Watch this space....

Last night we had dinner with Keiju Okada who goes to high school here in Karatsu. Last years Worlds team members will remember him as the 60kg "beast" (Len's description) that was 3rd in Langkawi and this years 4.7 Worlds team will also know him because he came 4th there. An interesting, well mannered and dedicated sailor to say the least.

Keiju sails here almost every day of the week and so was kind enough to give the boys a few pointers on the wind patterns around the bay. He actually comes from a different area of Kyushu but because there is a high school here that has a very strong sailing team, he has moved here by himself to go to that school. The students involved in the sailing program don't have much time for study by the sounds of it though!

Today we managed to hook up with a group of 3 from Enoshima including Yuka Kishi the girl in the Worlds team for Napier. We set up a windward leward course and did a few short races. The breeze has been offshore yesterday and today so it is very puffy and shifty ranging from sitting in the boat to full power/hike.

We had a huge rain squall come through the first race and the wind shifted right about 40deg. After the squall it settled back into the left right puff and 30 deg shifts coming off the land. A bit like the North Shore beaches in a south westerly only worse.

Len heads for the shower in the Opti supervan. Actually that's about the only thing this van doesn't have!

Had some good practice on the race course with these 3 sailors from Enoshima (tokyo olympics sailing venue) up near Tokyo.The lad in blue is their coach Wataru Komiya and did the Opti worlds in Dan W's era. The girl in black is Yuka Kishi and she is in the Worlds team for Napier

Len gets some direction from the locals during his efforts to take out the Castle

Things start to spin up tomorrow. It is measurement day and they are really serious about it here. Each club has an allotted time during the day and the Hikari team are late afternoon. The big problem now is how soon we will have to come in from practice to allow enough time for the hiking straps to dry out! If your straps aren't dry they won't measure you (weigh the boat). I am now checking the rules.....