Sailing Blog
Samba in 3rd after 3 Races in Malcesine »
July 16, 2010
For those who want don’t want a report and just the good stuff, go to the Fraglia Vela site for results…report below from Day 1.
The biggest objective during the morning hours was not to check final settings on the boats, look at forecasts, or to do team meetings, it was to find a cool place in the shade and keep energy levels high with temperatures reaching 95 degrees before 11 am. With the Northerly sticking around longer than normal, it did take the Southerly a bit longer to fill which caused a brief postponement at 1130. Just when shady spots were getting snatched up at Fraglia Vela Malcesine, the Southerly quickly filled at 1145 and the RC headed out to set a course.
The first race saw 2 battling breezes at 7-10 kts, one on the far right and the far left of the lake, with the right eventually winning out as the boats on the left could not make it across the middle of the course in the very light pressure. It was a gybe set for every boat and those who could stick it out to the port layline made the most gains. The samba managed to hang tough throughout most of the race and we did our best to sail fast and keep tabs on where the local boats were headed. We managed a 10th in the first race which was just fine as it was very easy to get hung out to dry.
Race 2 had similar conditions with a more favored starting line to the port end. The Samba did a great job of just focusing on starting clean and letting our speed do the work. We managed carve a nice lane up the first whether beat, only to realize that we again needed to make hay to the right side of the course to get into the best pressure. After a rounding mid fleet at the top mark, Stu and Mark did a great job finding the breeze downwind and we were able to make some nice gains and finish in a respectable 4th place.
By the end of the 2nd race, the breeze had picked up to the 10-11 range and it was very apparent there would be huge pressure and angle gains coming off the left shore…time to lace up the hightops and get ready to play some streetball. Guessing that the pin would be a popular place, John did an a grat job of making sure we hit the line with speed in the middle of the line. When we reached the eastern shore, we were able to keep all the boats to our left behind us and cross all of the boats on our hip with the exception of Red. As we extended away on port, it was a nice site to see 10-12 boats forcing each other to tack off the shore while we were sailing away cleanly. We were able to use a bit of our boatspeed to get around Red and the boats behind us continued to dip and duck eachother, us, Red and B Lin were able to carve out a nice lead. Up the last beat, getting to the left was a premium and we managed to keep a nice 5-6 boatlength lead over Red headed into the finish.
As we made our way downwind however, Red brought fresh pressure down the course and engaged us in a bit of a gybing duel which they were able to make nice gains with. When we gybed back on to starboard with 1/4 mile left to the finish, Red pulled off a better gybe, rolled us and forced us back right. We came back them twice and when we made our final approach to the pin end of the line, it looked like it was going to be close, and from our view, Red was able to come in with pace and take the gun. Needless to say, this left us a bit dejected after sailing a great race only to get outmatched by our tuning partners. It was a nice relief however to see us the the bullet when the results posted and it must have been inches that secured the victory for us.
The big high pressure that has been parked over us for the last few days will most likely move on and we should see some fresh breeze the next few days. Stay tuned to fragliavela.org for up to date results and 42marine.com for the in depth scoop.
Pingback by Samba Wrap-Up from Garda | 42 Marine — July 20, 2010
[…] of racing and stealing a win on the final race, putting us in 3rd after 3 races (full day 1 report here). Day 2 would be a different day for our squad as we felt good about our speed and starting […]