Have you missed me? Yes I know I am behind with the blog but we have had a couple of very busy days sailing and it has been impossible to set aside time.

Day one of the semi finals:  started off slow with light winds and quite a lot of hanging around.  Finally racing commences with the girls, and I get to go out on the Brig to follow the racing up close and photograph the races.  It’s stiff competition out here with 112 boats and with some of the biggest names in Hobie world, and not made easier by the lighter wind conditions.  The girls are honored to have received a green card to the semi finals and be allowed to sail with such pro’s, but tactics are vital to be able to read the winds and gain an advantage.  The girls had a difficult first day and we ended the evening with a dinner to discuss tactics and trimmings in readiness for day two.

Second day of semi finals: winds are better and we are expecting a bit more action on the course. The girls were perfectly placed on the start line only for the race to be postponed due to a black flag (meaning a number of boats crossed the start line too early resulting in a restart).  Not such a great start for the second race and conditions were blowy.  They had back to back races and were very tired when they came in but had a lot of fun.  They finished 109th out of 112, but we are looking on the positive side, at least they weren’t last, and they have learnt such a huge amount from these pro’s.

Evening ended with a cut party, to announce the 56 boats for the final, which starts tomorrow.

Day of rest for the girls whilst we watch the finals.  Start the morning with paddle boarding in the calm waters of the bay. The girls have been very jealous of my fast rides in the Brig with Tom and Eliza.  They run one of the rescue boats that I have been allowed to sail on for the last few days and my stories of going 49 knots (honestly, I thought I was fish food a couple of times) and fishing, has meant they want to have a ride.  Unfortunately the first thing I managed to hook was my finger and you don’t exactly want blood around in these waters.  But I soon got the hang of it and managed to catch a flat head.The girls finally got their chance this morning to take a ride on the Brig and off they went to try and spot the grey nurse sharks that have been seen on the bay over the last few days.

The other Danish sailors, Daniel, Trine and Nicolaj all qualified for the finals, after some superb sailing.  Trine and Nicolaj had two first places in the semi finals resulting in a 15th place overall with  Daniel and Lachlan 14th overall.  Day 1 of the finals and the wind picked up substantially with a Nor’easterly wind of 25 knots. Five races were completed, so they were very tired when they came back to shore. Unfortunately both had been black flagged, so they lose a race each. Final day tomorrow…watch this space.

Here you can see the race from a divers point of view:

Have been observing that Michala, whilst good with faces, seems to be having difficulty remembering names.  We have met some sailors from New Zealand and Michala seems particularly challenged by their names. sometimes its good to work with name association.  So we decide to teach her to remember Zane’s name by saying an associated word, Insane, this going well now, we have ‘insane’ Zane in the bag.  So now we move on to Malcolm, but that’s not too easy with name association, so we just practice…..but she goes a bit far. Constantly practicing, where I have to tell her to give it a rest.  We head down to the beach for a bit of sunbathing and relaxation as we watch the racing.  Malcolm passes and Michala very confident with her names now shouts out hi Marvin!!! I rest my case!

I am so excited that we finally get a lie in  tomorrow, cannot wait.  We decide to try and arrange a new kangaroo expedition for this evening, we heard of a new place they congregate and we call David, the taxi guy who brought us down from Sydney.  He very kindly offers to take us and will not accept any payment but he cannot do this evening, so Michala arranges for us to be picked up at 7.00am – what about my bloody lie in Michala??

Went to the fishmonger to buy lovely prawns and fish for dinner, Yoanna managed to corner the fishmonger with some lengthy interrogation about what fish she can and cannot eat.  Only fish with scales and gills….she says, insisting that sharks did not have either so that was not possible.  The queue was getting longer and longer, then after finally choosing her fish, she needs indepth instructions on how to cook it.  The evening ended well with eating beautiful prawns and Yoanna having Mahi Mahi fish, whilst having a glass of champagne, very nice end to the day.

P.s off to bed early……thanks Michala