| SPLIT, CROATIA-(30-7-2003) Again a long day on the Adriatic waters outside Split. The Bura from yesterday slowly died out, but kept enough strength to let both Senior and Junior fleets sail in gusty and shifty winds.
Before the Race Committee could start the second race it had to wait for the Maestral to become strong enough. Due to the shifty winds, and general recalls, the first Senior fleet was already finished before the second fleet could start. At 17:00 hrs (local time) the Race Committee decided not to start any more races.
David WEAVER (NZL) had a very good first race. “I had a bad start at the committee boat. I took the middle of the beat while almost everyone kept the left side. This turned out to be a good choice because of the unpredictable gusts and windshifts. Luckily I arrived first at the windward mark. After the reach and a very good run I arrived at the leeward gate with an 80 metre lead. During the next beat, run and reach Maciej GRABOWSKI from Poland succeeded to close this gap and we ended in a tacking duel during the last beat.
At about 50 metres before the finish, while tacking, Maciej dropped out of his boat, causing him to lose 1 place more. I finished first and he third. The gusty and shifty winds today looked very much the same as the gusty and shifty winds we have on my training lake Pupuke in New Zealand.”
Paul GOODISON GBR finished sixth in the first race after catching up 10 places after the first weather mark. He had a difficult time to work out the gusty and shifty winds that helped David WEAVER. Especially the outer loop, situated close to the rocky coast of the island Ciovo, made sailing difficult.
Paul sailed a better second race, in which he was in second place almost all the time. “Unfortunately Karl SUNESON had right of way on me at the last reach mark and I had to let him pass and that enabled him to finish second, leaving third place for me.”
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