Well another PWA racing season got underway with a long week in Jinha Beach, Korea.  I have generally had good success in Korea and going into the event as defending champion I had high hopes, especially with my new TR9's and JP Slalom IX's.  I arrived a couple of days early to get adjusted to the time zone and hopefully get some good tuning in before racing started, unfortunately the wind was not very good and with a less that average forecast it was looking like a long week was underway.

The first day of the event was registration and possibly some racing in the afternoon but with no wind forecasted it was a pretty relaxing registration day.  The second day of the event was the only day that looked like it had a decent forecast and the wind did start early, unfortunately the race crew was not ready for this early start and we missed out on an hour or so of good racing.  Once under way the wind was its usual direction, cross shore from the right and was gusty and tricky from the start.  I didn't even manage to get out of the quarterfinals after a poor start and poor first mark rounding.  I did have a good battle for the last qualifying spot but in the end lost out to the tricky winds.  By late afternoon we were into the second round but before we could finish it the wind became to gusty inside and we had to cancel for the day. 

On day three the wind never came up close to racing strength, we did manage to get on the water and plane occasionally but not close to getting a race started.  Day fours forecast looked semi promising with wind from the opposite direction, side on shore, we could be in for a good day of racing.  It was an early day with a 9am start but at least we had wind, I had a very poor start in the Semi's, not over early as reported, but a bit late.  I fought back to fifth but was never close enough to make it to the final.  In the losers final I had another poor start and bad first mark rounding but managed to pass a few guys before the finish to take 12th in the round, getting better.  With a very short break it was straight into round three, I cruised through my first heat but the winds started to get lighter and more tricky and in my quarter final heat I started poorly and had a tight battle with Ben to the last mark where he just got in front of me at the mark and I tried to gybe inside of him but my boom got stuck on his back and as I tried to pull it off all I could do was go down and lose out.   Another quarter final exit not a very good start to the event or season.  It was still early enough in the day though that I thought we would get into another round and we did but only managed to get eight heats done before the wind was to light to go any further.

The next day the wind only teased again, with just enough to get out on the water and occasionally get planning but never enough to get a race started.  Possibly some good winds coming for the last day but also rain on the way so it is hard to call with a storm coming wether the wind will truly hold or not.  It did look good at around lunch time but it was more off shore and outside than usual on the final day of racing.  There was plenty of wind outside to race but apparently there was not enough space and to much debris in the water to set a course out there so we sat around and waited for the wind to turn and fill in to the inside.  It looked as though we would have no more racing as it became late and the wind didn't change, but then suddenly at about 5:30pm the race crew could finally set a course outside where early they said it wasn't possible.  We did get out there and get going but starting so late I could see the writing on the wall as the wind never stays that late in Jinha beach.  After finishing one heat the next heat was mine with was cancelled at the first mark due to light winds, we tried a couple more times to get it started but it was just to late in the day.  No more racing and a very poor start for me again.  Big congrats to Alberto for his first PWA racing victory, he had some good speed in Korea and sailed solid!!

Back to Maui for me and more preparation time for the next PWA event in Costa Brava.  WIth a solid month to get ready I should be able to get some more good training and testing done before going to Spain and will even have a chance to do some racing at the first Maui Race Series on June 1st.

Aloha
Micah Buzianis