TP52 World Championship 2016

Photo by Mauro Melandri-Zerogradinord

Mahon, Menorca

Today was the second day of the 2016 TP52 World Championship here in Mahon.  Lighter conditions prevailed for races 3 and 4.  Onboard Phoenix we made a few changes and were very competitive in terms of speed.

In the first race, after a good start, we fouled Alegre half way up the first windward leg on a close port starboard cross. After completing our penalty turn we were 100 meters behind the group. We managed to recover a bit but in the end we never passed anyone finishing 11th.  Quantum sailed smooth and fast to take the win.

Race two was a short coastal race, a 17 mile race along the eastern coast of Menorca. It was essentially a double windward leeward with the second lap being longer than the first lap.  The race started in 10 knots but dropped to 7 knots by the time we got to the first windward mark. We were about 8th at he first mark, 6th at the end of the first lap, 4th at the second windward mark and 5th at the finish.  It was a nice improvement in scoring.

The big thing for me today is that we improved dramatically our boat speed from Tuesday when we faced the same conditions in the practice race. Light air is our weakness and we were very competitive today in 6-11 knots.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for 12- knots from the west.  This could be tricky because we are racing on the east side of the island.

For complete results go to www.52SuperSeries.com

Paul