Day 4: In the latest installment team member Kevin Stallard of University of Limerick blogs from the Student World Yachting Champs in Marseille. For the first time in the event we started today with a fully fit crew. There was very light breeze this morning and racing was postponed until 12 o'clock, we eventually got on the water for our first race at 1.
We thought that we had a good start in the first race and reached the windward mark in 4th position, worked very hard for the rest of the race and were the fifth boat to cross the line. Unfortunately after the finish we realised that we had started the race on course side, which means that we started the race too early and were subsequently disqualified along with England and France who also started OCS.
After our disqualification in race 1 we were overly cautious on the start line for race 2 and were in the second half of the fleet by the windward mark, a couple of poor tactical decisions down wind also cost us and we finished in 9th position.
Although our results don't show it our performance definitely improved today with our boat speed being notably better. With two days of racing left we are confident of moving up the leader board, giving a truer reflection of our ability.
Due to a transmission error from Marseille, the Day 3 Blog did not arrive yesterday (Wednesday). It is published below:
Day 3 Blog: Another day on the water in Marseille with light winds and extra sunny skies. This morning started with no wind once again and the fleet were left sitting for the almost an hour in the flat sea in the bay of Marseille. Not to be outdone by the lack of wind, the Italians decided to take on the Swiss with buckets of water, which soon turned into a full blown water fight with many of the teams involved. In the end, it would be the Americans who were converged on by the fleet armed with buckets of water and determined crews.
At about 11.30, when the water settled, race 1 of the day began when 5-8kts of wind filled in from the west. A 2 lap windward leeward with a steady breeze allowed for some close racing. UL got off once again to a remarkable start in clear air. However, as with yesterday, the curse of poor boatspeed plagued us once again eventually leading us to 11th position.
Race 2 followed soon after with a short coastal race covering the west coast of the Iles de Frioul. We fared much better on the first leg, but with a shift in the breeze and still battling for speed, we eventually ended up in 11th place once again.
The night race was scheduled for 1700hrs, but due to a complete lack of wind, this was quickly postponed to another day later in the week.
Katie, although feeling better this morning is again trying to recover from her illness. A visit from the doctor this evening seems to indicate some sort of food poisoning. All we can do is wait and see how she feels tomorrow.
First gun tomorrow is at 10.30am with 3 more races on the cards followed by a night of some traditional meal cooking by all the teams to be shared for dinner. Bacon and cabbage was mentioned as a possibility, aswell as stew, but i believe CIT are already planning such a meal
