John Payne Photo

Coconut Grove

Two races were held today on Biscayne Bay, in ideal conditions for Star racing.  The wind was again 8-12 knots from the South.  Blue skies, warm water and slightly warmer air temperature.

In the first race, Brian and I shook off the morning blues, or what ever it was that we had the first two days, and won the first race.  We were 5th after the first lap but sailed the second windward leg very well to round first, overlapped with Ledbetter. Ledbetter/ Revkin closed in on us at the finish and we must have beaten them by less than a foot.  Andy MacDonald and Brad Nichol sailed a good race to finish third.

In the second race, Ledbetter/Revkin led wire to wire and closed out the regatta with one race to spare.  Their total score without a discard is better than anyones score with a discard.  Congrats to them, they sailed very well.  Miami local Augie Diaz and Arnis Baltins play doth left side of the course well downwind and upwind to take second place.  Third place went to Arthur Anosov and Dave “Julius” Caesar.

Brian and I were fighting near the top the whole race.  I made a couple mistakes with the wind shifts.  Also, keeping the boat going fast all the time is not easy.  The wind is fickle so you are constantly changing gears.  In the end, five of us came to the finish line all overlapped and we  just managed to edge out the others to take 6th.

So with Ledbetter/Revkin taking first place, the battle for second is on.  Lars Grael and John MacCausland are tied on 26 points.  Brian and I have removed up nicely from 9th to 4th overall with 30 points.  Behind us in 5th is Aguie Diaz with 40 points.

The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same.  One race only tomorrow, starting at 11:00.

as usual, for complete results go to: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=1230

Paul

John Payne Photo

Coconut Grove

Two races were held again today on Biscayne Bay, in 8-11 knots from the south.  The wind was quite shifty again which gave everyone plenty of opportunity to move up…….. or down.

In the first race Brian and I crossed the starting line too early.  This meant we had to go back and restart about 1 minute after the others.  We had made up some ground, and then our starboard shroud let go.  Somehow the bolt that held it on had come unthreaded. We were very lucky not to lose the mast right then and there. We were able to find a spare pin to in the boat and get the shroud back on. In the end we finished 21st.   John MacCausland and Bruno Prada had bad luck in that they did not realize that they were over the start early and did not go back so they were scored as didi not start….last.

Brian Led Better and Josh Revkin sailed an excellent race to that the win followed by Marcelo Fuchs and Donald Seifert.  Andy MacDonnald and Brad Nichol had a good race to round out the top three.  I don’t know how they all got to those positions cuz I couldn’t see, but those are the results.

In the second race, we had a good start very close to Lars Grael.  We were able to play the first two shifts slightly better and were first to the first mark and led the entire way to the finish. It was a great race up in front with four boats fighting the whole way.  John MacCausland and  Bruno Prada eventually ended up 4th, Lars Grael and Samuel Conclaves ended up third and Brian Ledbetter and Josh Revkin finished second.

So I guess Brian and I are sailing constantly in that we are inconsistent all the time. Also, we are the only team to have won two races. Hopefully, tomorrow morning we can have a better first race.

Once the 5th race is in the books, all teams will be allowed to drop their worst score.  This will change the positions a bit.  If you go the the site below, you can see how tight things are at the top with the discard.  The first 4 boats are within two points.  Brian and I will be about 14 points off the lead with a discard.  We have made it tough on ourselves but not impossible.

For complete results go to: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=1230

Forest for tomorrow has greatly improved.  Early this week, Saturday looked like a drift off but now it should be 10-14 knots from the southeast.

Paul

John Payne Photo

Coconut Grove

The Stars are back on Biscayne Bay for the last time this season.  The “Spring Championship” is being hosted by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club.  7 races are scheduled Through Sunday.

Today we had the first two races in 7-9 knots from the southeast.  These are perfect Star boat conditions. However, it was extremely hot and humid today.

There are 39 teams from 8 countries competing here. The 2016 World Championship will be held on Biscayne Bay at this exact time so this regatta is a good one for anyone thinking ahead to next year.

In the first race today, John MacCausland and his crew Bruno Prada worked the left side up the first windward leg and had a nice lead at the first mark.  They extended on every leg and won easily. Larry Whipple and Austin Sperry were second with Hubert Merklebach and Makcus Koy in third.  Marcus is the current world champion crew.

