Hello.
Bob and I are in Zadar, Croatia, competing in the 470 European Sailing Championship (europsko prvenstvou jedrenju 470 in the Croatian language).
We have been here for three days, after flying into Paris (10-hour flight), driving to pick up our boat in Dournet, France (7-hour drive) , driving to Bordeaux to pick up our trailer and two other boats (8- hour drive), spending the night in Bordeaux and driving 28 hours to Zadar. What a trip!
Two days ago, we went through measurement successfully. That's when they measure all the boats to make sure they are all just alike. We are sailing on the Adriatic Sea between Croatia and Italy.
Yesterday we had a practice race. It looked like every one was doing their normal practice race start (start a minute early), so Bob and I decided to start on the wrong side of the committee boat, mainly to keep from having to do any boat repairs from banging into people. We lined up with the front group and were going okay testing out the wind and the shift, and ended up being about third to start.
After the race, we lined up with the Croatian boat that had won the race, but he was going a little better than we were, so we kept trying stuff. By the time we had finished, we were faster.
That night there was a wild opening ceremony for us in the harbor of the old city. The city is 3000 years old. First, kids in Optimist sailboats were pulled around by a motor boat. Then fire breathers, jugglers and dancers performed on a couple of stationary barges, and a guy on a raft being pulled by swimmers played an ivory grand piano while dancers danced around him. Then all the sailors from each country came out from beneath a bridge in a different motorboats, each flying the flag of their country. Then there was more singing and jet skiers doing some cool tricks. This was followed by the usual speeches, and then everyone started motoring around while fireworks were set off from the top of a large building.
All this with a packed seawall and a bridge full of spectators, standing room only. Pretty amazing.
Today was the first day of qualification racing. There are 103 men's teams and 52 women's teams here. For the men's racing, they have decided to split the fleet into three groups of 31 boats each. The qualification takes two days, with a max of three races a day.
The race area is bordered by the mainland on one side and a long island about two miles away on the other. The wind was 6-13 knots and pretty shifty out of the south, coming right down through the opening between the mainland and the island.
The first start was at noon. We were the first off the dock at 11:00 a.m., but forgot to sign out and had to go back to the beach.
Race 1
We were doing an outer trapezoid.
We were in the last start for this race and were trying for a pin end start, but could not quite lay the starting boat and jibed out early. There was a left shift, and we were able to find a good hole to shoot through. We were not going too fast at first and lost our lane, but then found a few good shifts to move up to third, only to lose our lane again and round the weather mark in eighth.
We stayed even on the reach, then on the run passed two boats. The next beat, we went left to the mainland side and caught a good shift to move into first with the Israelis. We still were not up to speed, however, so he passed us, and we stayed behind him to finish second.
Race 2
Most boats started near the right end, and we started as close to
them as possible in the middle. We were a little late at the start,
but a boat length ahead of the boats near us. The guys at the boat
were three boat lengths ahead of us, though. We had good speed,
however, and a good breeze, but kept getting lifted. When we started
to get near the lay line, it looked like the boats on the right were
ahead because of the right shift. We finally had to tack and were
looking okay.
The boats on the right had fallen into a hole, and we rounded the weather mark way ahead of them and five boat lengths ahead of the guys that went left with us. We gained the rest of the race for a win!
Race 3
It was getting crowded at the pin this time, but we managed to have
the best start down then, and our speed was pretty good. We just
tried to stay in the breeze the first beat, and were going pretty good
to round the first mark six boat lengths ahead of the nearest boat.
The guys behind caught up a little on the reach because of a puff, but we used the same puff to triple our lead on the run.
We just covered the next beat, run and reach to win the race.
So, a pretty good day. Too bad none of the scores carry over to the final.
More tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Today is Day 2 of Qualifications.
The wind was a lot lighter, probaby 4-8 knots all day, with .25 knots of current running downwind, so we all sweated a lot more. Same wind direction out of 130 degrees.
We remembered to sign out, so we did not have to go back. The race was to start at noon, but the race committee postponed for an hour. We were the last start again today.
Race 1
In the first fleet the right was favored, so we started at the boat
and tacked right. We were looking okay but nothing special. The left
side looked like it had more wind, and they ended up rounding ahead
of us. We probably rounded in 13th or so and rolled two guys on the
first reach, then passed two boats at the leeward mark and one boat
up the next beat and stayed the same to the finish for an eighth. At
least we were moving up.
