FW Worlds Day 5

The last day of the championship was the most productive as we had 4 races for the gold fleet. Unfortunately the day was not really succesfull for me.
On the start of the first race I was hit away from my board. I was near the RC boat on starboard tack. 5 sec before the start I started pumping to get planning but after a few seconds I felt a really strong hit into my right shoulder. ITA 1111 was trying to fit into the gap between me and the boat, but obviously he didn't managed to do that. Of course I felt in the water and the race was a disaster. I gave a protest and the decision of Jury was favorable for me - ITA 1111 was disqualified and I got a redress ( actually the organizers forgot to write it into the results).

During the second race the wind was quite strong,- around 15knots. Nevertheless due to a good start I was going in TOP 15 up until the third lap ( the course was 3 laps long that race). On third lap I tacked to early and missed the 1st mark and lost about 5 places and then I jibed to early to the downwind mark and I just couldn't make it to the gates, thus I've lost 4 places more. In the end I finished 22nd.
The third race was an average one. Even though I had a good start I made a few tactical mistakes and finished 30th.

The last race was a shitty one. I died on the start and later by trying to get back the positions I wanted I made even more mistakes.

So in overall I finished 32nd. I was the first Lithuanian and the first youth.
The championship was won by Casper Bouman NED 52. Gonzalo Costa Hoevel took 2nd place with Steve Allen in third. Steve also took the first place in Masters division. Antoine Albeau was 2nd in this age group while Arnon Dagan took 3rd.
In youth division second place was taken by Mateo Isaac BRA 767. And third place was taken by my good friend Paulius LTU 718.
Arvydas LTU 789 took 4th place in Grandmasters division.

FW Worlds Day 3 and 4

During the Day 3 the qualification was completed. Unfortunately Karolis LTU 1001, Giedrius LTU 11, Arnas LTU 79, Audrius LTU 717 and Robertas LTU 127 did not qualified to the golden fleet.
On Day 4 we had 2 races for Gold and 2 for the silver fleet. The TOP of the fleet is very close together after today. Casper Bouman is leading with 9 point after he finished 2nd and 6th on the race. Gonzalo Costa Hoevel is close behind with 11 points. Steve Allen from Australia is in the third place even though he got 1st on the second race today. Arnon Dagan is 4th after taking a bullet in the first race.
I had an average day and moved 1 place up to 26th place. On the first race I had a bad start and got covered for a while which resulted in 31st place at the finish. In the second race I got a nice start near the boat on starboard tack and was going in Top 15. It was nice to see that Arnon Dagan overtook me only in the second lap. However, I've managed to loose 10 place on the last downwind after a bad gybe, two bad decisions and most of all two horific gusts.
Gedas LTU 76 finished in front of me both times. Arvydas LTU 789, Paulius LTU 718 and Mindaugas LTU 64 are fighting in the second half of the fleet.

FW Worlds Day 2

So on the second day of racing here in Viganj we had 2 races for both of the fleets. Unfortunately there was not enough wind for the last race of Blue fleet.
The wind was considerably stronger for the first Yellow fleet and both Blue fleet races than yesterday - about 15 knots.

Today I will start with a short summary about lithuanians. As Yellow fleet has done all of their qualification races it is more or less clear who will qualify to gold and who not. Unfortunately but Robertas LTU 127, Audrius LTU 717 and Arnoldas LTU 79 will have to continue their racing in the silver fleet. It is worth to mention that Arnoldas managed to drag half of the Yellow fleet into early start which later ended in a recall.
Very sad news, but last year Lithuanian Champion Giedrius LTU 11 is out of balance in this competition. He has very very limited possibilities to qualify to the Gold fleet.
Karolis LTU 1001, Mindaugas LTU 64 and Paulius LTU 718 after three races are in TOP 65 which means that they are in the Gold fleet position. However, it is not yet clear if they will stay in it after the result of 4th race is included.
Arvydas LTU 789 and Gediminas LTU 76 are clearly in the Gold fleet as their positions are 46th and 48th.

Now a few lines about myself. I am first out of Lithuanians as well as first Youth and in the overall I am.standing in 23rd position. I am very happy about my performance so far. Nevertheless I see a lot of place for improvement. It is also quite clear that I will loose a few positions after the 4th race results are included.

Time for the leaders. In the Yellow fleet Casper Bouman took another bullet in Race nr. 3 and just missed race nr. 4. Miguel Martinho used this opportunity to take a bullet in very light wind for himself. Janis Preiss, Ross Williams and Michail Polanowski were in TOP 5 as usual.
In the blue fleet Antoine Albeau FRA 192 used stronger winds for his advantage and took 1st and 2nd places.
For more detailed results check the formulawindsurfing.org website.

FW Worlds Day 1

On the first day of racing here, in Viganj, there were 2 races completed for the Yellow fleet and one race for the Blue fleet. The wind was very light through all of the races, - around 7-10knots.
In the Yellow fleet Casper Bouman (not sure about the spelling) NED 52 was absolutely flying. He took two bullets with an amazing lead. Other guys on TOP were: Janis Preiss LAT 23, Ross Williams GBR 83, Michail Polanowski POL 16 and super lightweight who was sailing on 10,7 Miguel Martinho POR 5.

Now about myself. As I am youth I was sailing on 10,7 sail. Wich was quite enough on the upwind, however, dead slow on the downwind.
On the first race I had a bad start on port. I tried to start near the pin, but I was too slow and a bit too late. So Maciek Rutkowski killed me, and later I was falling deeper and deeper in to the shadow of others. Of course I lost a lot of places in the downwind which I later recovered in the upwind. In the end I finished 20th.
On the second race I had a great starboard start. That means that Casper killed me just after 500m. I was 3rd at the first mark. Unfortunately Jannis Preiss and Michail Polanowski overtook me on the downwind. I was fighting with Marco Begali on the upwind. He got away on the last downwind and I also got overtaken by Miguel Martinho. I finished in 7th place and I am very happy about it.

Arvydas LTU 789 finished in 17th and 30th.
Paulius LTU 718 had a great second race finishing 25th. Unfortunately his sail has been toren inside the pocket.
Unfortunately I do not remember the results of other lithuanians in the yellow fleet.
You can find the results on formulawindsurfing.org website.

Croatia, Viganj FW Worlds

Viganj is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been too. As for windsurfers it is perfect because of thermical winds.
I have been here for 2,5 days now. During that time I've had two windsurfing sessions and one long SUP session.
I've tested both of my sails the Reflex 3 9,6 and Reflex 4 10,7. I am using them together with SB 167wide and Z F 0 S-. I feel really fast on the upwind with both of them. However, I am.lacking a bit of angle in the downwind run. Nevertheless, I feel confident about the upcoming competition.

Yesterday me and Gedas LTU 76 decided to do a small excursion on inflatable SUP boards. In the end we covered nearly 10km. We went to Korcula island wich is on the other side of the chanel, visited the capital of this island, then on the way back home we padled to an amazing sailboat Star Clipper and I actually got on board for a couple of seconds. And then we came back completely exhausted.

See you tommorow after races ;-)