'Vejas galvoje' - Spring tour II

Conditions:
This time VG Spring tour took place in Elektrenai lake, 'Pievos' spot. The forecast was promising, but the reality during the race was much worse. According to the forecast we expected 7-12m/s wind all the day. When me and my family arrived about at 10.30 it was so, but at 12.00 when the starts had to begin the wind dropped to 5-10m/s and it left so until 16.00. Organisers were afraid that the wind could  stop blowing at all, thus they  tried to do as many starts as possible. After 7 races were finished everybody decided that there is no need to wait more for the wind and the races were closed. After 0.5h the wind started blowing 8-14 m/s and left so until the night. Totally 7 races were done, only during the last 2 race I have managed to plane without any stops. During all other races I was standing for at least 50-100 meters, because the wind was very gusty. Distance:

Equipment:
I was using:

• Simmer Style SC Race 2009, 7.0  sail;
• JP Slalom III 109l board;
• Select SL07 39cm fin.

I have also tried Gaastra GTX 8.5 2 cams, but it was too unstable, so I left on Simmer.

Other (heavier) guys were using 7.6 - 8.6 sails - just Mantas LTU 13 was using 9.7 sail and Robertas LTU 127  was using 9.0 sail. Everyone's boards were from 110l to 120l.

Results:

This time Mantas LTU 13 with his 9.7 sail was the unbeatable one.

1st -  Mantas Gresevicius LTU 13 - 5 points

2nd - Arvydas Moliusis LTU 789  - 11 points

3rd - Rytis Jasiunas LTU 799(me)- 13 points

Again I am very satisfied with my result, because 3rd place is podium place. The beginning of the season is going very well for me (FW - 2nd and 3rd, SL - 3rd). I think it is because of my good physical preparation (All winter and spring - 6 trainings a week) and of light wind. I can use out my physical advantage against other sailors by pumping all the time. I hope that during the rest of the season to keep up in TOP - 3 or at least in TOP - 5 in Slalom and FW overall. It can be very hard to do this in high winds, but I will do my best. :)

The most memorable moments and my thoughts:

1. During the 5th (I guess) race everybody was so excited and willing to win that half of the fleet went over starting line 5 seconds too early. Paulius LTU 718 and Mantas LTU 13 have made a crash when one of them tried to stop.
2. Start was very important for everyone except Mantas. Because if you stopped on the starting line you had no hope to be in TOP 8. I did so one time.
3. Big sails were ruling. It wasn't important to have good speed it was important to plane throughout the distance. Mantas was the only one who was planing without any stops.
4. Jibe was very important as well. Because if you haven't done planning jibe you had no hope to plane out immediately, because the main group will come after you and block the wind.