In..

Leading Dalton and Bora photo ThMartinez/Sea&Co http://www.thmartinez.com



Sorry for the false alarm, (and thanks for the nice comments) but I managed to race today and it went OK. A cartilage torn in two and some mild ligament strain was the damage report from yesterday. The knee brace helped although I had a sleepless night, mainly texting back home. Knowing that I wasn't going to cripple myself and it was just going to be weak/hurt made the decision easy. Also I still remember those words from Roger Angell all those years ago..

"Its not the size of the dog in the fight..."

So the first race went ok, I finished 7th, not a bad result in this company, but not great either. I had good speed and got out the line OK. Bora won it and the gap between him and Nathan got smaller.

The next race I felt good and got out the start well. I went round the top mark fourth and pulled up to second on the next beat.

All the time I was smiling, and on each tack err.. wincing. The tacks were bad actually.

On the final run I wanted to sail in the flat water, just to make it home. I went right, Arnaud left, and I snuck it on the line. Funny that I'd be winning another race after yesterday.

I can recommend the pain killers.

In the final race I did the gybe of doom after working hard to pass Rohan down wind. I just fucked up the gybe, that's all. But unforgivable on my part. In this race Charlie McKee broke his hand in a pitchpole and was off to Hood River Hospital. He still completed the last race though..Get well soon Charlie!

After a nice evening with the Camp Epoxy boys and Meridith and Alan Block, its now time for bed...

Tomorrow will see a new World Champion.

S