Wow I'm Tired.
Today was the start of the French Olmpic Sail week. This is the biggest regatta in Europe during the Spring. It is part of the Olympic trials for many countries. Everybody is at their best here.
Bob came into town 2 days ago. He has taken a week off from school. We had one very windy day of practice on Friday then took Saturday off so Paul could get over a lingering cold.
It has been windy here and pretty cold. Water temp in the 50's and air temp low in 40's and high in low 60's. The racing started today. There are 95 mens teams here. We are split into two groups for three days of qualifying, but it is really not qualifying since all our scores carry over to the final results. Forecast today was 15 knots out of the west building to 20 with gusts up to 30.
We were the first ones out of the harbor. In fact, we were almost a little too early. They have a rule here that you can not leave the harbor until they put up your course flag and a "go" flag. We went a little early so we sailed around in the harbor until they put up our "go" flag.
We need to get some more rust out.
We went out and the breeze was building so we went into our heavy air rig setting. Mast raked with good tension on the rig.
It was very windy sailing out but by the start of our first race it had calmed a little to 17-25 knots with big shifts and big puffs and lulls.
Race 1
We had a good start in the middle of the line and
got lifted. This put us ahead of the boats at the pin
and it turned into a three-boat race to the first mark
between Sweden ,Germany and us.
Sweden was winning but got a little too far left and missed the big right puff. Germany got it first and we rounded second 10 boat lengths back.
We all set our spinnakers on the first reach but a big puff was coming and we were the first ones to douse.
We caught up to the Germans' transom at the reach mark and we both set again to go down the run.
We shot to leeward of him and we were both looking for the next mark.
I found it first and we slowed down and trapeze reached over him and into first place - blasting along.
We got to the leeward mark and started to douse the spinnaker. I noticed the spin halyard was all tangled up and I was starting to get it untangled while Bob was pulling the chute down. I almost had it but the last part got wrapped around my foot and we heeled to windward and flipped.
Boy was I mad (mainly because I knew that the spin halyard shock cord take up needed to be replaced, and this is what caused our problem).
Well we got the boat back up and spin down and were now in about 10th place, but mad.
So we stormed up the next beat and passed 4 boats to round 6th.
We went down the last run and passed another boat. Then at the reach to the finish passed the Swedish boat to finish 4th.
Race 2
Same wind.
We had a good start a little down from the boat but a
big lefty came through, so we tacked to port.
Most of the guys on the left side of the course were ahead of us, so we just kept going - waiting for a shift back. We were going fast and got a shift near the layline.
We rounded the first mark in 8th and went off down the reach. It was very puffy but we managed to gain on the guys behind and rolled one boat near the reach mark. We went down the run looking for the puffs (but not too big a puff).
Next beat we went right but Bob had us tack out at just the right time and we slowly got lifted up 25 degrees to lay the mark.
We rounded 4th and held that position to the finish.
Race 3
We didn't have as good a start this race. The Ukranians
were just below us and pinched us off right after the start.
We were lifted so we waited to tack.
A little while later the bad air (from the Ukranians) was slowing us down too much so we tacked out and continued right; the right side had been favored all day.
Most of the fleet went left this race so we were taking a bit of a risk, but it payed off and we rounded the first mark way ahead of the whole fleet.
We sailed conservatively on the downwind legs, so we didn't flip. The fleet gained a little but we stayed ahead to win by a good bit.
Forecast tomorrow is 5 knots less.
More then
Paul and BOB
9:43 pm
Well we just went and checked the results to make sure we were not over early in the last race. Nope all ok.
We are in 1st place, tied with a Australian boat with 9 points, the German is in 2nd with 10 points.
Lots of racing left.
Ed's Note:
Hey check out Paul and Bob on the leader board photo on
the Team 2000 web page (www.rcyc.org/team_2000). There
Is also a link to the race results there.
Hello again from windy Hyeres, France.
Today's forecast was 5 knots less than yesterday so gusts only up to 20 - 25 knots.
We got out early again (10:00 A.M.) with the breeze 8-13 knots.
By the 11:00 A.M. start time the wind had built to 12-18 knots.
We were still in the first group so our course was outer loops like yesterday.
Race 1
We had a good start just down from the boat and "pulled
the trigger" just enough to stay ahead of the guys to weather
of us. We had good speed and played a conservative path up
the middle. We had the Israelis below us (they had won a
race yesterday) and a good Portuguese team abeam of us.
