Good morning RTYF board,
We are writing to you in recognition of how your foundation has helped us attend our first ever Formula 18 World Championships earlier this year.
The regatta was held in Costa Brava, Spain between 30th June and 5th July.
The area is known for its consistent 10-15 knots of sea breeze each day, and the practice days prior to the event gave us exactly that.
Day 1 of the regatta gave us completely different conditions to what we had been training in, with an average wind strength of 20 knots, and gusts nearing 30. We managed a 30th and 20th in conditions that tested everyone in the fleet, but unfortunately suffered gear damage on the way back to shore after racing.
After replacing the broken parts overnight, we left the beach in lighter winds on day 2. The wind took most of the day and several general recalls before coming in strong again late in the afternoon. Starting the race in 20+ knots we were in the front half of the fleet when our jib car suffered a major malfunction that forced us out of the race.
Day 3 was spent frantically trying to get a replacement jib car, but due to the regattas location we were not able to get to a chandlery before racing. Being forced to sail with a jib car with no ball bearings in such a competitive fleet left us with scores of 48, 31 and 32 for the day. With these being the last races in the qualification series, our score saw us missing the gold fleet by one position on countback.
Still unable to locate a replacement jib car we struggled through the silver fleet racing until the last day, when we found another sailor willing to sell us the whole jib car and track.
Wanting to finish off the regatta well, we felt positive when the wind again over performed and gave us 20-30 knots on the course. Getting a 3rd in the first race was a fantastic feeling, and we were again feeling confident in the second race reaching our bottom gate in the top 3. During our spinnaker drop at the mark the gear breakage from the first day came back to haunt us, with the spinnaker chute off the replacement pole separating from the mouth our race was over. We limped our boat the several nautical miles back to the closest beach to attempt a repair, but as we were ready to launch again, we realised that the days racing was now over, and the regatta finished.
Our final result was 10th in Silver fleet, or 76th overall out of 137 teams. Not the position we had hoped for, but we had some big learnings and proved to ourselves that we do belong in this highly competitive fleet.
The Ron Tough Yachting Foundation grant gave us the ability to add several training days prior to the event, plus took the sting out of what was a very expensive regatta for us.
Thank you for your support, and helping WA sailors attend events all around the world.
Jared and Suzanne Eyles
JSA Racing