The annual Hyeres Olympic Regatta is the largest Olympic Classes regatta in France. This year (1998) marks the annual eventıs 30th anniversary, and all the top sailors are here. It looks like the menıs 470 class will have about 100 boats.
Racing is held on a bay that opens into the Mediterranean at Hyeres, a southern coastal town near the Italian border. Small mountains surrounding the bay should make the winds shifty. Hyeres is a pretty place, too; at least it would be in summer. Right now, it's a little cold: highs in the 50's and lows in the 30's.
A good first day. We all made our flights, and they were on time. Most importantly, none of our luggage was missing. Carrie got here last night and arranged our apartment, charter boat, rental car and registration, and stocked the fridge. Bob Merrick arrived at noon, and I arrived at 4:30.
We had prearranged to charter a boat. It is a newish "Nautivela" (an Italian boat). Not too many problems in rigging. We just had to borrow a pair of shrouds from the Swiss team.
Tomorrow we will test the waters.
This should be some very good training.
More tomorrow
Paul
Today was a long day. Unfortunately, not a long day sailing. The wind was blowing about 20-35 out of the NW.
We did sail, however, and were lucky enough not to break anything. We even set the spinnaker, twice. The first time I pulled it up, Bob noticed that it came back down, so I pulled it up again, and again it came back down; on the third try, I noticed there was no cleat to hold the halyard. Whoops!
The spinnaker halyard comes out through the right side of the mast, and I had rigged it on the right side of the centerboard trunk. Unfortunately, the halyard cleat in this boat is on the left side of the centerboard trunk. I'll blame the oversight on jet lag.
We did not sail long. The water is pretty cold (I'd say about 50 degrees), and the air temperature was about the same.
When we got back in, we found out that part of our centerboard
gasket was coming off. So we did some good boat work:
We glued the gasket back on.
We reswaged the trapeze wires to move the handles up a foot.
We added a purchase to the main Cunningham.
We untwisted the line for the CB up and down.
We added a jib Cunningham.
We tuned the boat and got the spreaders in the right positions and
found our max up rake.
We cut the extra length out of the vang line.
Etc, etc.
Not a bad day to get over jet lag. That cold water will certainly wake you up.
Well, at about 6:30 we got back to our apartment, and I got to go for a training run (still trying to lose weight). It was a nice flat run till I got to the sign that said, ³PERIL² (and some other French words), and the beach stopped! There was a trail up the cliff, so I followed it (this was okay as long as I didn't look down). Anyway, I made it back safely--just in time for pasta dinner.
We'll mail you tomorrow.
Good night.
Paul, Bob and Carrie
We woke up this morning to another windy day. Evidently, we are seeing a true Mistral. A Mistral is wind that comes down off the Pyrennes Mountains from the north at a very strong speed. Unfortunately, puffs up to 40 knots in the afternoon canceled our practice race.
We did, however, get some sailing in early. Winds were out of the north, off the harbor, at about 25 knots with gusts up to 30. Things on the water were a bit hectic, but we were able to communicate with one of the Italian teams and do a bit of tuning. Luckily, we had no major breakdowns, and everything is ready to go for tomorrow. The winds are forecast to be a bit lighter.
Since this is the 30th consecutive year for France Olympic Sail Week to be hosted at the Hyeres Yacht Club, the regatta organizers put on a spectacular opening ceremony that included two, twenty-foot video screens with sailing footage, smoke machines, and a grand finale with ³Hyeres 98² spelled out in sparklers above the stage. There are 48 countries represented at this regatta, with over 1900 sailors!!! We are one of the two United States teams here--a European dingy sailor, Linda Wenstronm, also is here. The mayor of Hyeres said "Welcome" to each country in their native tongue.
Carrie was designated the team coach and carried in the US flag for us. Hopefully, we had the video camera working correctly, so we'll be able to show the footage to you all later.
The first racing starts tomorrow.
Bob
Carrie's been getting the forecast for us since we can't read or speak French. She is the grand interpreter. The forecast today was 20-30 knots, becoming 35 knots, with violent gusts up to 45-50 knots. It was howling!
