Micah Buzianis about PWA Costa Brava event

18th June 2013

Another light wind on the edge of racing event in the books.  Generally this is what you would expect in Costa Brava, Spain but every once in a while this place does go ballistic just not this year.  It did look like a decent forecast for the week but the forecast here as in most places doesn't alway hold true.  Day one registration day did hold true though with no wind forecasted it was a relaxing day of registering and preparing all the gear.  I was feeling much better prepared and motivated after a long month in Maui racing and training and wanting to erase the start of the year from Korea.

The rest of the week was a game of waiting, cooking on the beach, switching gear and guessing what is going to be the right gear to race on.  It seemed like we were on pace to get about five heats a day done from the start as the wind was very light and was coming and going as quickly as we could get on the water.  However we did end up getting a few more heats done with the new wind minimum rules in place than I expected.  Some were very questionable but so is the new wind minimum rule, which I expect to be changed by Turkey which is a very good thing.

Round one started out well for me cruising to the finals and feeling good and comfortable in the light winds.  However my timing let me done in the finals and after a poor start I was second to last at the first mark.  But my 9.2 TR9 has great low end power and pumps onto a plane quickly and easily so I managed to fight my way back to fifth which is tough in the light wind that we had in that final.

In the next round I slipped out in my second heat after a not so great start, almost coming off a plane before the first mark, not having enough wind to even go into my gybe and then getting run into from behind at the first gybe.  I managed to come back to fifth but doesn't mean much in that round you only want a fourth or better.  It was still early days but at the pace we were getting heats done I wasn't so sure we would get many more done.

Round three was going to be a critical one as it was looking like it might be the last one we get done and with a second round exit on my score line already I needed to make up some ground.  The wind was a bit better for this round, at least as far as strength but it was slightly off shore and still very gusty.  I went down to my 8.4 TR-9 and stayed on my 80 JP slalom board, the combo felt very good in these conditions with a good top end and the very good low end out of the gybes.  With some good starts and solid speed I cruised back into the final.  In this final I didn't hold back on the start and nailed it spot on with good speed and rounded the first mark with the lead.  It was a tough course as it was very gusty and the third and fourth reach were very tight.  I still had the lead round the last mark and thought I had the win but with a slight knock and drop in the wind Alberto got position on me and passed me before the finish.  But the second helped me and moved me back up in the rankings to third.

Last day and we had three heats of round four done but it wasn't looking like there would be much more wind especially enough to finish the whole round.  By about 3pm we had only finished three more heats and the wind was shifting radically as well as gusting in and out of suitable range.  It was looking like it was game over but I was still hoping to make a run to move up one or two spots.  In my first heat I received a gift as I was called over early along with six other sailors, Taty was the only one who wasn't over early but Patrick started with us but he wasn't supposed to be in our heat so we had to run it over.  So I had another chance and made it through with Taty in the lead.  This was short lived though as in my next heat I pushed it to hard and went over early and this time it was for real.  So I was then left to wait around on the beach the rest of the day to see if the round would be completed and where I would end up.  The final was finally set and was cancelled twice around 7pm so it was looking like it might not get finished and wouldn't count.  However they were just able to get it in and I did slip down off the podium but only two spots to fifth.

Not exactly where I wanted to finish but a clear step up from Korea and my gear did feel very good so I hope after a good break back in Maui for some more Maui Race Series and training with Phil I will be even more tuned up for Turkey.  This is one of my favorite spots on tour as well so I will be training hard and looking forward to this race and hopefully notching it up a step or two again.

Aloha
Micah Buzianis