Cayard Sailing Reports: Star Sailors League Finals 2019

Dec 05, 2019  Nassau, Bahamas

For day 1 of the SSL finals, the fleet ran in two races in a shifty Northwest breeze. Phil and I did fine, not great. We are tied for 5th on 14 points with Hamish Pepper/Pedro Trouche and Iain Percy/Anders Ekström. Melleby (6points) followed by Negri (7) at the top. The points are all pretty tight as you would imagine with a fleet like this.

Four races are on the schedule for tomorrow in 16-18knots. We will be tired tomorrow night!
Big breeze here in Nassau today yielded good results for Phil and I. Our 4, 14, 1 moved us up to 3rd place at the half way point of the qualifying series. Diego Negri (ITA) and Frithjof Kleen(GER)are really sailing consistently well and have a strong lead with just 8 points. Mateusz Kusznierewicz(POL) and Bruno Prada(BRA), 2019 World Champions, have 17, two points ahead of us.

Day 3 of the SSL finals was rough for Phil and I. We really never seemed to get on the correct side of the shifts. There were plenty and they were big. Yesterday’s leader Diego Negri also had a tough day and slipped to third. Some of you younger sailors enjoyed the lighter winds and did well today. This all means things are tightened up for Phil and I tomorrow. We are 4 points out of 5th and 8 points ahead of the critical 10th spot. The forecast for tomorrow is more light wind.

The photo of us with our heads in the boat and behind several of our competitors is a good reflection of our day.