Dominican Day 1

As was the plan, the morning was spent sorting out the boats, all of which are supplied by Far East. All the hulls are either brand new, or very lightly used, and all the spars, foils, fittings and ropes are brand new.

Because of this there were no major issues sorting out, and rigging the boats. Although it did take some time to get them just right, and as similar as possible to the sailors boats at home.

This was all finished by lunchtime and the plan was then to go sailing. However, there were some issues with the RIB. Yesterday, two of the RIBs had been run aground on the reef by other coaches, much to the frustration of the organizers given the clearly marked channel!

This meant that an old RIB was drafted in for the day, for us to share with the Greek team. So the plan was to go out check the boats, and the venue and generally settle in, until late afternoon when we would have to hand the RIB to the Greeks.

So we all launched around lunchtime, and sailed out to the race area for our training session. We started out with a reasonable amount of speed work in order to get the boats sorted and get used to the conditions.

One of the key things we were working on was mode changes. This involved lots of work on steering and mainsheet control to deal with the gusts and very changeable waves.

Another thing we were looking at is how not to let other people influence our strategy too much. This involved lots of work on the decisions and boat-handling for tack-duck-cross situations.

Unfortunately just as I (the coach) was about to turn around and head in to hand over the RIB, it broke down. After drifting towards the aforementioned reef (breaking waves and all) for around 20 minutes. I was eventually picked up and towed back to the harbor, with the sailors following shortly behind

Sailors have all eaten dinner, sorted kit, tidied rooms and are now heading to bed (@2045 out of their own choice!!!)

Tomorrow is another day for ticking things off the list. We have measurement at 1130, so the morning will be spent doing boat-work and prep for this. We then plan to sail in the afternoon, possibly for a slightly longer session into the evening. We have also already sorted out a fully working RIB, as the Kiwi’s are having a rest day.

The support team found their hire car and have done a supermarket run for water and snacks and local SIM cards. They all made use of the club facilities for a swim and lunch.

Iberia has assured us that the missing sail is on tonight’s plane from Madrid but not here yet.

The race office could not have been more helpful with everything today and there is a continuous supply of coffee and water in there all day . teams were supplied with a lunch today which was demolished by the sailors which is a first , it came in a neat 2 litre cool box ready to go. No sunburn or headaches so the nagging on hats, sun cream and drinking seems to be working . One quick dip in the sea after sailing before finishing off the boat work and returning to the hotel. Good supper had by all.

Photos will be added when we have access to the faster internet at the club in the morning!