day showed up with a little more relaxing wind and 6 races ahead (3 qualifications, 3 scoring races).

LR Championship Day 2

The forecast for today was very good - 8m/s off shore wind. Thus 3 more competitors including guest from Latvia arrived.
I was using my 9,7 all day long. In the first two races the wind was lighter, but after the break it has increased.
The first race was a dissaster, I went out with the same harness line position as on 11,0 and of course it was wrong. As this wouldn't be enough I made 4 tactical mistakes: I tacked too earlly near the upwind mark twice and I jibed too late near the downwind mark. I finished in shameful 7th place.

LR Championship

Today early morning we went out of Kaunas - me and my dad, - both a little bit sick.
When we arrived to Ventaine there were only three others competitors.
On skippers meeting there were only 10 racers.
3 competitors including 2 former lithuanian champions arrived lately after 2 races.
In the first race wind average was about 8m/s. In the second race wind was about 6-7m/s.
In the firs race I had a reasonable start, but the problem was that I started below Karolis LTU 1001 and as everybody knows he is the fastest FW sailor in the fleet. So soon I got covered by him. I had to tack away and near the first mark I was just 5th. But in the downwind leg I've eliminated one guy. On the second upwind I was fighting hard with Paulius LTU 718 and I was very happy when he didn't managed to take the upwind mark. Giedrius LTU 11 and  Karolis LTU 1001 was way in front, so I relaxed, stepped into the chicken strap and finnished 3rd.

Lithuania championship, Nida

Hello!

A few days ago I had a really nice competition in Nida - Lithuania championship. Conditions were comparatively unusual for RCB as we had a stable 7-12m/s wind almost all 4 days. In overall, 10 races were completed and most of the sailors were sailing very stable. Chop and weather was quite good as the wind was coming from the shore and we didn't really have rain during the races.

2 races were completed in the first day.
3 races in the second and the third day.
2 races in the last day.

FW Worlds JYM Day 5

On the last day of the event wind wasn't very good: it blowed very shortly - for about 2 hours and was about 10 knots strong.
I expexted to have some good races as I really like such wind.
First race - first disaster:
Unfortunately in the first upwind I caught weed on my fin, but I have realized it just on the last downwind leg. All the time I was thinking why I am so slow, why it is so hard to plane out for me. So I finally finished in 8th position.
Second start - second disaster:
When there was about 25 seconds left to the start I started pumping and planned out, but then I went into some strange hole and stopped. Afterwards I pumped out again, but I got covered by other guys. Later I fought back some places, but the jury decided to cancel the race.
We had small break and then most of the guys went put on the water for fun race - masters and youth were racing together. I took my dads 12 to try it out, but it wasn't tunned really good so I didn't liked it. From the start to the upwind mark there was about 7 knots, but then it started going down so I decided to go back to the beach.
Today there were a lot of people looking around on the beach. Unfortunately the wind didn't come back so they didn't see any more action.
Winners:
Youth - Sebastian Kornum, Mateos Isac, Jordy Vonk
Masters - Andrea Cucchi, Bryan Rogild...
Congratulations.
What about myself? Well, I hopped.for better result but many factors were against me this time. First of all I am feeling really really tired after three weeks of non stop competition marathon. Secondly in this championship we mainly had winds above 14 knots, just three races were sailed in lower winds.
What have I learned in this event? Firstly that you have to plan your season and don't get into such marathons of racing. Just think about getting up each morning with pain in most of the muscle - three weeks in a row. ;-)
I am going to learn more muscle tensioning excersices and I will do them more often, because thats really helps.
And finally I am going to train more for high wind formula sailing. Each time when I will go to the lake and see some slalom conditions, I will go out for a short blast with formula - doesn't mathers of the wind will ne 16 knots or 30 knots.
And final advice for eeryone who failed in some competition and lost their motivation - never give up, no mather how bad you feel. Just try to look to the bright side and try to find your areas of weakness.
P.S
7 out of Top 10 sailors in youth are sponsored by some equipment brands.

FW Worlds JYM Day 4

Unfortunately we didn't have any wind today. There were no races so we were playing football, relaxing or checking new toys from next year.
2012 JP Formula Speed and Power - the speed version has more scoupe, so it should be better while going downwind and in waves, but according to Sebastian Kornum Power is just killing in upwind. All other measurements seem pretty similar.
We also saw 2012 iSonic 97 and 117 wide. They are very similar to this year. One difference is that noses of the new boards are bigger, they have more volume and so they shouldn't dive into the wave in not planning mode so much.
Now we are having party in a warehouse. ;-).

FW World Championship Day 3

Today we had conditions similar to yesterday. Wind was about 15 knots. Just in the last race there was about 10 knots. I am starting to get tired phisicaly and mentaly as well. I think it is because of the long marathon of races(Latvia Baltic Cup, European Championship, Estonia Baltic Cup and now World Championship JYM). Today I finished 7th, 8th, 10th and 6th. My speed and angle is quite good but I am alsays messing up at starts or at tactics.
The organisation of the event is very good. We get free lunch box every day, we also get free coffee/tee and cakes in the afternoon.
In the evening we have possibility to buy dinner box.
In the end of the day we always have winner of the day ceremony. There the winner of each division of that day get sponsor prize, yellow T-shirt and kisses from the girls ;-)(good motivation huh?).
Tomorow we do not have very good forecast, but I hope for some light wind racing.