We did a little more gasket work today. Fortunately, no major damage. Those who have been venturing out have been lucky not to break a mast.
See ya.
Paul
KITTY HAWK * * * COMPUCOM REGATTA REPORT
Wow, a long day! Weıre tuckered.
We got up, had a breakfast of Cheerios and fruit and fiber, and orange juice. We made lunch: peanut butter and jelly and breakfast bars. Now we are out of peanut butter, with none to be found in all of France. Looking for a substitute.
We got to the boat and washed the bottom.
Carrie checked the notice board for us and found that there are 88 menıs 470's and that we are in the blue fleet. They split the fleet in half, putting equal numbers of top-ranked teams in each half (blue/green, each racing separately). After four races, they will re- split the entire fleet into a gold and a silver fleet for the remainder of the regatta.
We got a couple of forecasts for today. One was 15-18. The other was 15-18 building to 20-30. We got ³the other.² We were the first ones off the boat ramp. A nice 10-15 knot breeze was blowing out of the west.
We did some boat handling practice. Practiced our heavy air jibes just in case the wind picked up. Did some tuning upwind with a couple of boats and were going okay. Since the wind was not picking up, we changed our shroud tension so we could rake forward more and get more power.
Race #1
We started the first race at the (committee) boat end. Most people
were at the pin. We got a little right shift and were looking okay.
Then a left shift came in, and we tacked with the fleet. At the first
mark, we were in about 8th. The wind was getting pretty strong, up
to 18 knots, and people were having trouble reaching to the next
mark with the spin. This was bad for us since we already had the
spin up and soon found out that the spin sheets were a couple of feet
too short, causing Bob difficulty in playing the spinnaker.
We lost a few boats on the first reach, did okay downwind and held even on the next beat and run. At the bottom mark going toward the finish, everyone took down the chutes and jib reached. We did the same and shot thru to leeward of one guy to finish 9th.
It's getting windy.
Race # 2
There was a general recall on the first start, so they put up the Z-
Flag. The Z-Flag penalizes teams who are over the starting line
early by adding 20% to their score for that race. The wind had built
to 20-25 for the second start, so we tightened the shrouds, allowing
us to rake back and depower more.
We got rolled at the boat, so we tacked out and went right. We were not going great, but okay. The right side of the course seemed to be favored, and we rounded about 14th.
A Japanese team wiped out on the first reach, and a Russian team death rolled on the run. (death roll: when a boat is going downwind and capsizes to its weather side, i.e., into the wind. Not good or fun.) We rounded the leeward mark and rolled the British team right away, then managed to run down an Australian team ahead of us. We stayed that way around the course to finish 10th.
Race #3
It was really getting windy by the start of this race: 20-30. We
started towards the boat end and quickly got rolled. We tacked away
into a nice lane, and noticed that our boom vang had slid forward on
the boom. This prevented us from getting enough vang on for the
strong breeze and, consequently, we were going very slow. We
rounded the first mark about 25th. With some good boat handling (no
flipping over), we were able to pass a few boats and finish 17th.
So, our three finishes for the day were 9, 10, and 17, for a total of 36 points, putting us in 19th place overall, out of 88 boats.
After a long sail in, we made some minor repairs and fixed our vang, bought some new spinnaker sheets that should be plenty long, then went home to get some well deserved rest.
Things are a little frustrating with the charter boat, but we're getting some valuable practice. It's great to get a chance to race in this kind of (high!) breeze, something we don't see much of in North America, and to battle with the best 470 sailors in the world.
Many thanks to Charlie and Jessie Price for sponsoring our flight to Hyeres. We couldn't do this without all your help! Until tomorrow . . .
Paul and Bob (more below)
Team 2000 Friends:
4/20/98: This morning we woke up to light air conditions--this will be a new game from yesterday if they hold. Several masts were broken yesterday in the 470 and Tornado classes. Paul and Bob seemed to enjoy the challenge of the high breeze, but light air will give the boats and sailors a physical break and test their patience and smoothness skills today.
