FW Worlds JYM Day 3

Again we woke up earlier than I am getting up to school as skippers meeting was at 7.20. It was raining and wind doesn't seemed to be good.
At the skippers meeting we were released for 2 hours, but we couldn't go back to the hotel, because it was raining crazy strong. This heavy rain lasted for about one hour. After it went away the wind from the North started blowing and at 9 am AP went down. RC said that wind strength was 22 knots. From what I saw I knew it might be more. Thus I rigged 9,6 instead of 10,7. Before going out I moved mastfoot a bit forward, but when I went out it was still way to back, - the board was just flying over the waves. I went back and moved it 1cm forward, but it wasn't enough time to set the boom from outer clew hole to the inner. I went out again.
At first it was OK, but the more I went into the middle of the lake the more windier it became. I was sailing without much control and so was the rest of the fleet. Actually I saw around 10 guys planning others were flying and falling. When I got to the starting boat, everyone started sailing back and so did I.
On the shore the AP was up again. For more than half an hour rescue boats were taking back those who were not able to sail by themselfs. The race was postponed for 2 hours and later it was cancelled because the wind was not going down.

FW JYM Worlds Day 2

Today we started veeery early. Skippers meeting at 7.20 means that you have to wake up before 7.00 even if you live 5 minutes away.
Luckily the wind was very good ( about 15 knots ) in the morning and Race Officers managed to make 3 races for both fleets.
Unfortunately, but I crashed straight away on the first start. I was going about 15 meters below the starting line and 5 seconds before the start I started going up. But behind and over me there was a Latvian guy who was afraid of making fallstart and kept sailing along the line. When I saw him it was to late to go down again for me, so I tried to go as high as possible to pass him on the windward side, but I crashed into the end of his boom. Somehow during all these few seconds he didn't saw me, or for some reason did not gave me the way. In the end he catapulted and I sailed on top of him and lost the sail. As I am a nice and friendly guy ( or otherwise called just stupid ) I did not protested him because I though that my board is OK and sailed away. At the first mark I was in the end of the fleet. I overtook about 5 guys on the downwind and about 6-7 on the second upwind, finished in 7th place. After finish I decided to look to the bottom of the board, when I saw it I was left stunned - there was one big hole in the middle of the board, I found other two holes, when I sailed back to the beach.
I missed the second race of the day.
After it we had a break. Thus me and my dad ( Thanks so much ) repaired the board with " Quick stick " , " Bubble gum" or whatever else you want to call it.
On third race of the day I made another stupid mistake. When I saw that starting line is more favorable on port tack I started on it - even the left side was paying off. When I came to the upwind mark I was way back in the fleet. Of course I was flying all the way to the finish, but that was just enough for the 5th place.
Before the 4 th start I said to myself - " 3 bad races in one day is enough".
I was so fired up for the last race that I knew if I will start good I will be thw first. And I did. I got a perfect start, than I choose perfect layline to the upwind mark. So there I had 100 meter lead, which I extended on the downwind leg. I had a bullet in my pocket going straight to the upwind mark. When suddenly from nowhere came jury boat and cancelled the race. Probably because it was time to have coffee break for them. It took me a few minutes to realize that for some of the guys there was not enough wind. Actually the wind started going down and it was almoust clear that the race is over for today. Because forecast wasn't showing any wind for the afternoon.
Results:
7 - DNS - 5 - stolen bullet and broken board

Overall:
1 - BRA 767 - 7 points
2 - POL 013 - 8 points
3 - LTU 799 - 15 points
4 - DEN 26 - 16 points
5 - EST 36 - 20 points

Janis Preiss is leading Master fleet.

What I learned from today - protest everyone that touches you.

FW JYM Worlds

Ciao tutti,
I am here in Italy, on the wonderful coast of Lake Garda in amazing town called Malcesine.
Lake Garda has always been one of my favorite windsurfing spots. And I have always dreamed to race Formula here. This year my dream came true in quite important apearence - Juniors Youths and Masters World Championship.

I came here three days ago and I have sailed  here every day. The south wind - ORA, - which is blowing in the afternoon, is slightly lighter than in Torbole, but North wind called Peller seems to be stronger, although I was too lazy to get up early in the morning.

