Well the weather in Istanbul has returned to normal so the 470 event must be over! We had one race yesterday morning which actually got started on schedule. It was about 8-10 knots but really puffy and shifty. With the medal race competitors missing from our fleet there was lots of room on the start line and clean air. Our race had its high points and its low points. We had great upwind speed and point and with clean air managed to play the shifts and round ahead of 4 boats. The reach legs were a bit of an issue with our spinnaker however. It does not fly well on the reach, and took me a long time to set on the first reach. We were passed while trying to get the spin flying and lost our focus for most of the downwind. The second upwind was good and we gained back a boat. We stayed ahead of them but had a rather embarrassing capsize right as we crossed the finish line when we were hit with a big gust! Everyone headed back to shore and started packing up. We packed up "Quatchi" and sent the boat back to Germany where it will spend the winter. It was a bit sad seeing the boat leave as we have finally replaced almost everything on the boat.
Those sailors who did not immediately head home went out for some fun in Kadikoy in the evening. Imagine a quiet Monday evening during Ramadan and then 80 sailors squeezing themselves into one bar to relax after 7 days of racing! This morning we packed up our bags and said goodbye to our garden shed. There was a bit of excitement when I discovered my lifejacket was missing. One of the Turkish 420 sailors had grabbed it by accident and was wearing it on the water. Our friend Shevy managed to get it back for me and we piled into the Istanbul Yacht Club van and were driven to our hostel in Sultanahmed (with much confusion and backing down narrow streets and getting lost). We are staying here for the next few days with a German sailor Morten. We will do a bit of sightseeing and then we fly to Halifax on Friday.
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