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Results Improving, Luggage Not… »
August 3, 2011
Before I get into the details of day 2 of Copa Del Rey, despite my bags still not arriving and most likely lost for good at this stage, I have brushed my teeth and raided my roommates’ dop-kit for a razor, shaving cream and deodorant to meet the base levels of personal hygiene. While I liked all of the items in my luggage, and the actual luggage itself which was an Xmas gift earlier this year, I have already come to grips with the fact that I may never see my belongings again. And I would just like to thank the ass-hat Air-France gate agent that enforced his Napoleon power of authority and made me check my bag at the gate despite the flight being half full with plenty of overhead space. Just seeing the look on his face when he said, “No, no misseour, that bag will not fit, you must check it here” and then proceeded to handwrite a baggage ticket in complete chicken scratch just gets me hot. Deep breaths…its just material items.
The good news for our team on Shakedown is that when I sail barefoot with an unbelievable amount of B.O., we seem to do pretty well. The day started with high humidity, cloud cover and a brief postponement which pushed the original start time back to 2pm. One thing these Euros take very seriously is their late start times, and the length of the courses as each race is just over 70 minutes with solid 2 mile legs. In the first race today, we hit the line about as close as possible under a black flag start, controlled the left favored side of the course and rounded the mark in 1st with Argo nipping at our heels. The next upwind would see the breeze shift slightly right which we were well positioned for to allow us to remain in the lead, and as we turned downwind finish, the breeze was blowing 7-9 with even shifts spread across the course. Extending further on the run than Argo, we looked primed to sneak across the line first, but as was the story throughout the day, the puffs here are very localized and it is all about who gets the last pressure, and Argo was able to ride new pressure down to the pin-end of the finish, forcing us to gybe away and taking a hard fought 2nd place.
Race 2 was a moral booster for us as we found ourselves battling just to hang into the top ten after our clean, pin end start and leading out to the left side was squelched by a late right shift. Unlike yesterday where we crumbled, out team up front today was very sharp and we managed to pick off a few well seasoned teams with good course positioning, and constant adjustment of our settings for the varying conditions. Finishing 4th just behind Samba put us in 4th overall which we are all very happy about as we have now completed just 2 days together as a unit.
Tomorrow is forecast for another hot, seabreeze day and with the event just under half over, we are hoping to continue to use our speed to our advantage and post some top 5 finishes. We are above our expectations at this stage, so continuing to sail at this pace is a bonus. Apparently the King and Prince of Spain are sailing in this event in a different class which would make sense with the ridiculous amount of security guards and bag checks needed at the yacht club. I’m not sure if they can help me with my bag issues, but maybe they can at least pass on a few euros to help me secure some new tight, stonewashed jeans which seem to be a popular choice with the youth here. Standby for Day 3…
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