Well, after the European Champs in Italy, we loaded the coach boat and two 470s onto the big trailer and took off for Germany and our next competition. We stopped for the night in Hamburg, and the next morning JJ Isler and Pease Glaser (the USA Women's 470 Team) took off with the coach boat and two 470s to go to Kiel where the next regatta starts.
We, on the other hand, were on a different mission. We rented a station wagon and took off to Amsterdam. 'Why?' you ask. No, it was not to watch the Euro 2000 soccer games. OUR NEW BOAT HAD ARRIVED! After a brief border inspection ( to make sure we weren't Hooligan, going to Holland to start soccer riots), we were off to the Schipol Airport import dept.
No problem with customs, so we just loaded the boat on top of the station wagon roof rack (two boards) and were off again for Kiel, Germany. We have been in Kiel now for three days, doing nothing but solid boat work, and we think she is ready for sea trials tomorrow.
Racing starts Wednesday.
There are 5,000 sailors here from 50 different nations, and this regatta was first held 118 years ago. Next year this will be a stop for the Round-the-World Race.
Well, that's the status of Team Kitty Hawk / SailNet.com
We get to sail tomorrow!
Thanks for everyone's support
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
The Kiel Week regatta started today. We're split into two fleets, so today was qualifying. Scores will carry over to the finals.
Our new boat was more or less ready to go; just a few minor glitches today. We were scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. start, but there was no wind in the morning, so we were postponed for an hour. After the long journey out to the race course, we had three races in about 10-15 knots of wind. The weather has been uncharacteristically warm, but we don't expect that to last long.
Race 1
This was an outer loop. Before the start, it looked like the wind was
better left, but there was a right shift on the line. We had a good
start towards the boat, with the rest of the fleet fighting for the
pin. For a while we looked great, but the boats that beat us to the
left were able to tack and cross. We ducked some boats and got
further left, then found some good lanes and rounded the weather
mark about sixth.
The reach was long, but there was no passing.
We passed a boat on the run and then another on the next beat. At the second windward mark, we were fourth. The British were right in front of us, and we barely got inside them at the leeward mark. We finished third.
Race 2
This race it was looking like more wind on the right. We were a bit
late for the start and had to rush back to the line. We managed an
okay start at the boat and were able to tack out right away. We were
the first to the right and won the race, with the Brits right behind
us the whole way.
Race 3
It looked like 'go right' again, but this time the pin was favored. We
missed the time again and so were at the boat to get the one-minute
gun, then reached down the line to the pin. An Italian team at the pin
was able to port tack the fleet. We tacked and crossed all the boats
to the right of us. We were the second boat to the right puff and
rounded the weather mark second, behind the Italians.
On the reach, we gained a bit on the Italians and then passed them on the run. They rounded just outside us and footed to clear air. We tacked near lay line, with the Italians to windward and Argentina to leeward. The breeze had died a bit, and we were not going very fast. Argentina passed us, and we barely held off the Italians. We jibe set with Argentina, but the Italians didn't, and they lost a bunch.
We finished in second, but when we got in we found out that we were OCS.
More tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Well, today was not a good day for us.
Race 1
The wind blew at 7-12 knots and was puffy and shifty.
We had a great start near the middle of the line, so good we thought we were OCS, but it turned out we were not. We went left and tacked underneath the lead pack from the left, gained on them some and tacked back left to avoid the fleet ahead of us who were flying spinnakers. Good tactics got us around the weather mark in second behind the Ukrainians, with the Kiwis in third.
We held even on the reach, then pulled even with the UKRs, going fast on starboard jibe. We jibed for the mark, but found a hole and got passed by the Kiwis and rounded just ahead of the Brits.
We went up the next beat not doing too great, got passed by the Brits and rounded just ahead of Belarussia.
Down the next run, we passed Belaraussia and caught up to the Brits but rounded outside of them at the leeward mark, allowing Belarrussia to roll us on the reach.
After the reach mark, there was a short beat to the finish, and we managed to pass Belarussia back for a fourth. At this point, we still thought we were OCS, but were relieved when we came in and saw the official fourth place.
Race 2
This was one of Paul's most brilliant starts. We tried for a pin end
start and did not make it and got hung up on the pin. We got loose,
did our 360 and played catch-up. We caught up to about eighth but
lost three boats on the last run and beat to finish 11th.
Race 3
We started on port at the pin and did not find a good hole. We hit
some shifts up the first beat, though, and almost rounded in third
but got flushed out by a bad decision at the weather mark to round in
seventh. We rolled two boats, but got rolled by the Brits.
We had an okay run, passing Singapore, but missed a big puff.
On the second beat, we went left and were worried but found a shift to come back on.
We stayed even on the next run and reach, but found a good puff and shift on the last beat to pass the Brits and pull even with the Germans and Belarussia. We missed the last righty, though, and got passed back by the Brits but did stay ahead of the Germans for a fourth.
Well, not a very good day. We are in eighth over all.
We need to sail better--need better starts and more confidence in our tactics and boat speed.
We will try that tomorrow.
It is supposed to be windy--force 5-6 knots.
That's it from Germany.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Today was the last day of qualifying. Scores will carry over to the finals. The wind was a bit stronger today, and the weather was cloudy with some rain, a more typical Kiel day. We sailed inner loops all day.
