| Craig Mackey at the worlds 2011 USA 29 |
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| First off if you get a chance to go to a world championship you should, personally I think it's worth every penny you spend. West Kirby Yacht Club the venue for the 2011 IOM worlds has been around for a 100 years and they know how to run a regatta. Even the beer was cheap, the after race functions were great it was easy to mix with all the other competitors and officials alike making it very enjoyable. My personal aim for this contest was a top 10 finish, I used a borrowed hull a Lintel, these boats are very fast in a breeze but a little tricky to sail in the light. I fitted it out with my own rigs and sails. I feel if the wind had stayed up for the entire contest a top 10 would have been more than possible. Of course you always have to allow for the unexpected in any contest and I had plenty of them to contend with.. |
| Day one Most of the tune up time pre-contest was B or C rig so when the seeding races came around with A rig conditions on the water my tuning was way off and I was slow I finished 11th and found myself in the E fleet for race 2, The breeze had come up and we were now on B rigs I progressed up to the C fleet but problems with the mast ram saw me fall back into the D fleet. Race 3 was no better after being taken out on the start line by a port tacker and suffereing a broken jib sheet I was back down on E fleet. Race 4 I sailed up through the fleets to finish the day in the B fleet. Not the start I was looking for! |
| Day two was B rig weather all day, I sailed in the A fleet most of the day apart from a rudder servo which failed midway through the day and put me into the B fleet for a race. Day three was much the same using the B rig all day with 6 top 10 finishes in a row there was a rest day started day four on A rigs and was once again slow, had trouble getting good starts, still managed to sail most of the day in the A fleet with the occasional trip down to B. Day Five was again similar on all counts Day six the final.day I was in 13th place just 4 point of 11th but the mainsheet caught on the keel screw and I finished 14th overall in the contest Craig suggested his Blackmagick Sails looked great and performed well he was very happy with them. Below the web site of the 2011 world IOM championships here you will find many more pictures and the final finishing order of all competitors. |