Happy Easter, everyone!
Welcome to the French Olympic Sail Week.
All 11 Olympic classes are racing here: 1,000 boats representing 52 countries. We will have six days of racing, with a possibility of 16 races. Lots of teams are having their Olympic qualifying trials here: French, Israelis, Finnish, Russian and more.
We had a practice race, and about 35 boats raced. It was pretty civilized because Bob and I started behind the line and actually won. We had our best tuning session yet before the start, and Paul said he actually learned something!
FRENCH OLYMPIC SAIL WEEK, HYERES - Day 1
This is one of the Majors--all the teams are here. We have two groups of 40 boats to race, with a total of 80 in our fleet. The first three days are qualifying, but all the races count towards the final.
Race 1
We had about 10 knots of wind out of the east for the first race,
with nice waves.
We had a great start towards the boat end. Our speed was good, and we punched out right away. The wind was in a right phase, and we wanted to go left, so we continued on starboard. As we got out to the left side of the course, we got a good left shift, but we had sailed through a light spot to get there, so a few boats crossed us from the right. Luckily, we had a good lane so were able to stay in clear air on port. We rounded the mark in about eighth. On the run, we jibe set, and most of the fleet bore away.
We had a good puff and good speed to pass everyone and get the inside at the favored gate, going right. We rounded the leeward gate in first, then took a left shift to a puff on the right side and extended our lead some. We held on the reach and then bore away on the run. The Russian team, in second place, did the wild thing on the run to cut our lead in half, but we still won easily. (The wild thing is when we go on a wild spinnaker reach on the run. It can work really well in a lot of wind and choppy waves, but you can also get burned if the wind shifts the wrong way or if the wind dies.)
Race 2
The wind made some big shifts with big clouds passing overhead and
then died for a while. After moving the marks around, the
committee got a start off. Halfway up the beat, we were looking
good in a big right shift, but as it turns out it, was too big because
the race was abandoned. After several more failed attempts to get
a course set, the committee sent us in for the day.
A cold front blew through on the way in, and we got lots of wind and lots of rain, but by sunset (7:30 p.m.) the sky was clearing.
Tomorrow we may have four races to make up for our missed race, and the wind is supposed to be a MISTRAL, which is a very strong wind off the mountains.
We had pizza and hot chocolate for dinner, so we are ready.
Time to beat 'em up.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
No racing today for all classes. The Mistral came through today with winds over 50 knots. We were postponed until 2:00, but the wind only increased, so we were canceled for the day. Racing should resume tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
The wind was blowing stink this morning, as predicted. At 7:00 a.m. it was blowing 33 knots at the port of Hyeres, and 45 knots off the coast, with white caps everywhere. The race committee postponed us on shore until 2:00 p.m., then they abandoned for the day.
This wind is so famous they have a name for it, The "Mistral Wind."
Well, Paul did laundry, finally, and Bob shortened our boom to minimum length and tapered the end. This makes the boom lighter, and also fixes it so it will not hit the water so soon on the tight spinnaker reaches.
Tomorrow's forecast is for a light north wind, followed by afternoon sea breezes. We may have a busy day, with four races to make up for lost time.
That's all the news from France.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Wow, what a long day! My head hurts. I must be dehydrated sitting here in the pizza joint writing the race report. Our fleet had to make up a lost race, so we had an extra race today.
Forecast was for light wind in the morning out of the north, and then a sea breeze out of the south. First race was to start at 11:00 a.m., and we were to be the first start, so we left the launch ramp early. Had a good tune up going out trying the new jib lead position that we had learned the day before the regatta started. Wind was already out of the southeast at 8 knots, with a slight chop.
Race 1
Wind was kind of light, but a lot of chop had built up for the start, so
the most important thing was to get clear of other boats so we
could foot when the big chop came through. It was death to have to
pinch if a boat was below you.
We had a good start a quarter of the way down from the boat. There was a big left shift at the start, though, and we tacked to port immediately. Boats on the left were ahead, but we had great jets. We won the right side, and a Swedish boat won the left, and we met 100 yards from the weather mark. We got the last puff, though, and rounded ahead and extended on the reach and run.
They caught us a little on the second beat, and the guys on the left were scaring us, but we rounded the next weather mark well ahead and cruised on to win!