Correction: Five USA teams are here--two windsurfers, one Laser, one Europe dingy, and one 470 (Paul and Bob). Yesterday, while out on the Press boat taking photos (and trying not to throw up from extreme wave action), I saw Lanee Butler fly by on her Mistral windsurfer. Incredible to watch!
Thanks for your support. Any messages you want to send Paul and Bob are welcome (send to JYpie@aol.com). Paul asked me to read a couple of home messages yesterday while they were getting ready to leave the dock. That boosted their morale a lot and brought a piece of home to them. In spite of being so "tough,² I know this makes them feel good.
Carrie
KITTY HAWK * * * COMPUCOM REGATTA REPORT
Today was the second day of Qualifying races for the Gold and Silver Fleets. While these are qualifying races, they are important because the scores carry over to the Final races. Tomorrow, 4/21/98, will be the third and final day of qualifying, and 4/22/98 will be the first day of sailing in the Gold and Silver Fleets. Each day of sailing will have no more than three races.
Race #1
Less wind today.
5-10 knots out of the SW.
Bright and sunny.
Slight chop and slow shifts with puff lanes.
Again today, we were the first ones off the boat ramp. We powered up the rig by loosening the shrouds and raking the mast forward. Since it wasn't as cold as yesterday, we wore lighter clothing.
While waiting for some other boats to come out and play, we did some boat handling practice: jibes, tacks, etc. We got to the race committee and tuned a little to see how we were going. At 11:00 a.m., they put the postponement flag up.
We finally got started at about 1:00 p.m. We favored the left side because it seemed to have more wind, and there was land at that end. We were wrong to do so; furthermore, we were a little slow, rounding the first mark about 25th. On the first reach, we passed a couple of boats, then a few more on the run by playing the land side. We kept gaining and ended up finishing 16th. Not great, but at least we were passing boats.
Paul
Race #2
We started at the the boat this time. Just before the start, the wind shifted left, so we were at the wrong end of the line. We were able to tack immediately but needed a big shift back to the right come out okay. As we got close to the starboard tack layline, the wind started to shift back right a bit--just in time. We were in about 15th at the first mark. On the first reach, we rolled the current world champion (Finland) and then went on to pass a few more boats on the run. With a great second beat and final run, we passed a bunch more boats and finished 7th. Our downwind speed was good, but we were still trying to figure out how to go faster on the beats.
Race #3
Having been on the wrong side in both of the previous starts, we
decided to start in the middle. The wind had shifted right before the start, so we stayed on starboard. About a quarter of the way up the beat, we were able to tack on a left shift and were looking good. The Greeks, one of the fastest teams, were a few boat lengths to leeward. This was a great opportunity to check our speed against some really fast guys. They were pointing consistently higher, so we made some changes and were eventually able to match their speed. We rounded the first mark in about 6th or 7th and battled it out with the top guys for the rest of the race to finish 5th.
We learned a lot about speed in moderate conditions today. Sailing against the best guys already is helping us out a bunch. We moved up from 19th overall to 14th overall with our finishes of 16, 7, and 5 today. Not bad!
Bob
Thanks to Terry and Denise Brown for lending Team 2000 their video camera for this regatta! Although we have no TV or VCR here to watch the playbacks on, we will benefit from watching tapes of all the excellent 470 sailors once we're back in the USA.
Also, many thanks again to Pete O'Connell for providing a laptop to write home on, and to receive your messages. It makes all the difference!
Paul and Bob
Bonjour!
Hello again.
Another sunny day today. I don't think I've seen a cloud since weıve been here.
We are sitting in the press office, looking out over the sailing area and typing our report. It's a pretty sight, seeing all the sailboats coming in.
We were first off the boat ramp again today. It's a little hard because there are 88 menıs 470s, 51 womenıs 470s, and 60 Finns trying to get off the same ramp, so it gets crowded.