But we had the jets and rolled over the Israelis and pinched
off the Portuguese.
We rounded the first mark winning by five boat lengths with a French team in second.
The first reach was pretty tight so we had to wait a little for a lift before we could set the spinnaker.
We got caught a little on the next run but were still ahead at the leeward mark with Portugal three lengths back and the Israelis behind him. We got cruising again upwind and got a good lead back by the top mark.
We were pretty far ahead and had just a little problem with a squirrelly jibe but stayed upright and won with Portugal in 2nd and the Israelis in 3rd.
Race 2
The wind was building some so we depowered more by
raking and tightening the rig.
We started in the middle of the line and ahead of everyone around us (we have not seen the results but think there was a big line sag and hope we were not over early).
The course was XO, which means an outer loop with an extra loop ("X" for "extra"). We had a good start and were able to tack and cross after about a minute. We went on port tack almost to the layline and came back looking OK. Australia ducked us about 100 yards from the mark and the Ukrainians crossed us by a boat length.
We did some good tacks and rounded in first just ahead of the Ukrainians. They had better jets on the jib reach to the reach mark and rolled us.
We all set chutes on the run and we rounded the bottom mark in second pretty far behind the Ukrainians (they smoked us) with Australia four lengths behind us.
We went upwind and were gaining on the Ukrainians and the Australians were holding even with us. The Ukrainians tacked out left and when we came back together we were four boats lengths behind them. By the weather mark we were two boat lengths behind them and eight lengths ahead of the Australians.
We set spins and were holding even with the Ukrainians and did our jibe for the leeward mark. It was blowing pretty good and the Ukrainians were having a hard time finding a place to jibe and overstood the mark. So we rolled over the top and rounded the bottom mark just ahead.
We went upwind but the Ukrainians went for the finish line for 10 seconds. Then they figured out we needed to do and extra loop and came back up. The Australians were now close to them.
It got windier this beat and our main cunningham line broke (we found out later that the Australians' main cunningham broke at the same time). I thought we were going slow but everyone else must have had the same problems with the increase of breeze. We actually gained.
Went downwind and tried had no trouble jibing (we put the leeward twing almost all the way down before we jibed and this seemed to help).
We won pretty easily but at the finish they were not giving any of us horns and they were making circles with there fingers (they thought we had not done the extra loop) so we went back and told them that we had and that they better write our scores down. They said OK.
They sent us in after only two races. The rescue boats were very busy. One USA team broke its spinnaker pole and its mast today, another USA team lost its spinnaker pole and mast head fly. Lots of carnage. We check our gaskets every night. They're staying on fine.
It is windier here than it was at the 99 Worlds in Melbourne, but the waves do not have as much distance to build up so they are not as high. The wind does blow the tops off the crests of them though.
Throughout the day skipper and crew are thoroughly bathed in 50 degree salt water and blown on, but not dried, by a brisk 40 degree wind that leaves your face and hands numb. It does not seem to phase any of the sailors here, including yours truly. Bob finally told Paul yesterday that if he did not wear a hat out sailing Bob would not sail with him anymore. Today the warm fuzzy hat was on - at least between races.
We still have not seen the results for that second race, but I think it was a very good day. We got our boat handling better and got faster in the breeze.
Stay tuned, rain in the forecast for tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
8:26 pm
We just checked the results and we were not OCS.
We are in first 5 points ahead of the good French Team that won both races in the other fleet today.
Germany is in 3rd place 7 points back.
Lots of racing left
Today was a day to shift gears.
We waited on land for the wind to fill in. They finally sent us out at 1:30 pm.
Today was the last qualifying day (even though all races count toward the final score). We are still in the first group (they re-scramble the groups every day).
Race 1 (2:30 pm)
Wind was 6 - 9 knots out of the south east.
Lumpy seas.
We were powered up. Had a good start in the middle using a line site. Good speed and going left.
We had a good Portuguese team on our hip to check our boat speed out. One little problem about 5 minutes after the start there was a lot of splashing going on at the back of the boat. At first I though it was my mainsheet dragging in the water a little bit. I pulled it in and the water was still gurgling. I went to the back of the boat and pulled out a foot long stick stuck on our rudder. Now we're faster.
