Report from Alistair Deaves

OK Dinghy

Alistiar Deaves at Wakatere Club

Just finished my first warm up regatta so I thought I'd write something.

The journey here was a bit difficult. The flight from Hong Kong to Frankfurt had engine problems and they decided that the plane wouldn't make it to Europe and so 4 hours into the flight we turned around and headed back to Hong Kong where another 747 was waiting. So I arrived 11 hours late into Frankfurt, missed the connecting flight which was non transferable, was told a new ticket was 600 euro and got on a train instead for the 7 hour /5 train trip. Halfway across Germany I missed a connection and spent another 2 hours waiting for the next train. I arrived Warnemunde at 2 am after being up for 55 hours straight and was greeted by Greg and Jule. After 3 hours sleep I was up again and getting ready for the first race.

Warnemunde produced a mixed bag of conditions. Two days of shifty offshore breezes, often up to 15 knots. Jet lag was clearly evident as I threw away a 3rd place in race 1 and then got 19th in race 2. The third race was better with a third place. The second day was tough with 4 races in 12-16 knots and very shifty. I seemed pretty consistent with all results in the top 10 and I moved up to 7th overall.

With all to sail for on the last day, we had perfect Warnemunde conditions of a light and building sea breeze. Perfect for me, I led from start to finish, climbing to 5th overall.

The winner Joegen Svendsen won with a day to spare in my old green Icebreaker. Greg was second after a consistent regatta and Nordic Champion Stefan Myralf was third. 4 of the top 5 were sailing Icebreakers from myself.

Greg and Svendsen will certainly be front runners in Largs and so will Myralf if it is light.

I have a week in Potsdam now to work on the boats and do some training and then myself and Greg are off to Scotland next sunday.

Alistair