Since we have no peanut butter, our lunch has consisted of breakfast bars. I brought about five boxes from home, and we bought two here, but they are all gone now. Time to go to the grocery store. Thanks to all of you who offered peanut butter advice on everything from the local French equivalent to a recipe to make our own! Next time, we'll bring a bigger jar.
The forecast today was for warm and sunny, with wind in the morning at 5 knots, increasing to 10-15 out of 240 degrees going to 250 degrees (compass headings). We did some tuning to work on our new, tighter sheeting program.
Today is the last day of qualifying. We were in the Green fleet today, which means we had the second start of each set of races. They try to reorder the fleets each day to keep the same number of good guys in each fleet.
We got to watch some other peopleıs starting techniques, which was very helpful.
Race #1
Wind was about 5-8 knots. We had a bad start at the boat end and had
to make a few tacks to get going the right way in clear air.
It was nice to find some speed, and our tacking paid off. At the top
mark, we were 4th, behind the Portuguese, Finnish and Australians,
and stayed in that position for the rest of the race. No passing
lanes.
Race #2
The wind picked up to about 10 knots, so we made what we thought
would be appropriate adjustments. We had a good start down by the
pin, but not great speed. Needing to tack soon after the start, we
found ourselves pinned by a boat, to weather, that we couldn't pinch
off.
This position set us up badly for the next shift and, as it came in, things started to look bad. We rounded the top mark in about 30th and lost a few more on the reach trying to get our sticky centerboard to go up. (Paul has been having problems with the centerboard all week, and cussing has not helped.) Fortunately, we passed a bunch of boats on the run. Our speed off the wind has been good. We managed to find some lanes on the last beat and climbed past a few more boats on that leg and the final run to finish 19th.
Race #3
This race started like the previous one except we were able to tack
when we needed to off the line and stay in phase with the shifts on
the first beat. (We tried twisting the sails just a little bit so we
would not round up in the puffs.) We rounded the first mark in 4th,
caught up with the leaders downwind and passed the Swedish team.
(We rounded the left gate, and the Finnish boat and the Portuguese
rounded the left gate.)
On the second beat, we made a tactical error and ended up in a big lull in the middle of the course. This cost us the boats we had gained on the run and one more. We finished the race in 5th. We will be split into fleets for the finals tomorrow, so the racing will get a bit harder, but thatıs what weıre here for.
Today was a pretty good day. We seem to be getting better but need a lot of work shifting gears when the wind changes. Our finishes today were 4, 19, and 5, boosting us to 11th place overall and solidifying our place in the Gold fleet for the remainder of the regatta. The team from Finland, Petri Leskinen as the skipper, is the 1997 World Champion and is one place behind us, in 12th overall. Maybe we're learning something here . . . .
I think the forecast for tomorrow is the same as today's. There is a big front in the Atlantic, but we don't know when it will get here.
Thanks for your E-mails; :) we enjoy reading them in the mornings!
Paul & Bob
The fleet was split into Gold and Silver today. Scores from the qualifying races will carry over into the finals. We were in 11th overall going into the day.
We got some McLube lubricant from the boat store and put it on our centerboard. It worked so well the centerboard was coming up by itself! Winds were out of the east at 12-15 knots, with good sized waves.
Race #1
We started at the boat and tacked away early to get onto the lifted
port tack. We struggled a bit with our speed, but managed to stay in
clear air. The wind began to shift back right, so we tacked onto
starboard and were looking okay for awhile, but couldn't get far
enough before the left side started to cross in a left shift. We
rounded the top mark in the 30s.
On the first reach, our twing cleat kept coming uncleated (The twing holds the spinnaker guy sheet). This was really slow. We got into a luffing match and put ourselves high of the mark, not really in position to pass boats. We weren't able to do much to improve our position on the run but, while struggling for clear air in the last beat, we managed to pass a few boats. By the last run, the fleet was spread out enough to make the comeback we needed unlikely. We finished the race 32nd, a tough start to the day.