Brian and I had a good first leg, rounding the first mark about 8th but lost 20 boats in the firs downwind.  After rounding the leeward mark, Brian noticed we had a plastic bag on our keel.  We got it off and moved up a bit to 23rd but still not a great race.

In the second race, Brian and I got off to a good start and played 4 very quick wind shifts in the first 5 minutes of the race to jump out to a 100 meter lead.  We led the whole way around and won the race.  The Brazilian team of Marcelo Fuchs Ronald Seifert finished second and pressed us a bit downwind as we are still struggling with our speed there. The two of us had a big lead over the rest of the fleet. Lars Grael and Samuel Conclaves sailed well to finish third.

Tomorrows forecast is for a bit more wind, maybe up to 12 knots from the southeast.

For complete results go to: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=1230

 

Paul

Rosehearty (on the right) by night

St. Barts

The wind was a light easterly today, 7-9 knots.  This makes things a lot slower and a little more challenging when you weigh in at 500 tons.

Onboard Rosehearty, we sailed a good race, probably as best we could.  However, we were no match for the speed of the smaller and lighter Axia who won in our class.  We were second again which puts us in a tie for first place in the “Grande Dame” class.  Axia will prevail in the tie breaker by winning the last race.

For Rosehearty, and Joey K, her owner, this was a great first regatta result.  We won the Perini division for the week and were on the podium in every race!

Next stop for these boats is the Loro Piana regatta in June in Porto Cervo.

Next race for me is the Star Western Hemisphere Championship in mid April in Miami.

Thanks or following us!

Paul

St. Bart’s

I am sailing as tactician onboard the Super Yacht, Rosehearty, this week in the beautiful French Caribbean Island of St. Bart’s.  Rosehearty is a 56 meter (182′) Perini Navi sailing yacht.  We have a crew of 37 to handle the 500 ton vessel.

There are 32 yachts racing here this year. There are three races in the series, one race per day.  The racing format of the racing is called “Persuit” racing.  This means that the time allowances for handicapping the boats is done by varying the starting times of all the boats in the competition.

In the first race in Friday, things really went our way and we won the race by 13 minutes.  The race took about three hours and it was a “lap” of the island in the counterclockwise sense.  The conditions were easterly winds of r14-18 knots and the big navy Perini’s sailed well in those conditions.

Today’s race was more of a “zig=zag” course around some rocks to the northwest of the Island.  The winds were in the 12 knot range.  The more maneuver intensive course coupled with the lighter winds were more challenging for us.  Still, we managed to get a second place to who Axia who finished third yesterday!

So going into the final race tomorrow we have a 1 point lead over Axia.  IT always comes down to the last race.

Paul

Coconut Grove

Lars Grael won the final race and his second Bacardi Cup in a row.  Lars’s success is even more remarkable as he is an amputee, missing his right leg.  He is a model of resilience.  Young Jorge Zarif with Bruno Prada crewing put in a good performance to finish second in the regatta with Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl finishing third.

Brian and I did not have a good week.  Some times we were on the wrong side of the course, sometimes we weren’t going fast enough. We finished 11th.  For sure the competition was good.  The Brazilian Navy was in full force.  I think they had 4 boats in the top 10.

The next event for the Stars is the Western Hemisphere Championship April 16-19 again on Biscayne Bay.

The next event for me is the St. Barts Bucket where I will be joining the crew of Rosehearty, a 182′ Perini Navi.  I love St. Barts (who doesn’t, right).

Back to SFO tonight for me.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

Coconut Grove

Very light winds awaited the Star fleet today. The race committee started on time with about 4 knots of wind from the southeast.  We had one general recall then the Black Flag.

It was very spotty out there so at times you looked pretty good then the wind would die where you were and you wished you were on the other side of the course.  Brian and I rounded the first mark about 15th and sailed decently downwind.  Maybe even passed a few boats so that’s a win of sorts.  However, up the second windward leg, we went hard right and the left was the place to be.  It was so light that tacking frequently wasn’t an option and there were just enough teasers in the right to keep us going.  But in the end, the left came good and we dropped about 10 boats.  Down the final run we did manage to pass about 5 boats, again, a lot better that the last few days.

Our 23rd place will not get us any pickle dishes, thats for sure.  We have now dropped to 11th over all.  Arthur Anosov won the race by a huge margin of 5 minutes.  He got left on the second windward leg and hit it hard.  Alessandro Pascolato (BRA) finished second.  Alessandro is sailing a boat I sold him and doing very well in the regatta in 6th place.

