2023 Foiling Week ETF race 9

All tracking logged by Vakaros devices

Start and Downwind

The start was won by LVOC followed by BLUS. TMPR was the fastest after the bear away, rolling other boats and coming to the position just behind ENMO, probably gybing too late and then losing a bit towards the gate. Two leading boats stretched after the gybe. The wind was more consistent in this race. ATHP suffered a big loss after the gybe.

1st LW gate

LVOC made an unforced error and gybed too early to the gate mark. Once close to the gate, it never hurts to go a bit on the late side and prevent yourself from going deep and slowing down. They have lost almost 30m of upwind distance at the mark approach and rounding. 3rd and 4th placed TMPR and ENMO rounded the other mark, with easier maneuver and were for some moments equal with the leader. However, the extra tack put them just behind the leaders.
TOROA was rolling the LADY and made nice tactical rounding and kept the height after the mark to keep the clear lane.

1st Upwind

Again going to the left side was the key point, boats constantly gaining from the leeward. The course was still skewed by approx 10 degrees (less than before), so longer sailing on the starboard tack.
There was an incident between ENMO and TMPR, with ENMO tacking to leeward and TMPR bearing away. Was the bear away far enough so ENMO still had to keep clear was up to the jury to decide. Both boats have lost a lot of meters, especially ENMO. Whenever these things happen it is crucial to protest, let it go, and think about the rest of your race as quickly as possible.

WW gate

with the wind filled up better, it was even OK to round the right-hand mark with an early gybe. Saving an extra tack. TOROA went a bit too far and has lost a lot to TMPR.

2nd downwind

TMPR showed the best performance, being the only boat going faster than 25kts. Still a bit late gybe cost them some meters. BLUS has sailed much lower with the same speed as LVOC and has passed them. LADY went too far under the layline and has lost from ENMO.

2nd upwind

There was a small initial gain by windward boats on starboard, but once again steady gain from the leeward. The only leeward boat to lose was TOROA, probably because of speed issues. BLUS has sacrificed a lot of distance to tack two more times and keep LVOC under control. At this stage of the race is alays better to be safe if enough in front to be able to add the extra two maneuvers. Especially knowing you can hit big lulls in the middle of the race area.