12 Meter World Championship-Day 4

Cannes

Blown out today. 30 knots of Mistral kept the boats in the harbor all day.

Some of us from the Kiwi Magic team went to our friend Anna Gambiagi’s house in Valbonne for a great lunch with a little French wine. What a luxury to have a four hour lunch on a Friday.

During the afternoon, we had to “petanque” championship. The winner was “Buddha Bob” Billingham who had perfected the “shot put” technique to win over myself and Lexy Gahagen.

I used the high altitude, mega reverse spin technique which got me launched into the lead initially. However, one of my “ultra high altitude” balls went out of bounds and I had to take a Grappa penalty. From there my game kind of deteriorated.

Later in the evening, having sailed two America’s Cups in 12 Meters (Defender and USA), I was privileged to be part of a “round table” discussion on the 12 Meter Class with Marc Pajot (French Kiss), Cino Ricci (Azzurra), James Spithill(Kookaburra). Bob Fisher, esteemed journalist and author of the most comprehensive book on the America’s Cup, “an irresistible” served as moderator. We reminisced about the 12’s in Newport, no shore teams, no pay, etc….the good old days – and answered a few questions.

There is a movement to race on Sunday to get a few more races in, since we only have three races so far, when ten were scheduled. Tomorrow we will find out the result of this effort. I want to note that Roger Wright’s KZ3, who is leading the World Championship, is in favor of more races despite the obvious advantage to them to have fewer races. This is real sportsmanship on the part of the Brazilians!

We are hoping for good wind tomorrow!