Day 1 Europeans, Mixed emotions

Today was the first day of the Moth Europeans. it was nice and windy today in denmark. So perfect sailing weather, especially for one who likes to sail in the breeze. It was an early day as the scheduled start was at 10 O'clock. Although the harbour with a small canal and almost non existent slipway is not the perfect place to launch appr 40 moths in onshore breeze of 20 knots. It took some time before we were all on the water. And after some delay the first was started. I was pleased with my upwind speed. Downwind I lost a bit and boathandling can still be better. But the result was a 2nd place and that made feel good and ready for the next race. The 2nd race same story and I was trailing Arnaud and Simon when half way I heard some crack. Firstly I couldn't see that there was something wrong and continued sailing. later I saw that my mast stump cracked and my mast was few centimeters down. I could continue sailing and my goal was to finish the race in one piece. So trying to do everything gently.... on the last run the mast sinked 5-10 cm further in the mast stump, luckily it stayed upright although all the tension on the rig was gone. I finished 3rd and went straight in to avoid any further damage. So the day started with an up and finished with a down... almost literally. Now we just finished all repairs. Lets see what kind of surprises the next days of the Europeans will bring.