Race 2
We won the boat this time and tacked right again, and the same thing
happened. We rounded the weather mark in about 12th. We again
passed a couple of boats at the spin set, then passed one on the run
and one more on the next beat, then we passed the good Swedes right
at the leeward mark and reached to the finish for a seventh.
Race 3
Well, we decided to try the left. We had a crazy start at the pin boat
where we had to avoid a port tacker then luff up around the anchor
line and raise our centerboard so it would not catch on the line. We
made it out of there with an okay start.
We went a little left then took a puff across the middle. We tacked just in time because the guys that kept going left lost--big time. We didn't quite make it over to the right in time, and about six boats rounded ahead of us at the weather mark.
We passed one boat on the set and gained on the guys behind that had to go high to protect.
We passed one on the next run by taking the low road and finding a puff, then on the next beat passed the Italians to move into fourth and got very close to the leaders; but we could not quite break through and finished fourth.
We later fund out we were over early this race.
Oh well, it was a fun day passing boats. We think we got a little faster, too.
Tomorrow the real racing starts, and everyone is tied with zero points. All the good guys will be in one group. It should be a lot of fun. More then.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
First Day of Gold Fleet Racing
Hello.
When we got down to the boat park this morning there was almost no wind, so the race committee made the good call of postponing on shore for a while. We found the boat some shade and did a little boat work (we were the envy of all the people stuck in the sun).
At about noon, the wind filled in and we all headed out. By the time all the boats got out to the course area, the wind had filled in to about 15 knots; but just as we started our sequence, the wind died to about 10 knots.
We started toward the boat end and a little back, in a pack that looked like it could be over early. After tacking away, we found a good lane with clear air and headed out to the right side. There were a few boats to weather of us that were preventing us from tacking early on, so we had to work the right side of the beat, which wasn't so bad. The wind was dying fast, and by midway up the beat it was about five knots. We were back about mid-fleet at this point, so it was hard to find lanes, but we were going well and able to hang in some tough spots and were slowly passing boats. At the top of the beat, we found the last puff to the right of the mark and made a good gain to round the weather mark about 10th.
Unfortunately, the race committee decided to abandon the race. They may have done this because it was a yellow flag race, which would have been bad in the light air, or because there was a thirty-degree left shift that had just happened down the course.
After we waited around for about an hour, the wind totally died, and we postponed on shore until about 5:00 p.m. when racing was abandoned for the day.
We are still tied for first or last.
Hopefully, longer racing tomorrow
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
We had a late start today due to the eclipse of the sun which happened at about 11:00 a.m. and lasted for a little over an hour. We were scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start that occurred a little later due to unstable winds.
Race 1
The wind was about 8-10 knots out of the north. We had an okay
start in the middle of the line and made a nice lane for ourselves.
Just after the start, the wind began to shift left, so we tacked with
a bunch of other boats. As we got halfway up the beat, the wind
shifted further left and stayed left. Left without a shift to tack back on,
we watched all the boats to the left of us, the majority of the fleet, go ahead.
At the first mark, we were in about 20th. Not much happened on the reach. On the run, we came close to passing some boats but just lost them back in the end. We had a hard time finding clear air on the next beat, and the second run was the same situation as the first. We finished about 19th.
Race 2
After a general recall, we had a black flag start, with quite a few
other black-flagged boats. For the actual start, we were right at the
pin boat and had to actually pull the board up to get over the anchor
line. The start was a good one until the judge flagged us for
sculling, so we had to do a 720.
We did our circles and continued left for more wind, as we had planed and caught up to the fleet. The reach was really tight, and we got stuck in the low lane and lost a few boats. On the run, we got low in a good puff and passed a few back. We got stuck on the right for the last beat and held even, then stayed in the same spot for the rest of the race. We finished 11th.
Race 3
After a general recall, we had another black flag start. We were one
of the unlucky ones in this start and went home early.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Well, at least we got to sail all the races today, although we still could not find the shift the first beat.
Race 1
The wind was 5-8 knots out of the northeast again. Everyone was a
little gun shy at the start because of yesterday?s many OCS's, so we
had a fair start up near the boat ahead of most people. The problem
was that that was the race to have a bad start and tack out
right. The guys who did that were the first to the mark, and we
were way behind in about 30th.
