Sailing Blog
Garda Lives up to the Myth »
July 12, 2010
From all that I had heard about Lake Garda and its big breeze and awesome scenery, seeing it in person did not do any of the descriptions justice; it is the best combination of breeze and surroundings that I have ever experienced. After 3o hours of planes, buses and taxis, I arrived at the Sailing Center Hotel in Malcelsine, had 20 mins to grab an espresso and change into my sailing gear for a 4 hour training session with our tuning partners Red from the UK. Once we were out on the water, we were treated to a recently filled southerly at 15-18 kts and with the backdrop of the mountains that drop directly into the lake, it was difficult to concentrate on trimming without getting distracted by the scenery.
Our first training/tuning session was very productive as we were able to figure out a few tweaks to our sail plan and also got a taste of what sailing in Lake Garda is like in preparation for the 5th Event in the Melges 32 Audi European Series. While sailing with Red downwind in 15kts, we both were reaching to the western shore which is basically a shear rock face a couple thousand feet high. Not being sure what the bottom was like and hoping to preserve our keel for the week ahead, we gybed out before Red and headed back to the middle of the lake. As we extended away from Red as they continued, a few minutes later we found ourselves with nice pressure and angle, but once we looked over at our tuning partners, we were all in a bit of awe as they were in about 5 kts more breeze ripping downwind and were sailing the same angle as us…on the opposite gybe. We continued for a few more minutes and when we gybed back and crossed behind Red, they had put about a mile of distance between us within 3-4 minutes…I guess it pays to sail to the rocks and wait for the shift.
Samba Sail Manager and native Hawaiin, Fuzz Foster gives an enthusiastic "hang ten" as he gets ready for his third cappuccino before 11am.
We have 1 more day of tuning with Red with the goal of trying some new tuning and continuing to look at new settings on our upwind and downwind sails. It is great to have a team like Red to work with as they have been very consistent over the past few seasons and recently just won the Europeans, and they are a great group of sailors who have similar training goals with us. It is always tricky with tuning partners with how much information to share or not share, after all, it is certainly good to have training partners, but this same team could be contending for a regatta with us in future. So far we have a good working relationship with one boat staying as the “base” boat while the other team changes up their settings for an hour or so, than we switch. Both teams have done a good job so far of being open and cooperative, but we are both working on our own individual tasks as well.
View from Fraglia Vela Malcesine (YC) while waiting for the Northerly to fill
The plan tomorrow is to dock off at 8am to catch what is left of the Northely breeze, than grab lunch and relax for a few hours while the Northerly dies and the Southerly breeze fills in around 1pm. If the sun is shining, this routine for the breeze is pretty much like clockwork. Come Thursday, we will put all of our focus on to working on crew work and prepping for the regatta.
We did have a minor hiccup with our Pitman, Justin Smart who had to attend to his father in the UK. Justin will be missed on and off the water as he is very experienced being the youngest person to ever complete a Whitbread and spending most of his life on racing boats. He is also a lot of fun off the water and has been known to launch oranges off of balconies at passing cars in other regions of Italy. We are hoping everything goes well with his family over the next week and that he can rejoin us in Harbor Spring next week for the US Nationals. Thankfully, our float girl, Shana brought her husband Peter along and he will be filling in for Justin. Peter is a very good sailor and will do a great job, just as he did for Buddha when took over the bow position in Cagliari during the Europeans.
Roster –
Helm – John Kilroy, Tactics – Stu Bannatyne, Mainsheet – Mark Mendalblatt, Jib/Spinn Trim – 42, Pit – Peter Phalen, Mast/AV/Instruments – Eric Dorman, Float – Shana Rosenfeld, Bow – Alan “Buddha” Nakanishi
Other than catching on sleep, we are all looking forward to the weigh in on Wednesday when we can pound down some tasty looking food. For right now, it is look not touch as we have each have a few pounds to loose…hopefully no one finds the half eaten salami and cheese sandwich in the bushes outside of my room tomorrow morning!
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