The race started today, with opening ceremony and skippers meeting combined to one. After some time of waiting we were called out on the water. Then you have to rig your sail very fast because it is imposible to leave it rigged on the sun as the mast would heat up so quickly, and it can snap easily.

The wind was super light, but the jury gave the start for the race. We are racing in two seperate fleets - youth and masters. Youth have started first. I choose to start near the pin end.  I got away clear and was going really good. After the tack me and Jaciek POL 013 got into the lead. We were almoust at the upwind mark, when jury canceled the race due to light wind, although it has not changed from the start. Actually there was more wind at Malcesine coast, but jury threw out the course in the middle of the lake.
We were send back to the shore, for SOME reason, perhaps because the  Race Comitee was taking their lunch break at local restorant.
After 1 or 2 hours they went back on the course and slowly started moving it to windier place. After some time more we started racing.
The starting line was very short this time - just about 20 sec. To take into account that there were 30 sailors and that the wind was about 10 knots, you can imagine that it was freaking hard to get a good start. Luckily I took a great position and started in the middle of line with clear air ( kamstuko starta panaudojau, bet nenoriu, kad konkurentai tai zinotu :) ).
I was leading the race from the start, came first to the upwind mark, still was first at bottom mark - but Jaciek came much closer to me than he was at the top mark. He made some magic tricks (or got a great lift), and after the first tack was straight on my heals. I took a better layline to the top mark and was 10 meters in front of Polish star. I knew that he is a bit faster than me, I was doing everything I could and after two gybes was still in front of him. But then I decided to make two more gybes to be sure to get to the mark, while Jaciek took the risk and went for one - he won the race, I was second.
On the second race I got the same good start, while Jaciek didn't. Other guys were not as fast as him and again I was leading all the race, this time to the finish. Finally I got a bullet.
Now I am in first place overall with 3 points. Jaciek is second with 5, while Mathias BRA 767 is third with 7 points. My good friend Roland EST 36 is in 4th or 5th place.

FW Worlds last report

On the last day of competition nobody expected a race ( even Bruno :) ) , because forecast was showing nothing.
But after a few hours of waiting, the wind started picking up. We were called out on the water. Unfortunately while my sail was lying rigged on the grass somebody might have stepped on it and broke one of the battens.
Anyway, when I sailed the wind was about 12 knots strong and I was planning quite fast. Even I have made a terrible start, - Ross Williams punked me ( I was going 50 meters after him on the starting line on starboard tack, but when there was 30sec left he accelerated went to the pin end made gybe and started on port while I got stuck on starboard). After the start I catched up a few places, but then the started going down. What was unusual for me that I became much slower and hardly could pump out. A lot of people passed me. And at the downwind mark I was in the LAST 10. In the middle of second upwind I suddenly saw that my boom is 10cm lower than normally - I forgot to check it - *****. I moved it up, but it was too late, the wind was 7-8 knots at that moment and Steve Allen had finished 5 minutes ago. Even though I tried, I didn't finished in time limit. What can I say - I was really stupid.
Result - 46th overall, 4th Lithuanian and 3rd youth. A result that I am not proud of. What happened?
Qualification round was more or less ok - I was 36th after that. Although I could have done better, I was looking to improve the result in Gold fleet races.
Unfortunatelly weather conditions weren't favorable for me. On thursday we got light-medium wind, but 2 meters high wave was making things difficult. Nevertheless I finished in respectable 29th and 35th position. I was looking forward to do even better after the break, but something was changed in me. I felt down in both of the races. When you are in the gold fleet such mistake is critical. I finished in 40+ position and the game was over for me.
Nevertheless I learned a lot in this competition. I realized that I need to improve my performance in wavy conditions, and I also need to improve my starts, - especialy I have to learn port tack starts.
About others:
First of all congratulation to overall winners- Ross, Pont and especially Steve who spend a lot of time talking to me about different aspects of windsurfing - Thanks.
I also want to thanks Maciek POL 23 -who has explained some of the technical stuff, Vincent GER 122 who helped me practise my poor German and all other guys for sharing their knowledge.
Special congratulations for Roland EST 36 - who overtook me in the youth division for the first time ( we've been fighting a lot in Baltic Cups). Great job Roland, you really fast in waves. Of course I can't forget Jaciek - he took first place in youth, quite easy. I hope the standings on podium will change in Malcesine, Garda where JYM Worls will take place soon.
And last but not least congratulations and thanks for all Lithuanian team. For the first of them Juozas LTU 14 - he showed that he is good not only on RS:X. I promise you harder competition next time. Mantas and Gedas who overtook in the Gold fleet and Giedrius LTU 11 who fought hard to get into the Gold fleet.
And of course Audrius LTU 717 who repaired my batten.

