Today we had an early skipper’s meeting, and headed straight out to the very south end of Lake Uri. There was no wind in the morning and we spent two hours bobbing around. We saw the bikinis coming out on SCOUNDREL and serious tanning work being done.
But at 12:45 pm, the thermal breeze hit hard, exactly like the day before. It went from zero to 15 knots in less than 10 minutes. We saw it coming by just looking at when the kite surfers coming out on the northern part of the Lake. LUCIE got right into the groove, but it was a very hard fight. She likes the wind speed to be more on the lighter side, being a true Rule 2 boat, she suffers against Rule 3 boats in heavier air. But she fought like hell, playing both sides of the course, going further than the other boats, not getting into downwind duels and she was rewarded with a solid fourth place in the first race of the day (Race 5 overall).
We think we heard a deep sigh of relief from the race organizers — five races in the bag and fully on schedule — from now on we have a valid championship!
After some quick sail changes between races and support to one of the other StFYC boats, it was time for the second race of the day. The fleet was lined up beautifully on the starting line, and then the Xray flag for individual recall went up. Two boats immediately returned and started again, but the flag stayed up. Someone was over early but did not return.
LUCIE was kicking and fighting, seeking clean air in her own path. At 16 knots of breeze she heeled a lot but still sailed flawlessly. She was the sixth boat over the finish line, but as some of us had feared, LUCIE was the one boat, which was OCS but did not return. As this was the sixth race of the Championship though each boat earned its first striker, so this OCS got thrown out.
Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow, which is the last day of the 6MR European Championship. We’re looking forward to more racing!
— Jens Lange
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