TP 52-Med Cup Update, Cartagena

We onboard El Desafio won the day today with a 3, 1. Mutua Madrilena had a 2, 2 for equal points and now leads the Series. El Desafio moves up to third place, just two points out of first.

Same wind, sky and waves as Tuesday. The race committee still had some trouble anchoring in the deep water but we eventually got two good races off. Very shifty conditions made it a challenge for the tacticians. John Cutler onboard El Desafio did a great job for us. The big waves and puffy wind made it a challenge for the trimmers and the helmsman. It was a day where you had to keep adjusting things to keep the boat in the grove upwind and downwind. It was never easy on any boat.

Quantum Racing had a bit of a bad day with a 4, 8 and Bribon a bit better but not what they would have preferred with a 9, 3. It just goes to show how competitive this fleet is. Just a couple of mistakes and you go from having a good race to finishing 9th. The scores are now very tight with the top 6 teams almost swapping positions each race.

There was one breakdown today, Platoon. On the first windward leg of the second race, after winning the first race of the day today, their headstay broke and they had to withdraw. They were well positioned at the time. The helmsman of the Platoon is three time gold medalist Jochan Schumann.

The light Trans Pac 52’s were hitting speeds of 17 knots down wind with the big waves and 20 knots of wind.

Tomorrow is the “Coastal Race”. In this race, you have one start but two scoring points, the midpoint and the finish. So getting a good start and being in front at the first windward mark is doubly important in this race.

The series resumes with 4 windward leeward races schedules for Friday and Saturday.

For complete results go to www.audimedcup.org