The regatta leaders finished 33rd in this struggle.  That is their discard so they are still leading.  Lars Grael also sailed his worst race today but remains in second place overall.  The two are separated by just three points so it will be all on tomorrow for the Bacardi Cup winner.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for a nice 12 knot north easterly.  Should be pretty shifty.

For complete results go to: www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

Photo by Silken

Coconut Grove

Another picture perfect day with excellent sailing conditions. The wind was a bit lighter today starting out at 11 knots and dropping to 8 by the finish.  The fleet was well behaved on the starting line so no Black Flag today and no one was over early.

We had another great start and were in the top 5 at the first mark.  Not going super fast but ok.  There weren’t any big shifts out there today as the wind oscillated up and down 5 degrees around 165M.

Brian Cramer of Canada got to the first mark first with and we were just behind the Brazilians Lars Grael and Jorge Zarif.  Unfortunately we were slow again down wind today and lost about 5 boats on each run.  We rounded the second windward mark 7th and finished 12th.

I am really scratching my head on this one but I am sure I will figure it out.  A bit late for this regatta but I guess life is that way.  You just keep learning and in some cases relearning.

Zarif leads by one point over Lars Grael who is the defending champ. Mark Reynolds with Magnus Liljedahl are in third place, Torben Grael in 4th, Augie Diaz in 5th and Brian and I are in 6th.  The points are close enough that we can move up or down with two races to go.

The forecast for tomorrow is light…6-8 knots of wind.  That could mix things up a bit as a lot more boats will be competitive and if there is any substantial wind shift, it won’t be hard to be mid fleet at the first mark.  Saturday is forecast to be back on the 10-12 knots which is pure boats speed weather.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

 

Paul

Coconut Grove

Another perfect day for sailing.  12 knots from the Southeast and sunny skies.  Pretty deluxe situation for us down here.  The committee had a little trouble getting the line square and then we had a general recall or two so up went the black flag again.  The courses are 10 miles with 2.5 mile legs.  That is fairly long for Stars.

No one was caught by the black flag and Brian and I once again had a great start.  We tacked and crossed the fleet within a minute of the start and worked the shifts to lead at the first windward mark followed closely by Alberto Zanetti (ARG) and Torben Grael(BRA), then Lars Grael(BRA).

Unfortunately we did not have good speed downwind and rounded the leeward gate 4th.  Upwind we went fast again getting back into second place.  Down the final run we lost Lars and Augie Diaz to finish 4th.  Torben and his crew Guillermo sailed well to take the win.

Normally you feel good about getting 4th but we backed into 4th so that doesn’t feel as good.  Still it was a good result and got ourselves back into the top 10 with that.  The regatta leader Jorge Zariff finished 8th and still leads. Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl had another steady performance with a 6th and first race winner Larry Whipple and Austin Sperry finished 5th.

More of the same is the forecast for tomorrow.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

Coconut Grove, Florida

Another perfect day for sailing today.  A bit windier than yesterday with winds 12 to 14 knots from the East which built of some short chop on Biscayne Bay.

We had one general recall on the first start and then the committee went straight to the Black Flag.  Brian and I had a very good start and were in the front pack half way up the first leg. Unfortunately we “over stood” the windward mark.  Not by a little bit but by at least .25 of a mile.  The marks are very hard to see being red instead of the usual yellow or orange and at 2.4 miles of distance.  A few others were caught out with us like yesterdays winner, Larry Whipple and local Augie Diaz.

That pretty much took us out of contention as we rounded the first mark in the 40’s. We manage to get back to 23rd but that isn’t going to cut it for winning the regatta.

Jorge Zariff, a newcomer to the Star class, but a veteran Finn sailor is doing very well.  He was second yesterday and 1st today.  He has Bruno Prada crewing for him who won two World Championships and a bronze and a Silver in the Star class Olympics, with Robert Scheidt.  Jorge is young, big and strong which is   great combo for a Star helmsman and he is sailing pretty smart too!

Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl has a another solid day and currently sit in second place followed by Lars Grael and Samuel Goncalves in third.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for East winds, 12 knots.  In fact, all week the winds are forecast to be between 10 and 15 knots so it should be a great week for racing.

For complete results go to:   www.yachtscoring.com

Paul