Eurocat 2010

The best edition up to now! (for us).

Last year we ended 25th and this year we managed to get into the top 10 (9th place) out of 53 boats!

Again a great event as Eurocat always is. Great scenery to sail in, great fun as we are with a big group of Belgian sailors and a great race as a lot of great teams show up.

In the C1 class the teams to beat were Carolijn Brouwer/Liz Hurley and Chris Sproat/Georgina Burke.

We left early so we had some days off there before the regatta. It gave us some time to get some more sailing together as most of the sailing lately were test sessions....

Friday the first day of racing was scheduled, a second one on Sunday.
On the first day we had almost perfect sailing conditions. In the beginning quite light with no trapping, the final 2 races double trapping in a nice sunshine!

We did 4 races on Friday and we managed to get good starts everytime. Our boatcontrol in these conditions has become very good so from this year onwards we are trying to start in the first line.
On the course our boatspeed is good too (we even came first at the upwind mark once!). Especially when we double trap we sail great angles upwind and are able to keep the hull our of the water longer and longer which means speed! :-) Kathleen is working her ass off going higher and lower in the trapeze to keep the hull steady :-)
Reward of the day: 8th place!

On Sunday the wind increased to 20+ knots. We did three races and my body was happy they didn't have the time to throw in a forth! :-)

Also now we tried to start front row, but in these conditions it was a bit more difficult. We ended up in the front row but didn't get up to speed fast enough everytime and had to deal with bad air...
During the 3 races we started to push the boat harder and harder. It was a real test as this was the first time we sailed these conditions with the Falcon. I have the feeling we didn't came near the limits of the boat and this gives great prospectives for the future! :-)
Especially on the downwind the boat was a sweetie! Super stable to sail and by the end of the third race we managed to do a downwind leg with a hull out of the water most of the time! And what a great speed we had! Great kicks on the F16!