IIR ( India International regatta) finally got underway. Sean "Ducky" Waddilove and Conor O Beirne will be flying Irish colours in an event full of colours and Asian's flavour with entries from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Slovenia Czech republic and of course Ireland.

The lads have been in Chennai, East coast of India, for now a week and are getting a truly amazing unique life experience having opted to stay with Coach Thomas Chaix and locals instead of the "organization provided" hotel. We used our time to train a little with local sailors, have a couple of colorful evenings out, a day to the Temples of Mamalipuram with the highlight of the day being a bunch of Monkeys getting high on 7up. The lads have been thrown in the heart of India seing the treasure of India as well as pure poverty... For good measure we ate out a couple of times tasting various aspect of Indian cuisine... All ok as long as the water bottle is not too far to cool down!

Back to racing! the event started today with 2 races completed in very light and shifty winds. The first race was not the greatest with the lads struggling to find the right lanes up the beats... Conor's downwind was however sufficient to secure 8th. Ducky found himself completely off phase with the wind and with no edge on speed against smaller sailors he could only secure 25th which he will hope to discard. With the wind still coming from the land it became very light and patchy. Ducky had a cracker at the pin taking the lead. Conor was slower to react and launched on port from a mid line position. The wind died and the race was abandoned... And the long wait for sea breeze started. It eventually came, the course was reset and the second race got underway again. Both Irish were at the pin having a good exit. playing the shifts they hot themself into 5th (ducky) and 8th (Conor) at the first windward. After the downwind Conor had climbed to 3rd and Ducky dropped to 7th. Conor picked another place on the beat to pick up 2nd on a shortened course whilst Ducky maintained his 7th.
Overall, Conor is lying 2nd behind a slovenian sailor and ahead the best Indian. Ducky will have to up his game tomorrow to stay on the hunt for a top position.

for results, videos and photos look at
http://www.iiregatta.in/

The second day racing was pretty light again but 3 races could be sailed. Conor was not as sharp and dropped back into 9th overall after a 34th, a 14th and a 5th. Ducky also struggled to find pace and settled 13th overall after scoring 28th, 11th and 15th. If the Slovenian Peter Janezic seems to be untouchable, Conor will hope to discard the 34th and place himself into a podium position.

The third day was dreaded and waited at the same time... It was indeed the day not to miss to stay on the hunt for a medal and Conor started with one of these races you want toerase from your memory. Cracker at the pin but he forgot to consolidate and rounded the top mark about 12th. then the jury decided he was breaking R42 and Conor did the slowest ever penalty turns (in 4-5 kts it is never fast!!!), back racing about 25th he then got dragged down at the leeward by a boat who was totally lost in terms of pointing and rules...and despite a slight catch up, it was a 27th. He picked himself up to sail two excellent races adding up a 4th and a 2nd to his series. That kept him somehow on the hunt for 3rd overall despite the 27th. but with 6 boats withing a mere 5 points, it is going to be a tough one. Ducky had a consistent day with a 11th, a 12th and a 9th... However he was a little fast off the line on the second race and will have to add an OCS in his score...

Day 4: still this light seabreeze over the course. the heat was starting make itself known and Conor appeared a bit tired but ready for action. Unfortunately, he felt foul of his main difficulty all along and did not consolidate after another amazing start... and then the dirty tactics of the Malaysians combined with an Indonesian not getting out of the way meant Conor taking a penalty for safety ruining any chances of medaling. Winning the subsequent protest made him feel a bit better but did not really change the outcome. the medal had slipped away! Sean , on the other hand had a solid race scoring 7th. The following race saw both sailors fighting near the top 10 with Conor 7th and Sean 11th. The final race really did not work out with both lads outside top 20. Sean seems to be lucky as the ocs collected yesterday seems to have been lost between the water and the results computer! If it remains lost, Sean will end up 12th overall, 5 places behind a disappointed Conor in 7th. Lessons were learnt and the trip was surely very successful in term of sailing but also for the cultural experience.