It's done

18 July 2018

Last night we sailed far south, because the weather forecast predicted southerly winds. Around 9 PM the current turned, so we gibed. There was also a south-eastern wind so we sailed a bit northeast. Today was going to be our day!
But, then we received a message of the radio. The race committee had decided that the finish time became 9 hours earlier, to 14:00 GMT. That means that we only had 6 hours left in the race, instead of 15 hours! This news did not cheer us up, because the entire night we sailed south and now we are probably not getting to the finish line on time.
When we were over the first disappointment, we really went for it! It turned out that our position more south was favourable, because the weather forecast was correct, and the wind shifted more south. And as a bonus, it started to rain cats and dogs. With over 9 knots we were sailing fast!
Because the race was about to end, it was our goal to approach the finish line as fast as we could. Since we were sailing quite fast, and in the direction of the finish line, it was nice to see our direct competitors float.
In the meanwhile, the race has finished, but we continue sailing. Again, the weather forecast was correct and we sail towards Esbjerg. We will spend tonight under sail as well.
The results have come in. As expected (since we could not make the most of our tactic due to the early finish) we did not end up high in the rankings. In our own A-class we became 6^th (out of 15) and 20^th overall. However, we did finish as first Dutch vessel, so we can still be a little bit proud!