European Raceboard Championships

This is on now at Nove Mlyny, Czech republic. There are 4 Aussies over here competing but so far the main competition has been us against the elements! Windsurfing is a summer sport here but the definition of summer is that the lake is liquid not solid! From all over northern europe locals have been telling us that April was great with temperatures in the 20's. This week however it has struggled to get over 10 degrees. The wind conditions have been good but, it is the apparent temperature that has take some adapting to, not necessarily successfully. John has survived the best due to his Czech mate lending him a 5mm wetsuit, and Juha from Finland lending him some palmless wetsuit mittens, who knew such things exist?! Winter gear from Sydney is certainly not up to this summer! The rest of us are wearing 2 or 3 layers of wetsuits of various thicknesses. Core temp is OK but the extremities like the hands are tricky to keep operating for a whole session of races. After a gybe you are not sure if your hands are actually going to close around the boom! The hospitallity of the locals is fantastic, for the first day I must have looked cold as people kept lending me jackets. I am very warm on shore now but have had a little trouble on the water. Hitting a dead carp at full tilt near the beer gate (So called as the marks are sponsored by a local pivo brand and look like a full glass) didn't help with a quick swim for more temperature regulation. The top racers are still going in bare feet!!! some resting with their feet in the water between races. We are not the only ones feeling the cold. The Argentinians and Spanish are feeling it and even many of the locals are doing it hard. Even the Finns say they are FREEZING! The regatta organisers have a big heater in the tent and the BBQ last night had perfectly cooked meats and plenty of pivo and a 2 piece band to help us warm up on the dance floor.

If you want to check out the photos or results they are all here.

europeans2019.raceboard.org/

There a few Exocets here. Borja won the last race yesterday on one. He is interviewed in the video on the regatta website. The wind was a steady 15kn.
The view is that they are nicer to sail than the phantom, quicker upwind in all conditions but not as fast overall as the phantom in 7-12kn for our course racing. They look huge and are certainly heavier than the phantom.
Look at the notice of race at the race website for the weight cutoffs. Unlike the windsurfer class, we all start together. The race committee have set 400m start lines so room for 75 boards.

Air temp

Wind chill temp

These are the business. I've still got pins & needles in 2 fingers from not wearing anything on my hands on day one.

^^^^
That makes me happy and fuzzy on the inside .
Im old

From SVK1 Sports Productions