Another good day on the Artemis today! We got the bullet and moved into first overall for this regatta.

That is two “coastal” race wins in a row for Artemis now with this one and the win in Cagliari. They are nice to win because they count 1.5 times a normal race.

We had an ok start and went left for quite a while. It looked like there was more pressure to the left but we are always weary of the right shift upwind here. We got around the top mark 6th just barely but then got rolled by Bigamist right away. So that was our low point.

From there we battled back, first going all the way offshore on that first run to round the first gate 3rd. Matador had a nice lead and Audi Q8 was second. We held third up the second beat and onto a 120 degree reach. Team New Zealand was right behind us in fourth.

Up the third beat, Team New Zealand passed us by getting to our left. We rounded the third windward mark 4th but once again, we went the hardest offshore. We passed Audi Q8 and closed up all the distance on Matador and Team NZ.

Then the angle was up 20 degrees for 7 miles and they went with the Masthead Jib’s while we peeled to our A3 gennaker. We smoked through them to leeward and just hiked our butts off to blow through into first and make the mark. From there we just controlled Team New Zealand up the final 4 mile beat to the finish.

Obviously we are very happy with how things are going but we know this regatta is far from over. 4 races to go over the next two days and for sure we can expect less friendly tactics from our competitors.

I am leaving tomorrow night after racing as I had a previous commitment to race the 505 worlds. So Hamish Pepper, 2006 Star World Champion, and currently our strategist, will take over as tactician for Sunday. I will miss the last day of this regatta and the first day of the 505 worlds while flying home to SF.

For complete results go to 2009.medcup.org

Good day on the Artemis today! Finishes of 3, 4, 2 has us in second place overall after three races. Quantum is leading with 1, 1, 4.

The first race did not get off until 1400. The forecast had the wind in the southwest for the early part of the day but an eminent shift to the northwest was surely coming. Would it come during the race? Would it turn the race upside down?

Well, we got the first one in completely in the southwest wind. We had a good start, in the smooth water and 13 knots of wind. It was a matter of inches that made the difference at the top mark. We rounded third and then passed one boat on the run by choosing the proper gate. Held second up the second beat but Quantum tacked on us twice so we both lost ground to Team New Zealand and we ended up overstood. Down the run, Team New Zealand gybed on us three times and passed us while the both of us almost lost Matador.

The wind then died and quickly shifted to the northwest at about 16 knots. We had two races in this direction with the wind topping out at 22. So the boats were planing downwind and it was a lot of fun. Usually, it is all about the right in this direction but today there were gains to be had on the left especially downwind and fortunately we got most of it correct.

At the start of the second race we fouled Matador. So, after our penalty turn, we were dead last. But we kept chipping away and sailed heads up to finish fourth. This was a great come-back and probably the most important part of the day, definitely something that will stay with us for a while.

Then in the last race, we had a decent start, managed the first windward leg ok, but it was a decision to stay on starboard out of the windward mark on the run that got us to more pressure and we rounded the gate in 2nd to Bigimist (the locals). From there it was just about course management and we finished second. Quantum had a bad start in that one and did well to get back to fourth while Team New Zealand led at the first windward mark but gybed set and lost 6 places.

So we are pretty happy with that day and will sleep well tonight at least.

For complete results go to 2009.medcup.org

Today was a much better day in terms of wind. There were 7-11 knots from the southwest. We left the dock on time at 1100 and went through our normal routine of tuning up with Matador before the start which was on time at 1300. As it is the practice race today, meaning that the race committee runs two starts and then on the third start, we continue on and race.

We had a good start but went left, kind of forced that way by Team New Zealand who had us pinned on starboard. The right was good and we were 7th or 8th at the top mark. We got the right coming out of the leeward mark after the run but by then the wind went left so we were wrong again.

We also did not seem very fast upwind and we had been trying some different set ups.

Down the final run we passed one or two boats and finished 7th. Not a great day results wise but it did not count either. Quantum, who hit the right hard on the first windward leg, won the practice race.

After the race we re-tuned our rig and then tested with Matador for about 40 minutes. We seemed to have improved our performance and we were fairly even with Matador.

Working with Matador each morning before the start has been really good for both of us.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for winds similar to what we had today. Start time is 1300 and we could have as many as three races.

Paul

Squeezing water out of a rock.

That is what it is like trying to sail here these past two days. 4.6 knots of wind was the top of it.

Still, we managed to get in some useful practice simulating our approaches to the starting line and accelerating the boat from 2 knots of speed up to full speed, as well as learning how long that takes and what the optimal trajectory for speed build is. It is impressive how much one knot of wind effects the timing of this drill. Good to know.

Then we had three practice starts with Quantum and a little race to the windward mark. It was too light to go downwind once we got there so we called it.

It was probably lighter than we would ever race in today but still, it was good to get out there and focus.

Tomorrow the forecast is for more of the same. So we are meeting at 1200 for the first check in. We may have to sail as late as 1800 as there is forecast to be a bit of breeze then.

Tuesday is supposed to be better. Hopefully we are getting all this “no wind” wind out of the way now so we can have a great regatta.