Europeans Helsinki july 8-14 2014
Two weeks in Helsinki has come to an end. We finished the Europeans in 21st place. A results that could have been a lot better. However we’ve learned so much and it’s nice to know that on a good day we’re able to fight amongst the best.
Day one was definitely our best day. We had good starts and good speed. Which for sure makes everything a lot easier. However a few small mistakes costs us important points. We finished the day satisfied and sitting 10th overall after 4 fleet races.
Day two consisted of waiting for wind. At one point it looked promising, as the sea breeze was about to fill. A front over Helsinki wanted it different, and killed all hope for racing. We spent the afternoon island jumping with some of the FX girls.
Day three was complete opposite from what we experienced the day before. It was all on! We had breeze gusting 25 knots. We didn’t have the best day. Capsizing in two out of three races for sure makes top finishes out of reach. Normally heavy winds is what we prefer, this day it was different. We came out of the day much better result wise than what we thought. Dropping to 16th overall was not what we hoped for, but at the same time we thought our miserable day would have cost us a lot more.
Day four, first day of gold fleet racing. When top 25 race together it’s for sure different then the fleet racing. It’s closer racing and mistakes costs you a lot more. Having a bad start makes it difficult to catch up with the fleet again. We got three races in, the first two didn’t really go our way. We struggled to get off the line and finding good lanes. We figured things out before the last race and managed to put together a good race.
Day five was filled with breeze again. We were ready to give it all to get into the petit final. We did our best and had three races finishing top 15 in all of them. The last race was our best one, however we crossed the start line a bit too early, scoring UFD in that race. Without the UFD we would have made it into the petit finals. Margins are small and this time it didn’t go our way. We ended the day in the same place as we started, 21st.
Day six, last day of racing. One theater style race, 10 minutes. Hectic, intense and so much fun! We really enjoyed the tight racing in a building breeze. We gave it all and finished the race in 3rd place. It wasn’t enough to move us up the scoreboard.
Massive thanks to Seiko for our new kite!
One of the colder training days…
Lovely afternoon cruising around Helsinki
We’re both looking forward to time off and to enjoy what Norwegian summer has to offer before we hit the water again next week!
