The 2011 Techno World Championships practice race fired off today in near ideal conditions for racing.[more]
With the fog consuming the entire Golden Gate Bridge the 200+ racers split up for some trial runs in their first racing action on San Francisco Bay and the weather was literally made to order. With the Under 17 fleet headed to the eastern course and the under 15 division on the western course the wind seemed to be tailoring itself to the fleets. The eastern course was showing a solid 20+mph of breeze across the water while for the younger kids the wind was backed off about 3-5mph making for full planing racing for all.
After a short postponement to allow for some large commericial traffic to clear the course it was time to get down to business. As the gun sounded the bulk of both fleets, on both courses, opted for the starboard tack start taking them close to the shoreline for their first tack.
After flopping back over to port tack the leaders now were going to have to make their first lay line call and with a 1.5 knot flood tide pushing them away from the mark it was no surprise that both courses saw the leaders under-standing the lay line and were forced in to the double tack. The currents will no doubt play a big part in the racing as the week continues.
There are no official race results for the practice race so for now enjoy the photo gallery.
