I'm typing this report as Jonathan Farrar, Steve Hunt, Mike Miller and I drive to Barcelona, trying to catch the midnight ferry to Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
The shipping container with our boats in it arrived today at 3:00 p.m., then it took an hour and a half to get it unloaded from the truck (a large crane was used). We got everything unloaded and hooked up to our van in about half an hour and left Hyeres at 5:05 p.m.
I think the ferry loads at 11:00 tonight. We probably won't make it, but we can catch the 7:30 a.m. ferry tomorrow. If we take the fast ferry, it will take about four hours to get to Palma. We have a chance to make the first race, but we have not checked in for registration or measurement.
We will see.
Paul
We made it to the midnight ferry with two minutes to spare. We were the last ones on, and as soon as we drove on they pulled up the ramp. Wow! That was close! Finally--something going our way.
The ferry takes eight hours to get to Mallorca, so we got an extremely small cabin with two bunk beds in it and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately, the cabin was badly ventilated and got hot quickly, so we had to sleep with the door open. Did not sleep too well.
We landed at 7:30 a.m. and, after getting directions, found the yacht club with all the 470s. We drove right into the parking lot and started rigging. At 9:00 a.m., we checked in at registration and measurement, and we were all set to go for the 11:00 start.
Seventy-six men's 470 teams are competing in this regatta.
No wind though. The wind filled a little at about 1:00 p.m., and the committee sent us out. It probably took an hour to sail out to the race course, upwind all the way.
We got into racing mode on the way out for practice and, early on, the left side (land side) was favored. But then a left shift and puff came in. We got to the race area, and they postponed for another hour for lack of wind.
We finally got a race off at about 3:30 p.m.
Race 1
Wind 190 degrees at 3-6 knots with lots of slop. We noticed on the
start before ours that the committee did not put up the recall flag
even though the whole fleet seemed to be over early.
We were the second start, sailing an inner loop.
We got a good start up near the boat but wanted to go right, so we tacked and ducked. We got lee bowed going right, but decided to hang on and keep going, even though we were going a little slow trying to stay off his bad air.
Well, the left side was favored, so we rounded the weather mark way back. We jibed out at the weather mark, and this seemed bad, too, but we gained back a little at a pileup at the leeward gate. Then we went right again, trying to pass boats, and did not do so well. We gained one boat on the final run to the finish and were about 25th.
Not much fun after having waited to sail for a week and a half.
Race 2
We started in the middle of the line for this one and went left. We
were doing really well, but dug back to the right too soon. We
rounded the weather mark in about sixth on a last little puff gain.
We were gaining on the run, but jibed out too early and lost a couple of boats when they got a puff we missed.
We went left a little the next beat, with the leaders going right. We got a good left shift and crossed all the leaders, but still were behind a boat that had gone left with us. We rounded the weather mark in second, with a German team right behind us.
We did not set a spinnaker on the reach, but the others did. We almost got into first, but not quite.
We set at the reach mark and got a big twist in the spinnaker, but the leader sailed into a hole, and while we were fixing our spin, we rolled him and moved into first place. Everyone behind kept taking us upwind, so people behind were catching up.
The wind completely died at the finish, and we got passed by a few boats that went low. We were one of the first boats to take chutes down, though, and were able to drift over the finish line in third.
People started doing a lot of rocking, and the Jury started blowing whistles making them do 720s.
We got a tow in from the Finnish coach and got to the dock at 7:30 p.m. It was getting dark.
Well, finally a race report.
At least we are sailing now.
Unfortunately, the Barcelona container is stuck in customs also. This has the U.S. coach boat in it and a women's team boat (they chartered a boat and raced today).
Well, that's it from here. It is 75 degrees today, but the water is cold--maybe 55.
More tomorrow.
Paul
Hello again,
Today we waited on shore again till 1:00 p.m., and then they sent us out.
Race 1
Wind at 160 degrees at 10-16 knots, with Mediterranean chop.
We were in the first start, sailing outer loops.
We had a good start below the fleet up near the boat. We had good speed and kept going left, gaining on the boats on our hip. Near the lay line, we tacked and got lee bowed by Argentina, but we had good speed and got a little lift to stay in our lane. We rounded the first mark in second, right behind the Argentines.
We held even on the reach then gained on the run by staying in a puff.
We rounded the leeward mark in first, but the spin halyard got stuck, so we got passed while we fixed it. (I need to replace the shock cord on the halyard takeup line.)
We went right the next beat and lost a lot, then rounded the weather mark in eighth but passed two boats on the run to finish sixth.
Race 2
Wind died a little, to 8-12 knots.
We won the pin start and could have tacked and crossed the fleet, but we wanted to go left. Halfway up the beat, a right shift came in, and it held to the weather mark. We did well to duck some boats on the port lay line and were lucky to round the weather mark in 20th.
We gained a couple of boats that went high on the first beat, then gained about five more on the run.
The next beat we went right initially, then took a good shift across and got the final left shift, to get up to eighth.
