Ok, where do I start?! I guess you have read and seen a lot about the Pozo World competition week already, so I'll summarise my view. It was great to meet all the girls (16 entries) for the competition, girls like Olya, Sarah Quita Offringa and Steffi Wahl who I had heard and seen about but never met, were really nice and I really enjoyed the team spirit between all of us despite the fact we were competing against each other! It was great to sail with all the girls!
As the conditions weren't too great (wind but very little in the way of waves), there was a lot of waiting around to be called for our heats, but the event organisation by Daida and Iballa was spot on, with the event tent giving us food and drinks and the competitors area with comfy beanbags sheltering us from the wind while we watched the sailing! My parents came to watch so it was a shame it wasn't classic Pozo as I had built it up to be, with super windy conditions and waves, but there were still some breathtaking moments and the excitement of some interesting knockouts, and stalled double forwards from Koster and Browne! I don't think my parents would have enjoyed 3m weather Pozo if it had been that windy so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise!
So my training up to the event I was really happy with, my forwards were pretty consistent, sideways and mostly dry (but not the biggest), tabletops getting better if I could find the right ramp and wave riding better too. My heat almost went ahead twice before the real heat, with Justyna versus Olya and me versus Steffi. The second time round our whole heat was run, 14 minutes with 1 wave to count and two jumps, the red flag went up, and then it was cancelled afterwards. This was a bit of a let down as I think I sailed a good heat, with a nice clean forward, tabletop and a good wave at the bunker. The conditions weren't great and I think there was some problems with the judging and the live scores, so this heat was binned.
The next and 'real' ladies heat was a day or two after, the same criteria and I don't think the conditions were any better. I went on 3.7 as I was powered up just before, but the wind must have dropped a little during our heat as all the girls were underpowered. This made it really hard to get a clean forward, and the waves were small!! Justyna and Steffi took the win on this one, I think I was 1.3 points behind overall, winning on jumps but lacking a good scoring wave.
So I am out! Lack of conditions meant only a single elimination was run, (which runs tops seeds against lowest seeds) so half the fleet in mens and ladies comes joint last. With a double elimination there would have been a ladder to work your way up. It was a real shame after all that training I didn't have a chance to fight my way back up the double. For the guys this means a lot of the higher seed rankings now are in the trials for Tenerife, so they will be seeded against the top seeds, causing a bit of a stir as they have lost their hard earnt ranking over many years!
I have to say I was super impressed with all the sailors especially the top guys and girls making the conditions look so easy! It was really inspiring.
With 23 girls entered for Tenerife I really hope we get good conditions to compete. I am currently sat in my apartment with no wind outside and little waves-come on Cabezo!!
All the photographs are either from Jose Pina, Fishbowl Diaries, Si Crowther, John Carter or myself, so thanks to those guys for doing a great job and capturing the action!
