Bruce Vandeventer, Feb 1, 2006
Today we had races 7&8 - we had a hard time getting our speed upwind in moderate conditions (8-12kts), so we struggled with the first leg and rounded 10th from last both times, but slowly worked our way back "up" to 69th. It was very frustrating after having better results earlier in the week. Yesterday race 6 saw the wind die completely on part of the last leg to the finish; consequently there were big changes back in the fleet but we managed to squeak by with a 60th. Tomorrow is race 9 and we pack the boats into the container. Conditions have been suprisingly moderate with high temperatures (34C) in Adelaide so we expect only a 10-15 kt sea breeze tomorrow.
The Danish team of Jan Saugmann and Morten Ramsbaek in 8620 is on fire with a 13 point lead, and with a 7th as their second discard, it lookis like they have the regatta locked up. And their boat is more beat-up looking and homely than most - no high tech gimmicks, just good sailing.
ps we've seen 1 shark and plenty of dolphins. It wasn't a very big shark.