First possible start was at 11am, but the wind didn’t fill in until noon, so we had the first start around 12:30. Most sailors on 11s, winds around 10-15 knots on the first race.
Everyone on starboard tack start, pin end was favored, I started pin end and when I looked back I could see Gonzalo close to me and Paulo dos Reis around the Middle. On the upwind mark, I rounded in first and maintained the lead downwind and upwind again, Gonzalo was right behind with Paulo dos Reis and Mathias Pinheiro.
As I headed for the small slalom course with two jibes and a sprint to the finish, I started to look for the blue mark which was the one they used the previous day, when I realized they had changed the mark for a red one it was almost to late, I managed to stay on the lead until the finish with Gonzalo right on my heels in second, Paulo dos Reis came in third, Mathias Pinheiro in fourth and Rodrigo Costa in fifth.
After a short rest we went for the second race start, the wind had dropped and some holes where starting to fill in below 7 knots.
Rodrigo and Gonzalo started at the pin with Paulao and myself just behind, I could see Mathias was knocked down just a few meters from me and as I looked back I could see the hole fleet trying to cramp at the pin end. Big shifts started to fill in, Gonzalo was leading just before the upwind mark but got stuck in a hole and stopped, Paulo dos Reis got a good shift as well and rounded the mark in first, I rounded in second and Gonzalo just behind.
On the downwind it was very close and we all rounded the bottom mark within 5 meters between us, with Gonzalo in first, Paulao and I just behind.
Paulo manage to go under gonzalo with speed at the bottom mark, Gonzalo tacked early to get rid of Paulaos dirty air, and went to the right side of the course, I followed Paulao do the left.
Getting to the last upwind, Gonzalo opened a good lead by going to the right side and rounded in first, Paulao was in second and as he was getting close to the mark the wind dropped to around 5 knots and he just stopped, I came from behind and overtook him but stopped as well, we stood there for under a minute and saw the gust coming, Paulao manage to get the gust a bit before and rounded in second, I followed and saw Marcos Murgio and Marcos Galvan coming fast, Paulo and I started the slalom course with a huge gust just 1 meter apart and we could see Gonzalo was on a light spot as well and just able to plane, in the end Gonzalo manage to get the gust that we were on and jibed to the finish in first, Paulo dos Reis and I jibed together and had a sprint to the finish with him beating me by a few meters. Fourth went to Murgio Marcos followed by Marcos Galvan in fifth who had a good come back in the end.
After the two races we headed to shore and that was it for the day as the wind backed away.
Lots of people came down on this Sunny Sunday to watch the event, great to see a lot of youth and juniors here with formula and especially on the techno class which is a strong class for putting new kids on the water.This foto of Hernan coaching the young kids was taken with my camera.
For more pictures go to www.windsurfargentino.com
http://windsurfargentino.typepad.com/photos/sudamericano_09_potreri/