P.S.
I almost forgot to tell you about my salesman skills. On the last day I found and helped to buy: Gaastra Vapor 12 proto 2013+ mast for Juozas LTU 14 - he took Arnon's sail and Ross' mast; Paulius LTU 718 choose Gaastra Vapor 11 proto 2013 from Ross.
Earlier this year I helped Arnas LTU 191 to buy former Arnon's sail - Gaastra Vapor 11 proto 2012.

FW Worlds Day 4

Today all fleets had 4 races in light winds and big waves.
For me it was more or less difficult to get out to the sea. The 12 knots breeze was straight onshore and 2 meters high wave were rolling to the beach. Luckily I haven't broken anything, but so many guys have broken battens or tore their sails.
Out in the sea the waves were quite messy and for me it was really hard to sail. I needed a lot of power to sail fast make good gybes and tacks. Perhaps that's why my results were much better before the break ( 35 and 29) than aftert it ( over 40 ). I have felt in in both raaces after break.
Unfortunately now I am in 44th position overal and just 3rd in youth.
Ross was on fire today and won all races.
I hope we will have races tomorow and I will be able to fight back.

Day 3

The wind is very strong waves are huge. We are waiting on the beach.
Race commitee didn't managed to put the course.
Two guys were out on formula equipment. One came back in one piece. Another - Sean O'Brien - in many pieces.

FW Worlds Day 2

We had just one race today. It was the last qualification race.
Actually the blue fleet ( I was in it ) had to sail two races, because in the first one there were  3 windward marks instead of 2.
By the time we started the race te wind was 8-10 meters strong and waves were up to 1-1,5 meters high - not really my conditions. Nevertheless I went really good and finished in respectable 19th position.
I came to goldfleet with 49 points being in 37th position.

FW Worlds, Day 1

Today was the first day of racing. All 120 competitors were divided into 3 fleets - woman, and two men fleets - blue and yellow.
We will have 4 qualification races and after them 54 competitors will go to Gold fleet and others to silver.
Now I am in the blue fleet which is considered to be stronger, - in this fleet names like Steve Allen, Ross Williams, Casper Bouman, Dennis Little, Pont, and many others are fighting.
Today we had 3 races in gusty and shifty side-off shore winds. The wind speed was from 10 to 18 knots. Steve Allen took the lead closely followed by Ross Williams. For me the race was OK. I finished 19th, 13th and 17th and now I am in 31st place overall. My problem is that I am still making mistakes, stupid mistakes.
I hope I'll be better tomorow.

Baltic Cup Day 3

Forecast showed some heavy winds today - reaching up to 22 knots.
But when we arrived a the beach, the wind was just 4 knots strong.
After some time the wind started picking up. Thus we had 2 races in average wind - around 11 knots.
Unfortunately I was making stupid mistakes today. In both races I had average start, but afterwards ...puff.
In the first race I messed up at the downwind mark. I had to make a couple of aditional jibes to get to the mark and after the last jibe I couldn't start planning and about 10 guys overtook me. I finished in 20th position.
The second race was worse. I missed the layline to the upwind mark and had to make two additional tacks. But on the downwind I managed to fall in while I was pumping. Afterwards I couldn't start planning for a while and dropped down to worse than 30th position after that I decided not to finish the race and go home, to get some more rest.
But in the last race of the day, the wind picked up to 17-19 knots and I was sruggling a bit in the wavy Baltic Sea on my SB 167 wide. I did everything more or less correctly, just I wasn't fast enough. I finished 25th.
All in all I am in 15th position overall and I am not really happy about this. Luckily I am 1st youth in the event and in the Baltic Cup.

Baltic Cup Day 2

Today we had wind just for 1 hour.
Unfortunately organizers were late and we started the race when the wind was going down.
I had a good start and at the first mark I was around 6th place. I overtook two guys on the downwind, but jury canceled the race due to lack of wind, when I was near the downwind mark.
Later the wind turned of completely.

