Racing has wrapped up here in Vilamoura. Six days and 12 races later against a worlds level fleet (minus competitors from Australia and New Zealand) was challenging for sure. Unfortunately, I missed my goal of qualifying for the gold fleet after the first 3 days of racing. Undeterred, I put this aside and worked my way up to 10th in silver fleet, to finish the regatta 80th overall out of 139 boats. While I fell short of my goal, this is a significant improvement since I was at a competition of this level in Australia over a year ago. The hard work I’ve been putting in is starting to pay off.
Over the 6 days of sailing, we saw 2 different wind directions and varying strengths. The first 3 days were from the south-west with 15-18 knots, and 10-12 knots on the 4th day. It then shifted to the south-east for the final 2 days of the regatta bringing stronger 17-22 knot winds and massive swell.
This video illustrates conditions on the final two days.
VIDEO CREDIT: Vilamoura Sailing