RC 44 Croatia

Rovinj

The perfect weather allowed the Race Committee to serve up 4 races again today here in Rovinj. The bright sunshine and 10 knots sea breeze made for a perfect day of racing…third in a row really. And the forecast is for the conditions to remain the same through the end of the event on Sunday.

Team Aqua had the best day today with scores of 2, 4, 1, 1 and took and handy 7 point lead in the event at 30 points. Cereef followed closely with 3,3,3,1 for the second best day and moved into a tie for third with yesterday’s co-leader Artemis, each with 40 points. Islas Carnarias scored 20 points today and is in second place with 37 points. Yesterday’s other co-leader Oracle Racing scored 26 points on the day and slipped to 5th place.

Onboard Katusha we had a bit better day scoring 26 points for the day, 12 points less than our abysmal day yesterday. Finishing second in the last race was a nice way to end the day. We moved up to a tie for 8th place with Ironbound at 64 points.

Tomorrow the President of Croatia is coming to visit the event and attend the gala dinner. There are three races on schedule for tomorrow.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Croatia

Rovinj

4 races were held today in 6-13 knots.

Artemis had a good day.

Katusha had a bad day.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

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RC 44 Croatia

Rovinj, Croatia

First, this place is beautiful. I was last here in 1990 for the ACI Match Racing Regatta. The town is charming, the water perfectly clear, and the locals are very friendly and happy to host this international competition.

Today was the Match Racing day of the event. The technical committee decided to shorten the races to one lap as the fleet has grown to 15 boats and only ten teams (five pairs) can race at a time on the race course.

On board Katusha we raced in six races today and won five across the line but ended up with three points. The main reason for this was a penalty call in our first race. There are plenty of situations out there and we all get calls that go against us, but this one “remarkable” and it cost us two points.

Anyway, we crossed the line first in five of our six matches. The one we lost on the water was against ORACLE Racing. We led at the top mark but were hesitant to match them in the first gybe and they rolled us for the win.

So, it was a long day with a bit of frustration. But that’s racing.

Tomorrow starts the fleet racing which will continue through Sunday.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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D35 Antibes

The D35 season came to a close today here in Antibes. The wind gods were a lot more pleasant to the fleet today providing 6-11 knots of wind which allowed for four races.

Artemis Racing had some up and down scores and finished 5th in the event. This was two positions better than Velti Group (7th) who we were trying to pass for the a third for the season. In the end we came up one point short for the season and finished 4th overall. Still not a bad result for our first season.

The top of the class was Foncia once again who won the event here, as well as the season championship. Hats off to Michele Desjoyaux and the Foncia team! Alinghi finished 4th here in Antibes and second for the season.

The boats will go back to Geneva now for the winter. The 2012 season will start there in May.

I am off to Valencia tonight for a day in the office tomorrow before heading to Croatia tomorrow night for the RC44 event there next week.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.com

Paul

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D35-Antibes

Antibes

No wind, no racing. Went for a nice run this morning and going to have dinner with my cousins in Mougins tonight.

Hoping for wind tomorrow.

Paul

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D35-Antibes

Antibes

The final regatta of the D35 season started Thursday in Antibes. At the end of Friday the fleet has raced four races, all of them in very light winds. In the second race of Thursday we started in 5 knots of wind and finished in 2 knots of wind.

Onboard Artemis, we struggled yesterday in the very light winds and managed 6th place in each of the two races. Alinghi had a similarly difficult day while Zen, who usually is nearer to the back than the front of the fleet was leading at the end of Thursday.

We discussed our performance, and did a bit of recon amongst the fleet, last night and came out today with a bit different set up, more powerful, and we were more proactive in adjusting our trim as the wind velocity changed.

Today the wind was a bit stronger…6-8 knots…and we were able to “fly” the hull a few times. After a bad start in the first race we managed to finish second. Foncia won the race and Alinghi third. In the second race of the day, we did not have a great start again but we were going a bit better and although we rounded the first mark 8th, we managed to claw our way back to 5th just beating Foncia at the line. Alinghi sailed a great race, were very fast, and won the race easily.

With four races completed, the fleet gets to discard one race. Foncia leads the fleet with 5 points, Zen is second with 8 points, and Alinghi third with 9. We are 6th with 13 points. So it is all very tight still.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for winds similar to today so hopefully we will get 3-4 races in.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.com

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