I arrived at Gravedona about 1400 on Saturday after 16 hours of driving from Monchengladbach, broken by an overnight stay in my tent at Bad Bellingen, just short of Basel. The trip was made a lot longer by a huge queue (4 hrs long) to get through the Gotthard Tunnel in the Alps. Saturday was spent rigging the boat and getting the accommodation sorted. Lots of teams already arrived, including 6 Vipers as part of the 2B sailing team who were already out sailing a mini regatta.
Due to the storm the night before, the wind was directly onshore, making it difficult to get off the ramp. So the practice race start was delayed until the wind swung round enough to get off the ramp. Unfortunately the wind started to lighten as well. So, off to the practice race in a light Northerly, my first race in the Falcon F16 and my first race in anything for about 3 years. Didn't get a great start and seemed to find all the wind holes around the course. Made the mistake of trying to pass Eric in his Stealth on the windward side on the last downwind and got driven off into a wind hole - well the wind hole turned out to be the end of the wind! So the fleet sailed off ahead and we just drifted back. Still, good to be sailing on the lake.
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