We fought our way back, though, and were even able to roll the good Ukrainian on the last reach to the finish for a 19th.
Race 2
Right after the start for this one, the wind picked up to 8-12 knots.
We cleared right but came back left because it looked like the left
was paying. What do you know? We hit a shift. We rounded the first
mark in seventh.
We stayed even on the run, then passed an Israeli boat on the next beat, held even on the last run, then were able to roll the good Slovenian on the last reach to the finish for a fifth.
Race 3
The wind dropped back down again for this race. We had a poor start
near the boat. Paul was a little gun shy today, and our starts were
very conservative.
We tacked right and waited for a shift to come back on. It never came. We rounded the first mark in about 30th.
We rolled two boats on the first reach, then passed another on the run then passed a couple more on the next beat. We worked back to 21st.
Well, not such a stellar day. We need to be a little better at starting, then at finding the correct way to go.
At least we are always passing boats. We just need to have fewer boats to pass.
More tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
There was a big storm last night, lots of lightning and rain, best of all cool sleeping conditions. When we arrived at the club the regatta organizers had moved most of the boats off the beach to safer ground. The morning wind was almost nonexistent so we were postponed on shore again for a few hours. The light Southerly shifted around to the North and we were sent out to the race course. After another short postponement we got underway in about eight knots of breeze.
Race 1 (almost)
We started towards the middle of the line but were not quite aggressive enough and had to
tack out. Trying
to work back left we got tacked on a few times and were ping-ponged around for most of
the beat trying to
keep out air clear. We were on the lookout for one of those big race winning or losing
shifts that we had
been seeing all week but it didn't happen this time. At the weather mark we were in about
twenty-
something.
We gained some on the run finding some good puffs. By the leeward mark the wind started to die substantially. On the last beat we found a nice big righty puff that moved us into the top ten. By the time we got to the weather mark there was almost no wind. It was so light we opted to go down wind without a spinnaker for a while and when we got to the bottom of the run the race was abandoned.
The wind did a 180 and we stayed out for about two more hours trying to get a race off but the wind was too light.
Paul and Bob
Well it was clear this morning. That was a good sign because it meant the wind might be steady enough to get off some races.
We did some tuning with an Israeli before the start and were going OK.
The wind was about 6-8 knots out of the Northeast. The current was totally slack.
Race 1
There was a individual recall flag up at this start. We had another mediocre start and
had to tack out. We
worked the right side and finally found a shift. We rounded the first mark in about
12th.
We rolled one boat on the reach with a good set then passed one on the run. Careful not to attract the judges attention. Worked right again up the next beat and passed one more.
Then had good speed on the run to pass one more to finish 8th, but three ahead of us were OCS so we ended up 5th that race.
Race 2
We had another conservative (bad) start and missed any comeback shifts up the first beat.
We probably
rounded about 25th.
We just followed the leader on the first reach but passed 2 guys that tried to go low. Then passed the Belarus team on the run. We went right on the next beat just looking for clear air, which there wasn't much of - we might have passed a couple boats. The next run we ran into another fleet so it got mixed up but we did pass a British boat that rounded with us.
We ended up 19th.
Race 3
Last race - my last chance for a good start.
We actually had a decent start but could not hold our lane near the pin.
So, we stuck it out on the left for a while and came back looking OK. We were pretty close to the lay line and there were still a long way to go. We were able to keep our air clear for a long time. Five boats actually crossed us and overstood but one of them, the Ukrainian, finally footed over us and gave us bad air.
We zigzagged at the mark to stay clear of the starboard tackers and probably rounded about 17th.
We played follow-the-leader again on the reach passing the guy on the low road, then passed the Irish team on the first run when they jibed out too early and had no wind.
The next beat we played the left with good speed and passed a Denmark boat and caught up to a Spanish boat. We passed him on the run by being able to work low and reached to the finish for a 13th.
Well we moved up from 20th to 10th today overall. A little more respectable.
We need to get off the line a lot better. We were always way behind halfway up the beat. It was really depressing. At least we had speed to pass people after that.
Good light air racing too, just like we may have at the Olympic Trails in St. Pete in October.
Next stop is Sydney, Australia for the practice Olympic Race in September.
Starts, starts, starts, and more starts.
See you at home,
Paul and Bob