Josh McKenzie-Brown reports on Day 1 Sail Melbourne Regatta

by Joshua McKenzie-Brown on 15 Dec 2009
Josh McKenzie-Brown (18) reports from Day 1 of the Sail Melbourne regatta being sailed on Port Philip Bay. Sail Melbourne is the first round in the 2010 ISAF World Cup circuit. John is competing in the 2.4Mtr singlehanded class with the objective of representing New Zealand in the 2012 Paralympics at Weymouth.

Today we had 15 - 18 knots, sea breeze with big waves. There were two races, the first being 1 lap of the windward leeward course and the second race being 2 laps.

The level of competition in the 2.4m fleet in this regatta is very high. One of the sailors, Paul Tingley, won the gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics. Peter from Australia has also sailed in the Sydney and Athens Paralympics. Peter Russell and Michael Leydon are both able-bodied sailors who have competed in Open Worlds and achieved high positions as well.

My start in Race 1 of the regatta was close to perfect, hitting the line with speed. I went out to the right with a few other sailors but this proved to be a bad decision. Those who had gone left reached the top mark before me, tacking in front of me. I rounded the top mark in 6th or 7th place.

I took full advantage of the waves and surfed them downwind to overtake one sailor.

In Race 2 my start was average as I was not entirely in clear air. I battled throughout the first beat to get in front of a few people. On the downwind I closed the gap between me and the people ahead. For the rest of the race I basically played catch-up.

Having not raced for a year I was not surprised to be a little out of touch with certain aspects of racing. I was disappointed however and I hope to do better tommorow.

Tommorow we have another two races scheduled, starting at 12.00pm.