Race #2
Well, we decided to go left this race. There was land on that side,
and there seemed to be more wind. Unfortunately, we didn't have a
good enough start or boat speed, so we got rolled. There was no
place to tack out to, so we just hung on in bad air. This was okay
because I got to watch the good German team and see how they were
set up. They had thier boom way off centerline, so I tried to adjust
ours to match it. This seemed to help; we started going better.
We rounded the first mark in about 30th. We held even on the first reach, then made a gain on the run by jibing out immediately. This kept us in the breeze.
The next beat, our speed was a little better. A good Australiain team lee bowed us and we were able to lift off them and then even to move forward and abeam of them. We also made a little gain on the next run when some boats overstood the layline. We ended up finishing 20th. It's tough with all the good guys in one fleet.
Race #3
This race, we decided we would start at the boat and go left. We had
a good start with okay speed and held off of the guy to leeward, but
eventually we were rolled by a guy from above. By that time, we
were in the middle of the course in a big lull. The wind was all over
the place this race, going from 8-18 knots. The big lull in the
middle hurt us a lot, as both sides got the breeze first. Also, I am
not too great at shifting gears.
We rounded the first mark in about 35th and, to top it off, an Italian boat came crashing in on port at the mark (which is now illegal in the new racing rules). We didn't want to protest--but we did want to kill them! We got clear but went too high on the first reach, losing boats. Our run was a little better, and we had a great leeward mark rounding so passed a few boats. The next beat, we just tried to keep our air clear and get some boat speed. We passed a few boats downwind and two more on the last reach, to finish 29th.
Not a stellar day, but with all the good guys in one fleet, we knew it would be tough. We changed our twing line when we got in, and it seems to hold in the cleat better.
Carrie just read us tomorrowıs forecast out of the French newspaper. It looks like more of the same conditions tomorrow.
We've got a spectacular race committee that just keeps firing off races, so that part is great. The more races, the better we will get.
We are in 14th overall now.
We just want to keep getting better.
We will just keep plugging away.
See ya,
Paul, Bob and Carrie
Side note: I managed to go out on a coach boat today to take closeup videos of Paul and Bob. Even the normal leaders in this event were toughing it out today. New 1st and 2nd place finishers . . . . Paul and Bob are hangin' tough!
Carrie
Thursday April 23 early a.m.
It's 11:30 a.m., and there is not much--almost no--wind on the course. Paulıs is the only boat of all 579 that is on the water practicing. Of course, he thinks the committee should give it a whirl for a start; this is his "stuff.²
British 49er skipper Alan Hillman was hospitalized yesterday with a concussion. He and his teammate jibed their boat in pretty high wind. Unfortunately, the skipper was locked into his trapeze and didn't disengage in time. When the boat started turning over, Alan went under water and, as he was coming back up, his crew, Rob Andrews, fell off the high side and landed on his skipper's head. (Got to get there faster!) Alan was not knocked unconscious, but once on land starting feeling queasy, threw up a few times, and experienced blurred vision. Medics are running more tests on him today.
How's that for revenge on your skipper?
Last night, Alanıs British teammates called him at the hospital, pretending to be interviewers from the French press seeking information about the skipper who "got a bump on the head.² Not much mercy around here!
On a serious note, Alan is expected to recover soon. Thereıs not much wind to sail in now, anyway.
Carrie
Thursday April 23 6:30 p.m.
Continuation of earlier, 23 April report in which lack of wind was reported:
Not much wind today. Bob and I left the dock on time (9:30 a.m.) and practiced for an hour in what little breeze there was. No one else came out. After a while, the wind totally died, so we went back in.
At 12:30 they sent us back out. The wind swirled around for awhile, then we got a light, westerly breeze, 3-8 knots.
They started us at about 3:30. The first start was a general recall. (general recall: used when too many boats are over the starting line before the gun goes off.) They put up the Z-flag (Z-flag: a warning that you cannot be over the starting line during the minute before the starting gun. If you are over the line--even if you return and start properly--they give you a 20% penalty, but you may keep racing).
We had another general recall. This time, they put up the black flag [black flag: means that if you're over early, you're out of the race completely. No chance to restart. You will be scored an "OCS": On Course Side (of the starting line)].