Race 1
We had a good start in the middle of the line and were immediately
headed. Soon after we tacked onto port, the wind came back to the
right. We tacked back onto starboard ahead of most of the fleet to
the left of us. The boats to the right were way ahead in the right
shift. At the port lay line, we got a bit of a lefty to tack back in and
caught back some of the boats on the right to round in fifth. The
boats in front of us were not very fast. As the race went on, we
ground down each one of them with good speed and won the race.
Race 2
We wanted to go left this race, so we started at the pin. We were
second row because it looked like the boats in front of us were over
early. After footing for a bit, we had clear air and tacked close to
the port tack lay line. After ducking a few boats, we had a good lane
to the mark and rounded around fifth.
We held our position on the run. On the next beat, we went to the left of the top boats and rounded the weather mark in first. We won the race.
Race 3
We started at the boat and tacked right away. We wanted to go left,
but there was no way to get there from where we were, so we held
out for something on the right. Close to the lay line, we got a nice
puff and were looking good. The Australians crossed us out of the
left corner, and then we lost a few more right at the mark.
The Australians and the Polish legged it out a bit on the run. We were battling with the Spanish and British. We passed the Spanish and were close to the British going into the last run, but we missed a puff and the Spanish passed us. The British ripped their spinnaker on the last reach and we passed them to finish fourth.
After nine races and one throw-out, the standings are:
1 Australia (17)
2 New Zealand (18)
3 Ukraine (20)
4 Paul and Bob (28)
5 Greece (35).
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello again from the Arctic Circle--well, almost. No, it was not too cold today: only 65 degrees with some pretty cold water. We had a drizzly morning followed by periods of storms and sun. Our sailing clothes are drying now under sunny skies.
Today the wind was very puffy and shifty again, 6-13 knots out of the same direction as the other days--southwest. The shoreline is on the right of the course, but good chop builds up as there is about a six-miles stretch straight upwind to the nearest land. The open sea is off to the right of the course.
Today was the first day of the finals, so all the good guys are in one group now.
Race 1
This was an outer loop.
We had one general recall under Z-flag (they put that up at all starts now). They got 10 boats on that general recall, including the New Zealanders and the Aussies. That gave them each an automatic 6.8 points before they even started the last race.
Paul's philosophy today was that we would have lots of OCS's because now all the good guys are in the same group. Well, we were a little too cautious because our starts really stink.
Next start was under Black Flag, and no one was OCS. We had a third row start near the pin and footed left. It was the correct way to go, and our speed was pretty good, but it's hard to sail in bad air for half the beat. Anyway, way we rounded in the teens, rolled a couple of people on the first reach, and then had an awesome run going low and fast and passing the New Zealanders and a pack of five boats.
Next beat we did okay, also playing the left and passing the Greeks. We had another good run to move up to fifth place, and that's where we finished.
New Zealand finished 15th, the Ukraine ninth, and Australia won.
Race 2
This was another outer loop.
We decided to stay away from the pin end crowd and started near the boat. We played the shifts on the right but missed the last good right puff and got stuck in the middle and passed on both sides to round in the 20s.
We had an okay first reach but should have gone low where we would have passed a lot of boats. A great run moved us up into the teens, then we slowly picked off boats to finish 11th. The Aussies were third, the Ukraine 23rd, and New Zealand 17th.
Race 3
One general recall under Z-flag but no good boats were penalized.
Next flag got off to a Black Flag start, and we had a poor start again near the pin. We held our lane, though, and went left. We probably rounded in the high teens again, then passed one boat on the reach but got rolled by the Aussies.
On the next run, we were rolling well again and passed some boats, including getting the Aussies right at the leeward mark. The next beat, we played well again on the left and passed a couple more boats. We kind of got out of phase on the next run but still managed to pass a German boat.
We held even on the next reach and beat to the finish for a ninth. The Ukraine was second, the Aussies finished 12th, and New Zealand sixth.
So, the points going into the final day tomorrow are:
Aussies 39.8
Paul and Bob 53
Ukraine 54
Russia 56
Israel 59.8
Greece 62
New Zealand 62.8
We will try to have a little better starts tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Today was another typical day in northern Germany to end this year's Kiel Week regatta. We had nice winds from 10-15 knots, with rain broken up by occasional sunshine.
Race 1
We had a good start in the middle and were headed, so we wanted to
tack, but a Russian boat was pinning us out left. We dug our way out
of the left okay to round in the top ten. We passed a few more boats
on the runs to finish around fifth.
Race 2
We started towards the boat and headed out right. We got into some
good pressure and tacked, but we tacked too early and sailed out of
the pressure, then didn't tack back again. After getting stuck in a
hole in the middle of the course, our first rounding, about mid-fleet,
wasn't so good. At the last leeward mark, we caught a good break and
rounded inside a big pile-up, passing a bunch of boats for an okay
finish.
Race 3
A storm cloud had come through just before the start, so it got
really windy. The breeze shifted left, and the pin was extremely
favored. We won the pin and tacked immediately, and that was the
whole race. We were way ahead at the start and had good speed, so
no one could catch us. We won the race.
We finished second overall behind the Australians with, the New Zealanders in third.
After an hour and a half sail in, we put two boats into a container headed to Australia and packed up our new boat to go to France for the next regatta.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000