ILCA Senior Europeans in Varna, Bulgaria. Report from Casey Imeneo

Some of you might be wondering what the sailing is like in Bulgaria of all places? 
Varna provided a mixture of conditions on the Black Sea. Like most events, the pre-event training was spectacular sunny light to moderate conditions... Until day 1 of competition arrived. 

The ILCA 6 fleet was eager to start and on day two we had 7 general recalls (maybe more) before finally getting underway for the first race of the day. This set the trend for the week. Long days on the water due to so many recalls and shifting off shore winds, making it difficult for the race committee to run to scheduled time. 

In the later half of the regatta the conditions changed to an average 17-20knts with large cross swell. These conditions gave me a great opportunity to put the work I had been doing back home to the test. With great physical and mental preparation to continue to race hard with the top end of the fleet, this was where I achieved my best results.

Having been absent from racing the international fleet for almost 18 months it was pure joy racking back up on the start line again with 80 boats. It's fantastic to have the full Australian Radial Squad here in Europe, racing and training together while working with Matt Wearn for this event.  

Many learnings have come from the event and has provided me with some clear goals in our next training block in Denia, Spain before heading to Oman for the ILCA World Championships in December.

Casey