Race 2
Pin was favored, and the left was looking like it was more favored.
Wind a little stronger--7-11 knots. We kind of bounced around near
the pin after the start, but finally got out in clear air and tacked to
port.
We had good speed again and battled up the first beat, pinching off the leading Italian boat and forcing them left, but at the weather mark they came back two lengths ahead. We rounded second and almost rolled them on the tight first reach, went down the run and were passing them to leeward but could not quite get through, and they rounded ahead. Very frustrating.
The Swedish team in third had left and passed both of us. We again caught up to the Italians but forced them to the favored left side again, and they ended up at the weather mark five lengths ahead. Very, very frustrating!
Well, we finished third.
Race 3
We started at the boat end, but the pin was favored, so we were far
behind from the start. The left side had been paying, and it looked
like this race was going to be a replay, so we took a bunch of sterns
and found a nice lane close to the port lay line.
We managed to keep our air clear for most of the beat and rounded the mark somewhere in the high teens. By this time, we had overlapped with the Finn fleet, so it was a crowded reach. We were looking good breaking low on the reach until a Finn took us up as we were rolling him, and we went right back up with the rest of the fleet.
On the run, we jibe set and got a little room to go fast and passed a bunch of boats. On the beat, we went hard left again and got a few more boats, then had another good run to finish eighth.
Race 4
Our start was good in the middle of the line, so we could do what we
wanted. This is gonna sound crazy, but it really looked like the right
would be good. We tacked onto port but, luckily, not before quite a
few boats had done the same. There we were heading out right, and
the pressure filled in from the left again.
At the end of the beat, we got a little something to tack on and rounded about sixth. We heeled on the reach and then on the first run we passed two boats, and then another on the next beat, getting left again. On the last run, we passed one more with good speed to finish second.
We're winning so far, tied with the Swedish team. Tomorrow the fleet will be divided into gold and silver.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
As predicted, the wind was out of the east today at about 10 knots for the first race, building to about 18 by the last race (forecast was for 10-20 knots). There was a lot of chop. Land was on the left side of the race course.
Race 1
We had our usual general recall, then the black flag was up. The next
start, a lot of boats were over, and we were just watching because
we knew it was a general recall again. No boats were black flagged,
though, because the Committee Boat was found to have been dragging
its anchor, so they postponed for awhile.
Before the next start, we were sailing upwind, checking our numbers and getting a good look at the course. We must have been really engrossed in what we were doing, because it wasn't until we realized that we had only a minute and a half before the start that we headed back down to the line. We were closest to the pin, so that's where we started. The wind had made a small shift to the right, so the boat was favored, but at least we got off the line with clear air and going fast.
As it turned out, we watched Skip's video of the start, and the reason we thought the boat was so favored was because a French boat was punched pretty far at the start. It looked like they were over early from our point of view, but the race committee had blinders on because they were French. Vive La France!
We wanted to go left, and it was a right shift, so we stayed on starboard. When we got close to the lay line, we found a good lane going back and maybe a small left shift. We rounded the weather mark in sixth.
The reach was broad, but no positions changed. Our speed on the run was good, but it was a jibe set to fetch the mark, so we couldn't get by the French in front of us.
The wind wasn't shifting much, so it was a drag race up the next beat, and we gained a bunch on the Greeks. After better jibe set at the weather mark, we passed the Greeks but still couldn't get around the French. We finished fifth. We learned later that the Australians had a bad start and banged the right and won the race.
Race 2
The wind wasn't shifting much, and we figured that we could get
away from other boats and get going fast starting at the boat and
going right. We started on port at the boat end, ducking all the
starboard tackers, and had a good start.
Close to the right corner, we tacked and had clear air for the whole beat. We rounded the weather mark in third and held there the whole race. We were a little faster than the French on the run again, but again it was a fetch, so we were stuck behind them. We finished third behind the Australians and the French.
Race 3
We wanted to start at the boat on port again, and we did, but this
time there were some boats late at the end, so we were in some
traffic. After making a few tacks to stay in clear air, we got a nice
lane going left, and then tacked well below lay line to stay in clear
air. With great speed, we managed to round the top mark in second,
but the same French boat was in front of us again.
Again it was a jibe set and a fetch on the run, so we couldn't get by them even though we were going a little better. On the next beat, they gained some distance back on us. The run was the same again, and we finished second.
