Day 1 at last

First day of school and I am the new girl in town. I’ve been preparing for this day for two years and am a bag of nerves. Weather briefing is a bit confusing but cold front has gone through over night and pressure is building so what more do we need to know? 310km Racing task for clubbies, grid launch in 1 hour, so much to do arrggghhh!

The tugs finally arrived today and the grid is launching dead on time, Standards first then us. Here we go, don’t blow the first day…! Off tow and first climb in the bag, finally I can relax a little. First leg west, Liz and I are sticking together and going well, then the French catch us up but we are catching up with the Germans ahead. Into the 2nd turn point and Liz is pushing ahead, I’m falling behind and trying to keep up with the now leaders, everyone is running very fast. After the turn Liz is calling 6kts, I’m lower at 3000 feet and can’t get the climb.

Must keep calm, long third leg flew mostly on my own and managed to catch up with the lead gaggle on the last turn, then had stonking run home to find out I’ve finished 2nd. Rose is 4th and Liz 6th. Standards also doing well with 5th, 11th and 13th, good first day in the bag for the team.

So overall wonderful day out, 7 and 8 kts climb up to 7500 feet and very fast speeds. Hoping for more of the same tomorrow.