We passed two boats on the run and finished a good sixth.
Race 3
Wind died a little more, to 6-10 knots.
We were trying for a pin end start again, but a Greek boat tacked to port and made us go upwind to avoid him. This put us very close to the line, but we went on anyway.
The left was favored, and we were winning at the weather mark by four boat lengths. We kept our lead downwind and went left to avoid another fleet on the right side of the course.
This beat, the right was favored and we almost got passed by a Spanish boat. We rounded the weather mark just ahead of him and did a jibe set, thinking there was more wind that way. We got the big puff, and the wind went left, letting us jibe and reach back to the leeward mark.
We won by 100 yards.
It took about 1 1/2 hours to get back to the harbor because the wind died, and we finally got back in at 7:30 p.m. John and I then were informed that we had to take a drug test, sowe washed our boat and went off with the officials for that.
We finally got done and checked the scores and found that we were in seventh; but we were scored over early for the last race. We filed for redress because of the Greek boat, but redress was denied.
So we probably are in about 19th.
Well, we were winning all the races today at some point, and that felt good.
Our speed seems to be getting better.
Hopefully, more racing tomorrow.
Paul
NOTE: Here is the results page address for the men's 470 event at Princess Sofia:
Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia : resultados
http://www.sportec.com/www/vela/palma99/main.htm
We finally got home before dark today.
The wind filled in at noon, and the race committee sent us out.
Race 1
The wind was out of 225 degrees at 5-10 knots, and we were the
second start today, doing inner loops. We decided to go right, so we
were trying for a boat end start. We knew at twenty seconds we
were going to be over, so we went upwind trying to force a general
recall. It did not happen, so we tacked around the committee boat
and still had an okay start and were the first ones going right. The
wind went left, and we rounded the weather mark third to last.
We had some catching up to do.
Most people jibed out on the run, but we kept going and got a good shift to come back on to pass ten boats ( the wind went right).
We went right some more the next beat and did very well rounding 14th at the weather mark.
We passed one more going downwind to the Finnish to finish 13th.
Race 2
Which way to go? The wind was the same. Our coach gave us a tip
on how to go faster upwind, so we tried it.
We started at the pin with a good start, and the wind and puff were there. We were going well and rounded the weather mark fifty yards ahead of everyone else. We were going fast enough to just cruise around the course to win.
Yeah!!!
Race 3
We went upwind with the boats in the start before us and noticed
that the right was gaining, so we started at the boat. Some boats
were over early, so we tacked and ducked them and were the first
ones right. We got a good shift and a puff and tacked back, looking
good.
One Danish boat was punched out with us and a little ahead. We were going well, though, and lee bowed him when he came back across, forcing him left. We tacked on a guy that was pretty close at the starboard lay line, but the Danish guy got a puff and rounded two boat lengths ahead of us. We saw a puff after we set, and jibed for it and passed the Danish boat.
We were fifty yards ahead at the leeward mark and got farther ahead up the next beat. The wind got a lot lighter, but we were able to hang on and win by fifty yards.
A good day, and we seem to have found a new gear for the light and lumpy stuff. We will try it again tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the last day of racing. They will split the fleet up into gold and silver, but they can't start a race after 3:00 p.m., so we may get only one race in.
We are in 11th place overall. A German boat is leading ( the same guy we tied at the Sydney International Regatta), but we actually can still beat him looking at the scores (it may take a miracle).
Well, more tomorrow.
It sure is nice to have a boat to sail.
Paul
Today was not a stellar day for the good guys (that’s us). They split the fleet up to have all the good sailors in the same fleet. There were forty-five boats in our fleet today. Wind came in at 11:30.
First start was at 1:00 p.m. Wind from 220 degrees at 5-8 knots, with not as much chop as yesterday.
Race 1 Boat was favored and we wanted to work the right. We were setting up for a great boat start, but I got too close to the French guy to weather of us, and we touched and locked up. We put up our protest flag, and the French guy did spins.
We finally got off the line and got right in clear air. It would have been fine if the right had been favored, but no luck--the left came in and we rounded the weather mark in fourth to last.
We passed a little on the run and gained a few more the next beat, so we were now in about 38th (it's hard to tell back there).
We ended up finishing 35th.
Race 2
We got a good line site and planned on starting in the middle and
playing the left side. We had an okay start but were not quite up to
my line site. We were ahead of everyone around us, though. A Greek
boat came over and lee bowed us, so we went slow for a little bit.
We should have done two quick tacks.
The Greek tacked out right after one minute, and we continued left, but we slowly got lifted, and the right was favored. We rounded the weather mark in about 38th but passed eight boats in a pileup at the leeward mark.
The next beat, we actually hit a shift and passed a couple more boats and held even to the finish for a 25th.
We finished 13th overall, not too bad; but we wasted a lot of opportunities. I think we got faster in the light, lumpy stuff which will be a big bonus.
Our next regatta starts on Thursday in France.
We need to keep getting faster and better starts.
More then.
Paul