The boats at the pin end were initially ahead but we had great boat speed and eventually crossed all of them except the good German team that won the pin at the start.
We rounded the weather mark in second, two boat lengths behind the Germans. They extended on the first reach (we were trying to get in sync with the waves and each other).
We jibed immediately at the reach mark to the favored jibe and finally got it going that last half of the run (we have to be careful because a jury boat is always patrolling the race course and making boats do 720 degree penalty turns if they think they are pumping or rocking - they got the Ukrainians and the French today but not us).
We rounded 2 lengths behind the German boat and tacked left immediately. He waited for the spinnakers to pass and then followed.
We got a header and took it back to the German and lee-bowed him forcing him back right. We came back together again and this time he lee-bowed us forcing us left.
We finally got a good puff and got five boat lengths ahead.
At the weather mark the women's fleet was coming through at the same time we were rounding, so we had to go downwind with them in a lot of bad air.
We could not even find where the Germans were until half way down the run. We rounded the leeward mark for the reach to the finish and had to go outside a pack of women's boats rounding to go upwind.
The last reach was very tight and we were in the low lane with the Germans up high with an advantage. We were not laying the finish line so doused the spinnaker and jib-reached up and just beat the German by 2 boat lengths. The Portuguese finished 3rd.
Cool! A bullet in the light air (a good down shift).
Race 2
The race committee postponed a little bit to let the
Finn fleet get far enough around so we would not run into them.
The wind picked up a little to 7 - 11 knots.
We had another good start in the middle of the line, a boat length ahead of everyone around us. Sailors at the pin looked over at the committee boat and an individual recall flag went up.
We had good speed again and went left.
A couple boats from the left crossed us early then we lee-bowed the group from the left. We had good speed again and squirted out in front and led at the weather mark by three boat lengths ahead of the Japanese. We had better speed on the reach and run and rounded the leeward mark ahead of the Israelis that moved up to second.
Next beat, we just covered and used our good boat speed to get further ahead and round the top mark 8 boat lengths ahead. We were very conservative on the run because the jury boat was following us the whole way, so we lost a little of our lead but still won by 6 boat lengths. Another bullet !!! Yeahhhh!
The Japanese team finished third.
Race 3
Wind was getting lighter for this race and little thunderstorms
were seen on the far left and far right looking upwind about
six miles away. But the waves were still there so we powered
up even more and got ready for our start. First start was a
general recall so the race committee put up the "Z" Flag.
We were jockeying for position at the start and I couldn't get
a good fix on my line-site, so we had an OK start but the
Russian team was on our lee bow. Fortunately, we still had
great boat speed and lifted off of him going left.
As usual, a few boats from the left just barely crossed us but we went further left and found a good puff. We tacked on it and rounded the first mark in the lead four boat lengths ahead of the Japanese.
We had good speed on the reach again and gained a little. Then going downwind we gained a few more boat lengths. Russia 4 rounded in second place about 8 lengths behind us at the leeward mark.
We went to the right of the chutes that were coming downwind and a couple of boats tacked early and went to the left of them. We cleared the chutes and tacked to starboard and slowly got lifted. The Russian boat tacked on our hip and about half way up the beat we tacked back to the right to cover them.
We rounded the top mark again ten lengths ahead and had a good run to win again! Yeah team! The Russian was second with the Germans in third.
We are now 16 points ahead of the second place German team and 23 points ahead of third place French team. Tomorrow the finals start and they put all the top 47 boats in the same fleet. It's going to get a lot tougher.
A cold front is supposed to come through tomorrow sometime, so no telling what's going to happen. Probably rain.
Stay tuned.
Paul and BOB
If you haven't been checking the results on the regatta web page, you might not know that Paul and Bob scored a 1-1-5 on day 5 of the regatta.
I got an email from the team yesterday saying that they had the regatta won and didn't have to sail the last day. This was a god thing since the fleet went out on the last day but there wasn't enough wind to get any races in
After a grueling European Tour and an absolutely amazing victory (winning 9 of 14 races), I think the team deserves a day off.
I thought everyone would like to know that their support for Team 2000 is paying off. Thanks to everyone who has helped out.
This victory in Hyeres over both the 98 and 99 World Champions with 98 boats in the fleet was fantastic! Well done guys. Hurry home.
-Jeff Kerr
Team 2000 Webmaster