Another great result after a challenging 6 days of racing in Sweden.

I probably had the worst possible start to a regatta with a premature start in race one and then a silly mistake in race two loosing places on the line to take 8th. I needed to have a serious rethink after the first day of racing sitting 72nd overall.
Day two was much better for me as I started well and sailed with confidence to take two bullets and move up to 1st overall. I was pretty surprised to be leading overall especially after the disaster on day one.
Day three again was tricky with different sides paying each beat and a strong current to confuse the lay lines. I sailed well again to chalk up two 2nd places to extend my lead overall.
For the last day of qualifying we had to sit ashore before the wind filled in and we launched in a building thermal. I started well and lead around every mark in the first race. In the second race I rounded second in the decreasing breeze, the race was abandoned at mark two which was pretty frustrating but probably the right decision as the wind had completely disappeared at mark 3. After waiting around in the glorious sunshine for a few hours we were sent home.
Day 5 was the first day of finals and the breeze blew up to 15 knots but was pretty shifty and patchy close to the shore. In the first race I pulled through the fleet well to finish 4th. In the final race of the day I rounded the windward mark in 3rd, after a good run the breeze was all over the place as i went from 3rd to 10th and back to 3rd by the finish.
Going in to the final day I had a healthy 30 point lead over my nearest rivals. We only had one race in the fickle breeze as I protected my lead against the Cypriot and Croatian sailors. I didnt sail that well but secured my victory overall in the single race.
It was great to win the Europeans for the 5th year running and continue my roll this year. Hopefully it will keep going for a while longer!!!!!

For full results see
http://www.nordicweek.se/resultat_2009.asp