Schoonmaker Cup

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Coxonut Grove

Danny and I are back in the Grove for more Star Racing. This time the Schoonmaker Cup with 20 other teams.

For this event,  I am crewing for Danny. It has been fun to share the Star with him this past year and I hope he enjoys Star sailing for as many years as me and his grandfather have!

It’s been a while since I was in the front of a Star and today we had 3 races in 15 knots from the east. I will sleep well tonight!

Star Winter Series

Star Winter Series photo by Marco Oquendo

We had some great moments and some more challenging moments. At the end of the first day, we are tied for 9th with Arthur Anosov, the winner of the Masters two weeks ago.

Augie Diaz and Arnie Baltins had a great day with a 2, 1, 1. Brian Cramer of Canada is in second and George Szabo third.

Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow and the forecast is 10 knots from the east.  That should be more to our liking.  Team Cayard, at 380lbs all up, likes the lighter winds.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

Thanks to Marco Oquendo for the photos.

Paul

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Zag Masters

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imageCoconut Grove

Two races were held today in 8-10 knots from the east on Biscayne Bay. This weekend is the “Masters” regatta in the Star Class. Obviously,  the name is indicative of a certain amount of life experience required to race in the “Masters”.  The Masters has become the Zag Masters in honor of Frank Zagarino, one of the class stalwarts and a Bicayne Bay Fleet member.

My son Danny joined me for this event and we got off to a great start winning race 1 by a healthy margin. Unfortunately I went the wrong way on the first leg of race two and we were deep coming into mark 1.  We made a couples of nice choices,  always with good speed, so we moved up to 7th by the finish.

Arthur Anosov and Dave “Julius” Ceasar had a better day than Danny and I with a 3, 2 and are leading after day 1 with 5 points.  Dan and I are second, 2 points back with Seiggert/Fatih in third 2 points behind us.

One race is scheduled for tomorrow and the forecast is calling for big breeze from the northwest following a cold front coming through the area tonight.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com and find Zag Masters.

UPDATE

No racing today. Too much wind.

Arthur and Dave won the Zag Masters. Danny and I are second, Swigert/Fatih third. Danny and I won the Father-Son Team. That’s special!

The next Star event in the Winter Series is the Schoonmaker Troohy in two weeks.

Paul

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New Star

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Coconut Grove

It’s winter in the northern hemisphere so where do Star sailors go? Miami.

More than 30 teams are here in Miami for the 2016 Midwinter Championship. As usual the fleet is very is international with teams from Sweden, Italy, Germany, Canada, Argentina, France, England and USA.

Today was a special day for me as I launched my first new Star since 2006. She was designed and built by Folli on Lake Como, Italy. Andrea Folli and his team did a magnificent job in building the boat. Launching a boat for the first time doesn’t happen very often so I gathered my friends, got a good bottle and did it right.

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Magnus and I then took the boat out for her maiden voyage.

The forecast for tomorrow is 8 knots from the Northeast. 2 races per day are scheduled.

I am really looking forward to racing tomorrow! Reports will follow.

Paul

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King of Spain

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Star Boat Paul Cayard

Marina del Rey

16 Stars turned up in Marina del Rey this weekend to contest the King of Spain regatta. The conditions couldn’t have been better with 8-10 knots for all 6 races.

Jimmy Buckingham and Austin Sperry posted great scores to win the regatta with 7 points. They won three of the 6 races with great speed. Danny and I sailed well to finish second with 9 points and Andy MacDonnald and Brad Nichol finished 3rd.

The best part of the weekend for me was the last race. Danny and I switched places and he steered his first Star race. Danny had a great start, we had decent speed and we were 1st to the windward mark! I doubt I was first to the first windward mark of my first race steering a Star. Very proud of my son! What can I say?

I think we upped the level on the fun meter.

Next event if the Lipton Cup in Santa Barbara August 8-9.

Paul

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Bacardi Cup-Day 4

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

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Bacardi Cup-Day 1

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Coconut Grove, Florida

March 1, 2015

I am back in south Florida for more Star sailing.  This time the legendary Bacardi Cup.  This year is the 88th running of this event which started in 1927 in Havana.

57 boats are racing from more than 10 countries.  The competition will be tough with the Grael brothers tom Brazil, local favorite Augie Diaz, double gold medalist Mark Reynolds, and a host of other great teams that all have a chance to win.

Today’s first race finally got underway after two general recalls and the committee resorting to the black flag to keep the anxious competitors behind the line.  The wind was 12 knots from the east and very shifty and puffy as it was coming right over Key Biscayne.

Brian and I had a good start but managed to work our way backwards in the fleet to round the first mark about 25th.  The leader at that point, had had a horrible start, tacked behind everyone and went hard right. The second place boat at the first mark had gone hard left.  Go figure.

It was a day of ups and downs as the wind was very fickle.  One moment you thought you were real fast but it was just that you had a puff that others didn’t.  Same with the shifts.

As the race went on, Larry Whipple and Austin Sperry worked their way from third to first. Brian and I work our way from the 25th to 7th.

Ahead of us were some very good teams.  Behind us there were some too.  So we were pretty fortunate to get back to 7th.

This is a long regatta, 6 races, and each race is longer than what we have been racing down here this winter.  So the tactics can be a bit different.  You can really get a lot of separation, (we call it leverage)  from the fleet which can pay off if you hit it right.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for 15 knots from the east again.  80 degree temperatures are the norm here so don’t feel sorry for us if you are somewhere in the upper east coast or midwest.

