Sailing Blog
Seeking a Good Result, and My Luggage… »
August 2, 2011
After departing Newport on Sunday evening, Volpe mainsheet trimmer Scott Nixon and I met up with our new team in Palma, Spain to begin racing in the 30th edition of Copa Del Rey. While it would have been nice to get in some practice prior to the event, our first time out with the team was about 1.5 hours before racing and we did our best to get our communication, boathandling and speed sorted as much as possible. Once the gun went off for the first race, I thought it was going to be a long day as our speed struggled just after the start, but with a few small adjustments, we took off and greeted the encouraging news that we could fend off the boats above and below…now all we needed to do was get the kite up and down and get as far left as possible.
The word prior to arriving was that Palma has a very reliable seabreeze and a one–way track to either side of the course depending on the race course location. On day 1, it was all about getting a clean start and having the ability to leg it out to the left side, even if it meant overstanding. The first race, our team on Shakedown (Aka “Sick Trix” for a company our boat owner started) with Steve Hunt calling tactics pulled off a clean start just above the middle of the line, and when the opportunity presented itself, we got a clear lane on the left side and made it around in the top 5. It was the same story downwind as most every boat extended to the right corner as far as possible and up the next beat, we chased down the leaders a bit, and at least made our presence known that we were not going to be pushovers with a respectable 4th place.
Race 2 proved to be a similar story with the left side paying huge and after a start where we were further from the line than we would have preferred, we did a good job of battling back and using our speed. When the first leeward gate approached, we had squeezed into the top 8, and then the spiral started…
Being short on boathandling practice, we rounded the leeward mark with the kite only halfway down and with 2-3 bodies working on the problem and not hiking, we did our best to limp along and hold our lane. Once the kite was 90% away, one final pull from our bow-girl down below and we heard the awful sound of our kite tearing. The only option was to get our smaller, back up kite hooked up which took another 2-3 mins of weight off the rail, and once we finally made it to the next top mark, we would soon find out the kite was not hooked up correctly and we would need to sail dead down wind for a minute or so to sort it out with the rest of the fleet on full plane. We certainly did not pull off any Sick Trix with that sequence of events and had to swallow a harsh 13th.
Overall, it was a good first day for our team, and after proving we could hang with the front of the fleet, we went from having questions marks about our performance at the beginning of the day, to frustration from not meeting our newly found expectations at the end. The good news is that we have speed and the boathandling can be fine tuned as we get further into the regatta. Our compatriots on Argo continued their hotstreak winning the pin in the first race and never looking back to grab a bullet, and 3rd in the next. The forecast is for the seabreeze to kick all weekend in the 12-15 range and our hope is to improve on our current 7th place in the standings.
With my bags still waiting to arrive, having to sail barefoot, wearing the same clothes from the flight over, using sailing clothes 2 sizes too small, and not being able to find a toothbrush or razor, I’m sure our competitors think it is nice that one of the US teams has taken a homeless Spaniard sailing for the week. I’m not sure there is a more helpless feeling than losing luggage in a foreign country, and despite the nice women at Spanair notifying me on several occasions they have no clue where my bags are, Palma is a beautiful city with a lot of Palm trees (who would have guessed) and a very impressive yacht club at the Real Nautico Club de Palma with a shi-shi pool scene featuring a DJ pumping some nice euro beats every afternoon. Racing does not start until 1pm with the arrival of the seabreeze, which allows for the sailors who are here for a good time to take advantage of the club scene which does not get rolling until 1am. Rumor has it Tito’s is a must see place, but just getting an evening started at an hour past midnight sounds a bit painful. Stay tuned for reports from Day 2.
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