Regatta 3: Good, but not yet good enough

The steeper you go up, the harder you can fall. Somewhat disappointed, we look back on the past World Championships and at the same time take a lot of positive things with us into the end of the season. Even though we prepared well for the competition and left almost nothing to chance, practically nothing went as expected. And that from the first race to the last.

But let’s take it one step at a time.

Perfect environment

With the momentum from Lagos, we arrived early in Villasimius to get the most out of our preparations for the World Championship. The boat was assembled, all details checked and replaced at the slightest hint of wear and tear, so no material damage should set us back. Our accommodations were comfortable and the weather cooperated as well, even though it rained on and off. The icing on the cake, however, were certainly our two local cooks, who spoiled us with Sardinian food.

Perfect training

As planned, we were able to get the catamaran in the water and get to Pre World’s training as the first team. Before everyone else we could start to get familiar with the so called difficult swell: Sailing, especially foiling is more challenging in waves than in flat water. The challenge is to set the right height with the hydrofoils to fly over the waves, and to generate as much extra propulsion as possible with the help of the swell. However, the prevailing winds were rather too light for this, which made foiling even more difficult. Nevertheless, we were able to perform successful sessions and, as planned, take the boat out again on Sunday evening for the final check. Monday was planned as a rest day and was free for the team. While some stayed in the house to chill out, others used the day to try their hand at foilboarding and explore the surrounding bays.

In the evening, a final briefing took place, where the goals and their implementation in the team were discussed in detail.

World Championship!

All preparations went like clockwork, so that we were eagerly awaiting the starting signal for the first race full of enthusiasm and drive.

But exactly this did not want to fall at first.

The first day of racing started with patience, waiting for wind and many attempts to make a valid race. The conditions also caused difficulties for the race committee, but most of the time the decisions were right when they stopped a race. Sometimes this was to our advantage, when we were badly in the race, then it was bad luck again when we were ahead.

Unfortunately we did not manage to do well in the first valid race. We started good, but then were called back very late as early starters. That was very annoying. The fact that the race organizers later apologized for their wrong decision didn’t help us either. Unfortunately, the referee decided against us a few more times, but the bottom line was that we just didn’t sail well enough.

So we had to forget the first day of racing and concentrate on what was ahead of us. We digested the low blow quickly enough to fight our way up the rankings on the following days. The individual races were very competitive and the level was really high. The lead and the classification changed constantly. On Sunday morning we started the last day in second position. There were five races scheduled, the weather conditions were good and we were happy. We received additional support from our partners, who surprised us with their visit.

Unfortunately, we could not meet the expectations with the fourth place.

Understandably, the frustration in the team is still deep. But we also see the positive, namely the progress we have made since the last World Championship in 2019.

In a debriefing shortly after the regatta, we made an initial analysis with the coaches and will also evaluate the team’s individual pre-event analyses with some distance.

Our thanks go to our sponsors and everyone who supported us.

We will give everything again in the last event in Mar Menor, Spain. In the annual ranking we are still on the podium and we will defend this position.