We had a good start in the middle of the line. Most boats were trying to start at the favored boat end and go right towards the shore. We just wanted a clear air start and, if we had a chance, we would work right.
We had good speed and stayed off the Italians below us and, after about 4 minutes, pinched off the Russians above us. We were lifted, and a breeze was filling in on the right. After sailing into the breeze, we tacked and started to get lifted. The shift didn't last long, but our velocity and being in clear air paid off.
We rounded the weather mark in 3rd. Two guys who went further right than we did were ahead of us. We held even on the reach and then jibed out at the beginning of the run. The leaders kept going. We got great breeze and went all the way to the lay line of the leeward mark. We rounded first, followed by a German team and the Ukranians (who are winning this thing).
We protected the right this beat because it looked like more wind. We gained a little and were still in first at the windward mark, then jibe set to stay in the breeze. The guys behind were gaining, so we jibed back, but they kept going and got more breeze. We rounded the next mark in 4th. The Germans won the race, and the Ukranians were second.
We went over to the committee boat in preparation for the next race. They had posted the Black Flag boats for the first race. Unfortunately, we were on the list, along with several others, including the Russians who had started to leeward of us and the Italians who had started to windward of us.
Bummer. But it was nice to be racing with the top guys.
For lack of wind, the race committee abandoned the races for the day.
We raced some people on the way in. We need more practice, practice, practice.
If you want to see the overall standings, you can check them out on the Hyeres Olympic Sail Week web page: www.ffv.fr/grandes_epreuves/1998/Sof/UK/sof_index.html.
Last day is tomorrow. More then.
Paul, Bob and Carrie
KITTY HAWK ** COMPUCOM REGATTA REPORT
Paul had a 9:00 a.m. interview with EUROSPORT television this morning. They also came out and filmed us for a bit on the water. We'll see if they actually use any of the videotape on May 17th when it is supposed to be broadcast.
There was no wind this morning, so we were postponed on shore for about two hours. The breeze finally filled in a nice 5-10 knots, and we all headed out.
Race #1
Before the start, we expected the breeze to shift right, so we started towards the boat and tacked out in a nice lane. We were going a little slow, but with more focus on speed, we got things going. (I think we found out that Bobıs trapezing is more important for speed than for him to be looking around too much right after the start. Bob is the main balance of the boat in marginal trapezing conditions).
The leaders came out from the left, but we played the right well and managed to round the first mark in the high teens. By getting high on the first reach, we passed a few more boats, and then more or less held our position for the rest of the race.
We finished 14th.
Race #2
We started in the middle of the line, but to windward of most of the fleet. A big left shift came in just before the start, so the port end was favored. We tacked onto port just at the gun and struggled a bit but managed to hold our lane. When the shift came back, we were looking good. We rounded the first mark in the low teens.
We held our position on the reach. The next windward leeward was short, so there were not many opportunities to pass other boats. We gained some on the beat, but lost some on the run because we could not find a lane downwind. We finished 11th.
Final
Our overall finish is 14th (out of 88), not too bad for our first regatta together; but we have plenty of work to do. The main thing is that at the end we were faster than we were a week ago.
A pretty good regatta, with all the top people here. We need to get a lot better. Also, we need to lose some weight. The skipper of the Ukranian boat that won is about 5'10" and weighs about 15 pounds less than Paul. The crew weighs probably 5 pounds less than Bob.
We have to do a lot more of this in order to be challenging the top guys. But there's no secret. It's just practice, practice, practice.
We fly home tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. Thank you again for all your support while we were here. We enjoyed the emails and words of encouragement!
Look forward to seeing you at home.
Paul, Bob and Carrie
P.S. Hopefully, my four or five days of press boat photography will provide interesting viewing for all of us on May 16th, 7:00 p.m., at Rush Creek. Come out and join Paul for a recap of this week and some fun. Everyone is welcome. If you need information or directions, contact me at 972-203-9190 phone, or JYpie@aol.com. See you there!
A Bientot Nos Amis,
Carrie Foerster