Baltic Cup Latvia

Hello,
from Liepaja. Yesterday we started the last stage of Baltic Cup. There is 82 registered guys in the fleet.
The wind was picking up slowly. But when we started the first race it was just about 8 knots. I tried to make a fast start from behind, but after I rounded a group of guys from downwind I could go up back to the line. So after a bad start I managed to fight back to 17 th place. I changed the fin for the second race, I took a more powerful one, but the wind increased up to 12-16 knots and I was going deadly slow, so finished 17th again. For the last race I changed back to the faster fin. But first we got massive falstart and afterwards the wind droped. I got caught on the wrong fin again, just like other Lithuanian guys. Anyway, I was determined to get a good race. So I got a nice start and at the top Mark I was 4th, one guy overtook me on the downwind leg, but I was way ahead of other guys. So even they were faster than me they didn't catch me and I finished 5th.
Now I am 10th overal.
Best youth and best Lithuanian.

Gedas LTU 76 - 14th
Mindaugas LTU 646 - 15th
Arvis LTU 789 - 17th
Mantas LTU 13 - 18th

Latvian FW championship Day 2

Today we had just 1 race due to light wind. But this one race made some changes to the leaderboard.

After one canceled race and long time waiting on the water finally we saw the class flag. During the waiting time I have analyzed the course area and I came to the conclusion that wind in the sea is a bit stronger than close to the beach. Before the start the wind shifted and started blowing more from the sea. Considering these to factors I decided to start on starboard even all other TOP 7 sailors were starting on port. After the start I was going alone in clear wind - great. After  sailing for 1,5 - 2 minutes I got a strong header. I sailed into it for about 75meters and tacked. After sailing a couple minutes more and one tack I was first at the upwind mark. In the first lap at the downwind mark I had an amazing lead of about 1km, but after taking the upwind mark I got into a big hole and had to sail very slowly, while the guys from behind were flying in the gust. Even they have got closer to me, at the finish I was about 500 meters in front of Janis Preiss, who was closely folowed by Janis Rencis and Nahoel Abram from Argentina. By the way Nahoel was sailing on 10 meter sail !!! - woa!!!

It was a great competition, thanks everyone.
Final results:
1- LAT 23 - 11 points
2- ARG 1 -  11 points
3- LTU 799 - 15 points
4- LAT 0     - 16 points
Full results
By the way - I was nominated as Latvian Youth championship - yeaaa!!!
:-):-):-):-)
See you in Liepaja.

Latvian FW championship

Hello from Pavilosta,
Today we had 5 races in the choppy Baltic sea. The wind was from 8 to 16 knots strong, very gusty.
In the first race I was going first, but jury canceled it due to light wind ( Janis Preiss broke his 12,0 sail in that race).
In the second race or first real race I was going really fast and finished second. The wind was about 10 knots.
During two next races I have made some stupid decisions and finished 7th. I was overstanding the downwind leg immensely.
On the 4th race the wind picked up - over 10 knots. But I was going well didn't make mistakes and finished 4th. ARG - 1 Abram Nahuel, Janis Preiss and Janis Rencis was in front of me.
Luckily I punished them in the last race. Got a great start on starboard, while everyone was strugling on port and came 1st to the upwind mark. Then I just had to hold the lead. I finished with about 500meters lead to second place.
Results
1 - ARG -1   7 points
2 - LAT - 23  9 points
3 - LAT - 0    13 points
4 - LTU - 799   14 points.
13 - LTU 646
20 - LTU 79

New Vision photos

Finally I found some time to add photos from New Vision cup, which took place in Nida 3 weeks ago.
Big thanks for Andzela from "Vejas Galvoje" for these astonishing photos.

Rėmimo sutartis su ProSport

Šiandien pasirašiau rėmimo sutartį su ProSport.
Jie yra Bolle akinių (matot kokie gražūs), Suunto sportinių laikrodžių (mano M5 jau atkeliauja) ir dar daugelio garsių brandų atstovai.
Ačiū jums !!! :-)
Taip dėkoju kitiems savo rėmėjams: Burės.lt , Vėjas galvoje ir žinoma mamai ir tėčiui. :)

Today I have signed a sponsorship contract with ProSport.
They are dealers of: Bolle sunglasses (aren't they nice), Suunto sport watches (my M5 is underway) and a lot of other high class brands.
Thanks them.