Dean's Blog

Tight finish in Barcelona

Sorry to not update sooner but it has been a long 3 days to finish here in Barcelona.

With very testing conditions over the last few days we have achieved our objective of trying to sail a good consistent event.  We went into the final day 1 point behind Artemis and 6 points ahead of Quantum.  With light winds not allowing racing to get underway until 2:30 we only had time for 1 race.

We were second around the 1st mark with Artemis back in 8th so everything was looking good.  However we picked up a plastic bag on our rudder on the first downwind leg which was slowing us considerably.  We were 3rd around the second top mark with Artemis up to 5th which was still good enough for us to win.  Artemis then sailed a great last run to finish 2nd, with us 3rd and leaving us 2nd overall 2 points behind.

While it was disappointing not to win the event we did extend our lead in the overall series to 28 points over Qunatum which was a great result for us.  There is no doubt the standard is much higher than before and every race is a hard fought affair.  I do not remember racing in a more competitive fleet even though there are only 11 boats on the start line.

Home now for 3 weeks before heading back to Cartagena in Spain for the next event.

Dean

Day 2 and some great racing

Today was the second day of the Medcup event in Barcelona and we finally got some racing away after no racing yesterday.

The breeze today was a nice 10-16 knot wind although there was a very big chop running.  We started the day with a good win in the best wind of the day and as the wind slowly moderated so did our results!  The second race we managed a respectable 4th, and then in the last race we had a bad first run dropping 3 boats and managing to end with an 8th.  This leaves us 1 point behind the leader, Qunatum, and tied with 2 other boats.  All in all it was a great way to kick off this event and puts us in a great position going into tomorrow.

Dean

Practice Race

The practice race was sailed today in a nice 8-11 knot sea breeze.  As always in these conditions starting and finding a clear lane are absolutely paramount to achieving a good result.

We had an average start but were able to find a good lane up the first beat to round the top mark in 5th.  From there we clicked off 3 more boats during the race to finish in what would have been second place.  It is considered unlucky to win the practice race and when the lead boat decided not to finish we also sailed on the wrong side of the finish line to avoid taking the gun.  I am not overly superstitious but there are some things you don't mess with!

Tomorrow the forecast is for similar wind and there are 3 races planned.  Consistency will again be the key to a good result and we will look to start this event better than we did in Marseille last month

Dean

Practice in Barcelona

Today we spent the day on the water looking at new sails and evaluating recuts.  It was a beautiful sea breeze building up to a top of 20 knots at one point.  However as is normally the case what we experienced today in practice will be long gone by the time racing starts.

Tomorrow we have another day to develop our setups for the conditions here and will also do a number of informal practice races.  Forecast is for good sea breeze although less than today.

Dean

Barcelona

Hi

After 2 weeks back in NZ I have now just arrived in Barcelona for the 3rd Audi Medcup event in the TP52.  It was great to spend some time with the family and recharge the batteries after what has been a busy start to the year.

The first thing you notice about being here in July is the heat.  It feels like an eternity ago when we were living in Valencia and you forget about July and August being so hot.  Certainly a big change from the beautiful still autumn days at home with a high of 12 deg.  Today here was 35 and felt all of that.

Tomorrow is the first practice day and it will be great to get back on the water and get stuck into the sailing again.  It is important to bounce back after the last event and we will be pushing for a better result

Dean

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