Sailing Blog
The Heat is On »
August 4, 2011
Being just 200 miles North of Africa, the legendary heat that Palma is known for arrived today. By the time we left the dock around 11am, the temp was easily into the high 80s with humidity that stifled even the well acclimated Spanish and Italian teams. At the end of the day, the pool at the Yacht Club was a very popular place to cool off, so we decided it would be a good idea to hold our team debrief there with a couple of cold beers. Shortly after we all jumped in and started going over the day, a security guard approached and promptly told us to exit the pool as the Queen of Spain was stopping by to take a swim. Within a matter of minutes, the pool was empty and calm, and the onlookers gathered to watch Spanish Royalty to do a backstroke.
We never did get a good look at the Queen, but we did get to sail past some Spanish royalty on the starting line who were aboard several of the 52 to 80 footers racing in IRC. The amount of spectators were the most I have seen on a racecourse with several large passenger boats carrying hundreds of people, as well as private yachts, tender boats, helicopters and cruising sailboats all looking to take in the action. It is clear this event is huge for the community and that sailing in Europe is a very mainstream sport.
Day 3 marked the halfway point and it was also a big day for teams from USA with Samba, Argo and Full Throttle claiming the top 3 spots in the first race, and the same in the 2nd race with our team rounding out the top 4. It was a typical Palma day with very light air on our trek to racing area, and by the time we reached the starting line the seabreeze had settled at 10-12. Our first race of the day, we could not find our legs which had gotten us out of some jams earlier in the week and got bounced in the middle of the fleet until eventually we were duking it out with 3-4 boats for dfl. To our credit, we settled in, got the boat moving and made our slow trek to the top 10 and on the last downwind we picked off 2 more boats to get back to 8th place. This was the first time we really had to claw our way back through the fleet, and it was good to see our team stay mentally tough and fight for every point.
The 2nd race, we narrowly got off the pin end and drag raced over to the left side with Argo, Samba and FT. A big factor in the racing thus far has been not getting stuck in the pack that continually hits each other on the left side of the course trying to get further and further left until they all eventually over stand in the search for clear air. We did a good job in this race of bailing out earlier than the boats around us, taking a nice lane up the middle left, and watching the carnage from a distance. The breeze did eventually clock right at the top and we lead at the top mark with the leaders from the left charging behind us. At the bottom end of the run, we got into a bit of a gybing duel with Samba and split gates with Samba headed off to the right side and us to the left. When we came back in the middle of the course, Samba had a boat length lead and managed to tack close on top of us and pin us to the layline. It was Samba’s turn to narrowly get ahead of the boats from the left, and after having to sail in gas for the last 2 mins, we could not defend and dropped to 4th. We did gain on the downwind but could not pick off anymore by the end.
We had mixed feelings as we made our way back to the dock with our nice gains in the first race being erased by losing our lead in the second. 3 days of hot, light air sailing has begun to take its toll on our team as the dinners are creeping earlier each night, along with lights out. With 4 races remaining, we are hoping to poke back into the top 5 and carry some good momentum into the Worlds in just over a month. And still no luggage. At least my choice of outfit is easy once I get out of the shower.
Cool Video previewing the worlds
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