As I walked to where my boat was this morning I was blasted in the face by sand whipping ferociously across the beach. After stalling as much as possible, everyone got dressed and rigged which was a team effort. It took an average of four people, rather than the usual one, to step fully setup rigs because of the intensity of the morning wind. After flailing around in the water while putting on the rudder and centerboard it was time to turn down wind. Just before I launched I heard someone yell they had just captured a 38knot wind gust on their speedometer.

Getting down to the course was an adventure in itself, I flipped about 3 times. After I managed that, it was time to start. Being my first European event I think it was only right I was given a proper thrashing. I was not on pace in the breeze, and the windward legs lasted for about 20 minutes even for the better guys. So with that out of the way, the wind looks like it will be more reasonable for the rest of the regatta and I am excited to go out there and show what I can do!