Comments Follow-Up

Thanks for the comments everybody! I thought, I answer some of these here. Firstly the boats in Dubai.

The exact observation was that one boat was significantly slow in accelerating, especially after tacks. I'm not so sure about its boat-to-boat performance. Different boat-builder guys there had different ideas about the source of this: weight, propeller not closing properly, and sail cut. This last one was apparently mentioned by Russell Coutts who was there earlier this year. I'm not sure though. There was nothing obvious with the sails. Neither with the standing rigging. The mast and shrouds seemed equally tuned. No problems, with steering. So, my guess is that it was weight related.

As for the plans for the future. This year started very fast, with a lot going on and it was not optimum. I actually wanted to have a well-planned year so that I can slowly build up a team with Grade 4 and Grade 3 races. But the oppurtunities at Nations Cup and Rimini made me take early steps...So, now I want to slow down a little and go back to the original plan. I'll try to make 3 more matches before the end of the year, mostly Grade 4s. The aim is to do all this with the same team, which would also be my long-term team.

Finally, the photo is from the Nations Cup showing us in action!