final report Australian Championships 09

I raced in the Gold fleet as planned and ended up finishing 14th overall out of 80 at the Australian Championships.

14

RAU, Ajay

194964

450

IND

41

7

13

(18)

8

18

105

87

I was very Consistent at these Championships,which was a huge positive.One of the onlookers remarked to me that if the race was just one leg,I would have won the regatta.it obviously felt bad as i was leading many a time and was in the top 3 in 8 races out of the 11,but in the end of the day I am happy and making gradual progress towards my goal."perfection'! this is my goal and it takes many years of hard work to achieve.my worst positions were a 12th and two 18th positions.I had two discards in the regatta.the rest of the races is within the top 10.This is a sign my big fleet racing is improving.i was most impressed with the races where i was in a bad situation because i didn't give up and just focused to get back into the race. there was one race which I was leading "again" but capsized twice on the trot with a little less the 15 seconds separating the capsizes.I did well to finish 18th.one of my best races i have sailed for a long time was the last race of the event where i was placed second last in the gold fleet after mark one,as i had to 720 turns as i had a collision with the eventual winner of the regatta at a very crucial part of the first leg.this race i managed to finish 18th again beating 22 boats in 6 legs which i thought was fantastic.I am really enjoying my sailing and my confidence is improving every day.these last 5 races saw a mix of extreme conditions between 5 to 30 knots,there were sighting of shark warning helicopters...twice!.......................... on the whole a consistent performance in both the light and heavy stuff.A Worthy mention, I thank the Castles family who took me away from my small hotel room to let me stay in their house.the event was fantastic...my next event is in a weeks time where i will be sailing on the river off Perth,the Asia Pacific isaf grade 1 regatta.I am really enjoying my experience at these regattas.the weather and venue has been fantastic.the Organisers have been very helpful.I turned 21 years on Jan 5th but racing makes me feel like i am 16 with a strong desire to Win!!!!!