2020 DN Worlds: Day 1 PM Report

Good evening from wet Orsa Lake in Sweden, site of the 2020 IDNIYRA World Championship regatta. Did I mention that it was wet? I have newspapers stuffed into my boots in an attempt to dry them out. (Thanks to photographer Sean Heavey for that tip!) But the important thing is that the qualifiers, 2 B fleet, and 2 A fleet races were sailed. The winds were all over the place, both in direction and velocity. The ice was hard but I did hear racers mention that there were soft spots that grabbed runners a bit. The winner of the first race, Tomasz Zakrzewski P55, said that he was “fighting the boat” during the race and changed his runners from 100s to 95s for the second race. Tomasz’ brother, Lukasz P155, was in second place in the first race, the first time the brothers have lined up in the one two blocks for the next race. Their dad was right there with them, enjoying the action. The course was changed several times and the A fleet race started in light air but ended in heavier air. After an unusually dismal first race, Karol Jablonski P36 found his groove, battled against Ron Sherry US44 in the second lap, and took the checkers for the second race. The temperature is supposed to get cold tonight which will take care of the water on the ice. That’s all for now. It’s time to exchange the newspaper in my boots!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention why Daniel Hearn received a DSQ in the B qualifier. He sailed between the darling mark and the mark, not recognizing that the darling mark was a stick with red flag rather than a smaller mark like in North America.