Austrian Dreams
The Waiting Game It’s May 16, and we’re on our seventh day at the ISAF Worlds in Austria. We are on hold waiting for wind today. What contrast to Sunday when we had lots of wind-it was gusting to 25. Survival for some, but our team handled it well. Good starts, and working hard upwind we were in the top two at the first mark in both races. The spinnakers (not commonly used on Hobie 16s) created problems for a few teams and at one point we looked back to see three boats capsized at the gate. In the last race we didn’t even hoist the spinnaker on the last run. It wasn’t worth the risk, and we were fine taking a third. Our finishes were 4-3, and our consistency kept us second overall. The South Africans lept to first overall and are ahead by 1 point after 7 races. The previous leaders had a devastating day and finished with a ninth and then a DNF and plunged to fifth overall. The French team won the last race on Sunday, but they were 15th in the sixth race so they are in fifth on the leaderboard. On Sunday night there was a party for all sailors in all classes and the U.S team of Greg Thomas And Jacques Bernier won the qualifier event in the Tigers. The U.S. team also won the team racing event qualifiers. We were the only three teams placing top three, but the Men’s 470 team made the cut as well. The U.S. has a few sailors who just flew in and will begin racing-they were pre-qualified. We’re happy to be wearing the Blue bibs for now. The yellow bibs, which indicating the leader (like the Tour de France), have been a curse for everyone. The Italians wore them and had their worst day ever. It was the same for us when we wore them. The South African’s are threatening not to wear them, but we will make sure they do! There are only four more days of racing after today, and we’re looking forward to American food. Tonight we are having Hungarian food cooked by our hostesses. Because we cooked for them the other night, they want to reciprocate. Because we are so close to the border, there are many Hungarians working here. Yesterday was a lay day for everyone and many of us visited Vienna by train. It was a beautiful city and not to be missed. There’s some final sad news for our team. Teri McKenna hurt her knee on Sunday and can’t sail the rest of the event. Her crew Sandra is trying to find a replacement, but no luck so far. For complete results from all classes: www.worldsailinggames2006.at -Annie Nelson and Susan Korzeniewski