The Australians took the lead from us today, with two firsts and a fifth to put them at 16 points. We are in second with 17, and the French are in third with 23.
Tomorrow's forecast is LARGE: Force 4-5 going to force 6-7, with gusts to force 8. That's 10-22 going to 20-30, with gusts to 40.
Hopefully, we will get to race. We are having way too much fun to stop now!
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
We woke up this morning to a low rumble. It turned out to be the wind. The 40 knots got here a little earlier than expected.
Paul went down to check out the boat, and all was okay; but other boats were flying around, so a group of guys and girls started to tie down all the loose boats. Total white caps covered the bay, and spray was flying over the sea wall onto all the boats.
On his way back to the apartment, Paul noticed that the large measurement tent had blown over into a group of palm trees. It had been standing when he went down to the boat.
Well, by 9:30 a.m. the race committee had abandoned racing for the entire day, so we had hot chocolate and croissants for breakfast. This gave us another day to catch up on organizational work and boat work.
We are having trouble finding insurance for our van in Hungary. We are leasing a van from Renault, and they do not cover the vehicle in Hungary, so we are looking for secondary insurance.
Does anyone out there have any ideas'
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Here's a note from Coach Skip Whyte:
Hyeres, Day 5
As I sit in the media tent writing this report, I fear for my life. The tent is threatening to explode (like the measurement tent did earlier this morning) in the gale force winds.
Sailing today was out of the question. Bob and I have spent some of the time devising a method to use a 470 jib as a storm trysail. We are ready for anything now!
Paul and Bob are eager for good conditions tomorrow so they can retain their 1999 Hyeres title.
Skip Whyte
U S Sailing Team
Bon jour from France!
Last day of racing today. First race was to start at 10:00 a.m.
The wind blew all day yesterday, topping out with a 50-knot gust. Wow! It was almost a hurricane. We woke up this morning to rain and 10-15 knots of wind. Forecast was for rain and 10-20 knots in the morning, gradually decreasing, and wind shifting to the right. It's hard to tune up when your telltales are stuck to the jib, and it's either drizzling or pouring down rain; but we did our best.
Race 1
We were the first start and doing an outer loop. The wind had died to 5-10, but there
was still a big chop. The first try at a start was a general recall. We were at the
pin and watched everyone take off.
2nd try - Another general recall, and we watched everyone again.
3rd try - They put up the black flag, and we were in the second row at the boat. It was another general recall. Germany, Israel, and Jamaica were over early.
4th try - Finally, we got off on a port tack at the boat, with clear air. We had an Italian boat to leeward of us, cursing in Italian at a press boat that was in the way, and we had another boat to windward. Paul was just trying to figure out where to sail, because it was still raining. We went okay, though, because we rolled the Italian and pinched off the boat above us.
When we got into the clear, it looked like the other side of the course was paying. We decided just to go fast and hope we got a header. Finally, the guys above started to fall into us, and we got a little header. We went a little further into a puff and tacked over. The boats on our hip tacked beneath us. We looked fair, but the longer we went. the better we looked. Eventually, we got lifted 10 degrees more and were looking sweet--only one guy on our hip, and the Italians we rolled at the start were ahead.
We had no idea where our main competition, Australia and France, were.
We rounded the weather mark second, six boat lengths behind the Italians. Still no French or Australians in sight. We rounded the reach mark right behind the Italians, and we both jibed to the favored port jibe and headed for the leeward mark. We did not want to try and roll them because we did not want to lose our lead, so we went through them to leeward and rounded the leeward mark ahead by three boat lengths.
We covered up the next beat, and the only panic was a boat that was going hard left. It was so far behind that we could not tell if it was an Australian. We just sailed fast, rounded the weather mark and went on to win the race.
Australia was 19th and France behind them.
So, going into the last race we were winning and had to keep the Australians from finishing in the top four, or, if they did, to let them beat us by only one boat. Well, the wind did not cooperate and totally died. The Race Committee abandoned the last race, leaving us CHAMPIONS of The French Olympic Sail Week.
Bon Voile!
A live band played our National Anthem at the Awards Ceremony, and the Old Glory was raised. It was great!
Thanks to everyone who has helped us get here. We learned a lot here and now just need to see if we can remember how to go this fast again.
See you at home.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000