A moderate 10-15 knots wind filled in today to make it a beautiful racing day. Most sailors set out on 11’s, Paulo dos Reis was the only one who chose 12.0.
First Race
With the pin end favoring, most sailors cramped there and some ended up getting buried behind other sailors. Gonzalo risked taking early and going to the port side of the course. At the upwind mark, Paulo rounded a few meters ahead of me and Gonzalo came a few meters behind followed by Mathias. Paulo on his 12.0 maintained his lead on the downwind and on the last upwind, tacked half way to cover me and opened his lead by a big margin to control the race until the end and take another bullet. Gonzalo overtook me on the upwind and rounded just a few meters ahead of me, on the downwind I gybed early and took a good shift on the port tack side of the course which made me jump to 2nd , Gonzalo finished 3rd, Mathias in 4th and Carlo Alberto Issac in 5th
Second Race
The winds dropped a bit on this race and some big shifts came in during the race. Mathias and Gonzalo had a good start half way on the line, but Paulo had good angle and managed to come from behind and maintain his angle to round the first upwind in first, followed very closely by Myself and Gonzalo, Guilhermo and Mateus Issac. On the downwind, Paulo rounded in first and started the last upwind with a good lead, I covered Gonzalo, and when he tacked I did the same. Paulo who was flying, took another win, I had a close battle with Gonzalo on the downwind and finished second with Gonza in third, Mathias, who was on 10.0 held on to his 4th spot followed by Guillermo in 5th and Mateus Issac.
Third Race
The wind increased to around 15 knots for this final race of the day. Gonzalo, Mathias and Renato Pozolo had a good start and Gonzalo was the first one to tack to the mark, Mathias had to duck Paulo who as coming on Starboard and lost a bit, other wise would have been in a good positions on the top mark. Gonzalo rounded the top mark together with Paulo, I followed in with Mathias close behind and then Guillermo and Mateus Issac. On the downwind, Gonzalo Jibed at the perfect spot and Paulo who went a bit further started to come with speed, from what I saw, it looked like they where less then 1 m apart. Paulo manage to round in first with Gonzalo a hairs length away. I rounded the downwind and tacked straight away, which paid off big time. When I tacked again, Paulo was just ahead of me, he tacked and rounded in first to control the race on the last downwind and take yet another bullet, with a perfect regatta for him so far with 6 wins in 6 races. Gonzalo did not make the mark by very little and I manage to sneak to 2nd place, Gonza in 3rd, Mathias in 4th, Guillermo in 5th, Carlos Issac in 6th and Renato Pozolo in 7th.
So in the Open Paulo dos Reis is clearly ahead with straight bullets. Mathias Pinheiro is leading the masters with ease. In the Grand Master, Ricardo Conde is leading but followed closely by Carlos Alberto Issac. Mateus Issac is winning the Youth and in the women Ana Sofia is the only female.
Tomorrow we have the last day of racing for the south Americans with light winds showing in the forecast.wilhelm
Wilhelm Schurmann