For complete results go to: www.yachtscoring.com

 

Paul

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Star Midwinter Championship – Day 4

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Photo: Marco Oquendo/imagesbymarco.com

Coconut Grove

Magnus and I came out determined to get back what was ours, and we did. We finished with a 1, 2 which was enough to move us up from 11th to 6th in the mid winters and save the overall Star Winter Series Championship by just one point.

After yesterday’s broken mast, and it’s 32 point cost to our score, we were down. But we worked late last night to put our spare mast together, tuned it this morning and went out and won the first race in the 18 knot easterly. That set the tone and we followed that up with a second in the last race. Lars Grael won the last race and Augie Diaz from finished close in third.

The three of us battled it out most of yesterday and today…great competition.

I want to thank my crew Magnus Liljedahl, gold medal winner in 2000 in the Star class. He is an amazing crew and great friend. You can’t have more fun than sailing with a great friend and competing at the same time. We are so blessed to be able to do this and to do it in Miami in the winter!

Next event for me is Key West Race week January 19-23, where I will be sailing on Shockwave. It’s a new team for me and I am really looking forward to racing with them.

For complete scores go to www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

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Star Midwinter Championship – Day 3

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Coconut Grove

Three races were sailed today on Biscayne Bay for the Star fleet. The wind was great: 15-18 from the northeast.

Augur Diaz had a great day winning two of the races and Lars Grael continued to do well edging us for the win in race 1. We were in the hunt in all three races with better speed than yesterday in the breeze.

We got 2nd in race 1 then 5th in the second race with Augie and Lars ahead of us.

However, things turned ugly for us on the final run of the final race. We rolled too far to windward, stuck the wisker pole in the water and broke the mast.  That in turn shreds the mainsail so what we have is big, expensive mess

I should have been more cautious. It was the end of a long hard day and we were in third place which would have moved us up to second overall. But I lapsed my concentration just for a second and that was that. And a quick 30 points added to our score so we are now in 11th place.

So we got towed back to the dock, cleaned up the mess, had a cheeseburger, and rigged one of my other masts.

We are pretty much out of contention for this regatta and since it is a double counter, we will probably be out of the running for the Winter Series overall.

But that’s racing!

Two races on the card for tomorrow and it should be a bit windier than today at 20-25 knots still from the northeast.

For complete results go to: www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

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Star Midwinter Championship – Day 2

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Coconut Grove

The forecast today was for a dying southerly breeze and that is what we got. Rich Raymond, Chairman of the Race Committee, amended the schedule last night and got us out there for a 10:00 start to get some racing in before the wind died. It was a good move as we got two races in, although we finished the second one in about 2 knots of wind.

Lars Grael and Samuel Goncalves (BRA) sailed smart and fast to win both races today. They really should be leading the regatta easily but they broke their mast yesterday 500 meters form the finish line. Peter Vasella sailed very well also to get two second place finishes today and is in second place overall. Brian Cramer (CAN) had a 5, 9 to go with his win yesterday and is currently leading.

There rest of us were much less consistent. Magnus and I got 14, 6 and are currently in 5th place, 12 points off the lead. We weren’t going fast and not particularly smart either. I am still getting used to this new mast which seems much stiffer than the one I had been using. That is not necessarily good in the light wind.

These first two days also constitute the Walker Cup, which last year was a stand alone event but this year is amalgamated into the Mid Winters.

Five more races are scheduled, and the forecast for the next two days is for 15 -18 knots of wind so it should be no problem getting them in. 3 tomorrow so that will be a big day.

For complete scores go to: www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

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Star Midwinter Championship

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Photo: Marco Oquendo/imagesbymarco.com

Coconut Grove

Today was the first day of a four day event called the Star Midwinter Championship. This event plus the previous three events for the Winter Series. There will be an over all winner for the Winter Series as well as each of these individual events. The midwinter Championship is weighted double for the Winter Series.

The forecast for today was for 20-25 knots of wind from the north with gusts to 30 knots. The wind was light enough at 1030 that the race committee sent us out to the race course. the wind was mild preceding the start at 1230 but just prior to the start the wind came in around 18 knots. The fleet set out on a double windward leeward course with a leg length of 1.5 miles bearing 025.

Magnus and I had our brand new mast in today so I wanted to be a bit conservative given the conditions. These things cost $5K each. Anyway, we had a good first leg getting to the windward mark 3rd just in front of Lars Grael and just behind Augie Diaz. The run proved eventful for many boats; now in 20 knots with very short chop. We got into second place but about 4 minutes from the leeward mark I stuck the bow into a wave and completely filled the boat up with water. The boat was full to the cockpit coaming! We were then in a very precarious situation for the remaining 4 minutes as the boat was going very slowly and now more loaded than normal. We got passed by quite a few boats there at the end of the leg. Up the second windward leg, we were coming into the windward mark on the starboard tack lay line, in 6th place, when a port tack boat came in with now place to go and tacked just to leeward of us. In this tack, he got his mast into our rigging and the two boats were now tied together with my new mast being the connection point. The mast was bendinging like a Fenwick fishing pole. Somehow, miraculously, his mast pooped out from my upper shrouds and my mast was still up. Bent, but still vertical.

We went down the final run rather gingerly and finished 7th.

The race leader at that time was Lars Grael and he stuck his wisker pole in the water and broke his mast 500 meters from the finish line. A few other boats broke booms, spreaders and other gear.

The race committee thought that enough damage had been done for the first day and sent us in.

Magnus and I took our mast down and worked on it for two hours to get it almost back to perfect. The rigging looked ok so the mast is back in the boat and I believe it will all look good tomorrow out on the water.

Brian Cramer of Canada won the race with Alberto Zannetti of Argentina finishing second and Jack Jennings and Brian Sharo getting third.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

The forecast for tomorrow is 5 knots from the northeast.

Feast or famine!

Paul

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